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User: mcrandello

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Comments · 319

  1. Re:MScss on Microsoft Plans Media Player for Linux? · · Score: 1

    I wouldn't think it would be detrimental to the defendants in the DeCss case. After all, there *WAS* nothing available at the time. Kind of like speculating that sometime in the future it would be possible to pirate DvDs cheap enough to actually make it worthwhile for home users (point is at the time is wasn't, and still isn't).


    Of course I'm not a lawyer...


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  2. Re:Microsoft, The Man, and Big Brother. on Microsoft Plans Media Player for Linux? · · Score: 1

    Although I wouldn't be content with my acquantance, Microsoft's media player playing all my files for me (especially if it's anything like their last offering), I *DO* welcome it. What it means is that the next version of QT or RealPlayer for Linux might not suck so hard, which means that WMP might fix bugs and make a better product next time, which means hat Xanim might have a better product as well from everyone else racing to open their protocols, etc...ad nauseum.

    As far as having a different tools for each media format, that's fine with me as long as each one works. Altogether though, I say if they want to give us YAFMP(mediaplayer) then bring it on!


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  3. Re:Microsoft, The Man, and Big Brother. on Microsoft Plans Media Player for Linux? · · Score: 1

    Although I wouldn't be content with my acquantance, Microsoft's media player playing all my files for me (especially if it's anything like their last offering), I *DO* welcome it. What it means is that the next version of QT or RealPlayer for Linux might not suck so hard, which means that WMP might fix bugs and make a better product next time, which means hat Xanim might have a better product as well from everyone else racing to open their protocols, etc...ad nauseum. As far as having a different tools for each media format, that's fine with me as long as each one works. Altogether though, I say if they want to give us YAFMP(mediaplayer) then bring it on!


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  4. I'll be happy... on Phoenix BIOS Software Available for Crusoe · · Score: 3

    Provided I don't have to look at a stupid advertisement for transmeta instead of the bios post screen.

    And no, it's really a slashdot link. :)


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  5. Re:Big surprise on Updated Slash & Server 51 · · Score: 1

    Very good point. Now that /. has made good on opening their source, it's up to anyone who finds a bug, exploit or missing feature to at least let them know about it. If you fix something and submit it or release the fixed code then that's even better.

    I also don't think that there's going to be too much of a "PREVENT FORKING" issue at stake here either, since every webpage is going to do at least a little customizing to get things just the way they want. In the future I see the Slash code being a 'blessed version' with maybe many other sites releasing their own versions, and whichever site you land on who's codebase you like, you use.


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  6. Re:Data Mining on DoubleClick DoubleCross · · Score: 1

    Better than that, I use the temporary card they gave me. The cashier *never* gives me a rough time, I get my discount, and if they ever do ask, I'll let them know I don't want a name attached to my spending habits. Oh, and I pay with cash. No bank cards or cheques.


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  7. Re:Censor THIS ! on Universities Begin to Ban Napster · · Score: 1

    Actually, the dorm rooms also come equipped with phone lines. A simple '7W' in front of the phone number will allow them to access any outside ISP, the same way I do when I retire for the evening, off campus.


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  8. Re:That just happened here... on Universities Begin to Ban Napster · · Score: 1

    Lets try one more time formatted...
    Unfortunately that's not entirely the case... in fact the student handbook does indeed say otherwise. Basically the excerpts here indicate that you may not warez, steal copyrighted works or create a tax on the network.

    While I have nothing against napster and may also feel that the recording industry is gouging us, the fact remains that there are rules and it looks like someone wasn't following them.

    Although I don't speak for the University here's what I was able to find that in this specific case, seem to indicate that they can NOT do as they see fit.

    Rule 6C7-4.037 Use of Information Technology and Resources

    (under section 2)
    2.Use of Information Resources.

    a.Members of the university community shall use information resources responsibly in accordance with this rule.
    2.The computing and telecommunication resources of the university shall not be used to make unauthorized or illegal use of the intellectual property of others. Users shall not transmit to others or display images, sounds, or messages that reasonably could be perceived as harassing, invasive, or otherwise unwanted.

    (under section 3...)
    3.User Responsibility

    a.Computer users shall comply with all applicable laws and regulations governing the use of computer and telecommunication technology, specifically Chapter 815, Florida Statutes, Computer Crimes Act, and Title 18, United States Code, Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986.

    ...


    2.The computing and telecommunication resources of the university shall be used only for purposes directly related to, or in support of, the academic, research or administrative activities of the university. These resources shall not be used for commercial or other for profit purposes without express written approval from the provost and vice president of Academic Affairs or his designee.

    ...

    8.Users of university computing facilities and telecommunications networks shall use these resources prudently, and avoid making excessive demands on these facilities in a manner that would knowingly impair the use of these resources by others.





    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  9. Plonk or Splonk defined... on Please Die3: The Abuse of Freedom · · Score: 1

    Stupid
    Person
    Leaving
    Our
    Newsgroup
    Killfiled
    :^)

    I remember "plonk" being described as the sound of a luser hitting the bottom of your bit-bucket.


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  10. You Have Been Trolled on Please Die3: The Abuse of Freedom · · Score: 2

    By possibly the best troll we have on Slashdot, Jon Katz himself. Apparently his "Angry white boy" comments did a pretty good job of stirring up the flames yesterday, not to mention he got a good religious (not religious-issues but having to do with actual religions) flame war started as well (IIRC every article thus far has been followed up by some bizarre flamewars). I've seen more people who normally post rationally bust out the flamethrowers like it was 1992 all over again. Think of Gritsboy and Natalie Man as comic releif for the moment. They are not trolls, inasmuch as their comments really have no bite when it comes to suckering in newbies or disrupting the conversation. Now this 5 part assault on /.'s readers (IMO at least) has done wonders for building brotherly love and a sense of community, no? Maybe Katz doesn't realize what he's even doing here, or doesn't get the point of why people (and not just *adolescent*white*males*) are flaming him and each other, but he has managed to become a rallying point for most all the trolls who haven't blocked his articles yet.

    Let me break it down like this- If you want to disrupt a discussion pick a tired old stereotype or religous issue (such as angry white boys or choice of OS). Make a very long winded post about it (if it's long it must be well thought, right?) Pick one side, but don't really come out and say what you mean, beat around the bush some. Back up your anecdotal evidence with...nothing. No facts, conclusions, etc. Just ask lots of questions, with answers that you know already your audience will not agree on (see the middle of his article, right before the bullets.) Now the only thing to do is sit back and let the flames roll in.

    Jon, if you are serious then maybe you need to rethink this whole "Internet" thing. The only thing I see you accomplishing is the alienation of your readers, both to you and each other. People have, do, and will always feel the need to take out their agressions. Online is the perfect place to do this, due to the anonyminity that you are so quick to and by now most people have either either developed a defense mechanism for it or left for kinder, gentler pasteurs.


    I said it in another post that was probably too nested for anyone to see but here it is again, when someone flames you it means one of three things.
    1. They have a point, consider that for a second.
    2. They have no point. Ignore them or flame back if you are so inclined.
    3. Everyone is flaming you. Draw your own conclusions.
    Notice there is nothing in there about whining about the flaming, as whining is simply asking for more fire.

    There, now I've been trolled by Jon Katz too :)


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  11. Re:mac os on UPDATED: Transmeta's Crusoe Unveiled · · Score: 1

    If you mean the first question, the guy also asked if the morphing S/W would not be released open source, however that they may change that...meaning even more choice of virtual architectures if/when they do?


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  12. Re:Its still okay on Hole in GNU GPL? · · Score: 1

    Damn, that's a good point...but it would be awfully hard to make that look like anything other than what it was (a cash grab on OSS w/o you getting the benefits of the source)...I mean would the membership be renewed on a "per-application" basis? Or would Company X actually promise a certain amount of binaries for say a years' membership to said "club"? I mean, you do have something there, but I think that anyone who would implement such a scheme would come off looking shady, and scare folks back to the original (open) sources...


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  13. Re:building the thing.... on Buy Your Own T. Rex Skeleton · · Score: 1

    No NO NO. 4,000 pound epoxy. That should hold it. And "Great Stuff" triple expanding foam spray, for the cartiledges and incase he wants to 'flesh it out'...


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  14. Which bring sup the question... on Blind Get Wired - for Sight · · Score: 1

    It is worth noting that when they hooked up the ship's computer to his visor they couldn't make sense of what he saw.

    Where ARE the screenshots, anyway? I would expect they've probably hooked up his computer to some sort of terminal...it probably *wouldn't* make too much sense if the brain has to do a lot of interperatation on what it gets for input, but would be interesting to see nonetheless. I remember the cat article had some sshots, anybody know if those were "real", or simulated?


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  15. Re:Next step: X-Ray vision! on Blind Get Wired - for Sight · · Score: 1

    They already sell glasses that do that. Unfortunately they only come in one style, with big red spirals painted on them, so everyone knows you're staring at their bum.


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  16. Re:Hmmmm.... on LinuxMandrake 7.0 ISO Images Available · · Score: 1

    That poll has been up there forever. I think it does them more harm (by giving the impression that it is just RH "plus some stuff") than good. Of course I also wish they would ditch the pastel colored logo but I suppose you can wish in one hand and...


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  17. Outlook Express 5 Instructs for news access(long) on @Home Responds to the UDP Notice · · Score: 1

    And I quote;
    For example one of the terminals has a version of MSIE 5 on it could someone tell me exactly how (considering a great deal of evil scooges may have disabled it in some way) access news from there. I think that would help out a great deal right from the start.

    I'm guessing you mean you haven't experienced Usenet firsthand so I'll go ahead and give you the dive-in-headfirst instructions here. It's been a while since I used OE5 for usenet (any word on kexpress, anyone?) but let's see how much I can get from memory. Here's what you need on your end to be succesful;

    1)A news server address (provided by your college, or isp.) Try "news.domain.com/edu"
    2)Outlook Express 4 or 5. You can use netscape news reader but you're on you're own instructionwise from me there (haven't a clue)

    In OE4/5 go to tools menu ->click on accounts. Click on the news tab and see if ones in there. If not click on [new] button then "news" from the freaky popout menu. Enter your spamproofed (this is #important) email address. A fake name is nice as well. You news server address, port 119 unless your server admin is a freak. Click finish, then close, then ok (whatever order the buttons come in). In a minute (or 15 for dialup) a list of all the newsgroups your server carries will pop up, maybe with descriptions of what they do. Add in alt.troll (if you think the trolls here are bad you should see some of the guys on this one) by double clicking or highlight->subscribe. Once you pick your groups and hit [ok] they'll look like mail folders on the left of your screen. click the folder to veiw the article headers, the headers to view the articles.

    Now pick a few others. Try a few binary groups, like alt.binaries.games.quake (mostly screenshots/utilities) and maybe one of the ones with "playboy" in it. Try a few of the ones with disgusting or embarrassing names to see spam in action.

    Two things not to do under any circumstances. Do not put picture attachments into a discussion (non binary group) and do not post in HTML (your newsreader will pester you to turn it off IIRC). Both of these things causes your articles to be a lot larger than they need and makes the legitimate discussions expire faster...


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  18. Re:Success of UDP's - Does SPAM work? on @Home Gets the Usenet Death Penalty · · Score: 1

    If no one bought, this sort of thing would stop. I'd like to see a massive public education campaign saying "don't buy from spammers"...but I can't see anyone willing to finance it.

    You could always crosspost it to every discussion group in the alt. and rec. heirarchies from @home before the UDP happens...

    I'm just kidding, no really, don't do that :) I agree though, In addition to changing policies the offending ISPS should be made to put up a SPAM awareness page along w/ a prominent link to it from their front page. I would also reccomend that the popular mail and newsreading apps should make that default "welcome to our program" message link to a few awareness pages, as well as contain content in their help files. Also those pearls of wisdom, such as "Yes, all of your freinds have already gotten the frog in the blender, elf bowling and the frog-catapault. They also hate it when you send them a link to a shockwave greeting card page that asks for their email address and spams them with it. To continue sending anyway press [send]."


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  19. I only take 43 on Why Bubbles in Guinness Fall · · Score: 1

    Small frame you see %)


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  20. Someone else has that on Why Bubbles in Guinness Fall · · Score: 1

    There's a beer here in the US called Boddington's Pub Ale or something similar, that has something similar in the can IIRC.


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  21. Re:LCP... on First LPI Certification Exam · · Score: 1

    One thing to keep in mind. Some companies will make you sign a contract (read-oath of fealty) in return for compensation for the exams. If you leave you wind up paying them a pro-rated amount for however long the contract was and what they paid for your cert. Of course the way it was explained other companies will purchase you out of these things so who knows...


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  22. You know what this means... on AOL Nation · · Score: 1

    No naughty words on your TW hosted web-pages!

    Dear Luser:
    Your AOL/TW web page was found to be in violation of our new, extended Terms of Service. As you know our AOL/TW guides have compiled a list of naughty words and have determined that you are using foul language, and have had your webpage and associated AOL/TW Screen-Name removed. Please contact our customer service department between the hours of 8a.m. and 10p.m. to resolve this matter.


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  23. Re:Love those IPOs on Caldera Systems Files For IPO · · Score: 1

    I would guess Corel would be the "Other RedHat"...Of course I've seen them, Caldera, RH, Macmillan Linux (featuring Mandrake) and Suse at Best buy. Still looking for Slakware or Debian to show up.


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  24. Re:Caldera vs. Microsoft on Caldera Systems Files For IPO · · Score: 0

    That's ok, we just looooooooooooooove you :D


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.

  25. I thought this was funny... on Free Realtime Video Editing for Linux · · Score: 1

    /********************************************
    * The license
    ***************************/

    Broadcast 2000 is GPL. Buy a camcorder. You may redistribute this program according to the terms of the GNU public license version 2 or any later version. There is no warranty, not even the implication of fitness for a particular purpose, although it should be fit for most. Be aware that the MPEG decoders are covered by patents, roughly one patent for every line of code.

    Must I really have to buy a camcorder?


    mcrandello@my-deja.com
    rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.