Interesting timing, I just submitted to Slashdot an article about the fact that more than 60 scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, issued a statement yesterday asserting that the Bush administration had systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals on the environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weaponry at home and abroad.
I wouldn't be too surprised or disappointed if the article gets rejected, it is a bit too flamebaity, especially with the election coming up... environment and politics is a volatile mixture on Slashdot. Interesting read nonetheless.
NYTimes requires registration, but you can read a copy of the article at The Smirking Chimp instead if you prefer.
I demand those insensitive clods make a new Euro code. It is vital now that I communicate with my stock broker by rapping morse code with my mug on the prison bars. Oh, and they had better reserve a code for the upcoming "Afro" currency too. Ta.
I agree, I'm sorry to say. Whenever I see one of the new episodes I'm disappointed. Fawning over celebrity guests (Blair? Who's next, Bush?). Careful not to offend anyone. And whenever creativity runs low, throw in a crazy chase scene.
At least Futurama stopped while it was still good.
No, at 6 CDs, I thought I'd just download it from Kazaa...;-p
Oh, booh! Come on. They have Linux servers AND clients, a Linux and Mac demo almost at the same time as the Windows demo. They are using Open Source in it, like ogg for music and Speex. They are gambling on a DVD version.
I think I would buy it even if it was crap just to support them, but from what I've heard it is shaping up to being a great game too!
Appearently, the game comes on SIX cds! Holy hi-res textures, batman! However, they are going to release a DVD edition, I urge you all to buy it! (You are going to buy the game if you like it...right?)
I am so fed up with having games that come on DVDs for consoles being converted to lots of easy scratchable CDs for the PC release. At least if you are a RPG fan it is beginning to feel like we are back to the good old floppy times. "Please insert next media..."
When it comes to the game itself, I have read that the music and atmosphere resembles the first game, which I think is great news. I loved the original UT for daring to do something different in design and gameplay from just a Q3 clone. When UT2003 came I was disappointed to see they had taken a step closer to Q3 with lots of colored lights and space dungeons all over again. But in UT2004 levels such as the two trains are back (this time called Convoy appearently).
In the last election in Sweden there was one new party called Fria Listan (the Free List). They were depicted as populist libertarians in the media. I think that had some truth in it, but at the same time I liked some of their ideas. They said they wanted to get away from the old party politics with lots of money spent on politicians going around the country holding speeches on public plazas and so on. Very 1950s...
This new party tried mainly to spread their ideas using the web and writing articles and letters in newspapers, both because they couldn't afford traditional campaigning and because they thought this was a more rational way in the modern age. They did generate some media attention, so I think a lot of people would at least have heard of them.
So how did it go? In Sweden we have many more parties represented in parliament, if you get more than 4% nationally or a certain percentage locally, you get a minimum number of seats in parliament. This makes voting for a small party more attractive unlike countries like the US where the winner get everything and therefore parties tend to be reduced to two mainstream, close to the center parties.*
Total number of votes for the Free List in the election? About 500, from a population of 8 million. Of course, their politics might influence this more than their method of communication, but I was still surprised at how incredibly small the number was. Joke parties like The Donald Duck party have been known to get more votes. Their web page (http://www.frialistan.st/) is now gone.
* Of course, the downside of our system is the tendency for weak coalition governments with lots of internal bickering, and special interest parties gaining disproportionate powers because they can tip the scale between bigger parties which are evenly balanced.
No, you are right, we should do it because it is the right thing to do. So, when does the war against Bush begin?
Joking aside, most of the people who criticize Bush and the war are making just your point, though you seem to have missed it: We belive they started the war for their own financial benifit, not because of the goodness of their hearts. After all, they don't mind vicious dictators anywhere else.
If they are so damn Linux friendly they should call Dell in Sweden and talk to them.
I was looking for a new computer a couple of months ago. Some of the Dell laptop deals looked pretty good. I called them and said "I'm interested in that model. Is it possible to get it with another operating system, say Linux, installed?" Dell: "No, I'm afraid that is not possible." Me: "Would it be possible to get it with a blank hard drive then?" Dell: "No, I'm sorry, we have a deal with Microsoft. You have the choice between Windows XP home or Pro, that's basically it. You know, you could always reformat the harddrive and install Linux yourself if that is what you want." Me: "So you will not sell me a computer unless it has Windows on it?" Dell: "I'm afraid so."
I said thanks but no thanks and hung up. Even if Dell gets Windows at a huge discount, I don't want to pay for software I'm not going to use. Nor do I want to add to Microsoft's false sales statistics.
This is all a very familiar story to all Slashdot regulars I'm sure. I do hope the major PC sellers are starting to come around though.
Re:Well, I've been running it on SuSE 9 for 3 days
on
Review: KDE 3.2
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· Score: 1
Oohh.. nice wallpaper. Where did you get it?
Eyecandy for old and new KDE
on
Review: KDE 3.2
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· Score: 3, Informative
Check out http://www.kde-look.org/. Good even if you don't use KDE, they have lots of Linux related wallpapers for instance.
I have seen many comments here about environmental fanatics who won't look at the scientific facts, and in the end we get lots of wasted electronics in landfills. An Anonymous Coward especially talked about "billions of ruined components in landfills".
First of all, the reason many European countries have limited or banned the use of certain flame retardants is that these chemicals are not released only in fires, but in everyday use of electronics. They show up in the blood of office workers, and especially high concentrations in people working with electronic recycling, and they also show up in nature: http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/members/1999 /107p643- 648sjodin/sjodin-full.html Note that the article ends by saying not that the industry will go back to using the old materials, but that they will try to develop other alternatives than this failed one.
Second, we don't know for sure that this "mass failure" of electronics will occur. Some of the right wingers who are screaming about the cost and are fond of quoting the junkscience site seem to be taking this mass failure as a fact, like it already happened. Who are jumping to conclusions now?
Third, even if the new material leads to product failure, why only blame environmentalists, how about Sumitomo developers?
The funny thing is that if Microsoft was a company based in the EU they would be getting government money and protection from the EU
What is funny is that EVERY TIME an article about EU/MS pops up, someone says this. They then tend to get modded to +5 insightful whereupon the following thread turns into a US vs EU flamefest. And speaking of which:
A shining example of this is Airbus who clearly benefits from government subsidies, etc.
Agh, and you just had to bring up the Airbus/Boeing conflict too? This ought to be a subset of Godwin's law.
For the record, I think both Airbus and Boeing use government subsidies to prevent fair competition, and it sucks. However, in the EU/MS case, could it not be possible that somewhere in the EU beaurocracy there are some people who are actually trying to do the right thing?
It's Friday, and some moderators have picked up the weekend crackpipe early it seems. I can't believe some are moderating a calm and well argued post like yours "troll", and your parent post which screams about the KDE team of being a Borg like entity "insightful".
Sure, anyone with two brain cells to rub together was so furious they could choke at Bush's start of election speech. But were you furious because it wasn't Orwellian enough for you?? You need: SOS: Students for an Orwellian Society!
Remember always: WAR IS PEACE! FREEDOM IS SLAVERY! IGNORANCE IS STRENGHT!
You have my sympathy. I was an exchange student at Adelaide Uni, year 2000. Going around by bike was a nightmare... Can't even remember the name of the place I lived... straight to the east from central Adelaide is a district famous for its resturants, half an hour by bike or so. If you go straight north from there until you meet the Botanic Road... that's the place. There is a shopping mall, a gym and Jenny Craig weight loss center at the intersection.:-)
I should throw my laptop and all the other PC's in this house in the garbage and find something else to fuckin' do.
Here is a suggestion for an empirical experiment you can do to spend your time: Why don't you go and get raped and see if you still find jokes about rape amusing?
In a land where there's six inches of snow on the ground, the temperature is in the single digits Farenheit, that's gonna be damned hard to do.
Oh boo hoo. You Americans are SUCH wimps. It's minus 20 centigrade here and plenty of snow, and I went out jogging yesterday for 45 minutes!:-)
Republicans are actually well-known for decrying what they see as abuses
As of late, republicans have also been well-known for enthuisiastically engaging in the very same conduct they have been loudly decrying in others. Oh, and at the same time sayng they have the moral high ground. So forgive me if I'm still worried while the current flaming moron is still in charge.
I take you assume that because I'm not a liberal, I must be a conservative Christian.
No, I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about "people in general".
Hello? There's more than two ways of looking at the world. It isn't a binary proposition.
Right, a lecture on keeping an open mind and tolerance from a guy who jokes about physical voilence against me in his sig. Fuck you and the high horse you rode in on.
This tool is really a life-saver for anyone developing projects on Linux (with x86).
A quick browsing of the documentation reveals that it works for both C and C++. I presume it wouldn't work for, for instance, Java? Not that Java programs need to be checked for most of those bugs. But does it work for, say Python? Interpreted languages?
Slashdot Mirror
Now now, stop misunderestimating him. You are lucky he is not a revengeful person.
http://www.dubyaspeak.com/
Interesting timing, I just submitted to Slashdot an article about the fact that more than 60 scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, issued a statement yesterday asserting that the Bush administration had systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals on the environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weaponry at home and abroad.
I wouldn't be too surprised or disappointed if the article gets rejected, it is a bit too flamebaity, especially with the election coming up... environment and politics is a volatile mixture on Slashdot. Interesting read nonetheless.
NYTimes requires registration, but you can read a copy of the article at The Smirking Chimp instead if you prefer.
The organisation itself: Union of Concerned Scientists.
I demand those insensitive clods make a new Euro code. It is vital now that I communicate with my stock broker by rapping morse code with my mug on the prison bars. Oh, and they had better reserve a code for the upcoming "Afro" currency too. Ta.
And the question isn't if someone will fork ist but when. (unless they change the license back in time)
:-)
Well, it would seem the answer is that the forks are already here... the question is: when are they stable enough, and when are the drivers here?
I agree, I'm sorry to say. Whenever I see one of the new episodes I'm disappointed. Fawning over celebrity guests (Blair? Who's next, Bush?). Careful not to offend anyone. And whenever creativity runs low, throw in a crazy chase scene.
At least Futurama stopped while it was still good.
Interesting, so now we have TWO big breakthroughs in how to make electronics in the future. photonics and
spintronics.
Photonics or spintronics, any experts willing to guess which will be the dominant technology in the future?
No, at 6 CDs, I thought I'd just download it from Kazaa... ;-p
Oh, booh! Come on. They have Linux servers AND clients, a Linux and Mac demo almost at the same time as the Windows demo. They are using Open Source in it, like ogg for music and Speex. They are gambling on a DVD version.
I think I would buy it even if it was crap just to support them, but from what I've heard it is shaping up to being a great game too!
In fact, I think I'm getting two...
Appearently, the game comes on SIX cds! Holy hi-res textures, batman! However, they are going to release a DVD edition, I urge you all to buy it! (You are going to buy the game if you like it...right?)
I am so fed up with having games that come on DVDs for consoles being converted to lots of easy scratchable CDs for the PC release. At least if you are a RPG fan it is beginning to feel like we are back to the good old floppy times. "Please insert next media..."
When it comes to the game itself, I have read that the music and atmosphere resembles the first game, which I think is great news. I loved the original UT for daring to do something different in design and gameplay from just a Q3 clone. When UT2003 came I was disappointed to see they had taken a step closer to Q3 with lots of colored lights and space dungeons all over again. But in UT2004 levels such as the two trains are back (this time called Convoy appearently).
In the last election in Sweden there was one new party called Fria Listan (the Free List). They were depicted as populist libertarians in the media. I think that had some truth in it, but at the same time I liked some of their ideas. They said they wanted to get away from the old party politics with lots of money spent on politicians going around the country holding speeches on public plazas and so on. Very 1950s...
This new party tried mainly to spread their ideas using the web and writing articles and letters in newspapers, both because they couldn't afford traditional campaigning and because they thought this was a more rational way in the modern age. They did generate some media attention, so I think a lot of people would at least have heard of them.
So how did it go? In Sweden we have many more parties represented in parliament, if you get more than 4% nationally or a certain percentage locally, you get a minimum number of seats in parliament. This makes voting for a small party more attractive unlike countries like the US where the winner get everything and therefore parties tend to be reduced to two mainstream, close to the center parties.*
Total number of votes for the Free List in the election? About 500, from a population of 8 million. Of course, their politics might influence this more than their method of communication, but I was still surprised at how incredibly small the number was. Joke parties like The Donald Duck party have been known to get more votes. Their web page (http://www.frialistan.st/) is now gone.
* Of course, the downside of our system is the tendency for weak coalition governments with lots of internal bickering, and special interest parties gaining disproportionate powers because they can tip the scale between bigger parties which are evenly balanced.
You're right: what's the point of ridding a country from a vicious dictator who brutalizes his own population, destroys the environment, instigates war and supports terrorism unless you actually get some financial benefit from it?!?
No, you are right, we should do it because it is the right thing to do. So, when does the war against Bush begin?
Joking aside, most of the people who criticize Bush and the war are making just your point, though you seem to have missed it: We belive they started the war for their own financial benifit, not because of the goodness of their hearts. After all, they don't mind vicious dictators anywhere else.
If they are so damn Linux friendly they should call Dell in Sweden and talk to them.
I was looking for a new computer a couple of months ago. Some of the Dell laptop deals looked pretty good. I called them and said "I'm interested in that model. Is it possible to get it with another operating system, say Linux, installed?"
Dell: "No, I'm afraid that is not possible."
Me: "Would it be possible to get it with a blank hard drive then?"
Dell: "No, I'm sorry, we have a deal with Microsoft. You have the choice between Windows XP home or Pro, that's basically it. You know, you could always reformat the harddrive and install Linux yourself if that is what you want."
Me: "So you will not sell me a computer unless it has Windows on it?"
Dell: "I'm afraid so."
I said thanks but no thanks and hung up. Even if Dell gets Windows at a huge discount, I don't want to pay for software I'm not going to use. Nor do I want to add to Microsoft's false sales statistics.
This is all a very familiar story to all Slashdot regulars I'm sure. I do hope the major PC sellers are starting to come around though.
Oohh.. nice wallpaper. Where did you get it?
Check out http://www.kde-look.org/.
Good even if you don't use KDE, they have lots of Linux related wallpapers for instance.
One app I have fallen in love with is
SuperKaramba, a clone of Windows XP Samurize. It enabels easy Python scripting of widgets on the desktop, enabling such things as weather forecasts, system information, Mac OS X style dockers on your desktop, or even some very beautiful themes complete with new toolbars, XMMS skins etc.
I have seen many comments here about environmental fanatics who won't look at the scientific facts, and in the end we get lots of wasted electronics in landfills. An Anonymous Coward especially talked about "billions of ruined components in landfills".
9 /107p643- 648sjodin/sjodin-full.html
First of all, the reason many European countries have limited or banned the use of certain flame retardants is that these chemicals are not released only in fires, but in everyday use of electronics. They show up in the blood of office workers, and especially high concentrations in people working with electronic recycling, and they also show up in nature:
http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/members/199
Note that the article ends by saying not that the industry will go back to using the old materials, but that they will try to develop other alternatives than this failed one.
Second, we don't know for sure that this "mass failure" of electronics will occur. Some of the right wingers who are screaming about the cost and are fond of quoting the junkscience site seem to be taking this mass failure as a fact, like it already happened. Who are jumping to conclusions now?
Third, even if the new material leads to product failure, why only blame environmentalists, how about Sumitomo developers?
So, finally Java is finally catching up to C#.
Eh, considering C# is pretty much a clone of Java, I wouldn't crow to loudly about being first.
As for your specific points here, I think they illustrate that it is good that Java and C# are competing, both are striving to better themselves.
As for the trollish tone of your post, why take this so seriously? You are not your programming language.
I have trouble respecting a "best of" list that includes Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver. A great post of what is wrong with that book here.
The funny thing is that if Microsoft was a company based in the EU they would be getting government money and protection from the EU
What is funny is that EVERY TIME an article about EU/MS pops up, someone says this. They then tend to get modded to +5 insightful whereupon the following thread turns into a US vs EU flamefest. And speaking of which:
A shining example of this is Airbus who clearly benefits from government subsidies, etc.
Agh, and you just had to bring up the Airbus/Boeing conflict too? This ought to be a subset of Godwin's law.
For the record, I think both Airbus and Boeing use government subsidies to prevent fair competition, and it sucks. However, in the EU/MS case, could it not be possible that somewhere in the EU beaurocracy there are some people who are actually trying to do the right thing?
It's Friday, and some moderators have picked up the weekend crackpipe early it seems. I can't believe some are moderating a calm and well argued post like yours "troll", and your parent post which screams about the KDE team of being a Borg like entity "insightful".
We are exactly 20 years off on our calendar.
Sure, anyone with two brain cells to rub together was so furious they could choke at Bush's start of election speech. But were you furious because it wasn't Orwellian enough for you?? You need:
SOS: Students for an Orwellian Society!
Remember always:
WAR IS PEACE!
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY!
IGNORANCE IS STRENGHT!
You have my sympathy. I was an exchange student at Adelaide Uni, year 2000. Going around by bike was a nightmare... Can't even remember the name of the place I lived... straight to the east from central Adelaide is a district famous for its resturants, half an hour by bike or so. If you go straight north from there until you meet the Botanic Road... that's the place. There is a shopping mall, a gym and Jenny Craig weight loss center at the intersection. :-)
I should throw my laptop and all the other PC's in this house in the garbage and find something else to fuckin' do.
:-)
Here is a suggestion for an empirical experiment you can do to spend your time: Why don't you go and get raped and see if you still find jokes about rape amusing?
In a land where there's six inches of snow on the ground, the temperature is in the single digits Farenheit, that's gonna be damned hard to do.
Oh boo hoo. You Americans are SUCH wimps. It's minus 20 centigrade here and plenty of snow, and I went out jogging yesterday for 45 minutes!
Republicans are actually well-known for decrying what they see as abuses
As of late, republicans have also been well-known for enthuisiastically engaging in the very same conduct they have been loudly decrying in others. Oh, and at the same time sayng they have the moral high ground. So forgive me if I'm still worried while the current flaming moron is still in charge.
It has been mentioned before in threads on Slashdot, but since the joke keep coming up, here we go again: Prison rape isn't really funny.
I take you assume that because I'm not a liberal, I must be a conservative Christian.
No, I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about "people in general".
Hello? There's more than two ways of looking at the world. It isn't a binary proposition.
Right, a lecture on keeping an open mind and tolerance from a guy who jokes about physical voilence against me in his sig. Fuck you and the high horse you rode in on.
This tool is really a life-saver for anyone developing projects on Linux (with x86).
A quick browsing of the documentation reveals that it works for both C and C++. I presume it wouldn't work for, for instance, Java? Not that Java programs need to be checked for most of those bugs. But does it work for, say Python? Interpreted languages?