"Most of the people my age that I met had been seriously abused physically and sexually by their parents, many of the older people I met were pathetic alcoholics, many were illiterate and mental illness was the order of the day."
That also describes the experience for a lot of people who grew up squarely in the middle class.
It couldn't be the fact that it costs nearly $40 for two people to see a movie with popcorn and drinks, could it?
That wasn't a showstopper for me, but, after paying that and THEN being treated to a trailer with a gaffer who claims that "film piracy" take food off his table, well, that was the last straw for me. That was my last entry into a first run house, with one possible exception: There's a film coming out this winter that I've waited all my life to see. After that, I doubt I will ever subject myself to a first run cinema. And Hollywood have themselves, not me, to blame. I remained a customer through the DMCA, through the Valenti years, and until now. But that was the absolute last straw, to make me pay for the privilege of being lied to and called a theif.
"20-25 percent of homeless people are seriously mentally ill."
But they aren't proposing tracking the diagnosed mentally ill. They are proposing tracking the *homeless* which includes a lot more than just "mentally ill" people. There are plenty of people who are homeless by choice. I know quite a few who live nomadic lives. And they are by no means mentally ill or incompetent.
To suggest that they are not entitled to the same rights as anyone else is downright unamerican.
"A moderation system where several such comments end up at "+5 insightful", thereby dilluting attention from the minority of +5 comments with good informtation is a vbery broken moderation system indeed. "
I'd change it to not cap the limit of moderation totals, certainly way higher than just "+5"... And then for the filter, I'd provide a logrithmic scale to filter the messages.
The thing that stuck out in the article for me, is that the perp believed the people he swindled would have gotten their money back. I would have thought so too. What's implied here, is that they did NOT get their money back -- even with the perp admitting the crimes and going to prison!
I'm pretty sure I'd be screaming bloody murder at this point, if I'd been a victim. I'd want to be reimbursed before his lawyers got paid, that's for damn sure.
I do a lot of ebay buying, mostly for used pro-audio equipment (I am a musician). Anyway, the one experience I had with a seller was just "almost" a problem. I bought an instrument on an auction that happened to be in the the same town as me, and when I went to pick it up, the guy told me he was still considering selling it to someone else. Since the deal went ok otherwise I didn't press the matter, but I was really insulted for a minute.
Ebay may have it's fraud, but I've had consistently good luck. I go for realistic deals and stick to either sellers that have good feedback profiles, and stay away from too-good-to-be-true deals.
On the other hand, I've heard several first-hand reports from people who got straight-up ripped off by the lowest-price vendor on a pricewatch search. Pricewatch continues to list vendors who are well-known swindlers. I think they should share the responsibility for the fraud. As in, be tried with the fraudsters as co-consipirators. RICO violations will get you a lot more than six years...
But the buyers didn't get their money back? That's not ok.
What I learned is that the "terrorist" don't have their shit together enough to seize a golden opportunity like this! There was never a more opportune time for an attack. They missed the boat. Tells me the supposed "terrorist threat" isn't all it's cracked up to be, and we need to move on.
"Testing" distributions are usually pretty well tested by the time you get to them. I wish that the packagers had chosen more appropriate names than "stable" and "unstable."
Stable == several years old. Unstable == test it yourself and freeze your own distribution -- DON'T automatically update it! The debian "testing" distribution is what most people should be interested in.
What's really funny about all this, is that a business environment should have IT staff that understand that there isn't that much to a "distribution"... Mostly the work is deciding what to leave out.
If you've standardized a hardware platform, build a kernel and moduleset for that platform. If you have a standard network config, configure for it. Build openssl and openssh from source, and deploy them. Using apache webserver? Build and tune it!
Very little of what's included in a Redhat or any other distribution really belongs on a corporate server or desktop.
Who are "they" and exactly how do you propose that "they" remove all source code on all mirrors? Are you saying that the historical source trees are going to just be deleted? Even the ones hosted in countries where SCO's claims are without merit?
Whether there is justification for the US to have a military presence in Cuba is not the issue, although I think it's a bizarre situation.
The issue is, how convenient it has become to put people into a prison camp on an island where civilians are not permitted to travel, no due process at all, just based on suspicion of a certain ideology.
>It would be similar to the United States >attempting to annex Cuba by extending the border >a further 90 miles south.
We seem to have no problem establishing prison camps for our political prisoners there. To me, that has been among the most troubling aspects of the post-2001 world.
>One of these titles on CD still command close to >fifteen dollars
What's funny about that is, the way those CD's are often made is by taking a mint LP, recording it to 48Khz DAT, doing a few postproduction tricks (a couple of effects and eq, some wave editing and perhaps a few imaging tricks in the time domain), and outputting a CD.
The fact of the matter is your LP sounds better, depending on what you measure. Note that I'm not playing the "Analog is better than Digital" card, but in cases where the "Digital" is the result of a 16-bit A-D conversion, the source material has characteristics that the destination lost.
Plus, if you still want digital, you can do it yourself with a 24bit soundcard and a few cubase plugins, and possibly get better results.
> Why doesn't the RIAA take some kind of action >against them
Well, for one thing, as you observed, they are overseas. Which means, they live in countries that have sovreign governments. The sort of action the RIAA can take, involves filing civil suits, acting as a witness in a criminal case, or lobbying the US Congress for reform of copyright laws. I suppose they could also approach the UN requesting action as well, but they tend to hold out for bigger problems before taking inaction.
The RIAA is not a government agency. It's sure as hell not an international police force. And, even if it were, its agents wouldn't really be operating in the countries they're talking about.
The status quo is such that the average person can afford not to care! If you can make the tyranny so outrageous that the average person cannot afford to be complacent -- because it means death (!) or let's just say, civil forfeiture and jail time even...
Unfortunately, the politicians are way ahead of you there and know just how far to push things, and how quickly.
Unless they still could muster the appeal and leadership ethos needed to divide the military command, their theories of popular rebellion versus tyranny would fall on the floor.
In order for the notion of taking up arms and fighting against the lawful authority of the land to be of any consequence today, "the people" will need sufficient arms to raise a credible opposition to the US forces.
I'm afraid that the founders would either need to rethink their strategy, or else, would need to be a bit more patient: Copyright law is not a divisive enough issue to split the command of the US military into battling factions...
If you want a revolution in your lifetime, work towards making the situation WORSE... It needs to become SO MUCH WORSE that the average reasonable person cannot live another day under the tyranny. Then, maybe, you might see the seeds of rebellion begin to be sown. But I do not believe the result of this will be very pleasant to anyone, not even in history books two centuries hence.
That's what people who speed say to justify their actions. But it isn't true.
I think a certain tolerance should be permitted. I even think that tolerance should be applied based on the driver's skill and the performance envelope of the vehicle, as well as road conditions. This is complex, but just a piece of my own utopia.
On the other hand, I believe that anyone who thinks it is okay to do >100MPH on the highway, and definitely anyone who speeds on a residential street should:
(A) Have their vehicle taken from them under civil forfeiture rules, just like they do for people who get busted with dope in their car.
(B) Have their drivers license taken away permanently and irrevocably. And if you get caught ever driving again, it should be the kind of thing that gets you 10-20 YEARS of hard time.
I'm totally serious. And I think you should drive the speed limit and stop pretending like you are exempt from it. Certainly use something better than ad-populum to justify your crime.
>We record all of our performances for our own >use, but can't sell--or even distribute for free- >-most of them, because of copyright laws.
You say you "can't" but, the truth is, you "won't."
Your group is the ideal sort to be on the front of the wave of civil disobedience. A university chorus performing only works that most people would consider classic.
But, I suppose your University is too dependent on Federal money, and is too interested in keeping the status quo.
I don't blame your group for playing it safe -- but if even YOU have already given up, the war is over and tyranny won.
If there was another operating system to switch to, more people might consider it.
Linux and BSD are wonderful in the areas where they work, but, as alternatives for the typical applications of media and end-user apps, they don't even bear consideration for the average user.
Even to the extent that software is available, hardware support is a train wreck. (If you want to argue with me on this point, attach linux and freebsd drivers for Broadcom 802.11b cards with your argument.)
After making a mistake and buying a linksys card, I have come to realize that there are very few options for PCI 802.11b and linux.
Two cards that are on the compatability list, the Linksys and the D-Link, both have been changed from Prism2/Intersil to Broadcom and TI, respectively.
I think it's neat that someone is working on a TI driver, but that's not really a reason to buy a TI card. And it looks hopeless for Broadcom, so my linksys card was a mistake.
Now, which card to buy? Rumor is, a 3Com card, but geez, that's a >$100.00 card. Maybe Netgear hasn't changed the chipset on MA311's?
If I didn't know better, I'd suspect this was an intentional shutting out of the non-windows world from wireless networking.
Bottom line, I need an 802.11g PCI card, preferably based on Prism2 and guaranteed to work with the linux-wlan driver.
Slashdot Mirror
"Most of the people my age that I met had been seriously abused physically and sexually by their parents, many of the older people I met were pathetic alcoholics, many were illiterate and mental illness was the order of the day."
That also describes the experience for a lot of people who grew up squarely in the middle class.
"These people sound as greedy and stupid as three-year-olds!"
Three year olds don't have the lobbying power to get Federal laws enacted.
It couldn't be the fact that it costs nearly $40 for two people to see a movie with popcorn and drinks, could it?
That wasn't a showstopper for me, but, after paying that and THEN being treated to a trailer with a gaffer who claims that "film piracy" take food off his table, well, that was the last straw for me. That was my last entry into a first run house, with one possible exception: There's a film coming out this winter that I've waited all my life to see. After that, I doubt I will ever subject myself to a first run cinema. And Hollywood have themselves, not me, to blame. I remained a customer through the DMCA, through the Valenti years, and until now. But that was the absolute last straw, to make me pay for the privilege of being lied to and called a theif.
"20-25 percent of homeless people are seriously mentally ill."
But they aren't proposing tracking the diagnosed mentally ill. They are proposing tracking the *homeless* which includes a lot more than just "mentally ill" people. There are plenty of people who are homeless by choice. I know quite a few who live nomadic lives. And they are by no means mentally ill or incompetent.
To suggest that they are not entitled to the same rights as anyone else is downright unamerican.
"A moderation system where several such comments end up at "+5 insightful", thereby dilluting attention from the minority of +5 comments with good informtation is a vbery broken moderation system indeed. "
I'd change it to not cap the limit of moderation totals, certainly way higher than just "+5"...
And then for the filter, I'd provide a logrithmic scale to filter the messages.
The thing that stuck out in the article for me, is that the perp believed the people he swindled would have gotten their money back. I would have thought so too. What's implied here, is that they did NOT get their money back -- even with the perp admitting the crimes and going to prison!
I'm pretty sure I'd be screaming bloody murder at this point, if I'd been a victim. I'd want to be reimbursed before his lawyers got paid, that's for damn sure.
I do a lot of ebay buying, mostly for used pro-audio equipment (I am a musician). Anyway, the one experience I had with a seller was just "almost" a problem. I bought an instrument on an auction that happened to be in the the same town as me, and when I went to pick it up, the guy told me he was still considering selling it to someone else. Since the deal went ok otherwise I didn't press the matter, but I was really insulted for a minute.
Ebay may have it's fraud, but I've had consistently good luck. I go for realistic deals and stick to either sellers that have good feedback profiles, and stay away from too-good-to-be-true deals.
On the other hand, I've heard several first-hand reports from people who got straight-up ripped off by the lowest-price vendor on a pricewatch search. Pricewatch continues to list vendors who are well-known swindlers. I think they should share the responsibility for the fraud. As in, be tried with the fraudsters as co-consipirators. RICO violations will get you a lot more than six years...
But the buyers didn't get their money back? That's not ok.
What I learned is that the "terrorist" don't have their shit together enough to seize a golden opportunity like this! There was never a more opportune time for an attack. They missed the boat. Tells me the supposed "terrorist threat" isn't all it's cracked up to be, and we need to move on.
"Testing" distributions are usually pretty well tested by the time you get to them. I wish that the packagers had chosen more appropriate names than "stable" and "unstable."
Stable == several years old.
Unstable == test it yourself and freeze your own distribution -- DON'T automatically update it!
The debian "testing" distribution is what most people should be interested in.
What's really funny about all this, is that a business environment should have IT staff that understand that there isn't that much to a "distribution"... Mostly the work is deciding what to leave out.
If you've standardized a hardware platform, build a kernel and moduleset for that platform. If you have a standard network config, configure for it. Build openssl and openssh from source, and deploy them. Using apache webserver? Build and tune it!
Very little of what's included in a Redhat or any other distribution really belongs on a corporate server or desktop.
>Now you know why I'm unemployed.
Because someone had to be the exception that proves the rule that "nobody ever got fired for buying Microsoft?"
It also doesn't say what hardware they are running it on.
I hope they kept a few E-Class Suns. I'd hate to think that they don't have the platform I'm running the DB on.
But it makes me wonder if they are running Linux on sun hardware, and if they are, when do we get Oracle for Linux-Ultrasparc?
>they'll remove it immediately
Who are "they" and exactly how do you propose that "they" remove all source code on all mirrors?
Are you saying that the historical source trees are going to just be deleted? Even the ones hosted in countries where SCO's claims are without merit?
Shame on me for replying to AC, but, wouldn't they have to be paying ME in order for me to be a whore? I think the roles are somewhat reversed here.
Whether there is justification for the US to have a military presence in Cuba is not the issue, although I think it's a bizarre situation.
The issue is, how convenient it has become to put people into a prison camp on an island where civilians are not permitted to travel, no due process at all, just based on suspicion of a certain ideology.
>It would be similar to the United States
>attempting to annex Cuba by extending the border
>a further 90 miles south.
We seem to have no problem establishing prison camps for our political prisoners there. To me, that has been among the most troubling aspects of the post-2001 world.
Why does it seem to always be the less-empowered employee suggesting linux, and the "Boss" resisting or rejecting it?
To me this is a symptom of something else: People who pursue technical careers do not gain positions of authority in corporations.
>One of these titles on CD still command close to
>fifteen dollars
What's funny about that is, the way those CD's are often made is by taking a mint LP, recording it to 48Khz DAT, doing a few postproduction tricks (a couple of effects and eq, some wave editing and perhaps a few imaging tricks in the time domain), and outputting a CD.
The fact of the matter is your LP sounds better, depending on what you measure. Note that I'm not playing the "Analog is better than Digital" card, but in cases where the "Digital" is the result of a 16-bit A-D conversion, the source material has characteristics that the destination lost.
Plus, if you still want digital, you can do it yourself with a 24bit soundcard and a few cubase plugins, and possibly get better results.
>Couple of hundred bucks mostly
You ever been involved in production? The cover art can be anything from a 15 cent photocopy to a million dollar commission.
Throw in a photo by Annie Leibowitz or a Peter Max original and you're talking real money... Quite possibly more than the band got.
>these people overseas...
> Why doesn't the RIAA take some kind of action
>against them
Well, for one thing, as you observed, they are overseas. Which means, they live in countries that have sovreign governments. The sort of action the RIAA can take, involves filing civil suits, acting as a witness in a criminal case, or lobbying the US Congress for reform of copyright laws. I suppose they could also approach the UN requesting action as well, but they tend to hold out for bigger problems before taking inaction.
The RIAA is not a government agency. It's sure as hell not an international police force. And, even if it were, its agents wouldn't really be operating in the countries they're talking about.
YES! Someone who understands!
The status quo is such that the average person can afford not to care! If you can make the tyranny so outrageous that the average person cannot afford to be complacent -- because it means death (!) or let's just say, civil forfeiture and jail time even...
Unfortunately, the politicians are way ahead of you there and know just how far to push things, and how quickly.
>... they would pick up their arms and fight.
Unless they still could muster the appeal and leadership ethos needed to divide the military command, their theories of popular rebellion versus tyranny would fall on the floor.
In order for the notion of taking up arms and fighting against the lawful authority of the land to be of any consequence today, "the people" will need sufficient arms to raise a credible opposition to the US forces.
I'm afraid that the founders would either need to rethink their strategy, or else, would need to be a bit more patient: Copyright law is not a divisive enough issue to split the command of the US military into battling factions...
If you want a revolution in your lifetime, work towards making the situation WORSE... It needs to become SO MUCH WORSE that the average reasonable person cannot live another day under the tyranny. Then, maybe, you might see the seeds of rebellion begin to be sown. But I do not believe the result of this will be very pleasant to anyone, not even in history books two centuries hence.
> EVERYONE speeds
That's what people who speed say to justify their actions. But it isn't true.
I think a certain tolerance should be permitted. I even think that tolerance should be applied based on the driver's skill and the performance envelope of the vehicle, as well as road conditions. This is complex, but just a piece of my own utopia.
On the other hand, I believe that anyone who thinks it is okay to do >100MPH on the highway, and definitely anyone who speeds on a residential street should:
(A) Have their vehicle taken from them under civil forfeiture rules, just like they do for people who get busted with dope in their car.
(B) Have their drivers license taken away permanently and irrevocably. And if you get caught ever driving again, it should be the kind of thing that gets you 10-20 YEARS of hard time.
I'm totally serious. And I think you should drive the speed limit and stop pretending like you are exempt from it. Certainly use something better than ad-populum to justify your crime.
>We record all of our performances for our own
>use, but can't sell--or even distribute for free-
>-most of them, because of copyright laws.
You say you "can't" but, the truth is, you "won't."
Your group is the ideal sort to be on the front of the wave of civil disobedience. A university chorus performing only works that most people would consider classic.
But, I suppose your University is too dependent on Federal money, and is too interested in keeping the status quo.
I don't blame your group for playing it safe -- but if even YOU have already given up, the war is over and tyranny won.
"Nobody" cares about copyright law... The same "nobody" cares to participate in a revolutionary political process. Hell, they don't even vote.
>switching to another operating system.
If there was another operating system to switch to, more people might consider it.
Linux and BSD are wonderful in the areas where they work, but, as alternatives for the typical applications of media and end-user apps, they don't even bear consideration for the average user.
Even to the extent that software is available, hardware support is a train wreck. (If you want to argue with me on this point, attach linux and freebsd drivers for Broadcom 802.11b cards with your argument.)
After making a mistake and buying a linksys card, I have come to realize that there are very few options for PCI 802.11b and linux.
Two cards that are on the compatability list, the Linksys and the D-Link, both have been changed from Prism2/Intersil to Broadcom and TI, respectively.
I think it's neat that someone is working on a TI driver, but that's not really a reason to buy a TI card. And it looks hopeless for Broadcom, so my linksys card was a mistake.
Now, which card to buy? Rumor is, a 3Com card, but geez, that's a >$100.00 card. Maybe Netgear hasn't changed the chipset on MA311's?
If I didn't know better, I'd suspect this was an intentional shutting out of the non-windows world from wireless networking.
Bottom line, I need an 802.11g PCI card, preferably based on Prism2 and guaranteed to work with the linux-wlan driver.