"No one anticipated what a catastrophe George W. Bush would be as President. But now is not the time for the blame game" More accurately, those who did were silenced by those who could. If now is not the time to not only blame, but demand accountability, then when? After they've gotten away with it? After their propaganda machine has re-written history and made their collosal blunders smell like roses?
The Neo-Con approach has been to cheat their way into power, re-write the rules of the game to get "No one anticipated what a catastrophe George W. Bush would be as President. But now is not the time for the blame game" More accurately, those who did were silenced by those who could. If now is not the time to not only blame, but demand accountability, then when? After they've gotten away with it? After their propaganda machine has re-written history and made their collosal blunders smell like roses?
The Neo-Con approach has been to cheat their way into power, re-write the rules of the game to get away with their crimes for as long as possible, cloud what they do in secrecy and calls for patriotism, then, like the 12-step addict, loudly out-scream any objections with denials, lies, and pointed fingers until some other incident takes them off stage and back into obscurity. (How can anyone take their spokespersons seriously anymore?)
All this effort has been centered on keeping Elites in power and above the laws that are driving the rest of society into the shithouse. Not just above the law, but beyond it's reach in the push to transnationalize as global privatized overlords.
Our governmental and media Institutions are either complicit or cowards.
When the privilidged and wealthy abdicate their responsibility to those on whose backs they aquired their status they forfeit any entitlements. In other times these ruthless elites got trampled by the masses, a la tzarist Russia.
The global success of Capitalism has brought greater in-equity than ever before. The "Ownership Society" is as big a myth as Shrubs' "Responsible Government". As the wars over resources like Oil and Water heat up, as the lies become evermore transparent, as more and more of the world reject the "American Dream" as one that only works for Americans at everyone elses expense, blame is the one thing you can count on. Unfortunately, by that time the people responsible will be beyond reproach, having set up some poor schmuck to take the fall for them. (Chavez anyone?)
Massive protest is the reactionary expression of pointing blame.
Blame for stealing our votes, for stealing our hard-earned money, for stealing our precious resources, for stealing our future. To paraphrase one of the characters in "Kite Runner"; there is only one sin and that is theft. Theft of the truth, of life and liberty, of one's human rights.
Our Country is in the hands of theives and pirates, they've got the sheriff and judge in their collective pockets and have extended their reach worldwide (Read Confessions of an Economic Hitman" ) Welcome to the Coup.away with their crimes for as long as possible, cloud what they do in secrecy and calls for patriotism, then, like the 12-step addict, loudly out-scream any objections with denials, lies, and pointed fingers until some other incident takes them off stage and back into obscurity. (How can anyone take their spokespersons seriously anymore?)
All this effort has been centered on keeping Elites in power and above the laws that are driving the rest of society into the shithouse. Not just above the law, but beyond it's reach in the push to transnationalize as global privatized overlords.
Our governmental and media Institutions are either complicit or cowards.
When the privilidged and wealthy abdicate their responsibility to those on whose backs they aquired their status they forfeit any entitlements. In other times these ruthless elites got trampled by the masses, a la tzarist Russia.
The global success of Capitali
Re:Not to worry! The planning is already underway!
on
Forecasting Doomsday
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Your forgot to mention: 7) Divert as much possible wealth from the masses to the elites through cut-backs, tax-breaks and removal of all social saftey nets. 8) Exploit cheap labor for as long as possible to pay for building your private McBunker in the hinterland.
In an odd, 12 monkeys, sort of way, one might wonder if the planet and all its other sentient creatures would be better off without humankind at all. All those sci-fi movies portraying us as a mutating virus, a blight of sorts, may not be far off the mark; if as you imply, we as a species are incapable of self-governance and reigning in our 'bigger, better" impulses. Regardless of whether DA is around the corner or not one thing seems very clear (and sad). We face dark days ahead.
Despite Vermont being considered the "Arkansas of the North", I would respectfully submit that upstate NY has garnered little from NYC in the way of subsidy for local economy. Nothing in this article has defined what 'upstate' covers, but for me it's everything north of I90; as all the territory below is just growing suburban sprawl. To me upstate means from Watertown to Plattsburgh up to the border; the adirondacks, the watersheds. I have ventured often into the tourist peaks of the adirondack sumits, into the deeper hinterland and have grown fonder of the lakes. But make no mistake, places like Boonville and Dannemora are far more destitute than most Vermont towns will ever be. That's why everyone crosses the lake/river to do their shopping. If Vermont is "dirt rural poor", which it basically is, upstate NY is a third world country by comparison.
Yea, I've passed tru the erie corridor on days when I thought my car would tip over:) Like you, I live in a high-wind valley and if i could afford 30K or so, I'd love to put a 60' 10KW tower on my property. Unfortunate that banks or other lending institutions see it as a bad investment. The farm across the road could prob. power the entire town.
It's the same here in Vermont. Big companies are buying influence in small kingdom towns to put a score of towers on ridges that are otherwise pristine and nobody outside of those towns can understand why the opposition.
Interesting thread. I'd like to add my.02 despite being late to the party. Across the Champlain Valley here in VT, Searsburg has been home to a handful of 'mills and no stranger to the arguments coming from both sides of the fence. And, both sides are appear equally compelling. More recently tho is the big-bucks lobby pushing for towers in the Kingdom, the poorest region of the State, on the ridgelines, where the counter-argument is not just despoiling the view but the costs (in $ and environmentals) for development and infrastructure, like access roads.
Our State's newspapers has had no shortage of stories on the merits and detractors of this issue. I can understand the sentiments of upstate rural folks complaining that NYC is powered at their expense. But in fact, alternative power secures all the northeast.
Remember the last regional black-out? The grid extended as far west as Ohio! Like many, I can appreciate the need for clean energy. But what I don't understand is why economies of scale always have to favor mega-investments on a highly provatized, grand corporate scale. I cannot believe that, just like telecom, there isn't an alternative, public-friendly, solution. like smaller-scale towers (60') in high-wind areas that serve local communitites exclusively.
I also find amusing the points that don't get discussed: 2) Addressing the reality that more energy can be had for less cost by conservation than by new development. Green appliances, cars that get a few MPG more, etc.. 3) That energy costs are as a result of supply and demand. Where is the greatest waste of energy? The military. The fuel they consume in their fighter planes and (non-nuclear) ships. Facing the fact that our envolvement in Iraq is based on keeping the pipeline open, not for us at the gaspump, but for the war machine to continue its global adverturism, costs us not just in tax dollars, but in higher energy costs due to the enormous increase in demand.
With neo-cons and conservative republicans controlling the show any "fact-finding" will no doubt be like the 9/11 commission. More cover-up than truth.
For all the talk surrounding civil liberties and powers of government, esp. the executive, arguing whether we are in a state of war or not, whether our leadership has jeopardized the principals of upon which our Country rests and pointing fingers as to who among us has become the most brainwashed; no one is asserting that both groups are in massive denial and and our political system has been totally corrupted beyond all credibility.
First, w/respect to this topic, I'm surprised that no mention of D. Ellsberg has come up. Like Tise, a govt. employee who 'went public' and effectively helped to end the war in S.E.Asia. Traitor or Hero? Second, despite his actions, despite the dissent and the war's end, what really changed beyond a new face and name? The game stayed the same. Business and propaganda as usual. Cambodia labelled a genocide but no mention of our sanctioning and funding of Timorese slaughter. Marcos and Pinochet and Manuel were our men, just like Saddam. People who basically wanted to be free from oppression/domination (read 'confessions of an economic hitman') got labelled marxists and found themselves disappeared all across South and Central America with the blessings and training and weapons stamped 'made in the good 'ole U.S.A'.
This is the bigger picture that needs examining. Not what's happening here in our country. Save that for last and start with what our country has been doing to the rest of the world for the past 50 years. How the world percieves us, the largest dealer of guns and drugs and fantasy. This has become the legacy of the American Dream; the consolidation of power and wealth in the hands of a few at the expense of the rest of the world. Re-writing history into a myth that tries to cleanse our blood-stained hands. Packaging and selling that myth in the hopes that we will never come to realize what we've been doing to ourselves.
As trite as it sounds we, the lumbering middle-class of every major industrialized country (but mostly us in the U.S) are living in the matrix. We are the batteries that fuel the machine. All our discussions are moot because they ultimately center on just another set of controls. Nothing that we do, short of disconnecting ourselves, will alter our habits of consumption, or redress the conditions that most people can hardly wrap their heads around.
This is the reality: A global ecology that is on the brink of extinction and collapse. An over-populated world growing ever more dependent on energy and water resources in decline. A world in which 2/3'rds are considered disposable and living in starvation and destitution. A world where 1% owns nearly 1/2, 5% owns nearly 2/3'd of all resouces controled and consumed (and sadly, it only takes a six-figure income to be in the top 5%). This is reality. We do not see it in it's magnitude. We channel surf around it, cross the street to avoid it. We go shopping. We have that luxury. For now.
There may be no "elite conspiracy", but make no mistake; the successes of the "New World Order" and its IMF, WTO, NAFTA/CAFTA, G8, GATT spawn are all designed to ensure that globalization and 'open markets' provide them with the lifeboats with which to flee our leaking Titanic. That is their solution to the problems they've created. A trans-national refuge that suffers neither taxation nor oversight, Or, from the matrix analogy: a new program to keep the machine in power.
We can discuss American politics ad infinitum and ad nauseum. Call it what you will: Pax Americana, the End of History, the Idea of Progress or Full Spectrum Domination. Political and Social ideology w/out economic consideration is irrelevant. And it is the economics, our economics, the nefarious, insidiousness of globalization, that is being r
Or for that matter, pick up a 50Cal or AK at a gunshop near you and just going to town. Think about it. What better way to spread terror than a disgruntled 'martyr' walking into a mall and capping ppl? They don't need bombs, or CBN WMD's; just a suicidal impulse and a credit card.
Well said! I'd mod you up if I had points:) The organization and framework of a community notwithstanding, OSS is all about more ways to hack more things in the darwinian jungle of IT and CS. To some degree it is about feature-sets and open code, but it is more about an env that permits good solutions and innovation to find the light of day.
Whether the result dies on the sourceforge vine or becomes the next 'killer app', the collaborative aspect of OSS and sharing skillsets is where the real value is added.
First, to your follow-up comment to po8 (187055) ("I don't believe there's a single "open source community"): If there is a 'single' OSS community it could be loosely called LINUX (linux is not Unix); inclusive of its bretheren in the BSD world. And (IMHO) RMS is correct in that it should be accurately labeled GNU/Linux, giving gnu a rightful place in defining the "goals and ideals'. After all, almost everything related to the application level is contingent on it.But the initial impetus and inspiration of a legion of individual developers to write drivers and apps, to provide a suitable, free, alternative to commercial products, bears little resemblence to the state of OSS today in trying to reach public acceptance, critical mass, and an audience who may not share those 'same values' you refer to.
Which leads me to your first reply: For that group it is most certainly about TCO and all the intangibles that go with it, including the hands-on support needed when things invariably head south. Your comment (#14465688) regarding why "more people and businesses use open source software every day" IS partially due to the acceptance of OSS as a successful model (quicker response to bugs, more secure, openly coded, blah blah). But it is prob. more due to the fact that more ppl are making the switch (greater case histories for comparison), raising awareness and proficiency levels for that app, or system. It's not that sharing the values is a pre-requisite for use, but that use leads to adopting the value-system.
2) "...There *is* an open source community" Anyone who contributes to OSS, in any way, is part of the larger OSS community. It's not a 'monolithic' group of people, but a congruent state of mind.
3) "...free speech, not free beer" The existance of OSS is pure and simple, despite its growing pains; people who can, do. Yes, out of Self Interest, primarily, with regard to their own productivity in addition to bragging rights. Next comes the ability to examine and modify code. Its 'viral proliferation' is as much about GPL as it is about cost. Nothing is more addictive than improving on another's prior work with tweaks that customize it to one's needs.
1) "...other factors aside from cost and features"
Outside of the "free vs. not-free" and "proprietary vs. open" aspects of software, I'm unclear about your factorization of adoption and economics (TCO).
When an OSS app moves beyond developers and enters the 'user-world' the 'other factors' you mention related to adoption now entail more than just usability alone. Its function, complexity, documentation and support, the participation of early adopters, etc.. If the app is simple enough, say a FF plugin, then adoption may be a no-brainer. But if you're talking about a substantial investment in making a change, then the role of the OSS advocate becomes critical. You can apply this broadly across a broad spectrum of categories; from one desktop app, say OOo vying with MSOffice, or a technology like LTSP (thin clients) competing against MS client-server or VMware virtualization, or a server app related to HTTPD, LDAP, SSL vs their commercial competitors.
4) "...greater than the sum of its parts" These 'other factors' are as much related to end-user support as they are the app itself, regardless of whether its free and/or open. This is mostly because adoption requires a persuasive argument for change. It (the app) didn't come pre-installed, it gets no ad dollars to tout its praises and the mainstream gives it short shrift, buckling under pressure from their ad clients. For a truely good OSS app to compete as a 'non-commercial' alternative solution its OSS community has to be able to successfully advocate it. This takes the app beyond the coders and developers, beyond howto's and readme's; it requires the creation of presentational materials and learning tools that (in this case) skilled Linux users can use in workshops and lectures to drive its adoption in a public forum (i.e. in presenting LTSP to a crowd of K9 admins). I realize that Linux is still very much a 'minority' OS, but look at how quickly its use has spread. I think its because w/so many distros available, the vendors take pains to reach their advocates w/the above described tools; so that the myriad LUGs and their install-fests have the ability to demo successfully. My arg is that, lacking the funds of a RedHat or Ubuntu, the solitary OSS app (the devels) and their first-adopters need to evolve their support community to include its advocates to make the product 'greater than the sum of its parts' insofar as its' distribution is concerned.
5) "...the contributions of individuals" Better quality in general has been proven to those converted. Generally speaking, no one in their right mind would give up Apache for IIS, FF for IE, OOo for Office, prostgres for MSsql, etc... Granted, certain niches cannot currently be filled by OSS, say photo workflow, and many corporate industries may not find an OSS solution for their business units, but those who have are generally very satisified. Its the uphill battle of proving the merits of OSS to the masses, those bombarded with the FUD of mainstream corportate PR that going to determine whether OSS can reach a 'tipping point'. My assertion is that reaching critical mass is going to depend on the "individauls", the advocates, and their ability to provide instruction to those who can teach and educate and inform; the growing number of web and IT.coms who
It's not so much a question of 'yet' as 'what'. This is just the revealed tip of the iceberg of Rummy's Office of Special Plans' black ops executed, in this case, through the NSA. What's being done in the name of security is completely about spying on US persons without oversight and condoned at the highest levels of government. It's neocon's in power who believe that secrecy and deception is warranted and will protect them from repercussion. How can it be a matter of balance when we don't know what our government is up to or what rights of ours are being jeopardized?
Grandparent's jist was his indignation of advocating [quote]``Separation of concerns'' through XML documents and CSS[/quote] and as it pertains to his being "lecture me about underlying architecture" - whatever that means, for sites that are content-heavy. Him states that large operations have underlying programs to do the heavy lifting of separating content - whatever that means, because even the most basic OSS CMS does it. So, lets just say that grandparent is misguided.
Your reply was pretty on the mark, except your jist was that separation made for a better/easier design consideration: styling on block elements instead of tabularization (a table in a table in a table), not that some/many of the CMS's dont resort to that method of marking up. So you're trying to strengthen you argument for separation apples using oranges.
Separating style (& presentation) from content can be achieved regardless of whether the css is created inline w/the element, dynamically written to the doc by the cgi, or just imported as a text.css file. How it's generated is irrelevant, just as how the markup is generated is irrelevant, which is, i guess, what the ref to archetecture was about.
How it's used is all that matters. So, if this comment is stored in a DB table and contains html or bbcode then, to some degree, this content contains presentational information; but at least it's atomic to this comment only. The design issue resolved as letting posters set headlines, bold, italic, color, whatever; now how "all" comments are rendered becomes the next design issue. So, if the content model calls for a class of object called 'slash_comment', then all the fields fetched by the sql query can be assigned to the object in a 1:1 correspondence to an xml and|or java/javascript object as well as assigned an ID that styles it. Since we're just talking about presentation and not data manipulation (via js and forms), the object's metadata describes the content, how to style it, and what can be performed on it, all before 1 line of markup is passed to the UA.
So, to re-iterate or clarify: You've got a Presentation model: xsl(t)/css created dynamically or as a simple file. You've got a Layout model: xml/html: markup created or accessed same as above that puts the Presentation into some kind of structure You've got UA code to manip content and presentation: java/js The finished product, the document, can be created by hand, using SSI, dynamically using CGI, whatever.
Many documents, a website, amounts to the same thing. Using an API, From Tempate Toolkit or Mason or RubyOnRails, or Ajax, or whatever, is prob. what grandparent was trying to get to, but any CMS is moving in that direction, from Mambo, Plone and Typo3 to Nuke, Xaraya and TikiWiki. Perhaps this is equiv to your ref on internal/external implementation. For me, the nice thing about FOSS is that I can deploy a system rather quickly and then tweak those areas that i find deficient where the above issues are concerned.
FWIW, "emphasis on parody by mimicking the layout of a small-town newspaper Web site" makes the Onion site no more readable or interesting than that 'small-town's site. And, like the "subtraction' site you rave, Soooo noisy, sooo much content below the fold, so old-style mag-rag imitative that one would really, really, be in despreate need of their content to want to stay very long.
At least subtraction is interactive, allowing comments fosters some sense of online community, you'd think the Onion, a paper, could do the same. But interactivity, moderation, etc.. are design considerations beyond the scope of this post. So sticking to the Interface issue:
It goes w/out saying that site design w/accessibility and flexibility is beyond argument. This covers everything from implementing accesskeys, to stylesheets which cascade properly, to markup elements that render uniformly.
For Style & Presentation the onion is just bland and hard on the eyes; no contrast on blocks or block titles, no color cues or font variations to easily differentiate content, no artistry put into the UI design. And what is a pic of a pooch doing occupying 75% of the RE above the fold on Sub? Not even an imagemap to improve nav. And the Menus; mouse over 'elsewhere', does it tell you anything? Why not add a 'title' param to the anchor that describes what the menuitem means or links to? Altho my pref is ems, i was able to zoom the doc's just fine to without any scaling problem, so i dont know what others are complaining about in terms of usurping user control over the markup.
As for Layout, for all the ppl who dump on javascript, using it ([d,x]html) and css and things like 'title' in anchors and status messages and acronyms are the best way to de-clutter content. Adding extra style selectors for DOM compat UA's that recognize block events (like p:hover) can enhance the user's experience and perhaps drive more ppl to the better browsers.
Providing overlays and pop-up blocks, etc to enhance nav or add more context to the content is immeasurable in its benefit and simple to implement. Although there is no dearth of detractors of scripting (purists who want delivered markup to be 'code-free') i would submit that judicious use of block-level widgets (drop-downs, pull-outs, show-hides, etc..) can maximize real-estate and reduce the 'bloated' look of sites that have a lot of content to expose.
One might argue that the Onion, like the NYT or any other commercial news site, has to devote as much, or more, of its footprint to advertising and affiliated partners than to its own original content, despite their sites' still being a revenue-model money-pit. So perhaps the ? is as much about re-thinking banner management strategies relative to the amount of space they squat on. (Like, what if the 'headline' banner for Blackpool wasnt at the head of the doc, but exposed in a div when the visitor clicked on any link in the "Entertainment Blog" and before the location changes, the visitor would have to either mouseout of the block, or click on 'hide' anchor, they cant ignore it but can easily pass thru it.). This is the direction i'm going in. I know that the majority of web surfers probably dont care if portals are cluttered, bloated, noisy and hard to nav. They dont know any better and have little (yet) in the way of comparison, except for simplier, billboard sites that have much less info to convey and can always be designed to look cleaner, even artistic. But there is a Tie between the layout of a site and it's content model, from the abstraction of it's categorization to the physical way it's sectioned; the more complex: the more real estate it wants to consume. Navigating, drilling down to the lowest node of content w/the least number of links on a content-heavy site, exposing as much of the 'tree' in an uncluttered way and a having mechanism of breadcrumbs to traverse it in a "semantic" way is going to require widgets or the sheer volume of 'alphachars' is just going to ove
Wowie Zowie, says Little Freida, this stimulating post calls for cigars all around. Read all four pages and now am chock-full-o-ideas. Thnx all, very timely. My local LUG ( http://www.uvm.edu/vague ) has been bandying this subject around for the last 6 months. Howto advocate linux and FOSS in a well-balanced and effective way. Our usual modus-operandi was the install-fest (bring yer own mach. or use ours). Had a prelim this last Thurs (Ubuntu cd's for all) for which I prepared a presentation on "Why Linux". ( http://dluz.com/vague ) This event was for a closed-group (geek friends of members) intended to be a prelim for a 'publicly announced' event come Autumn.
My spiel revolved around the 'is it ready for the desktop' thread that's been circulating here and in COLA and elsewhere for the last year or so. (I have no intention of plagarizing, so if you happen to see your words w/out attrib then plz let me know) So this 1st draft tried to elaborate not just the Why, but the What as well, plus support issues, potential tales of woe and the many success stories. (Yawn) Even an install fest is potentially boring, unless accompanied with plenty of beer, music and party favors. Watching progress bars, creating partitions, setup users (yawn more),
there's really little that's very festive. The only reason it's necessary is to deal with pesky problems that may arise for which the new user cant solve. Hardware issues, config stuff, etc.. My conclusion is that it's way too much as an intro to Linux. Let ppl just sit down at a pre-installed box and just do something. I like the ideas offered here and think that on-going mini-workshops, starting with a demo of FF, then moving on to OO and other useful apps; i.e. the camel's nose approach is going to be more effective than any words can offer. But two things have to be addressed to keep converts converted. One is building a support infrastruture within our group to provide assistance to questions. Sort of an intermediary between the websites and newsgroups dedicated to technical assistance and the unknowing public who just want an answer. The other is addressing the host of problems that can arrise when a new user tries to install linux on their PC. Where a 3hr installfest may be too much to handle in one sitting for anybody whose just curious, a new user taking a CD home is just asking for it to collect dust.
My general observations after reading this post is that there is a catch-22 regarding our advocacy. My initial approach was to get them to see why they should care, so I'm assuming they are having problems, or they have some interest in the politics of computing, or they want to become better, more efficient, more productive computer users. The vast majority probably have none of the above, yet. So in order for ppl to 'get' FOSS they have to already be using it, seeing that its the better choice and interested in taking the time to understand why.
Otherwise it's all just opining or arguing. So, I'm cutting my presentation down to about 5minutes, leaving the rest as online reading for those inclined, and taking up the 'just do it' mantra. Bringing ppl around to Linux/FOSS is a multi-stage process. If it isn't imposed on them then it just isn't going to be willingly adopted
after one introduction. Having a thought-out plan that maintains momentum and continues interest is the challenge.
FWIW, Here's one members' take on Ubuntu and the evening's install: 1. It's not very fast on old hardware. This is to be expected, but we should keep it in mind when planning things, time-wise. 2. Josh noted -- and I have to agree -- that the apt-get/aptitude output in the second phase of the install (i.e. *after* all the progress bars were done) wasn't "pretty." If you can do nice progress bars while doing the initial install, why not wh
1) The chineese embasy fiasco comes to mind. "Very sorry, very sorry; our mistake, won't happen again"
Right.
2) "really hurt" is relativistic. But the US has a well-documented track record of Intel failures and "accidents of expedience". Look at:
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The Real Aims of the Lockerbie & UTA Cases... Gannon, like Susan's father Tom Twetten, worked for the CIA. "The last time,
I was accused of opening my mouth too much," said Mrs. McKee....
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5260/tanfeng.html
+++++++++++++++++
3) Spurious arg, like saying MI interrogators couldn't controll the guards.
4) Maybe they missed, or got who they came for. Who yet knows, or may ever know?
5) From the movies: bombs blow out, rockets leave craters. Evidence lasts, forensics tells all.
You and Grandparent should go to FL, where instead of swinging 'moonbats' you can now 'leagally' have a duel:) Then decades later you may realize that you had more in common than you thought:)
Your first target of your "pissed-ness": [quote] I am pissed at the blatant disregard of security by my superiors. [/quote] Assuming you're not an NCO, Officer, or god-forbid, a ring-knocker; but just another 'leg on the line', as it were; you probably know that the military has a long and proud history of blantant disregard for the safety of its grunts. "your gun is jamming cuz you don't clean it enough", "this orange shit is totally safe", "these innoculationa are good for you", What DU?. Come on, US Armed Forces and the Pentagon cover their ass and lie with impunity. Who pays, well you and your buds. It happened in 'Nam, Beruit, Iran, '91 Iraq, and now.
The fundamental question is on who's behalf is the military lying and for whom are all the good sons and daughters dying or returning home in pieces? Answer: the Elites who move seamlessly between Industry and Government; the Establishment that enriches itself off the misery of others. This war of/on Terror is not about insurgency any more than 'Nam was about communism. Its all about a miniscule % of the human race fighting a losing battle to stave off the enevitable. They are simply trying to buy time and the casualties (your buds or the hapless campesinos) are what they are willing to sacrifice in order to maintain their control and wealth.
If you are too lazy to discover for yourself I'll be happy to provide you with a laundry list of names of field-grade officers more than willing to overlook the truth and perpetuate the lie; sending their charges to their death knowing its an un-winnable (if not immoral) cause to advance their careers in the service and after retirement in the MIC. Why is that? Why is it that most line vets who've tasted blood come back invariably jaded and distrusting of authority? That's my 'ground truth'. What's yours?
What's more noteworthy is the fact that the USA could literally annilate a country(s). kill more than 2.5 million people w/extreme prejudice, de-spoil their land w/chemicals and bombies; and it would only take 20-30 years (a generation) for them to get over it and move on w/diplomatic relations and commercial air flights! (w/out us even having to make significant reparations!)
And not just SE asia, genocides everywhere seem to disappear into the folds of time, like a 'mad-minute' burp in history. The cautionary tale is that it sends a signal to the neo-cons that they can go into the mid-east, stir up unrest and chaos (by an intentional design that they paint as 'mistakes') to a point of no return; then waste a million or so to pacify threats to the empire thinking all will be forgotten in the time it takes to re-write the next edition of their history books.
Of all the civ's getting themselves maimed or killed at checkpoints, i'd be curious to know what the ratio of 'bad guys wasted to innocent collateral damage' is; cuz it seems that blaming "people not communicating their intentions" and their "ignoring all signals to stop" is sounding too much like an excuse for poor checkpoint SOP and itchy fingers.
Why not just admit that 99% of the occupiers just don't give a rat's ass about the people they're supposed to be 'liberating' and that the only 'wrong' people not to shoot are those wearing a US uniform.
FWIW, Sens. Patrick Leahy (VT) and John Cornyn (TX)
are introducing a bill before congress called the
"Open Government Act" designed to protect our right to know
by making access to FOIA easier.
Leahy is also trying to enact the repeal of the "critical infrastructure information.' clause in the Homeland Security
Charter, which protects busiess and government from public
scrutiny.
I say "lots 'o luck' and kudos for trying. For me, the bigger problem is that even if successful it wont make any sig. diff
in a country whose fickle public is willing to turn a blind eye from the disenfranchised for their own well-being.
Even when the facts get out there is always going to be two sides spun as 'truth' and about 49% adhering to each side. Just look at the Kerry-Swiftboat debacle for example.
IMHO, gov and biz are too interwed in a dance of self-preservation to allow any significant reforms to happen which might make our society more equitable. Itstead they're taking us down the tubes and dragging the world with them in an attempt to preserve their establishment and protect the elite.
They privatize public resources and call it 'free-enterprise',
they plaster every square foot of public space with advertising and call it branding, they spend our taxes creating PR and cast it as News to make our vices (drugs, gambling, guns) look like virtues, up look down, black seem white,
We are hemoraging as a nation, totally polluted in our drive to consume; totally corrupt in our desire to perpetuate, and defend, the lie of 'free markets' on the world.
The issue is whether the PatriotAct expands.gov's ability to extend pen-traps into the realm of Internet packets. Pen-traps collect a form of meta-data, the a number called and ID's the 2 (or more) parties that the number connects. The analogy to the Internet would be to to sniff packets for header information and the machines (or user accounts) at the two ends of the packet stream..gov could feasibly attach a sniffer near some router, say a Comcast satellite, and monitor port 119 for headers containing alt.tradetowers.bomb.bomb.bomb.flame.flame.flame. with threatening national security being the probable cause. Once they see who's reading that newsgroup they drop a pen-trap on that specific host maching and presto, they know where you are and have a decent profile just based on sniffing the headers of the Ports you're connect to. What boggles my mind is why/.'ers are doing more to promote hosting more secure traffic. NNTPS and HTTPS at least; because the secrets to.gov's success lies in plaintext traffic.
My point is this: When the ford-driving, black-shiny shoes start sniffing 119 using easily-read headers to build machine forensics based on a well-defined model of distributed heirarchies and newsgroups to construct household and geograpical profiles and Usenet will be dead and the Internet will follow.
Spew follows: I've had a longterm love affair w/Usenet going on 15yrs. If it dies, my machine will be soooo lonely. Its the best part of the net, so much to offer, so well organized; perfectly distributed chaos in near-perfect categorization. What a big fat target it is. Open wide for the neo-cons, for Homeland Security, for the evangels; cracking down on dissent and porn; making the internet safe for the NewWorldOrder.
Everyone wags their finger at AOL while losing sight of the enlarging pictures. Was it just a.biz decision to drop their news servers or did they fail to mention opting out to protect their members privacy, not wanting to get caught in the fallout, the encroachments on our civili liberties.
Usenet is dead, the claim is made in the same breath which touts google groups. what irony, News hosts are few and big and subject to scrutiny. And then we get to read:
Verisign, the first name in wiretapping, offers their NetDiscovery
verisign.com] service to law enforcement. In their words, Complete Lawful Intercept Service
And
criminal digital evidence processing work done by the DoD's Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3). The DoD blocked and traced 60,000 intrusion attempts on its unclassified networks in 2004, and wrestles with spam, illicit pornography and other common Internet threats. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0 5/01/15/14 24207
We're tuned into infomunchers but surrendering our rights, Mute to that spooky sense of something lurking in the background, part of the noise, buried in the obvious. with its nose to the packetstream, While we bathe in connectivity, global hive minded social networking semantic web content junkies; We're seen from beyond as feeders, statistics, a number in the system, a node on a line, a point to a point, in a torrent, in a web.
In the big picture it doesnt matter what your orientation is, just that your orientation can be watched. The new price of freedom.
I repeat: the medium, not the message, is what gives you away. Your flight is unimportant, its where you land that counts. The Internet succeeded so well at empowering individuals, at promoting statelessness, that its put.gov on the defensive and a line-tap on us all. A bag on the side, of the satellite, of the switch. "Your throughput is temporarily slowed due to maintenance, load-balancing, uh, mechanical failure, sunspots and other acts of god". Gotta love the offical explanations. While its quietly correllating and and modelling sigint into high-def; to determine who is who, and where they are and what they do, their brand of car.
If our plastic debt and phone records, DMV and background-check and balance sheets, finances and assets pattern our character Its our newsgroups and our favorites and our buddylists and our bookmarks and our contacts and our viewing habits which color our personality This is where the gems lie buried.
while we're continuously connecting in endlessly unfolding dramas tuned in and interacting with the avatars and bloggers and webmasters someones now watching all too closely not just watching but profiling all by scanning headers of everyone's IP
We now become what we type and what we click on and buy into or subscribe or download or join or slurp becomes absorbed in some Metadata totality.
Because for BigBrother its the medium, they don't care about the message. They can shut down what they dont like, but its better to leave it be (a honeypot) and watch the logs. Its the medium, the Ports 'o Call we visit. HTTP,
Slashdot Mirror
"No one anticipated what a catastrophe George W. Bush would be as President. But now is not the time for the blame game"
More accurately, those who did were silenced by those who could.
If now is not the time to not only blame, but demand accountability, then when? After they've gotten away with it?
After their propaganda machine has re-written history and made their collosal blunders smell like roses?
The Neo-Con approach has been to cheat their way into power,
re-write the rules of the game to get "No one anticipated what a catastrophe George W. Bush would be as President. But now is not the time for the blame game"
More accurately, those who did were silenced by those who could.
If now is not the time to not only blame, but demand accountability, then when? After they've gotten away with it?
After their propaganda machine has re-written history and made their collosal blunders smell like roses?
The Neo-Con approach has been to cheat their way into power,
re-write the rules of the game to get away with their crimes for as long as possible, cloud what they do in secrecy and calls for patriotism, then, like the 12-step addict, loudly out-scream any objections with denials, lies, and pointed fingers until some other incident takes them off stage and back into obscurity.
(How can anyone take their spokespersons seriously anymore?)
All this effort has been centered on keeping Elites in power and above the laws that are driving the rest of society into the shithouse. Not just above the law, but beyond it's reach in the push to transnationalize as global privatized overlords.
Our governmental and media Institutions are either complicit or cowards.
When the privilidged and wealthy abdicate their responsibility to those on whose backs they aquired their status they forfeit any entitlements. In other times these ruthless elites got trampled by the masses, a la tzarist Russia.
The global success of Capitalism has brought greater in-equity than ever before. The "Ownership Society" is as big a myth as Shrubs' "Responsible Government". As the wars over resources like Oil and Water heat up, as the lies become evermore transparent, as more and more of the world reject the "American Dream" as one that only works for Americans at everyone elses expense, blame is the one thing you can count on. Unfortunately, by that time the people responsible will be beyond reproach, having set up some poor schmuck to take the fall for them. (Chavez anyone?)
Massive protest is the reactionary expression of pointing blame.
Blame for stealing our votes, for stealing our hard-earned money, for stealing our precious resources, for stealing our future.
To paraphrase one of the characters in "Kite Runner"; there is only one sin and that is theft. Theft of the truth, of life and liberty, of one's human rights.
Our Country is in the hands of theives and pirates, they've got the sheriff and judge in their collective pockets and have extended their reach worldwide (Read Confessions of an Economic Hitman" ) Welcome to the Coup.away with their crimes for as long as possible, cloud what they do in secrecy and calls for patriotism, then, like the 12-step addict, loudly out-scream any objections with denials, lies, and pointed fingers until some other incident takes them off stage and back into obscurity.
(How can anyone take their spokespersons seriously anymore?)
All this effort has been centered on keeping Elites in power and above the laws that are driving the rest of society into the shithouse. Not just above the law, but beyond it's reach in the push to transnationalize as global privatized overlords.
Our governmental and media Institutions are either complicit or cowards.
When the privilidged and wealthy abdicate their responsibility to those on whose backs they aquired their status they forfeit any entitlements. In other times these ruthless elites got trampled by the masses, a la tzarist Russia.
The global success of Capitali
Your forgot to mention:
7) Divert as much possible wealth from the masses to the elites through cut-backs, tax-breaks and removal of all social saftey nets.
8) Exploit cheap labor for as long as possible to pay for building your private McBunker in the hinterland.
In an odd, 12 monkeys, sort of way, one might wonder if the planet and all its other sentient creatures would be better off without humankind at all. All those sci-fi movies portraying us as a mutating virus, a blight of sorts, may not be far off the mark; if as you imply, we as a species are incapable of self-governance and reigning in our 'bigger, better" impulses.
Regardless of whether DA is around the corner or not one thing seems very clear (and sad). We face dark days ahead.
Despite Vermont being considered the "Arkansas of the North", I would
respectfully submit that upstate NY has garnered little from NYC in the way of subsidy for local economy. Nothing in this article has defined what 'upstate' covers, but for me it's everything north of I90; as all the territory below is just growing suburban sprawl. To me upstate means from Watertown to Plattsburgh up to the border; the adirondacks, the watersheds.
I have ventured often into the tourist peaks of the adirondack sumits, into the deeper hinterland and have grown fonder of the lakes. But make no mistake, places like Boonville and Dannemora are far more destitute than most Vermont towns will ever be. That's why everyone crosses the lake/river to do their shopping. If Vermont is "dirt rural poor", which it basically is, upstate NY is a third world country by comparison.
Yea, I've passed tru the erie corridor on days when I thought my car would tip over:) Like you, I live in a high-wind valley and if i could afford 30K or so, I'd love to put a 60' 10KW tower on my property. Unfortunate that banks or other lending institutions see it as a bad investment. The farm across the road could prob. power the entire town.
It's the same here in Vermont. Big companies are buying influence in small kingdom towns to put a score of towers on ridges that are otherwise pristine and nobody outside of those towns can understand why the opposition.
Interesting thread. I'd like to add my .02 despite being late to the party. Across the Champlain Valley here in VT, Searsburg has been home to a handful of 'mills and no stranger to the arguments coming from both sides of the fence. And, both sides are appear equally compelling. More recently tho is the big-bucks lobby pushing for towers in the Kingdom, the poorest region of the State, on the ridgelines, where the counter-argument is not just despoiling the view but the costs (in $ and environmentals) for development and infrastructure, like access roads.
Our State's newspapers has had no shortage of stories on the merits and detractors of this issue. I can understand the sentiments of upstate rural folks complaining that NYC is powered at their expense. But in fact, alternative power secures all the northeast.
Remember the last regional black-out? The grid extended as far west as Ohio! Like many, I can appreciate the need for clean energy. But what I don't understand is why economies of scale always have to favor mega-investments on a highly provatized, grand corporate scale. I cannot believe that, just like telecom, there isn't an alternative, public-friendly, solution. like smaller-scale towers (60') in high-wind areas that serve local communitites exclusively.
I also find amusing the points that don't get discussed:
2) Addressing the reality that more energy can be had for less cost by conservation than by new development. Green appliances, cars that get a few MPG more, etc..
3) That energy costs are as a result of supply and demand. Where is the greatest waste of energy? The military. The fuel they consume in their fighter planes and (non-nuclear) ships. Facing the fact that our envolvement in Iraq is based on keeping the pipeline open, not for us at the gaspump, but for the war machine to continue its global adverturism, costs us not just in tax dollars, but in higher energy costs due to the enormous increase in demand.
With neo-cons and conservative republicans controlling the show any "fact-finding" will no doubt be like the 9/11 commission. More cover-up than truth.
For all the talk surrounding civil liberties and powers of government,
esp. the executive, arguing whether we are in a state of war or not,
whether our leadership has jeopardized the principals of upon which
our Country rests and pointing fingers as to who among us has become
the most brainwashed; no one is asserting that
both groups are in massive denial and and our political system has been totally corrupted beyond all credibility.
First, w/respect to this topic, I'm surprised that no mention of
D. Ellsberg has come up. Like Tise, a govt. employee who 'went public'
and effectively helped to end the war in S.E.Asia. Traitor or Hero?
Second, despite his actions, despite the dissent and the war's end,
what really changed beyond a new face and name? The game stayed the same.
Business and propaganda as usual. Cambodia labelled a genocide but no mention of
our sanctioning and funding of Timorese slaughter. Marcos and Pinochet
and Manuel were our men, just like Saddam. People who basically wanted
to be free from oppression/domination (read 'confessions
of an economic hitman') got labelled marxists and found themselves
disappeared all across South and Central America with the blessings and
training and weapons stamped 'made in the good 'ole U.S.A'.
This is the bigger picture that needs examining. Not what's happening here
in our country. Save that for last and start with what our country has
been doing to the rest of the world for the past 50 years. How the world
percieves us, the largest dealer of guns and drugs and fantasy.
This has become the legacy of the American Dream; the consolidation of power
and wealth in the hands of a few at the expense of the rest of the world.
Re-writing history into a myth that tries to cleanse our blood-stained hands.
Packaging and selling that myth in the hopes that we will never come to realize
what we've been doing to ourselves.
As trite as it sounds we, the lumbering middle-class of every major
industrialized country (but mostly us in the U.S) are living in the
matrix. We are the batteries that fuel the machine. All our discussions
are moot because they ultimately center on just another set of controls.
Nothing that we do, short of disconnecting ourselves, will alter
our habits of consumption, or redress the conditions that most people can
hardly wrap their heads around.
This is the reality: A global ecology that is on the brink of extinction and
collapse. An over-populated world growing ever more dependent on energy and water resources
in decline. A world in which 2/3'rds are considered disposable and living in starvation
and destitution. A world where 1% owns nearly 1/2, 5% owns nearly 2/3'd of all
resouces controled and consumed (and sadly, it only takes a six-figure income to be
in the top 5%). This is reality. We do not see it in it's magnitude. We channel
surf around it, cross the street to avoid it. We go shopping. We have that luxury. For now.
There may be no "elite conspiracy", but make no mistake; the successes of the
"New World Order" and its IMF, WTO, NAFTA/CAFTA, G8, GATT spawn are all designed to
ensure that globalization and 'open markets' provide them with the lifeboats with which to flee
our leaking Titanic. That is their solution to the problems they've created.
A trans-national refuge that suffers neither taxation nor oversight, Or, from the
matrix analogy: a new program to keep the machine in power.
We can discuss American politics ad infinitum and ad nauseum. Call it what you will:
Pax Americana, the End of History, the Idea of Progress or Full Spectrum Domination.
Political and Social ideology w/out economic consideration is irrelevant. And it is the
economics, our economics, the nefarious, insidiousness of globalization, that is
being r
Or for that matter, pick up a 50Cal or AK at a gunshop near you and just going to town. Think about it. What better way to spread terror than a disgruntled 'martyr' walking into a mall and capping ppl? They don't need bombs, or CBN WMD's; just a suicidal impulse and a credit card.
Well said! I'd mod you up if I had points:)
The organization and framework of a community notwithstanding, OSS is all about more ways to hack more things in the darwinian jungle of IT and CS. To some degree it is about feature-sets and open code, but it is more about an env that permits good solutions and innovation to find the light of day.
Whether the result dies on the sourceforge vine or becomes the next 'killer app', the collaborative aspect of OSS and sharing skillsets is where the real value is added.
First, to your follow-up comment to po8 (187055)
("I don't believe there's a single "open source community"):
If there is a 'single' OSS community it could be loosely called
LINUX (linux is not Unix); inclusive of its bretheren in the BSD world.
And (IMHO) RMS is correct in that it should be accurately labeled GNU/Linux, giving gnu a rightful place
in defining the "goals and ideals'.
After all, almost everything related to the application level is contingent on it.But the initial impetus and inspiration of a legion of individual developers to write drivers and apps, to provide a suitable, free, alternative to commercial products, bears little resemblence to the state of OSS today in trying to reach public acceptance, critical mass, and an audience who may not share those 'same values' you refer to.
Which leads me to your first reply:
For that group it is most certainly about TCO and all the intangibles that go with it, including the hands-on support needed when things invariably head south. Your comment (#14465688) regarding why "more people and businesses use open source software every day" IS partially due to the acceptance of OSS as a successful model (quicker response to bugs, more secure, openly coded, blah blah). But it is prob. more due to the fact that more ppl are making the switch (greater case histories for comparison), raising awareness and proficiency levels for that app, or system. It's not that sharing the values is a pre-requisite for use, but that use leads to adopting the value-system.
Regarding your points:
.coms who
2) "...There *is* an open source community"
Anyone who contributes to OSS, in any way, is part of the larger OSS community.
It's not a 'monolithic' group of people, but a congruent state of mind.
3) "...free speech, not free beer"
The existance of OSS is pure and simple, despite its growing pains; people who can, do. Yes, out of Self Interest, primarily, with regard to their own productivity in addition to bragging rights. Next comes the ability to examine and modify code. Its 'viral proliferation' is as much about GPL as it is about cost. Nothing is more addictive than improving on another's prior work with tweaks that customize it to one's needs.
1) "...other factors aside from cost and features"
Outside of the "free vs. not-free" and "proprietary vs. open" aspects of software, I'm unclear about your factorization of adoption and economics (TCO).
When an OSS app moves beyond developers and enters the 'user-world' the 'other factors' you mention related to adoption now entail more than just usability alone. Its function, complexity, documentation and support, the participation of early adopters, etc.. If the app is simple enough, say a FF plugin, then adoption may be a no-brainer. But if you're talking about a substantial investment in making a change, then the role of the OSS advocate becomes critical.
You can apply this broadly across a broad spectrum of categories; from one desktop app, say OOo vying with MSOffice, or a technology like LTSP (thin clients) competing against MS client-server or VMware virtualization, or a server app related to HTTPD, LDAP, SSL vs their commercial competitors.
4) "...greater than the sum of its parts"
These 'other factors' are as much related to end-user support as they are the app itself, regardless of whether its free and/or open. This is mostly because adoption requires a persuasive argument for change. It (the app) didn't come pre-installed, it gets no ad dollars to tout its praises and the mainstream gives it short shrift, buckling under pressure from their ad clients.
For a truely good OSS app to compete as a 'non-commercial' alternative solution its OSS community has to be able to successfully advocate it. This takes the app beyond the coders and developers, beyond howto's and readme's; it requires the creation of presentational materials and learning tools that (in this case) skilled Linux users can use in workshops and lectures to drive its adoption in a public forum (i.e. in presenting LTSP to a crowd of K9 admins). I realize that Linux is still very much a 'minority' OS, but look at how quickly its use has spread. I think its because w/so many distros available, the vendors take pains to reach their advocates w/the above described tools; so that the myriad LUGs and their install-fests have the ability to demo successfully.
My arg is that, lacking the funds of a RedHat or Ubuntu, the solitary OSS app (the devels) and their first-adopters need to evolve their support community to include its advocates to make the product 'greater than the sum of its parts' insofar as its' distribution is concerned.
5) "...the contributions of individuals"
Better quality in general has been proven to those converted. Generally speaking, no one in their right mind would give up Apache for IIS, FF for IE, OOo for Office, prostgres for MSsql, etc... Granted, certain niches cannot currently be filled by OSS, say photo workflow, and many corporate industries may not find an OSS solution for their business units, but those who have are generally very satisified. Its the uphill battle of proving the merits of OSS to the masses, those bombarded with the FUD of mainstream corportate PR that going to determine whether OSS can reach a 'tipping point'. My assertion is that reaching critical mass is going to depend on the "individauls", the advocates, and their ability to provide instruction to those who can teach and educate and inform; the growing number of web and IT
It's not so much a question of 'yet' as 'what'. This is just the revealed tip of the iceberg of Rummy's Office of Special Plans' black ops executed, in this case, through the NSA. What's being done in the name of security is completely about spying on US persons without oversight and condoned at the highest levels of government. It's neocon's in power who believe that secrecy and deception is warranted and will protect them from repercussion.
How can it be a matter of balance when we don't know what our government is up to or what rights of ours are being jeopardized?
It's prob. a stupid suggestion, but why not just use perlmagick, or gd, to create dynamic text png images?
Grandparent's jist was his indignation of advocating [quote]``Separation of concerns'' through XML documents and CSS[/quote] and as it pertains to his being "lecture me about underlying architecture" - whatever that means, for sites that are content-heavy.
.css file. How it's generated is irrelevant, just as how the markup is generated is irrelevant, which is, i guess, what the ref to archetecture was about.
Him states that large operations have underlying programs to do the heavy lifting of separating content - whatever that means, because even the most basic OSS CMS does it.
So, lets just say that grandparent is misguided.
Your reply was pretty on the mark, except your jist was that separation made for a better/easier design consideration: styling on block elements instead of tabularization (a table in a table in a table), not that some/many of the CMS's dont resort to that method of marking up. So you're trying to strengthen you argument for separation apples using oranges.
Separating style (& presentation) from content can be achieved regardless of whether the css is created inline w/the element, dynamically written to the doc by the cgi, or just imported as a text
How it's used is all that matters.
So, if this comment is stored in a DB table and contains html or bbcode then, to some degree, this content contains presentational information; but at least it's atomic to this comment only.
The design issue resolved as letting posters set headlines, bold, italic, color, whatever; now how "all" comments are rendered becomes the next design issue.
So, if the content model calls for a class of object called 'slash_comment', then all the fields
fetched by the sql query can be assigned to the object in a 1:1 correspondence to an xml and|or java/javascript object as well as assigned an ID that styles it. Since we're just talking about presentation and not data manipulation (via js and forms), the object's metadata describes the content, how to style it, and what can be performed on it, all before 1 line of markup is passed to the UA.
So, to re-iterate or clarify:
You've got a Presentation model: xsl(t)/css created dynamically or as a simple file.
You've got a Layout model: xml/html: markup created or accessed same as above
that puts the Presentation into some kind of structure
You've got UA code to manip content and presentation: java/js
The finished product, the document, can be created by hand, using SSI, dynamically using CGI, whatever.
Many documents, a website, amounts to the same thing. Using an API, From Tempate Toolkit or Mason or RubyOnRails, or Ajax, or whatever, is prob. what grandparent was trying to get to, but any CMS is moving in that direction, from Mambo, Plone and Typo3 to Nuke, Xaraya and TikiWiki.
Perhaps this is equiv to your ref on internal/external implementation.
For me, the nice thing about FOSS is that I can deploy a system rather quickly and then tweak those areas that i find deficient where the above issues are concerned.
FWIW, "emphasis on parody by mimicking the layout of a small-town newspaper Web site" makes the Onion site no more readable or interesting than that 'small-town's site. And, like the "subtraction' site you rave, Soooo noisy, sooo much content below the fold, so old-style mag-rag imitative that one would really, really, be in despreate need of their content to want to stay very long.
At least subtraction is interactive, allowing comments fosters some sense of online community, you'd think the Onion, a paper, could do the same. But interactivity, moderation, etc.. are design considerations beyond the scope of this post. So sticking to the Interface issue:
It goes w/out saying that site design w/accessibility and flexibility is beyond argument.
This covers everything from implementing accesskeys, to stylesheets which cascade properly,
to markup elements that render uniformly.
For Style & Presentation the onion is just bland and hard on the eyes; no contrast on blocks or block titles, no color cues or font variations to easily differentiate content, no artistry put into the UI design. And what is a pic of a pooch doing occupying 75% of the RE above the fold on Sub? Not even an imagemap to improve nav. And the Menus; mouse over 'elsewhere', does it tell you anything? Why not add a 'title' param to the anchor that describes what the menuitem means or links to? Altho my pref is ems, i was able to zoom the doc's just fine to without any scaling problem, so i dont know what others are complaining about in terms of usurping user control over the markup.
As for Layout, for all the ppl who dump on javascript, using it ([d,x]html) and css and things like 'title' in anchors and status messages and acronyms are the best way to de-clutter content.
Adding extra style selectors for DOM compat UA's that recognize block events (like p:hover) can enhance the user's experience and perhaps drive more ppl to the better browsers.
Providing overlays and pop-up blocks, etc to enhance nav or add more context
to the content is immeasurable in its benefit and simple to implement. Although there is no dearth of detractors of scripting (purists who want delivered markup to be 'code-free') i would submit that judicious use of block-level widgets (drop-downs, pull-outs, show-hides, etc..) can maximize real-estate and reduce the 'bloated' look of sites that have a lot of content to expose.
One might argue that the Onion, like the NYT or any other commercial news site, has to devote as much, or more, of its footprint to advertising and affiliated partners than to its own original content, despite their sites' still being a revenue-model money-pit. So perhaps the ?
is as much about re-thinking banner management strategies relative to the amount of space they squat on.
(Like, what if the 'headline' banner for Blackpool wasnt at the head of the doc, but exposed in a div when the visitor clicked on any link in the "Entertainment Blog" and before the location changes, the visitor would have to either mouseout of the block, or click on 'hide' anchor, they cant ignore it but can easily pass thru it.). This is the direction i'm going in. I know that the majority of web surfers probably dont care if portals are cluttered, bloated, noisy and hard to nav. They dont know any better and have little (yet) in the way of comparison, except for simplier, billboard sites that have much less info to convey and can always be designed to look cleaner, even artistic.
But there is a Tie between the layout of a site and it's content model, from the abstraction of it's categorization to the physical way it's sectioned; the more complex: the more real estate it wants to consume.
Navigating, drilling down to the lowest node of content w/the least number of links on a content-heavy site, exposing as much of the 'tree' in an uncluttered way and a having mechanism of breadcrumbs to traverse it in a "semantic" way is going to require widgets or the sheer volume of 'alphachars' is just going to ove
Wowie Zowie, says Little Freida, this stimulating post calls for cigars all around.
Read all four pages and now am chock-full-o-ideas. Thnx all, very timely.
My local LUG ( http://www.uvm.edu/vague ) has been bandying this subject around for the last 6 months.
Howto advocate linux and FOSS in a well-balanced and effective way.
Our usual modus-operandi was the install-fest (bring yer own mach. or use ours).
Had a prelim this last Thurs (Ubuntu cd's for all) for which I prepared a presentation on "Why Linux".
( http://dluz.com/vague )
This event was for a closed-group (geek friends of members) intended to be a prelim
for a 'publicly announced' event come Autumn.
My spiel revolved around the 'is it ready for the desktop' thread that's
been circulating here and in COLA and elsewhere for the last year or so.
(I have no intention of plagarizing, so if you happen to see your words w/out attrib
then plz let me know)
So this 1st draft tried to elaborate not just the Why, but the What as well, plus support issues,
potential tales of woe and the many success stories. (Yawn)
Even an install fest is potentially boring, unless accompanied with plenty of beer,
music and party favors.
Watching progress bars, creating partitions, setup users (yawn more),
there's really little that's very festive.
The only reason it's necessary is to deal with pesky problems that may arise
for which the new user cant solve. Hardware issues, config stuff, etc..
My conclusion is that it's way too much as an intro to Linux. Let ppl just sit
down at a pre-installed box and just do something.
I like the ideas offered here and think that on-going mini-workshops, starting with a
demo of FF, then moving on to OO and other useful apps; i.e. the camel's nose approach
is going to be more effective than any words can offer.
But two things have to be addressed to keep converts converted. One is building a support
infrastruture within our group to provide assistance to questions. Sort of an intermediary
between the websites and newsgroups dedicated to technical assistance and the unknowing public who just want an answer.
The other is addressing the host of problems that can arrise when a new user tries to
install linux on their PC.
Where a 3hr installfest may be too much to handle in one sitting for anybody whose just curious,
a new user taking a CD home is just asking for it to collect dust.
My general observations after reading this post is that there is a catch-22 regarding
our advocacy. My initial approach was to get them to see why they should care, so I'm assuming
they are having problems, or they have some interest in the politics of computing, or they want
to become better, more efficient, more productive computer users.
The vast majority probably have none of the above, yet. So
in order for ppl to 'get' FOSS they have to already be using it, seeing
that its the better choice and interested in taking the time to understand why.
Otherwise it's all just opining or arguing. So, I'm cutting my presentation down to
about 5minutes, leaving the rest as online reading for those inclined,
and taking up the 'just do it' mantra.
Bringing ppl around to Linux/FOSS is a multi-stage process. If it isn't imposed on them then it just isn't going to be willingly adopted
after one introduction. Having a thought-out plan that maintains momentum and
continues interest is the challenge.
FWIW, Here's one members' take on Ubuntu and the evening's install:
1. It's not very fast on old hardware. This is to be expected, but
we should keep it in mind when planning things, time-wise.
2. Josh noted -- and I have to agree -- that the apt-get/aptitude
output in the second phase of the install (i.e. *after* all the
progress bars were done) wasn't "pretty." If you can do nice
progress bars while doing the initial install, why not wh
1) The chineese embasy fiasco comes to mind. "Very sorry, very sorry; our mistake, won't happen again" Right. 2) "really hurt" is relativistic. But the US has a well-documented track record of Intel failures and "accidents of expedience". Look at: ++++++++++++++++ The Real Aims of the Lockerbie & UTA Cases ... Gannon, like Susan's father Tom Twetten, worked for the CIA. "The last time,
I was accused of opening my mouth too much," said Mrs. McKee. ...
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5260/tanfeng.html
+++++++++++++++++
3) Spurious arg, like saying MI interrogators couldn't controll the guards.
4) Maybe they missed, or got who they came for. Who yet knows, or may ever know?
5) From the movies: bombs blow out, rockets leave craters. Evidence lasts, forensics tells all.
You and Grandparent should go to FL, where instead of swinging 'moonbats' you can now 'leagally' have a duel:)
Then decades later you may realize that you had more in common than you thought:)
Your first target of your "pissed-ness":
[quote]
I am pissed at the blatant disregard of security by my superiors.
[/quote]
Assuming you're not an NCO, Officer, or god-forbid, a ring-knocker; but just another 'leg on the line', as it were; you probably know that the military has a long and proud history of blantant disregard for the safety of its grunts.
"your gun is jamming cuz you don't clean it enough", "this orange shit is totally safe", "these innoculationa are good for you", What DU?.
Come on, US Armed Forces and the Pentagon cover their ass and lie with impunity. Who pays, well you and your buds. It happened in 'Nam, Beruit, Iran, '91 Iraq, and now.
The fundamental question is on who's behalf is the military lying and for whom are all the good sons and daughters dying or returning home in pieces?
Answer: the Elites who move seamlessly between Industry and Government; the Establishment that enriches itself off the misery of others.
This war of/on Terror is not about insurgency any more than 'Nam was about communism. Its all about a miniscule % of the human race fighting a losing battle to stave off the enevitable. They are simply trying to buy time and the casualties (your buds or the hapless campesinos) are what they are willing to sacrifice in order to maintain their control and wealth.
If you are too lazy to discover for yourself I'll be happy to provide you with a laundry list of names of field-grade officers more than willing to overlook the truth and perpetuate the lie; sending their charges to their death knowing its an un-winnable (if not immoral) cause to advance their careers in the service and after retirement in the MIC. Why is that?
Why is it that most line vets who've tasted blood come back invariably jaded and distrusting of authority? That's my 'ground truth'. What's yours?
What's more noteworthy is the fact that the USA could literally annilate a country(s). kill more than 2.5 million people w/extreme prejudice, de-spoil their land w/chemicals and bombies; and it would only take 20-30 years (a generation) for them to get over it and move on w/diplomatic relations and commercial air flights! (w/out us even having to make significant reparations!) And not just SE asia, genocides everywhere seem to disappear into the folds of time, like a 'mad-minute' burp in history. The cautionary tale is that it sends a signal to the neo-cons that they can go into the mid-east, stir up unrest and chaos (by an intentional design that they paint as 'mistakes') to a point of no return; then waste a million or so to pacify threats to the empire thinking all will be forgotten in the time it takes to re-write the next edition of their history books.
Of all the civ's getting themselves maimed or killed at checkpoints, i'd be curious to know what the ratio of 'bad guys wasted to innocent collateral damage' is; cuz it seems that blaming "people not communicating their intentions" and their "ignoring all signals to stop" is sounding too much like an excuse for poor checkpoint SOP and itchy fingers. Why not just admit that 99% of the occupiers just don't give a rat's ass about the people they're supposed to be 'liberating' and that the only 'wrong' people not to shoot are those wearing a US uniform.
I say "lots 'o luck' and kudos for trying. For me, the bigger problem is that even if successful it wont make any sig. diff in a country whose fickle public is willing to turn a blind eye from the disenfranchised for their own well-being.
Even when the facts get out there is always going to be two sides spun as 'truth' and about 49% adhering to each side. Just look at the Kerry-Swiftboat debacle for example.
IMHO, gov and biz are too interwed in a dance of self-preservation to allow any significant reforms to happen which might make our society more equitable. Itstead they're taking us down the tubes and dragging the world with them in an attempt to preserve their establishment and protect the elite.
They privatize public resources and call it 'free-enterprise', they plaster every square foot of public space with advertising and call it branding, they spend our taxes creating PR and cast it as News to make our vices (drugs, gambling, guns) look like virtues, up look down, black seem white,
We are hemoraging as a nation, totally polluted in our drive to consume; totally corrupt in our desire to perpetuate, and defend, the lie of 'free markets' on the world.
The issue is whether the PatriotAct expands .gov's .gov could feasibly attach a sniffer near some router, say a Comcast satellite, and monitor port 119 for headers containing alt.tradetowers.bomb.bomb.bomb.flame.flame.flame. /.'ers are doing more to promote hosting more secure traffic. NNTPS and .gov's success lies in plaintext traffic.
ability to extend pen-traps into the realm of
Internet packets. Pen-traps collect a form of meta-data, the a number called and ID's the 2 (or more) parties that the number connects. The analogy to the Internet would be to to sniff packets for header information and the machines (or user accounts) at the two ends of the packet stream.
with threatening national security being the probable cause. Once they see who's reading that newsgroup they drop a pen-trap on that specific host maching and presto, they know where you are and have a decent profile just based on sniffing the headers of the Ports you're connect to.
What boggles my mind is why
HTTPS at least; because the secrets to
My point is this:
.biz decision to drop their news servers or did they fail to mention opting out
.gov
When the ford-driving, black-shiny shoes start sniffing 119 using easily-read headers to build machine forensics based on a well-defined model of distributed heirarchies
and newsgroups to construct household and geograpical profiles and Usenet will be dead and the Internet will follow.
Spew follows:
I've had a longterm love affair w/Usenet going on 15yrs.
If it dies, my machine will be soooo lonely.
Its the best part of the net, so much to offer,
so well organized; perfectly distributed chaos in near-perfect categorization.
What a big fat target it is. Open wide for the neo-cons,
for Homeland Security, for the evangels;
cracking down on dissent and porn; making the
internet safe for the NewWorldOrder.
Everyone wags their finger at AOL while losing sight of the enlarging pictures. Was it just a
to protect their members privacy, not wanting to get caught in the fallout, the encroachments on our civili liberties.
Usenet is dead, the claim is made in the same breath which
touts google groups. what irony, News hosts are few and big and subject to scrutiny. And then we get to read:
Verisign, the first name in wiretapping, offers their NetDiscovery
verisign.com] service to law enforcement. In their words, Complete Lawful Intercept Service
And
criminal digital evidence processing work done by the DoD's Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3). The DoD blocked and traced 60,000 intrusion attempts on its unclassified networks in 2004, and wrestles with spam, illicit pornography and other common Internet threats.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0 5/01/15/14 24207
We're tuned into infomunchers but surrendering our rights, Mute to that spooky sense of something lurking in
the background, part of the noise, buried in the obvious.
with its nose to the packetstream,
While we bathe in connectivity, global hive minded
social networking semantic web content junkies;
We're seen from beyond as feeders, statistics,
a number in the system, a node on a line, a point to a
point, in a torrent, in a web.
In the big picture it doesnt matter what your orientation is,
just that your orientation can be watched. The new price of freedom.
I repeat: the medium, not the message, is what gives you
away. Your flight is unimportant, its where you land that
counts. The Internet succeeded so well at empowering
individuals, at promoting statelessness, that its put
on the defensive and a line-tap on us all. A bag on the side,
of the satellite, of the switch. "Your throughput is temporarily slowed due to maintenance, load-balancing, uh, mechanical
failure, sunspots and other acts of god". Gotta love the
offical explanations. While its quietly correllating and
and modelling sigint into high-def; to determine who is who,
and where they are and what they do, their brand of car.
If our plastic debt and phone records, DMV and background-check and balance sheets, finances and assets pattern our character Its our newsgroups and our favorites
and our buddylists and our bookmarks and our contacts and our viewing habits which color our personality
This is where the gems lie buried.
while we're continuously connecting in endlessly unfolding dramas tuned in and interacting with the avatars and bloggers and webmasters someones now watching all too closely not just watching but profiling
all by scanning headers of everyone's IP
We now become what we type and what we click on and buy into or subscribe or download or join or slurp
becomes absorbed in some Metadata totality.
Because for BigBrother its the medium, they don't care about
the message. They can shut down what they dont like, but
its better to leave it be (a honeypot) and watch the logs.
Its the medium, the Ports 'o Call we visit. HTTP,