Trouble is, as I see it, people complain when they're getting the short end of the stick, but almost always sell out when they get a chance to grab the long end. "The rest of us" can't beat the bastard elites, even though in theory we're stronger than them, because every time a few of us get a little leverage we switch sides.
That's an exceptionally good point. You not only have to win the ground, you have to defend it as well. That's why politics is such a difficult game, one where gains and losses are generally measured in tiny increments.
And yes, as we saw with the 'flower power' generation (and every other besides), no sooner does a group achieve entitlement than they start blocking others from achieving it. The bastard elites will always exist, and there will always be a disenfranchised group fighting for a place at the table.
Again, that's what makes The System a pain in the ass to contend with: There's always some bastard elite trying to hold onto what they've got. Sometimes they're right to do so, sometimes not.
What's good for them and what's good for us are two different things.
Unfortunately, they've got billions of dollars and we don't.
Where, pray tell, do you think the billions of dollars come from?
The level of cynicism in the US these days is appalling. Given the number of things that are wrong with the country, and the relatively sophisticated level of interaction that we see on slashdot[*], you'd think that action might occasionally result. But no, the very people whom you empower to make stupid decisions are treated as some kind of force of Nature, no more controllable than the weather.
Yes, the system is fucked from top to bottom. Yes, getting anything done is boring and tedious and draining and maddening and prone to delay. It's designed that way to keep things from changing. Yes, dream as one might about overnight revolution, the only major changes to happen in the US since the revolution have taken decades as often as not. Equality for all races is still not fully achieved, a century and a half after people first began fighting about it. The very concept of the government as having a role in preserving the welfare of the people remains contentious and under constant challenge, fully two generations after it was first introduced as policy.
What, did you think there was any other way? Did you think you could just throw a hissy fit and the nation would re-shape itself to fit your latest whim?
The media are corrupt and debased, so find better sources for reporting, analysis and commentary. They're there to be found. Yes, your politician is a small-minded dick (or dick-ette) who's happier to comment on some inane 'wedge issue' than take an actual stance on policy. That's because the tactic works. Challenge them, primary them, pick on them and don't let up. Pick your battles and goddam well fight them.
Yes, you're going to lose a lot of the time. Most successes will be compromises that will make you throw up a little in your own mouth. But you'll have moved the sticks another yard.
Even if you do none of the above, please, for Christ's sake, stop throwing up your hands in despair. Come on, you're clever people! Act like it for once.
You - more than the nut-bars on either fringe - are the people who most make me want to despair. You're smart enough to know better, and to achieve real change, but you've already given up. There will be nut-jobs in every generation; what's tragic about this one is that you've ceded the entire political process to them.
----------
[*] I said 'relatively'. Relative to the average forum, yes, this is sophisticated. Hell, you're even reading the footnotes, so QED. 8^)
do you remember what it was like being 15? i bet ie's plotting to get opera in bed or something:)
On the contrary, it's mostly wanking, spreading herpes to your 'friends' and spending the rest of the time waiting for the universe to recognise your genius and bend itself into shape for you....
... Now that I think about, your analogy works perfectly. 8^)
Yeah right, let the interns do the job. Not. Interns use new tools no one understands, then finish the project during their term, then move on and let the most probably buggy or unfinished project behind. Pitty for the person who has to cleanup the mess. Better do the job on your own, know the tools or hire someone permanently for the whole deptartment.
Just guessing here, but is your copy editor an intern?
He actually bought the word "digital"! It seems you've used it without permission...lawyers with lasers on their heads are on their way, please do not resist.
You'll recognise them by their fins and sharp teeth.
You were joking, but I honestly use that, and refuse to believe that it is incorrect. I don't see any reason why I can't use a saxon genitive with pronouns.
I stepped on the cat's tail
I stepped on it's tail
See? Logical. And screw contractions, why should they take precedence?
You'r logic is inescapable. If someone tells you otherwise, tell him he can take hi's grammar and shove it.
Mr. Assange then replied: "I'm very busy and have no time to deal with people who prefer to do nothing but cover their asses. If Amnesty does nothing I shall issue a press release highlighting its refusal," according to people familiar with the exchange.
Kind of comes off as a narcissistic jerk here.
"A jerk, and a narcissistic one at that? Well, fuck him, then! Hanging's too good for him. Information wants to be detained and tortured at a secret facility!"
Seriously: What, exactly, is your point here? Is Assange wrong to infer that other organisations are distancing themselves because the US is bringing heat on them, quite likely through threats of reduced funding or cooperation?
Or is his sin that he is impolite?
If that's the case, then perhaps you could explain the merits of declining to support an organisation on the grounds that you don't like one of its members because you find him rude?
(There is a case to be made along these lines, but it requires something more than name-calling to convince me.)
This event should be immediately classified since it would create mass panic among the general population and destroy one's belief in the Church.
One can take the bolded section in one of two ways:
1. If you believe in god, why would the existence of aliens prove that god doesn't exist?
He didn't say 'God', he said 'the Church'. An event like this doesn't undermine the potential for the existence of a deity nearly as much as it undermines the legitimacy of 2000 years of half-cracked dogma about how Special humanity is.
... Then again, the existence of fruit flies undermines a fair amount of that dogma as well....
Important distinction: You don't put stuff online for free, you make it free when you put it online. I work for a 'free' legal information service that spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year being Free. People give us money because they understand that if ignorance of the law is no excuse, then free access to legal materials is kind of an important corollary.
McNealy's right - there are tons of good reasons to make educational materials available online, free of charge. It will take a considerable investment to do so.
I suspect Lessig wanted the video of the debate available for all to see for free, and Williams wouldn't participate unless each viewer had to pay 3 cents to see it.
Hell, I'd pay good money just to hear Larry say, "Welcome to my worthy opponent from... ASSsss. Cap."
I've been playing around with soft lighting in the GIMP, and I think one innovation I'd like to see come up (in X-windows or wherever) would be to allow users to "tint" the whole desktop with a particular color scheme and pattern... something that can hit the windows and wallpaper evenly not unlike the sun is currently hitting my monitor, only not so bright, blurry and distracting.
I've been doing this for years: PNG wallpaper with an alpha layer running through the entire image. Graduated background fill in the colour that suits your mood on any given day. For bonus points, script a slow colour transition that matches the time of day.
Anyone that says, "Oh, Internet Explorer 9 is better than Chrome 5" is an idiot.
That's like saying, "Terminator 4 is clearly better than The Godfather, look it's 3 versions newer!"
True story: A film titled The Madness of George III was renamed to The Madness of King George for its US release, because distributors worried that people might pass on it, having missed the first two episodes.
Sounds to me like there's a supply and demand problem for these established designers... namely there's too much supply for the available demand.
No, it's a Market for Lemons. The plain fact is that good design is as hard to measure as good software. Most people fall for Shiny.
It's very hard for a professional graphic artist to get paid well at the best of times, because most people don't understand what constitutes effective design. The people who think graphic design means 'Make It Pretty' also think they can play the odds and pay peanuts to a talented amateur. What they don't realise is that they, too, are hoping to win a lottery. They're just as naive and ignorant as the aspiring designers who think that winning one of these 'contests' is somehow going to help them.
For my part, I don't know why professionals are getting their shorts in a knot. Such companies are terrible clients, anyway. They aren't willing to pay for what they get, and they have no way of judging even whether a particular job is done or not. I say, let the kids play together in the sandbox. As long as they leave us alone, we adults can get some work done.
Why are they using them you ask? Because it's all the developers/admins know how to use. They hate using the Unix boxes here at my work, and they keep coming to me to hold their hand doing anything on them. They prefer Windows because everyone has Windows at home or on their desks, and it's a lot easier for my co-workers to understand and use.
I agree with the first part of that last sentence, and I suspect that if you asked people, they too would claim that Windows is easier to understand and use....
... But you'd all be wrong.
The plain fact is that Windows is simpler in places where simplicity actually hides essential knowledge. Say what you like about Linux/Unix being harder; the fact of the matter is that it's no harder than it should be. The Windows UI, on the other hand, definitely is simpler than it should be.
Every time someone takes the shortcut and runs a Wizard, the end result is that Microsoft, not the admin/developer, ends up making the majority of technical assumptions, most of which are driven by marketing, rather than actual technical needs.
The problem, in short, is not that Linux/Unix is too hard. The problem is that Windows pretends to be too easy.
No, Oracle is putting a nail in OpenSolaris. They're quite interested in developing commercial Solaris. They just want to be paid for it. You don't make money by not making money. You'd have thought everyone would get that now after the Internet bubble 10 years ago.
Don't ever ever become an economist. If all you can see in this is straight-up software sales, then concepts like opportunity cost (how much more you stand to spend because you've ceased to take advantage of free developer/tester time), secondary effects (like building goodwill in the software community in order to create better sales opportunities), diversification (brought on by allowing externalities to influence your tactics and strategy) will be very difficult for you to grasp.
I don't have a horse in this particular race, but killing off a FOSS project through neglect is a decision that should not be taken lightly. The knock-on effects of pissing off a bunch of talented and committed developers and leaving them with nothing to show for their efforts is a dangerous one. It's not too hard to imagine the Oracle salesman getting a frosty reception from the sysadmin who invested time and effort in getting the company's crown jewels running on OpenSolaris, only to be told there was no clear way forward (see the comments above for examples of why commercial Solaris is not a straightforward upgrade path).
Even RedHat were wise enough to provide Fedora with a springboard to take off from when they divested themselves of any commercial interest in desktop Linux. Yes, they made some false steps and they pissed off more than a few individuals, but they were at least open, honest and communicative about their decision and the reasons for it. They continue to be supportive of the Fedora community to this day. Viewed in retrospect, they did it well, albeit not perfectly.
Arguably, OpenSolaris was moribund and destined to fail because it was too similar to Linux. Be that as it may, simply cutting off the project's air supply, especially when it cannot survive without Oracle's support, seems negligent at best, punitive at worst.
Again, I don't have any particular insight into the process and I don't have a stake in the outcome. It could well be that there's more to this than meets the eye. That's for others to say. But as the old saying goes, 'Beware of geeks during rifts.'
Not to mention security. I mean, you thought Tempest was bad before, now I can wirelessly sniff and alter PCI traffic, which is a direct conduit into the RAM.
Yep. Can't wait. Endless fun and games at the next Powerpoint presentation by Corporate.
That said, I agree that the "1200 times safe levels" quote is fear-mongering. Humans are notoriously bad at judging relative risk (see the Bad Science blog for more).
Dioxins are a group of chemically-related compounds that are persistent environmental pollutants.
Dioxins are found throughout the world in the environment and they accumulate in the food chain, mainly in the fatty tissue of animals.
More than 90% of human exposure is through food, mainly meat and dairy products, fish and shellfish. Many national authorities have programmes in place to monitor the food supply.
Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.
Due to the omnipresence of dioxins, all people have background exposure, which is not expected to affect human health. However, due to the highly toxic potential of this class of compounds, efforts need to be undertaken to reduce current background exposure.
Prevention or reduction of human exposure is best done via source-directed measures, i.e. strict control of industrial processes to reduce formation of dioxins as much as possible.
In short, dioxins' real danger is not increased cancer risk in the population that ingests it directly. It's the mutagenic risk to our offspring. In layman's terms, you're not going to die of cancer, but your child might be born with a genetic defect that affects their ability to thrive - or maybe even to survive.
A 'safe' dose is therefore difficult to quantify, because we won't know for sure what the impact will be after (for example) 3 generations of exposure at a given level. More to the point, we don't want to find out by waiting to see if our predictions were right. In cases like this, the precautionary principle is by far the better choice.
That's difficult to apply, however, because dioxins are persistent chemicals; they accumulate in the food chain and don't disperse easily. Arguably, there is no such thing as a 'safe' level, because with the passage of time even small annual increments become very large numbers.
As with climate change, decisions deriving from the scientific findings will be largely informed by the moral/ethical/philosophical stance of the policy-makers. The same data set looks very different if you're looking at the problem in terms of the next electoral cycle, as opposed to the next generation.
... the juicy novelization of what _really_ happened, by Cory Doctorow of course:-)
Plenty of puns to choose from for the title ("Damn, Green", the "Green and the Damned", "The new Dambusters").
Nonono, Cory is Canadian. The only reasonable title is 'Red Green', accompanied by subtle puns about how the software is only (duct) taping over the holes.
Slashdot Mirror
Trouble is, as I see it, people complain when they're getting the short end of the stick, but almost always sell out when they get a chance to grab the long end. "The rest of us" can't beat the bastard elites, even though in theory we're stronger than them, because every time a few of us get a little leverage we switch sides.
That's an exceptionally good point. You not only have to win the ground, you have to defend it as well. That's why politics is such a difficult game, one where gains and losses are generally measured in tiny increments.
And yes, as we saw with the 'flower power' generation (and every other besides), no sooner does a group achieve entitlement than they start blocking others from achieving it. The bastard elites will always exist, and there will always be a disenfranchised group fighting for a place at the table.
Again, that's what makes The System a pain in the ass to contend with: There's always some bastard elite trying to hold onto what they've got. Sometimes they're right to do so, sometimes not.
Where, pray tell, do you think the billions of dollars come from?
The level of cynicism in the US these days is appalling. Given the number of things that are wrong with the country, and the relatively sophisticated level of interaction that we see on slashdot[*], you'd think that action might occasionally result. But no, the very people whom you empower to make stupid decisions are treated as some kind of force of Nature, no more controllable than the weather.
Yes, the system is fucked from top to bottom. Yes, getting anything done is boring and tedious and draining and maddening and prone to delay. It's designed that way to keep things from changing. Yes, dream as one might about overnight revolution, the only major changes to happen in the US since the revolution have taken decades as often as not. Equality for all races is still not fully achieved, a century and a half after people first began fighting about it. The very concept of the government as having a role in preserving the welfare of the people remains contentious and under constant challenge, fully two generations after it was first introduced as policy.
What, did you think there was any other way? Did you think you could just throw a hissy fit and the nation would re-shape itself to fit your latest whim?
The media are corrupt and debased, so find better sources for reporting, analysis and commentary. They're there to be found. Yes, your politician is a small-minded dick (or dick-ette) who's happier to comment on some inane 'wedge issue' than take an actual stance on policy. That's because the tactic works. Challenge them, primary them, pick on them and don't let up. Pick your battles and goddam well fight them.
Yes, you're going to lose a lot of the time. Most successes will be compromises that will make you throw up a little in your own mouth. But you'll have moved the sticks another yard.
Even if you do none of the above, please, for Christ's sake, stop throwing up your hands in despair. Come on, you're clever people! Act like it for once.
You - more than the nut-bars on either fringe - are the people who most make me want to despair. You're smart enough to know better, and to achieve real change, but you've already given up. There will be nut-jobs in every generation; what's tragic about this one is that you've ceded the entire political process to them.
----------
[*] I said 'relatively'. Relative to the average forum, yes, this is sophisticated. Hell, you're even reading the footnotes, so QED. 8^)
Er, the CTO of Opera software (and inventor of CSS) would beg to differ....
Denigrate web standards of yore if you must, but please don't make shit up. Thanks.
do you remember what it was like being 15? i bet ie's plotting to get opera in bed or something :)
On the contrary, it's mostly wanking, spreading herpes to your 'friends' and spending the rest of the time waiting for the universe to recognise your genius and bend itself into shape for you....
... Now that I think about, your analogy works perfectly. 8^)
Yeah right, let the interns do the job. Not. Interns use new tools no one understands, then finish the project during their term, then move on and let the most probably buggy or unfinished project behind. Pitty for the person who has to cleanup the mess. Better do the job on your own, know the tools or hire someone permanently for the whole deptartment.
Just guessing here, but is your copy editor an intern?
He actually bought the word "digital"! It seems you've used it without permission...lawyers with lasers on their heads are on their way, please do not resist.
You'll recognise them by their fins and sharp teeth.
You were joking, but I honestly use that, and refuse to believe that it is incorrect. I don't see any reason why I can't use a saxon genitive with pronouns.
See? Logical. And screw contractions, why should they take precedence?
You'r logic is inescapable. If someone tells you otherwise, tell him he can take hi's grammar and shove it.
Mr. Assange then replied: "I'm very busy and have no time to deal with people who prefer to do nothing but cover their asses. If Amnesty does nothing I shall issue a press release highlighting its refusal," according to people familiar with the exchange.
Kind of comes off as a narcissistic jerk here.
"A jerk, and a narcissistic one at that? Well, fuck him, then! Hanging's too good for him. Information wants to be detained and tortured at a secret facility!"
Seriously: What, exactly, is your point here? Is Assange wrong to infer that other organisations are distancing themselves because the US is bringing heat on them, quite likely through threats of reduced funding or cooperation?
Or is his sin that he is impolite?
If that's the case, then perhaps you could explain the merits of declining to support an organisation on the grounds that you don't like one of its members because you find him rude?
(There is a case to be made along these lines, but it requires something more than name-calling to convince me.)
FTFS:
This event should be immediately classified since it would create mass panic among the general population and destroy one's belief in the Church.
One can take the bolded section in one of two ways:
1. If you believe in god, why would the existence of aliens prove that god doesn't exist?
He didn't say 'God', he said 'the Church'. An event like this doesn't undermine the potential for the existence of a deity nearly as much as it undermines the legitimacy of 2000 years of half-cracked dogma about how Special humanity is.
... Then again, the existence of fruit flies undermines a fair amount of that dogma as well....
Nobody's national anthem begins with "We're Number Two!"
Obviously, you've never been to Canada.
$8-15 billion wants to be free?
Yes, but...
Important distinction: You don't put stuff online for free, you make it free when you put it online. I work for a 'free' legal information service that spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year being Free. People give us money because they understand that if ignorance of the law is no excuse, then free access to legal materials is kind of an important corollary.
McNealy's right - there are tons of good reasons to make educational materials available online, free of charge. It will take a considerable investment to do so.
I guess the term 'friend' is being used somewhat lightly.
Actually, in this context, 'friend' means an Int with a fencepost error.
I suspect Lessig wanted the video of the debate available for all to see for free, and Williams wouldn't participate unless each viewer had to pay 3 cents to see it.
Hell, I'd pay good money just to hear Larry say, "Welcome to my worthy opponent from... ASSsss. Cap."
I've been doing this for years: PNG wallpaper with an alpha layer running through the entire image. Graduated background fill in the colour that suits your mood on any given day. For bonus points, script a slow colour transition that matches the time of day.
Anyone that says, "Oh, Internet Explorer 9 is better than Chrome 5" is an idiot.
That's like saying, "Terminator 4 is clearly better than The Godfather, look it's 3 versions newer!"
True story: A film titled The Madness of George III was renamed to The Madness of King George for its US release, because distributors worried that people might pass on it, having missed the first two episodes.
Insert Barnum quote here...
No, it's a Market for Lemons. The plain fact is that good design is as hard to measure as good software. Most people fall for Shiny.
It's very hard for a professional graphic artist to get paid well at the best of times, because most people don't understand what constitutes effective design. The people who think graphic design means 'Make It Pretty' also think they can play the odds and pay peanuts to a talented amateur. What they don't realise is that they, too, are hoping to win a lottery. They're just as naive and ignorant as the aspiring designers who think that winning one of these 'contests' is somehow going to help them.
For my part, I don't know why professionals are getting their shorts in a knot. Such companies are terrible clients, anyway. They aren't willing to pay for what they get, and they have no way of judging even whether a particular job is done or not. I say, let the kids play together in the sandbox. As long as they leave us alone, we adults can get some work done.
Not the sharks, we prefer to ride crocs with laser beams.
The world would thank you if you just used the laser to destroy all crocs.
I agree with the first part of that last sentence, and I suspect that if you asked people, they too would claim that Windows is easier to understand and use....
... But you'd all be wrong.
The plain fact is that Windows is simpler in places where simplicity actually hides essential knowledge. Say what you like about Linux/Unix being harder; the fact of the matter is that it's no harder than it should be. The Windows UI, on the other hand, definitely is simpler than it should be.
Every time someone takes the shortcut and runs a Wizard, the end result is that Microsoft, not the admin/developer, ends up making the majority of technical assumptions, most of which are driven by marketing, rather than actual technical needs.
The problem, in short, is not that Linux/Unix is too hard. The problem is that Windows pretends to be too easy.
No, Oracle is putting a nail in OpenSolaris. They're quite interested in developing commercial Solaris. They just want to be paid for it. You don't make money by not making money. You'd have thought everyone would get that now after the Internet bubble 10 years ago.
Don't ever ever become an economist. If all you can see in this is straight-up software sales, then concepts like opportunity cost (how much more you stand to spend because you've ceased to take advantage of free developer/tester time), secondary effects (like building goodwill in the software community in order to create better sales opportunities), diversification (brought on by allowing externalities to influence your tactics and strategy) will be very difficult for you to grasp.
I don't have a horse in this particular race, but killing off a FOSS project through neglect is a decision that should not be taken lightly. The knock-on effects of pissing off a bunch of talented and committed developers and leaving them with nothing to show for their efforts is a dangerous one. It's not too hard to imagine the Oracle salesman getting a frosty reception from the sysadmin who invested time and effort in getting the company's crown jewels running on OpenSolaris, only to be told there was no clear way forward (see the comments above for examples of why commercial Solaris is not a straightforward upgrade path).
Even RedHat were wise enough to provide Fedora with a springboard to take off from when they divested themselves of any commercial interest in desktop Linux. Yes, they made some false steps and they pissed off more than a few individuals, but they were at least open, honest and communicative about their decision and the reasons for it. They continue to be supportive of the Fedora community to this day. Viewed in retrospect, they did it well, albeit not perfectly.
Arguably, OpenSolaris was moribund and destined to fail because it was too similar to Linux. Be that as it may, simply cutting off the project's air supply, especially when it cannot survive without Oracle's support, seems negligent at best, punitive at worst.
Again, I don't have any particular insight into the process and I don't have a stake in the outcome. It could well be that there's more to this than meets the eye. That's for others to say. But as the old saying goes, 'Beware of geeks during rifts.'
Any guess on how many people share the name "Wang Chen" in all of China?
No kidding. Everybody's Wang Chen tonight.
... What? Oh....
Not to mention security. I mean, you thought Tempest was bad before, now I can wirelessly sniff and alter PCI traffic, which is a direct conduit into the RAM.
Yep. Can't wait. Endless fun and games at the next Powerpoint presentation by Corporate.
Oh My God. I just realised who's behind all these conspiracy theories!
What kind of hat can we use against them?!? We're DOOMed!!!
That said, I agree that the "1200 times safe levels" quote is fear-mongering. Humans are notoriously bad at judging relative risk (see the Bad Science blog for more).
From the WHO site:
In short, dioxins' real danger is not increased cancer risk in the population that ingests it directly. It's the mutagenic risk to our offspring. In layman's terms, you're not going to die of cancer, but your child might be born with a genetic defect that affects their ability to thrive - or maybe even to survive.
A 'safe' dose is therefore difficult to quantify, because we won't know for sure what the impact will be after (for example) 3 generations of exposure at a given level. More to the point, we don't want to find out by waiting to see if our predictions were right. In cases like this, the precautionary principle is by far the better choice.
That's difficult to apply, however, because dioxins are persistent chemicals; they accumulate in the food chain and don't disperse easily. Arguably, there is no such thing as a 'safe' level, because with the passage of time even small annual increments become very large numbers.
As with climate change, decisions deriving from the scientific findings will be largely informed by the moral/ethical/philosophical stance of the policy-makers. The same data set looks very different if you're looking at the problem in terms of the next electoral cycle, as opposed to the next generation.
... the juicy novelization of what _really_ happened, by Cory Doctorow of course :-)
Plenty of puns to choose from for the title ("Damn, Green", the "Green and the Damned", "The new Dambusters").
Nonono, Cory is Canadian. The only reasonable title is 'Red Green', accompanied by subtle puns about how the software is only (duct) taping over the holes.
fucking protons, how do they work?
Based on the size of your dick, you shouldn't have any problems.
(Sorry, couldn't resist.)
Also: It just occurred to me that this joke is 4% funnier today than it was yesterday.