I don't recall any vampires, but around 1983 ('84? userid: 74736,622 ) I used to play "Black Dragon" on Compuserve. The only other Compuserve game that I remember seeing back then was "Folle de Roi" (sp?????) which I think was a Hammurabi clone. The Black Dragon tee-shirt was very cool (but only lasted about 10 years.)
The terminal you're sitting at is IBM-compatible or even has an IBM processor in it. IBM is evil, too, as they made the counting machines for the Nazis. Google for "Hollerith machines holocaust" if you didn't know it.
IBM made counting machines, which the Nazis chose to purchase. IBM didn't make machines specifically (and knowingly) to commit genocide. I.G. Farben make special batches of Zyklon B without an indicator odor just for the SS (industrial batches came with a foul 'indicator odor' so that workers would know when they were in the presence of poison gas). I.G. Farben also ran their own concentration camp (named 'Monowitz' if I remember correctly). Their complicity in war crimes was clear, and nothing like IBM's selling of general purpose counting machines.
For more information on this stuff, there is a great book: "The Crimes and Punishment of I.G. Farben"
Is 60yo history so extremely important to affect our daily lives today? No doubt??
The phrase 'Never Again' only has meaning if we know which things should never happen again. Some people and governments seem to have already forgotten.
Groundbreaking research performed in my home has shown that if you get your friends drunk enough, the glass doesn't need to be 99%+ transparent for them to run into it. In fact, with enough tequila, the glass doesn't even need to be clean.
But your friend was knowingly engaged in illegal copyright infringement. Can that prevent him from using ignorance of what he was downloading as a defense? IANAL (note: IANAL != 'I am anal').
Let's say that you and a friend rob a bank with neither of you in possession of a weapon. The police shoot your friend (thinking that he had a gun). You can be tried and convicted for your friend's murder because he died as a result of the felony that you (and he) were committing.
If you want to be paranoid, you can create a separate partition (journaled or not) and mount it as ~/.mozilla (or symlink: ln -s/mnt/disposable/$USER ~/.mozilla). That would clear all settings, history, bookmarks and cache whenever you chose to overwrite that partition.
You don't think that the combined efforts of the entire television broadcasting industry and the rest of American industry (aka advertisers) go into watching Nielsen? Both sides seem to trust that Nielsen are not deliberately dishonest, and Nielsen is extremely transparent to these groups so that accidental errors in statistical models or methods can be challenged (with enough eyeballs all errors in sampling methodology are shallow).
Oddly, the one group that does not trust Nielsen is FOX. From NYTimes (no reg): Nielsen's introduction of new electronic television meters in the New York area last winter, for instance, prompted a torrent of criticism from Fox Television, which saw the local ratings (and potential revenue) of several of its programs suddenly plummet. FOX started an astroturf campaign against Nielsen. All the other players in that industry like to bitch about how Nielsen is expensive, unresponsive, and a de-facto monopoly, but they never seem to claim dishonesty.
Apollo banging Starbuck? You're sick. I'll admit that I haven't watched BSG in ~20 years, but I think I would have remembered that kind of funny business.
I wonder when the government will require everyone to have a bank account, ban bank notes, and require all purchases to be made by card.
Never. Cash bribes to politiicians are much less embarassing when testified-to in court than proven electronic funds transfers. See, our politicians believe in privacy. (This is not a new idea; I think that I read it first from Heinlein.)
Or start a book-group/philosophy group, etc., etc.
You might want to consider joining Mensa (The High IQ Society). Most local groups have the kind of activities that you are talking about. If your local group doesn't have the activities that you want, you have a framework in which to start your own meetings and a newsletter that hits many local people who are interested in intelligent and intellectual activities. One out of every 50 people is qualified to join; which probably means that ~70% of/.'ers are qualified (SWAG alert!)
We are not in that culture, therefore its customs really don't matter. If we WERE in that culture, the arguement wouldn't be taking place.
You seem to be suffering under the delusion that our (I could be considered a member of mainstream American culture (but just barely)) culture is still the same as the 1950's IBM white-shirt-and-tie period. I'm not sorry to say that things have changed. Piercing (even beyond womens' ears) is now more prevalent than cufflinks. Tattoos are more common than tie tacks. Chips-and-salsa has replaced the Jello-mold.
While most of the BM aesthetic is lost on me, I revel in the freedom that we now enjoy.
The ATSC standard (the USA standard for Terrestrial Digital TV) says that you must have at least the next 9 hours of programming described in three "EIT" tables, multiplexed into your digital stream.
Of course this is a politically-driven requirement rather than a technical requirement to make your TV actually work, but many elements in the ATSC spec are politically driven. Broadcasters are required by law to honor those requirements (and face heavy fines if they don't), so your lineup information should be available in-band.
What I wish some committee could come up with is a way to force cable companies to removing the set top box from their system.
Your wish is granted. It's called CableCard and it is being mandated by the FCC (otherwise the would-be monopolists would never do this on their own). With CableCard, your TV/PVR/VCR/... will do the actual frequency handling, MPEG decoding, etc. There will be a card (similar to a PCMCIA card?) that is supplied by your cable company. This card slips into a standard CableCard slot on your TV/... and any decryption of premium content is performed on that card. Since it is *your* device changing the channel, you don't need a hacked-up IRBlaster or serial connection to an external cable box. You will still need to pay you cable company for the use of a CableCard (though hopefully, if you don't subscribe to premium content, you should be able to leave that CableCard slot empty???)
I don't believe that the guy's patent should have really been valid anyway, since he's using another company's copyrighted products in his device without licensing those products for his own process.
You are assuming that the inventor did not have a valid license for M$ Office? As long as he did have a valid M$ Office license, which includes the right to use the scripting features, then he did have a license to use "those products for his own process."
It also seems that your argument could be used to say that if I write a book in M$ Word, I don't own the copyright to my own work?
"The will of the people is the highest law." And the people on/. say that M$ should bend-over-and-take-it as often as possible. Unfortunately, M$ will still come out ahead.
I prefer (CarrierPigeons/LibraryOfCongress) * SpeedOfUnLadenAfricanCarrierPigeon. Though to be pedantic, if a carrier pigeon is carrying its share of a LoC, then it is not actually unladen.
I understand the frustration at Microsoft, but it's a bit harsh to take it out on your users or customers, isn't it?
Tobacco companies are evil, but smokers have been informed, and bear most of the responsibility for their lung cancer. Anyone stupid enough to browse the Internet with IE deserves what they get. Think of it as a non-/. kind of Karma.
Murder works exactly as well as suicide, and without all of that difficult 'convincing'. But if you really want to fix the problem, nothing beats Genocide.
Note for BZFlag fans: Laser and Guided Missle usually beat Genocide, but not by much.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't recall any vampires, but around 1983 ('84? userid: 74736,622 ) I used to play "Black Dragon" on Compuserve. The only other Compuserve game that I remember seeing back then was "Folle de Roi" (sp?????) which I think was a Hammurabi clone. The Black Dragon tee-shirt was very cool (but only lasted about 10 years.)
I have added that DVD to my Netflix queue, and I will look for the book. Thanks for the pointers.
IBM made counting machines, which the Nazis chose to purchase. IBM didn't make machines specifically (and knowingly) to commit genocide. I.G. Farben make special batches of Zyklon B without an indicator odor just for the SS (industrial batches came with a foul 'indicator odor' so that workers would know when they were in the presence of poison gas). I.G. Farben also ran their own concentration camp (named 'Monowitz' if I remember correctly). Their complicity in war crimes was clear, and nothing like IBM's selling of general purpose counting machines.
For more information on this stuff, there is a great book: "The Crimes and Punishment of I.G. Farben"
Is 60yo history so extremely important to affect our daily lives today? No doubt??
The phrase 'Never Again' only has meaning if we know which things should never happen again. Some people and governments seem to have already forgotten.
Groundbreaking research performed in my home has shown that if you get your friends drunk enough, the glass doesn't need to be 99%+ transparent for them to run into it. In fact, with enough tequila, the glass doesn't even need to be clean.
Agfa was evil (as part of I.G. Farben)
Let's say that you and a friend rob a bank with neither of you in possession of a weapon. The police shoot your friend (thinking that he had a gun). You can be tried and convicted for your friend's murder because he died as a result of the felony that you (and he) were committing.
If you want to be paranoid, you can create a separate partition (journaled or not) and mount it as ~/.mozilla (or symlink: ln -s /mnt/disposable/$USER ~/.mozilla). That would clear all settings, history, bookmarks and cache whenever you chose to overwrite that partition.
PyroVulpus
Oddly, the one group that does not trust Nielsen is FOX. From NYTimes (no reg): Nielsen's introduction of new electronic television meters in the New York area last winter, for instance, prompted a torrent of criticism from Fox Television, which saw the local ratings (and potential revenue) of several of its programs suddenly plummet. FOX started an astroturf campaign against Nielsen. All the other players in that industry like to bitch about how Nielsen is expensive, unresponsive, and a de-facto monopoly, but they never seem to claim dishonesty.
Apollo banging Starbuck? You're sick. I'll admit that I haven't watched BSG in ~20 years, but I think I would have remembered that kind of funny business.
Never. Cash bribes to politiicians are much less embarassing when testified-to in court than proven electronic funds transfers. See, our politicians believe in privacy. (This is not a new idea; I think that I read it first from Heinlein.)
You might want to consider joining Mensa (The High IQ Society). Most local groups have the kind of activities that you are talking about. If your local group doesn't have the activities that you want, you have a framework in which to start your own meetings and a newsletter that hits many local people who are interested in intelligent and intellectual activities. One out of every 50 people is qualified to join; which probably means that ~70% of /.'ers are qualified (SWAG alert!)
You seem to be suffering under the delusion that our (I could be considered a member of mainstream American culture (but just barely)) culture is still the same as the 1950's IBM white-shirt-and-tie period. I'm not sorry to say that things have changed. Piercing (even beyond womens' ears) is now more prevalent than cufflinks. Tattoos are more common than tie tacks. Chips-and-salsa has replaced the Jello-mold.
While most of the BM aesthetic is lost on me, I revel in the freedom that we now enjoy.
You have to excuse the GP; he never heard of "bread and circuses."
Of course this is a politically-driven requirement rather than a technical requirement to make your TV actually work, but many elements in the ATSC spec are politically driven. Broadcasters are required by law to honor those requirements (and face heavy fines if they don't), so your lineup information should be available in-band.
Your wish is granted. It's called CableCard and it is being mandated by the FCC (otherwise the would-be monopolists would never do this on their own). With CableCard, your TV/PVR/VCR/... will do the actual frequency handling, MPEG decoding, etc. There will be a card (similar to a PCMCIA card?) that is supplied by your cable company. This card slips into a standard CableCard slot on your TV/... and any decryption of premium content is performed on that card. Since it is *your* device changing the channel, you don't need a hacked-up IRBlaster or serial connection to an external cable box. You will still need to pay you cable company for the use of a CableCard (though hopefully, if you don't subscribe to premium content, you should be able to leave that CableCard slot empty???)
What, you think you've got a shot at professional ski boxing?
You are assuming that the inventor did not have a valid license for M$ Office? As long as he did have a valid M$ Office license, which includes the right to use the scripting features, then he did have a license to use "those products for his own process."
It also seems that your argument could be used to say that if I write a book in M$ Word, I don't own the copyright to my own work?
"The will of the people is the highest law." And the people on /. say that M$ should bend-over-and-take-it as often as possible. Unfortunately, M$ will still come out ahead.
I prefer (CarrierPigeons/LibraryOfCongress) * SpeedOfUnLadenAfricanCarrierPigeon. Though to be pedantic, if a carrier pigeon is carrying its share of a LoC, then it is not actually unladen.
For coolness points, try Phillip Glass' Einstein On The Beach. It's only five hours long, but it just seems right.
http://www.answers.com/topic/einstein-on-the-beach
Tobacco companies are evil, but smokers have been informed, and bear most of the responsibility for their lung cancer. Anyone stupid enough to browse the Internet with IE deserves what they get. Think of it as a non-/. kind of Karma.
To make matters worse: the *.AAs will now include AAA.
And they generally 'spin' at about 7,000 RPM (rants per minute).
Note for BZFlag fans: Laser and Guided Missle usually beat Genocide, but not by much.