Or they're just plain crashed, due to poor management, viruses, DoS attacks, and other fun stuff like that. Or there could be the Great Hard Disk Failure of 2001, as my brother had recently.
There are definitely some sites out there that have disappeared, never to be seen again. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, either...
(3) A little P2-266 for step sister who has never owned a computer before. She almost hyper ventilated when she got
it. Sometimes the joy is in seeing something I take for granted, like technology, even old technology, greatly
appreciated by someone who is not surrounded by it 24/7.
Hey! I still use one of those! It's my primary (and only) computer at college! It's a workhorse, and it gets things done, just not as fast as everyone else who has shiny new computers just waiting to be filled with viruses and MP3s. I just secure it tighter than Fort Knox to keep viruses and worms away.
The day when a PII-266 is old is the day I graduate four years from now. I consider a Mac Classic or an Apple II-C old.
Stuff I did for (and before) Christmas
on
Merry Christmas
·
· Score: 1
Worked a Friday night Cosmic Bowling and a Sunday night Country Cosmic Bowling shift at Timber Lanes.
Got rear-ended at a stop-light in front of the bowling alley on Saturday afternoon.
Saw Ocean's Eleven.
Played Super Monkey Ball and Super Smash Bros. on my brother's Game Cube he brought home from college.
Checked my college grades for updates, ended up with a 3.51 first semester (freshman year).
Rebuilt a PC infested with MP3s and viruses (not mine).
Watched The Godfather for the first time.
Sat around on the computer.
I like it so far. Want to go skiing soon, though...
Hey... I'm a college student. I have things to do. The bowling alley is a busy place right now. I don't mind taking a little pressure off. And I only have three weeks, not a month like most schools. Not like it makes much of a difference...
The courts have consistently ruled that malls aren't public places, to the extent that malls can enforce their own dress codes, prohibit picketing, ban soliciting or pamphleting, prohibit "mall-walkers" (the folk who walk round & round for exercise), etc.
I'm not sure I can agree with you on this one. About two months ago, I was visiting Portland, OR and was in a mall there. They had a sign that said something to the extent of "The Oregon State Supreme Court has ruled that people have a right to peaceful picketing and protesting within any public place, including a mall."
Perhaps in some places, they have given mall-owners the right to ban certain things, but apparently the state of Oregon thinks slightly different. Since malls are widely used by the public and are an amalgamation of many different vendors/stores/food establishments, etc., one could compare a shopping center to a place like Copley Plaza or Newbury Street in Boston (both public places).
I'm not sure what the laws are here in the Commonwealth, but I'm pretty sure that people have the right to picket or distribute literature at malls. I've seen political candidates from all sides handing out materials at some malls, and nothing is done to stop them. So a mall may be more "public" than you think.
Criminal Courts involve the State (one of the 50, or the United States) vs. an individual. There is a prosecutor and a defendant.
Criminal courts can also involve Commonwealths, of which there are 4, not just States (46). For instance, if you were in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, or Virginia, your case would be known as Commonwealth of KY/MA/PA/VA v. Joe Schmoe. Everywhere else, it's The People of the State of California v. John Doe.
One example of the status of Commonwealth for these four states was one famous case in the 1920s: Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.
I know it's nitpicky, but I just felt like pointing that out.
I'm very happy to read that Red Hat, a company which produces an easy-to-use Linux distribution (Open-Sourced, of course), is helping to preserve our freedoms and rights online by helping to fund the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). This is certainly a positive development in the fight against online censorship.
The free-speech-online movement needs all the financial support it can get. Conservative groups who threaten to censor the 'net are lavishly funded (like the Christian Coalition) and thus have more lobbying power than the EFF does. Red Hat, a well-recognized Linux company, is definitely doing the right thing by supporting the Foundation.
If more companies like Red Hat would contribute more money to organizations like the EFF and the Censorware Project, those orgs. could help spread the word and inform people about Internet censorship. Knowledge may be power, but a little money doesn't hurt either...
What about Ralph Nader? He's a consumer advocate / progressive, and he will protect our freedoms while guaranteeing Americans their rights while at work and when buying. Sure, he may have killed the Corvair, but it's a small price to pay for a great Presidential hopeful.
Check this article out if you want to take a humorous (and fictional) look at the way the National Rifle Association and gun proponents laud the use of firearms and campaign against trigger locks.
For the past few months, I've been keeping up with Slashdot's reports on Internet filtering, especially in public libraries. This C|Net article shows what many of us may have seen all along... censorware (AOL's in particular) has a conservative bias.
Even though C|Net only published this article yesterday, many of us had known it for quite a while. In fact, some of the groups that had promoted censorware included conservative organizations such as the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family, as well as the Christian Coalition. However, this is not to say that all conservatives support censorship. Look at the Libertarians, for example. They don't want government in ANY part of their lives. I used to be a conservative, and I didn't support censorship (as a progressive, I am still adamantly against it). I don't think my father, a Republican, would promote it. So don't go blaming every conservative for advocating censorship, because some of them are fighting it zealously.
As well, we must worry about liberal bias in filterware. Some of the same people who rail against right-wing censorship also want to silence Dr. Laura Schlesinger and get rid of Web sites they find to be non-PC (politically correct). There may be some liberal companies developing censorware and putting on their blacklists sites that promote views that conflict with theirs. People using those programs may be unable to access the RNC and NRA Web sites, like those who use AOL may not be able to access the DNC and the ACLU sites.
My point: Censorship is bad, no matter who does it. It's not all coming from one particular group. Liberals are just as guilty as conservatives. Information should be free and open to all people.
...you can't drink, gamble or be old enough to look at pr0n until 21.
Actually, in most jurisdictions, you can look at pornography at age 18. Only a few states actually make the legal age 21 for purchasing it. I believe there are four of them, and one is Alabama. I don't remember the rest...
Even Iraq, Iran, and China have signed the Convention, affirming their belief in children's rights and protections. Is that to say that the United States is worse than these less-than-free countries?
Seriously, I think the only reason why the United States has not signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is because of the Religious Reich fundamentalists who think that this will force them to allow their children to view pornography or make their own decisions, or that it may outlaw corporal punishment. They want to defend their "right" to "raise their children as they see fit" even if that means beating the living hell out of them. There is a great deal of misinformation going around about the Convention, and that is what is keeping the U.S. Senate from ratifying it.
As long as American lawmakers view anything as a threat to their sovereignty, they will not agree with it. That goes hand in hand with the "American attitude" that we're supposedly superior to the rest of the world, when in reality, we're falling behind.
I highly recommend the use of public transportation during your stay in Boston. As a Massachusetts resident who lives 25 miles south of the city, I know that traffic in Boston can be horrendous, particularly on the Central Artery (I-93) in the morning and afternoon (especially when there is an event at the FleetCenter). Taking a taxi can be rather expensive, and driving around and finding places to park is quite a hassle.
Boston's public transportation system, the MBTA (known to us as "The T"), is reliable, clean, safe, and inexpensive (fare = $0.85, one of the few cities where you can take public transportation for less than a dollar). If you're coming from Logan Airport, take a Blue Line train inbound to Government Center and change over there to the Green Line. Take a southbound train to the Boylston Street stop. The Park Plaza castle is about two blocks away from the T station.
Hope that helps. If you've never visited the Commonwealth before, I wouldn't recommend driving here. We're notorious for road rage and poor driving skills.
As you all know, when you walk into a store with a large magazine section, you'll see the pr0n all covered up with a brown wrapper - although it is still available.
Not necessarily. I was in Harvard Square this afternoon looking for newspapers at the "Out of Town News" stand. On the top shelf of one place, there were several pornographic publications. One or two of them even included full rear (not frontal) nudity and "masked" female masturbation! I thought, "Cool!" and lamented the fact that I don't turn eighteen until September. Funny that right next to publications about foreign policy and domestic affairs are porno magazines.
Of course, Cambridge, MA is an exception because it's a very liberal area (much like the rest of Massachusetts). And I like it that way...
At the VERY VERY LEAST, Mozilla needs to be as fast as Netscape 3.
Speaking of Netscape 3, I downloaded the old Netscape 3.0 from Netscape's FTP archives. And it works really well! I used to use it on a P5-60, and now I (sometimes) use it on a P-233 MMX. Runs really well, works smoothly, and their e-mail and news clients are still pretty good.
If you'd like to download it, here is the link to it. Sorry, Windoze only:o( But maybe WINE would work...
If the majority of people want to restrict the free speech of others....not fine.
I agree with you wholeheartedly on this one. Some people forget that along with the concept of "majority rule" comes "minority right". Even though many people may want to impose something over an entire society, the rights of many cannot infringe upon the rights of all. Fundamentally, every person is important. Therefore, one large group should not be able to force society to follow all of their rules.
Just because an entire group of people agrees with you doesn't mean it's right. Look at the death penalty, for example...
More moderation scares me as there is already a problem of moderators voting their politics.
I don't think I can speak for all moderators, but I try not to vote by my politics. I tend to look for posts with depth, insight, and new material. I will moderate those up in order to encourage that type of posting. On the other hand, I have no problem moderating down any post that, even though it may be marked "Insightful" or "Funny", isn't that good in my opinion. I think it's kinda stupid that some posts with only one or two sentences get moderated all the way up to 5.
Even though Rob tells moderators to browse at -1 to look for abuses, I try not to. I've browsed comments at -1 maybe once or twice, and there is just so much crap that it's just unbearable. Seems as if those who get knocked down to -1 really deserve it. Notice that they're usually not logged-in users either.
My karma is only 10, and I don't even use Linux (I actually use Windoze). But the fact that I frequently get moderator access shows just how democratic the Slashdot community really is. I'm really just here to learn more and read some interesting insights rather than promote one operating system over the other.
Postscript: Wish I had Linux. But I have a Windoze NT proxy server that I connect to the 'net to, and I'm not sure how I would patch a Linux box through there. Plus, I play a lot of Windoze games and use Windoze apps...
that's why we should scrap the electoral collage. Its so stupid...
Why scrap the Electoral College? It's worked for more than two hundred years since the Constitution was ratified, so why attempt to fix that which is not broken?
Before you think about getting rid of the Electoral College in favor of a popular vote, think of this: Hitler was elected by popular vote. Twice.
RM. Realmedia ain't bad, but it just doesn't scale up too well. There's this common delusion that only people with broadband links should be able to view high quality video--in this paradigm, RealMedia can do OK, since relatively few people have consistently extreme high bandwidth links to the Net. But, ya know what? This paradigm leaves millions of people unable to view high quality video, except on television.
Personally, I have a Broadband connection to the Internet (1.5 Mbps). Most RealVideo files are only set for 28.8 or 56.6 connections, so the video quality is not much improved. Only a few of the RealVideo SureStreams are of high quality, but they still are not crystal clear. Otherwise, we're stuck with the same low-quality audio/video streams as everyone else. We just get to access them faster.
Until more sites offer streaming media for multiple connection speeds (some have done so already), those like myself who have coaxial cable connections to the Internet will not benefit at all from high bandwidth.
So go easy on Lucas, okay? He's only trying to make a buck.
Funny, but true: Lucas is only trying to make some money. The article says that Lucas funded the entire production himself and received no studio money. Everyone who paints Lucas as a money-hungry greedy little bastard is a bit wrong-headed on this point. How would you like to create a movie with a budget of at least $100M out of your own pocket?
Let's just say that I'd have to umpire a lot of Little League baseball games to make my bank account healthy again...
The lights stayed on. The water kept running. The earth remained intact. Dick Clark kissed his wife. And I celebrated in my living room, alone (my brother was in the basement). He reported two minutes after the fateful instant that he had successfully connected with Slashdot. But he knew that his system was Y2K ready. I didn't.
So, about eight minutes after the beginning of the new century, I nervously approached my Windows 98 PC and hit the "Power" button. I had done no BIOS tests and upgraded only a little software. Hell, everyone I knew that knew anything about computers was telling me that Win98 was going to shit the bed come January 1, 2000! My computer went through the Boot Sequence and... stalled. I began to worry. Did this mean my system had died on me? I waited two more seconds... and it continued booting into Windows. I logged onto my home LAN (connected by proxy server to the Internet), checked my e-mail, and visited Slashdot, where I am right now.
Having put away my flashlight, booted my computer, and dashed off an e-mail, I'm sitting here typing this message while enjoying a can of Fresca (sugar free citrus drink, I'm diabetic) and being thankful to God for the past two thousand years.
about a year ago it was found that 2 writers for the Boston Globe were making up stories and printing them
Those names would be Patricia Smith and Mike Barnicle. They come up often in my high school journalism class (when we talk about libel, plagiarism, etc.) They are textbook examples of such. Both stories made national news and were very embarrassing to the Globe.
Patricia Smith used composite, fictional characters, and Mike Barnicle lifted quotes from George Carlin's book, Brain Droppings, without giving proper credit. I don't know where Smith is, but I do know Barnicle is writing for someone else.
Hence all the rumors (before Divx's demise) that the original Trilogy would be only released on Divx because of the triple-encrypted protection that Circuit City's format offered. This, of course, was an outright lie in order to drum up consumer support for Divx. Now, thanks to consumer education, Divx is dead, and Open DVD reigns supreme!
Indeed, Lucas doesn't really like DVD, but if it becomes the dominant format, he will really have no choice but to release it on DVD if he wants to stay competitive.
I guess that Lucas is still going to pull the "make 'em wait" crap with The Phantom Menace. We probably won't see the entire collection on DVD until 2006 or so. Don't count on the original Trilogy (episodes 4-6) to be released on DVD anytime soon either.
I don't know why Star Wars has to be one of the only franchises that makes people wait forever between film and video releases. Every other movie is coming out on video three to four months after it is in the theatres. Hell, I rented South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut in November, just a few short months after it wrapped up on the big screen! Even The Matrix came out pretty quickly, and I hear they may be going immediately into production of a sequel (unlike what Lucas would do). They're not going to make us wait.
Slashdot Mirror
Or they're just plain crashed, due to poor management, viruses, DoS attacks, and other fun stuff like that. Or there could be the Great Hard Disk Failure of 2001, as my brother had recently.
There are definitely some sites out there that have disappeared, never to be seen again. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, either...
Hey! I still use one of those! It's my primary (and only) computer at college! It's a workhorse, and it gets things done, just not as fast as everyone else who has shiny new computers just waiting to be filled with viruses and MP3s. I just secure it tighter than Fort Knox to keep viruses and worms away.
The day when a PII-266 is old is the day I graduate four years from now. I consider a Mac Classic or an Apple II-C old.
Worked a Friday night Cosmic Bowling and a Sunday night Country Cosmic Bowling shift at Timber Lanes.
Got rear-ended at a stop-light in front of the bowling alley on Saturday afternoon.
Saw Ocean's Eleven.
Played Super Monkey Ball and Super Smash Bros. on my brother's Game Cube he brought home from college.
Checked my college grades for updates, ended up with a 3.51 first semester (freshman year).
Rebuilt a PC infested with MP3s and viruses (not mine).
Watched The Godfather for the first time.
Sat around on the computer.
I like it so far. Want to go skiing soon, though...
Hey... I'm a college student. I have things to do. The bowling alley is a busy place right now. I don't mind taking a little pressure off. And I only have three weeks, not a month like most schools. Not like it makes much of a difference...
Don't forget George W. Bush's running mate, Dick Cheney! That'll never slip through!
awkwardone
I'm not sure I can agree with you on this one. About two months ago, I was visiting Portland, OR and was in a mall there. They had a sign that said something to the extent of "The Oregon State Supreme Court has ruled that people have a right to peaceful picketing and protesting within any public place, including a mall."
Perhaps in some places, they have given mall-owners the right to ban certain things, but apparently the state of Oregon thinks slightly different. Since malls are widely used by the public and are an amalgamation of many different vendors/stores/food establishments, etc., one could compare a shopping center to a place like Copley Plaza or Newbury Street in Boston (both public places).
I'm not sure what the laws are here in the Commonwealth, but I'm pretty sure that people have the right to picket or distribute literature at malls. I've seen political candidates from all sides handing out materials at some malls, and nothing is done to stop them. So a mall may be more "public" than you think.
awkwardone
Criminal courts can also involve Commonwealths, of which there are 4, not just States (46). For instance, if you were in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, or Virginia, your case would be known as Commonwealth of KY/MA/PA/VA v. Joe Schmoe. Everywhere else, it's The People of the State of California v. John Doe.
One example of the status of Commonwealth for these four states was one famous case in the 1920s: Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.
I know it's nitpicky, but I just felt like pointing that out.
awkwardone
I'm very happy to read that Red Hat, a company which produces an easy-to-use Linux distribution (Open-Sourced, of course), is helping to preserve our freedoms and rights online by helping to fund the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). This is certainly a positive development in the fight against online censorship.
The free-speech-online movement needs all the financial support it can get. Conservative groups who threaten to censor the 'net are lavishly funded (like the Christian Coalition) and thus have more lobbying power than the EFF does. Red Hat, a well-recognized Linux company, is definitely doing the right thing by supporting the Foundation.
If more companies like Red Hat would contribute more money to organizations like the EFF and the Censorware Project, those orgs. could help spread the word and inform people about Internet censorship. Knowledge may be power, but a little money doesn't hurt either...
awkwardone
What about Ralph Nader? He's a consumer advocate / progressive, and he will protect our freedoms while guaranteeing Americans their rights while at work and when buying. Sure, he may have killed the Corvair, but it's a small price to pay for a great Presidential hopeful.
awkwardone
Check this article out if you want to take a humorous (and fictional) look at the way the National Rifle Association and gun proponents laud the use of firearms and campaign against trigger locks.
It's not real, but it could happen...
awkwardone
For the past few months, I've been keeping up with Slashdot's reports on Internet filtering, especially in public libraries. This C|Net article shows what many of us may have seen all along... censorware (AOL's in particular) has a conservative bias.
Even though C|Net only published this article yesterday, many of us had known it for quite a while. In fact, some of the groups that had promoted censorware included conservative organizations such as the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family, as well as the Christian Coalition. However, this is not to say that all conservatives support censorship. Look at the Libertarians, for example. They don't want government in ANY part of their lives. I used to be a conservative, and I didn't support censorship (as a progressive, I am still adamantly against it). I don't think my father, a Republican, would promote it. So don't go blaming every conservative for advocating censorship, because some of them are fighting it zealously.
As well, we must worry about liberal bias in filterware. Some of the same people who rail against right-wing censorship also want to silence Dr. Laura Schlesinger and get rid of Web sites they find to be non-PC (politically correct). There may be some liberal companies developing censorware and putting on their blacklists sites that promote views that conflict with theirs. People using those programs may be unable to access the RNC and NRA Web sites, like those who use AOL may not be able to access the DNC and the ACLU sites.
My point: Censorship is bad, no matter who does it. It's not all coming from one particular group. Liberals are just as guilty as conservatives. Information should be free and open to all people.
awkwardone
Actually, in most jurisdictions, you can look at pornography at age 18. Only a few states actually make the legal age 21 for purchasing it. I believe there are four of them, and one is Alabama. I don't remember the rest...
awkwardone
Even Iraq, Iran, and China have signed the Convention, affirming their belief in children's rights and protections. Is that to say that the United States is worse than these less-than-free countries?
Seriously, I think the only reason why the United States has not signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is because of the Religious Reich fundamentalists who think that this will force them to allow their children to view pornography or make their own decisions, or that it may outlaw corporal punishment. They want to defend their "right" to "raise their children as they see fit" even if that means beating the living hell out of them. There is a great deal of misinformation going around about the Convention, and that is what is keeping the U.S. Senate from ratifying it.
As long as American lawmakers view anything as a threat to their sovereignty, they will not agree with it. That goes hand in hand with the "American attitude" that we're supposedly superior to the rest of the world, when in reality, we're falling behind.
awkwardone
I highly recommend the use of public transportation during your stay in Boston. As a Massachusetts resident who lives 25 miles south of the city, I know that traffic in Boston can be horrendous, particularly on the Central Artery (I-93) in the morning and afternoon (especially when there is an event at the FleetCenter). Taking a taxi can be rather expensive, and driving around and finding places to park is quite a hassle.
Boston's public transportation system, the MBTA (known to us as "The T"), is reliable, clean, safe, and inexpensive (fare = $0.85, one of the few cities where you can take public transportation for less than a dollar). If you're coming from Logan Airport, take a Blue Line train inbound to Government Center and change over there to the Green Line. Take a southbound train to the Boylston Street stop. The Park Plaza castle is about two blocks away from the T station.
Hope that helps. If you've never visited the Commonwealth before, I wouldn't recommend driving here. We're notorious for road rage and poor driving skills.
Enjoy your stay in Boston!
awkwardone
Not necessarily. I was in Harvard Square this afternoon looking for newspapers at the "Out of Town News" stand. On the top shelf of one place, there were several pornographic publications. One or two of them even included full rear (not frontal) nudity and "masked" female masturbation! I thought, "Cool!" and lamented the fact that I don't turn eighteen until September. Funny that right next to publications about foreign policy and domestic affairs are porno magazines.
Of course, Cambridge, MA is an exception because it's a very liberal area (much like the rest of Massachusetts). And I like it that way...
awkwardone
Speaking of Netscape 3, I downloaded the old Netscape 3.0 from Netscape's FTP archives. And it works really well! I used to use it on a P5-60, and now I (sometimes) use it on a P-233 MMX. Runs really well, works smoothly, and their e-mail and news clients are still pretty good.
If you'd like to download it, here is the link to it. Sorry, Windoze only :o( But maybe WINE would work...
awkwardone
I agree with you wholeheartedly on this one. Some people forget that along with the concept of "majority rule" comes "minority right". Even though many people may want to impose something over an entire society, the rights of many cannot infringe upon the rights of all. Fundamentally, every person is important. Therefore, one large group should not be able to force society to follow all of their rules.
Just because an entire group of people agrees with you doesn't mean it's right. Look at the death penalty, for example...
awkwardone
ucblockhead wrote:
I don't think I can speak for all moderators, but I try not to vote by my politics. I tend to look for posts with depth, insight, and new material. I will moderate those up in order to encourage that type of posting. On the other hand, I have no problem moderating down any post that, even though it may be marked "Insightful" or "Funny", isn't that good in my opinion. I think it's kinda stupid that some posts with only one or two sentences get moderated all the way up to 5.
Even though Rob tells moderators to browse at -1 to look for abuses, I try not to. I've browsed comments at -1 maybe once or twice, and there is just so much crap that it's just unbearable. Seems as if those who get knocked down to -1 really deserve it. Notice that they're usually not logged-in users either.
My karma is only 10, and I don't even use Linux (I actually use Windoze). But the fact that I frequently get moderator access shows just how democratic the Slashdot community really is. I'm really just here to learn more and read some interesting insights rather than promote one operating system over the other.
Postscript: Wish I had Linux. But I have a Windoze NT proxy server that I connect to the 'net to, and I'm not sure how I would patch a Linux box through there. Plus, I play a lot of Windoze games and use Windoze apps...
awkwardone
Why scrap the Electoral College? It's worked for more than two hundred years since the Constitution was ratified, so why attempt to fix that which is not broken?
Before you think about getting rid of the Electoral College in favor of a popular vote, think of this: Hitler was elected by popular vote. Twice.
Just my $0.02.
awkwardone
Personally, I have a Broadband connection to the Internet (1.5 Mbps). Most RealVideo files are only set for 28.8 or 56.6 connections, so the video quality is not much improved. Only a few of the RealVideo SureStreams are of high quality, but they still are not crystal clear. Otherwise, we're stuck with the same low-quality audio/video streams as everyone else. We just get to access them faster.
Until more sites offer streaming media for multiple connection speeds (some have done so already), those like myself who have coaxial cable connections to the Internet will not benefit at all from high bandwidth.
awkwardone
Funny, but true: Lucas is only trying to make some money. The article says that Lucas funded the entire production himself and received no studio money. Everyone who paints Lucas as a money-hungry greedy little bastard is a bit wrong-headed on this point. How would you like to create a movie with a budget of at least $100M out of your own pocket?
Let's just say that I'd have to umpire a lot of Little League baseball games to make my bank account healthy again...
awkwardone
The lights stayed on. The water kept running. The earth remained intact. Dick Clark kissed his wife. And I celebrated in my living room, alone (my brother was in the basement). He reported two minutes after the fateful instant that he had successfully connected with Slashdot. But he knew that his system was Y2K ready. I didn't.
So, about eight minutes after the beginning of the new century, I nervously approached my Windows 98 PC and hit the "Power" button. I had done no BIOS tests and upgraded only a little software. Hell, everyone I knew that knew anything about computers was telling me that Win98 was going to shit the bed come January 1, 2000! My computer went through the Boot Sequence and... stalled. I began to worry. Did this mean my system had died on me? I waited two more seconds... and it continued booting into Windows. I logged onto my home LAN (connected by proxy server to the Internet), checked my e-mail, and visited Slashdot, where I am right now.
Having put away my flashlight, booted my computer, and dashed off an e-mail, I'm sitting here typing this message while enjoying a can of Fresca (sugar free citrus drink, I'm diabetic) and being thankful to God for the past two thousand years.
Happy New Year to all, and God bless!
Only 366 days until the new millennium!
awkwardone
Those names would be Patricia Smith and Mike Barnicle. They come up often in my high school journalism class (when we talk about libel, plagiarism, etc.) They are textbook examples of such. Both stories made national news and were very embarrassing to the Globe.
Patricia Smith used composite, fictional characters, and Mike Barnicle lifted quotes from George Carlin's book, Brain Droppings, without giving proper credit. I don't know where Smith is, but I do know Barnicle is writing for someone else.
awkwardone
Hence all the rumors (before Divx's demise) that the original Trilogy would be only released on Divx because of the triple-encrypted protection that Circuit City's format offered. This, of course, was an outright lie in order to drum up consumer support for Divx. Now, thanks to consumer education, Divx is dead, and Open DVD reigns supreme!
Indeed, Lucas doesn't really like DVD, but if it becomes the dominant format, he will really have no choice but to release it on DVD if he wants to stay competitive.
awkwardone
I guess that Lucas is still going to pull the "make 'em wait" crap with The Phantom Menace. We probably won't see the entire collection on DVD until 2006 or so. Don't count on the original Trilogy (episodes 4-6) to be released on DVD anytime soon either.
I don't know why Star Wars has to be one of the only franchises that makes people wait forever between film and video releases. Every other movie is coming out on video three to four months after it is in the theatres. Hell, I rented South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut in November, just a few short months after it wrapped up on the big screen! Even The Matrix came out pretty quickly, and I hear they may be going immediately into production of a sequel (unlike what Lucas would do). They're not going to make us wait.
Merry Christmas, everyone :o)
awkwardone