You see, for many people this would be a bad thing. In fact Polanski had to flee his home country. Within Scientology, things like rape and forced abortion is something simply to hide from outsiders, not something abnormal. So you are right in saying just because a celebrity does something it doesn't make it mainstream, but you are wrong comparing Cruise to Polanski. The latter knows full well what he has done is wrong. We aren't going to be seeing Polanski on Oprah next week exhorting young kids, "Hey, raping underage girls is cool". However, the former has made himself public apologist for a criminal organisation. He gets regular cover in large media outlets for his views. He gets mutual support from other high-profile infiltrators such as Travolta. It is well known that if you try and oppose any of their views or criticise them, they will try and destroy your life and are well funded and backed by an army of brainwashed fanatics. Compared to other cults/religions, they are definitely mainstream.
Buy an unlocked GSM phone running Symbian. Or just buy a GSM phone and unlock it yourself, there are plenty of services that will do it ($40 where I live). I recommend the Nokia E71 for small size vs packed features and proper keyboard. I can go via any wifi spot in the world and make VoIP calls via Fring or Gizmo5 for free. Has unrestricted software you can install (inc. Google Maps), bluetooth and wifi, supports Open Standards SyncML, and runs Opera Mini for full web page browsing. Definitely the least worst option out there.
Easy mistake to make, 'peperoni' is Italian for bell pepper. Next time ask for 'chorizo', which is a spicy Spanish sausage similar to pepperoni but less fatty.
Let me summarise the thread: * beelsebob quite rightly pointed out PDF should be under Export and not Save, since Inkscape can't load PDFs * BitZstream wrote many rambling pieces about how it wasn't compliant with the full SVG standard, most other people found it a jolly useful piece of software and were quite happy using it * people were generally unimpressed with bytesex's idea of merging Inkscape into GIMP * a few lamented the demise of Artworks/Xara
Indeed. It's not as though US law enforcement aren't being given insufficient tools for the job. Detention without charge, torture, no access to legal council for suspects, abductions of suspects from any country, mass surveillance without oversight, biometric controls at airports... Shouldn't the wholesale abandonment of liberty have bought you a bit of safety?
Enough journalists have had rides in the compressed-air powered cars to know it works. We also know the range isn't great. As mentioned above, one of the licensees is Tata of India. Mexico City has also apparently put in a big order. Why? Because the potential is to make a zero-emissions vehicle CHEAP. Technologically so simple people can fix it themselves. And in countries where real estate is as plentiful as the sunshine, and cost-per-unit is critical, this has a great potential market. It is niche, urban transit vehicles, but that is still a huge market. Think taxis, food/pizza delivery, school run, etc. Plus storing 1% of the energy of gasoline is irrelevant if enough for its purpose, and the energy is potentially free.
What does the Iraq war have to do a Digital Rights bill? The war wasn't illegal as it passed through Parliament. Same as if this bill gets altered and passed then the government will be legally allowed to send random people back into the information stone age. Mandelson will get rewarded by his buddies, much like Tony Blair is being rewarded by probably becoming President of Europe.
You do know you can become a politician yourself if you want to change things. Put down a £500 deposit and your name on the ballot paper. Or you can be a journalist and work for a non-Murdoch paper. Or run a political blog. Or create a lobby group along the lines of the EFF. A sane enlightened way is to get off your arse and do something yourself.
How can the party that has expanded the size of government to a size never before seen in the entire western world which employs one in four people in the workforce
Eh? I live in France, a few km across the water, and last time I checked around 40% of the country worked for the government.
has allowed unfettered immigration in an open and cynical attempt to change the culture
England has always welcomed immigrants, especially from our former colonies. For the most part they have been of great benefit to our society and our economy. Having bloody good Indian restaurants is one change I don't mind.
waged open class warfare against the middle and upper class family
I'll give you that one.
AND created the biggest welfare state in the western world possibly be called "conservative"
Still one of the smallest welfare states in the West. Try looking at Germany, France and Spain....
If you think the current labour party of not left wing I shudder to think what it is exactly that you want.
Could be worse. Imagine Ken Livingstone as Prime Minister?
Mythbusters is great science as entertainment. People can quote Mythbusters to bust myths because they do a lot of practical easy-to-understand experiments that clearly prove the myth to be false. If you are unhappy and can give a valid reason as to why you think they got it wrong, then they will redo the experiment with the new parameters. There have been plenty of revisited episodes, some of which have changed the myth status. I disagree with your nutrition example though.
"In africa there used to be a believe that if you used a cooking stick twice, evil demons would posses it. White missionaries said this was silly superstition and forbid this practice. people soon dropped dead. Why? The evil spirit called food poisoning."
Many advancements are through trial and error, or just blind luck. The why then follows a while later. It is easy to see why they thought it was demons, as being food poisoned feels like you are being punished. I've experienced a few of the demons that hang around my local kebab house. I don't know the details of your particular story, but maybe those deaths let to the importation of the knowledge of sterilisation and the Africans actually ended up better off?
I disagree with your general premise that most people are stupid and educating themselves will just hurt their tiny minds. That they need a medicated dose of "Carl Sagan's science fairy tales" each evening. Many lack the will/opportunity to better educated themselves, but the more information and resources you put in front of them the more will pick up the torch and keep pushing society forward. Take that guy that flunked his entrance exams and went to work as a patent clerk, Einstein, for example. There are a few inspirational people, Patrick Moore for astronomy springs to mind, but in general if people want to learn they will just do it. If they don't, they shouldn't impede the people that do.
Bad analogy, adding a sound system alters the state of the car. An alternative comparison may be leasehold of a property. You can buy a lease on a property, resell the lease to others, but once it runs out then you have to renegotiate a new one with the original owner. This analogy works quite well, as record companies or individuals often purchase the remaining copyright to back catalogs of artists. The length of the lease directly affects the value of the lease. In my opinion it is clear the length of the lease should not be alterable without consent of the owner.
He is certainly a brave and conscientious man, and patriotic. This is not limited to Russia, Ukraine was the same when I visited and my Moroccan friend tells me you have to be well connected to even get a job as a police officer there due to the high level of guaranteed bribes. I hope he succeeds in his aim of inspiring the younger officers, and convincing them the current state is not what should be considered normal. His dream of what sounds like creating a Police Officers Union to ensure officers are well treated, hence attracting a higher caliber of people to the job and not just those interested in the 'perks', may still be far off. He has good intentions though.
You are mixing up bureaucracy and becoming a police state. In France around half the country is employed by the government. Where I live the rubbish is collected from my street every night, and they then wash the street afterwards (every single night). To do the simplest thing I know I have to take a day's holiday as I will inevitably be bounced between departments that will reside opposite ends of the city. If you are a civil servant in France you cannot get fired, no matter how incompetent you are, you get to retire early, and enjoy an awful lot of perks. The dream of most young French people is to one day become a civil servant. Yet in France people are now more free than in England. How things have changed in the past 20 years. I don't get cataloged like a prisoner on remand every time I enter and leave the country. I'm not on a surveillance camera everywhere I walk (except in Monaco, where there are an insane amount). There is no RIPA legislation. There aren't speed cameras everywhere, though they are starting to appear. It's become a more pleasant place to be.
The vindictive low-level councilors haven't changed in the past couple of decades, and I wouldn't surprised if half the stories you come across weren't caused by a vindictive neighbor lodging a complaint. Certainly mostly the cases I've seen. The alarming decline of your civil liberties is a far more pressing concern. If you haven't committed a crime and society does not need to be protected from you, then you should be able to travel where you want and when you want. You should be able to say whatever you want outside of slander and incitement that may cause harm. And you should have a right to privacy. These things are disappearing in the UK. Having visited eastern Europe, I can tell you boy are you going to miss them when they are gone.
The parent and grandparent posts should be framed and put on the wall of every Open Source programmer. Though diametrically opposed, they are both right. This bridge between our nice clean code, and interfacing with the reality of what is out there already, is one of the hardest compromises.
Freedom is hard fought for and easily lost. Those that try and take rights and freedoms away try and do so under the radar. For instance who would have thought that RIPA would be used to spy on half a million uk citizens a year. Most uk citizens I speak to don't know about the eborders scheme, where everyone is catalogued each time they enter or leave the country (with up to 2.5 billion journeys stored at any one time).
The vast amount of information being gathered, as you say via your phone, cards, internet, etc, is worrying. You merge this into one coherent database and you have no privacy left. I would hardly call a slip towards totalitarianism an irrational fear, especially when it is being legislation into existence in front of people's eyes. Many laid down their lives to earn the freedoms we take for granted today, and it would be disrespectful to give them away for temporary convenience.
It is Orwellian as he envisaged the ubiquitous use of video cameras for surveillance purposes and its abuse by a totalitarian government. Previous governments never had the ability to concentrate the power of such pervasive surveillance into the hands of so few.
Dividing motivation into genres would be interesting. Categories that spring to mind under 'fear': * the Cold War / nuclear war * communism * technology - AI * technology - biological * corporations wielding excessive power
Categories under 'What if...': * utopian societies / population control * galactic space travel / teleportation / parallel dimensions * limited/limitless supply of a material
I've done the same with the Samsung NC10, which is similarly specced. I have the same resolution, which I thought would relegate it to just my travel needs, but I develop on it just fine and don't even switch on my desktop at the moment. I have a USB hard drive for entertainment, an external monitor for watching movies, and a USB mouse. Does the job. Runs standard Kubuntu install perfectly. Wifi worked out of the box. My desktop is normal over-the-top gaming spec but without games I'm surprised how little I actually need. The 8hrs+ battery life I find essential though.
Same here. I've always wanted to visit the States, especially New York and Las Vegas, but it was knocked indefinitely off my to-do list by the biometric controls. I don't see why I should be treated like a criminal when I haven't done anything wrong. UK is now attempting to be the least friendly place in the world, with every person entering and leaving cataloged by the government eBorders system. I even have to enter my passport number when I book a plane ticket online. Much as I love London, if it wasn't for my family being there I wouldn't go back to the UK any more. I am English through and through, but for now I will try and change things from a distance. London in the 90's was one of the best places in the world to be. The government has taken it on a roller-coaster downhill and now the place is barely recognisable.
Indeed. If it was a corporation with a legitimate case it would pursue it through the appropriate legal channels. What they are currently doing is trying to circumvent TPB right of appeal by vigilante action outside of the court in which they had decided to try the case.
And then they try and make a moral case that copyright infringement is like theft. After corruption like this, suing their own customers, and price-fixing, is it any wonder that normal law abiding citizens aren't too keen on giving them money?
Slashdot Mirror
You see, for many people this would be a bad thing. In fact Polanski had to flee his home country. Within Scientology, things like rape and forced abortion is something simply to hide from outsiders, not something abnormal. So you are right in saying just because a celebrity does something it doesn't make it mainstream, but you are wrong comparing Cruise to Polanski. The latter knows full well what he has done is wrong. We aren't going to be seeing Polanski on Oprah next week exhorting young kids, "Hey, raping underage girls is cool". However, the former has made himself public apologist for a criminal organisation. He gets regular cover in large media outlets for his views. He gets mutual support from other high-profile infiltrators such as Travolta. It is well known that if you try and oppose any of their views or criticise them, they will try and destroy your life and are well funded and backed by an army of brainwashed fanatics. Compared to other cults/religions, they are definitely mainstream.
Phillip.
In addition to the above suggestions of a VPN and Truecrypt/Luks, keeping your passwords on a USB key using KeepPass/KeePassX is also a good idea.
Phillip.
Buy an unlocked GSM phone running Symbian. Or just buy a GSM phone and unlock it yourself, there are plenty of services that will do it ($40 where I live). I recommend the Nokia E71 for small size vs packed features and proper keyboard. I can go via any wifi spot in the world and make VoIP calls via Fring or Gizmo5 for free. Has unrestricted software you can install (inc. Google Maps), bluetooth and wifi, supports Open Standards SyncML, and runs Opera Mini for full web page browsing. Definitely the least worst option out there.
Phillip.
Easy mistake to make, 'peperoni' is Italian for bell pepper. Next time ask for 'chorizo', which is a spicy Spanish sausage similar to pepperoni but less fatty.
Phillip.
If English was a language easy to communicate clearly and unambiguously what we wish to do, we wouldn't need lawyers.
Phillip.
Let me summarise the thread:
* beelsebob quite rightly pointed out PDF should be under Export and not Save, since Inkscape can't load PDFs
* BitZstream wrote many rambling pieces about how it wasn't compliant with the full SVG standard, most other people found it a jolly useful piece of software and were quite happy using it
* people were generally unimpressed with bytesex's idea of merging Inkscape into GIMP
* a few lamented the demise of Artworks/Xara
Phillip.
Indeed. It's not as though US law enforcement aren't being given insufficient tools for the job. Detention without charge, torture, no access to legal council for suspects, abductions of suspects from any country, mass surveillance without oversight, biometric controls at airports... Shouldn't the wholesale abandonment of liberty have bought you a bit of safety?
Phillip.
Enough journalists have had rides in the compressed-air powered cars to know it works. We also know the range isn't great. As mentioned above, one of the licensees is Tata of India. Mexico City has also apparently put in a big order. Why? Because the potential is to make a zero-emissions vehicle CHEAP. Technologically so simple people can fix it themselves. And in countries where real estate is as plentiful as the sunshine, and cost-per-unit is critical, this has a great potential market. It is niche, urban transit vehicles, but that is still a huge market. Think taxis, food/pizza delivery, school run, etc. Plus storing 1% of the energy of gasoline is irrelevant if enough for its purpose, and the energy is potentially free.
Phillip.
What does the Iraq war have to do a Digital Rights bill? The war wasn't illegal as it passed through Parliament. Same as if this bill gets altered and passed then the government will be legally allowed to send random people back into the information stone age. Mandelson will get rewarded by his buddies, much like Tony Blair is being rewarded by probably becoming President of Europe.
You do know you can become a politician yourself if you want to change things. Put down a £500 deposit and your name on the ballot paper. Or you can be a journalist and work for a non-Murdoch paper. Or run a political blog. Or create a lobby group along the lines of the EFF. A sane enlightened way is to get off your arse and do something yourself.
Phillip.
How can the party that has expanded the size of government to a size never before seen in the entire western world which employs one in four people in the workforce
Eh? I live in France, a few km across the water, and last time I checked around 40% of the country worked for the government.
has allowed unfettered immigration in an open and cynical attempt to change the culture
England has always welcomed immigrants, especially from our former colonies. For the most part they have been of great benefit to our society and our economy. Having bloody good Indian restaurants is one change I don't mind.
waged open class warfare against the middle and upper class family
I'll give you that one.
AND created the biggest welfare state in the western world possibly be called "conservative"
Still one of the smallest welfare states in the West. Try looking at Germany, France and Spain. ...
If you think the current labour party of not left wing I shudder to think what it is exactly that you want.
Could be worse. Imagine Ken Livingstone as Prime Minister?
Phillip.
XnView is the best I have tried so far. The UI isn't great but, for me, is the most functional.
Phillip.
Mythbusters is great science as entertainment. People can quote Mythbusters to bust myths because they do a lot of practical easy-to-understand experiments that clearly prove the myth to be false. If you are unhappy and can give a valid reason as to why you think they got it wrong, then they will redo the experiment with the new parameters. There have been plenty of revisited episodes, some of which have changed the myth status. I disagree with your nutrition example though.
"In africa there used to be a believe that if you used a cooking stick twice, evil demons would posses it. White missionaries said this was silly superstition and forbid this practice. people soon dropped dead. Why? The evil spirit called food poisoning."
Many advancements are through trial and error, or just blind luck. The why then follows a while later. It is easy to see why they thought it was demons, as being food poisoned feels like you are being punished. I've experienced a few of the demons that hang around my local kebab house. I don't know the details of your particular story, but maybe those deaths let to the importation of the knowledge of sterilisation and the Africans actually ended up better off?
I disagree with your general premise that most people are stupid and educating themselves will just hurt their tiny minds. That they need a medicated dose of "Carl Sagan's science fairy tales" each evening. Many lack the will/opportunity to better educated themselves, but the more information and resources you put in front of them the more will pick up the torch and keep pushing society forward. Take that guy that flunked his entrance exams and went to work as a patent clerk, Einstein, for example. There are a few inspirational people, Patrick Moore for astronomy springs to mind, but in general if people want to learn they will just do it. If they don't, they shouldn't impede the people that do.
Phillip.
Bad analogy, adding a sound system alters the state of the car. An alternative comparison may be leasehold of a property. You can buy a lease on a property, resell the lease to others, but once it runs out then you have to renegotiate a new one with the original owner. This analogy works quite well, as record companies or individuals often purchase the remaining copyright to back catalogs of artists. The length of the lease directly affects the value of the lease. In my opinion it is clear the length of the lease should not be alterable without consent of the owner.
Phillip.
can you folks imagine if the current US Imperial wars were not constrained by the lack of UN support
By this you infer the UN supported the US invasion of Iraq.
Phillip.
He is certainly a brave and conscientious man, and patriotic. This is not limited to Russia, Ukraine was the same when I visited and my Moroccan friend tells me you have to be well connected to even get a job as a police officer there due to the high level of guaranteed bribes. I hope he succeeds in his aim of inspiring the younger officers, and convincing them the current state is not what should be considered normal. His dream of what sounds like creating a Police Officers Union to ensure officers are well treated, hence attracting a higher caliber of people to the job and not just those interested in the 'perks', may still be far off. He has good intentions though.
Phillip.
You are mixing up bureaucracy and becoming a police state. In France around half the country is employed by the government. Where I live the rubbish is collected from my street every night, and they then wash the street afterwards (every single night). To do the simplest thing I know I have to take a day's holiday as I will inevitably be bounced between departments that will reside opposite ends of the city. If you are a civil servant in France you cannot get fired, no matter how incompetent you are, you get to retire early, and enjoy an awful lot of perks. The dream of most young French people is to one day become a civil servant. Yet in France people are now more free than in England. How things have changed in the past 20 years. I don't get cataloged like a prisoner on remand every time I enter and leave the country. I'm not on a surveillance camera everywhere I walk (except in Monaco, where there are an insane amount). There is no RIPA legislation. There aren't speed cameras everywhere, though they are starting to appear. It's become a more pleasant place to be.
The vindictive low-level councilors haven't changed in the past couple of decades, and I wouldn't surprised if half the stories you come across weren't caused by a vindictive neighbor lodging a complaint. Certainly mostly the cases I've seen. The alarming decline of your civil liberties is a far more pressing concern. If you haven't committed a crime and society does not need to be protected from you, then you should be able to travel where you want and when you want. You should be able to say whatever you want outside of slander and incitement that may cause harm. And you should have a right to privacy. These things are disappearing in the UK. Having visited eastern Europe, I can tell you boy are you going to miss them when they are gone.
Phillip.
The parent and grandparent posts should be framed and put on the wall of every Open Source programmer. Though diametrically opposed, they are both right. This bridge between our nice clean code, and interfacing with the reality of what is out there already, is one of the hardest compromises.
Phillip.
Freedom is hard fought for and easily lost. Those that try and take rights and freedoms away try and do so under the radar. For instance who would have thought that RIPA would be used to spy on half a million uk citizens a year. Most uk citizens I speak to don't know about the eborders scheme, where everyone is catalogued each time they enter or leave the country (with up to 2.5 billion journeys stored at any one time).
The vast amount of information being gathered, as you say via your phone, cards, internet, etc, is worrying. You merge this into one coherent database and you have no privacy left. I would hardly call a slip towards totalitarianism an irrational fear, especially when it is being legislation into existence in front of people's eyes. Many laid down their lives to earn the freedoms we take for granted today, and it would be disrespectful to give them away for temporary convenience.
Phillip.
It is Orwellian as he envisaged the ubiquitous use of video cameras for surveillance purposes and its abuse by a totalitarian government. Previous governments never had the ability to concentrate the power of such pervasive surveillance into the hands of so few.
Phillip.
Dividing motivation into genres would be interesting. Categories that spring to mind under 'fear':
* the Cold War / nuclear war
* communism
* technology - AI
* technology - biological
* corporations wielding excessive power
Categories under 'What if...':
* utopian societies / population control
* galactic space travel / teleportation / parallel dimensions
* limited/limitless supply of a material
Phillip.
I've done the same with the Samsung NC10, which is similarly specced. I have the same resolution, which I thought would relegate it to just my travel needs, but I develop on it just fine and don't even switch on my desktop at the moment. I have a USB hard drive for entertainment, an external monitor for watching movies, and a USB mouse. Does the job. Runs standard Kubuntu install perfectly. Wifi worked out of the box. My desktop is normal over-the-top gaming spec but without games I'm surprised how little I actually need. The 8hrs+ battery life I find essential though.
Phillip.
The US must step down from its virtual high horse and ask itself what they do wrong. The US Passport control is not among where you should change.
True if you want the first virtual Olympics, where nobody is expected to go but instead watch on TV or via streaming.
Phillip.
Same here. I've always wanted to visit the States, especially New York and Las Vegas, but it was knocked indefinitely off my to-do list by the biometric controls. I don't see why I should be treated like a criminal when I haven't done anything wrong. UK is now attempting to be the least friendly place in the world, with every person entering and leaving cataloged by the government eBorders system. I even have to enter my passport number when I book a plane ticket online. Much as I love London, if it wasn't for my family being there I wouldn't go back to the UK any more. I am English through and through, but for now I will try and change things from a distance. London in the 90's was one of the best places in the world to be. The government has taken it on a roller-coaster downhill and now the place is barely recognisable.
Phillip.
Indeed. If it was a corporation with a legitimate case it would pursue it through the appropriate legal channels. What they are currently doing is trying to circumvent TPB right of appeal by vigilante action outside of the court in which they had decided to try the case.
And then they try and make a moral case that copyright infringement is like theft. After corruption like this, suing their own customers, and price-fixing, is it any wonder that normal law abiding citizens aren't too keen on giving them money?
Phillip.
I read my radio. How else do you tell which radio station you are on?
Phillip.