Lawful Good: Pay to watch the movie. Buy a copy on tape or DVD for the family.
Another take on it:
Lawful Good: Doesn't see the movie, as tempting as it may be, because s/he knows that that money is going to trample on our rights
Lawful Neutral: Hunt down counterfeiters on the Web and turn them in to the MPAA
Lawful Evil: Work for the MPAA, on their legal team.
Neutral Good: Figure out what's worse: not seeing the movie and possibly harming the role-playing-game genre as far as the corporate public goes, or seeing the movie and paying the MPAA to trample on your rights. Go with your conscience.
True Neutral: See the flick. Or don't see the flick. Depends on your tastes.
Neutral Evil: Work for a major movie studio as an advertising executive.
Chaotic Good: If you must see the movie, sneak in. If the cops hassle you about it, explain that it's a political protest.
Chaotic Neutral: Buy movie ticket, eat it. Beat up usher with a trout.
I respectfully disagree. This election isn't just about who's going to sit in the White House for the next four years; it's about who's going to sit on the Supreme Court for the next twenty.
Bush has stated that his favorite Justices on the Supreme Court are Scalia and Thomas. At present, at least two and maybe four Supreme Court justices are approaching the point where they will need to retire from the bench. These justices are all moderates or liberals and their replacements could decide on issues of privacy, reproductive freedom, and civil rights, in the very near future. A Bush election could mean the end of Roe v. Wade. A lot of people on the left would perceive this as a major loss, and it's not just Bush that they're going to blame.
I humbly submit to the reader, that a Bush win means four white-knuckle years for the Left, a Democratic party that's going to shift further to the right under the direction of the Democratic Leadership Council, and a Green Party that will lose its legitimacy with the Left. A Gore win gives the Left more wiggle room, and a chance to 'guilt' Gore into following up on his proposed policies in his book Earth in the Ballance.
That's my two cents, although it's probably worth less than that.
I'm a Gore supporter for various reasons, but I would still like to see the Green party grow in prestige. I don't think that voting Nader, especially in close states (like OR, WI, NM), is the best way to do this. Fortunately, the Pacific Greens in OR can get the leverage they need if 15% of the Oregon vote goes to either the Green Presidential candidate or the Green candidate for OR Secretary of State. (Source: Statement of the Pacific Greens in the OR voter's guide vol. 2) For this reason I'm voting Gore/Lieberman for the White House and Lloyd Marbet for Secretary of State.
You may be able to help the Greens this way in other states too; check your local Green party and/or your local election laws.
I'm glad that we have Excel2k and Word2k running on Wine, at least to the point where we can get a screenshot. That's a huge step foreward. But how stable is it beyond that? Can we run Excel2k and be 99% sure that it won't crash on us?
What I realized then was that the phenomenon later to be known as Moore's Law [the prediction that transistor capacity would double every 18 months] was causing a logarithmic increase in processing power, and yet the throughput capacity was hardly changing at all.
Do you think we should tell him that processor speeds are increasing expoentially, and not logarithmically? I personally don't have the heart...
That having been said, I'm voting Gore in 2000 anyways. He's at least a little more clueful than the other guys. Besides which, IMO, this race isn't just about who's in the White House for the next four years, but who's on the Supreme Court for the next 20. Roe v. Wade hangs in the ballance. But that's just my opinion.
SOAP could be a good idea, but I'm not exactly sure that I like the security holes that it opens up. Counterpane points out that Microsoft's own security analysis faults SOAP for being able to "hide" protocol commands from firewalls. That basically means that you either prevent SOAP from at all functioning across your firewall, or go without a firewall. Granted, firewalls aren't the best security policy in the world, but I'd rather be assured that they'll work as advertised than have to worry about a brand new hole.
Microsoft.NET is basically a virtual machine, kinda like the Java virtual machine. The virtual machine works with several different languages. This makes debugging and development easier than before.
Of course the big problems with virtual machines are that you get a performance hit, and your code will only run on those platforms which have an implementation of the machine. I'm not holding my breath for Microsoft to port the.NET machine to Solaris or Linux anytime soon, or to release the specs so that others can do it, either.
Here's an idea: why not set it up so that one can go to MP3.com's web page and automatically send a fax to one's favorite legislator?
I mention this because this is the same tactic used by the ACLU, and I *always* get a reply from a fax. I can only imagine that this also generates a lot of real paper, too.
Somehow I doubt that you could build a
winning battle bot based on Linux: it just strikes me that things like hard drives don't respond well to axes and chain saw blades.
Why use hard drives at all? Why not put the whole thing -- OS and software and all -- on ROMs? It's cheaper, less likely to get badly damaged, and execution time goes up.
You can play your own version of RoboCup using the JavaBots package from Carnegie Mellon University. All you need is JDK 1.1 or better running on any box. I know I had fun with this when I was a grad student!
In 52001, the inhabitants of Earth will capture a sattelite and take it to Outpost Headquarters where paleologists will unlock it and find inside small platters of glass....
"Look," they will say, "perfectly preserved glass platters that our ancient ancestors used for record-keeping once! And they're remarkably well preserved!"
Many years are spent, graduate students (if they still exist in 52001) come and go having completed dissertations on the decoding of the Orbital Glass Platters, thousands will wonder what the ancients used to think were important. Eventually they manage to decode some of the Ancient Tounge, with a mere 50,000 words in it, barely enough to fill a single memory cell in one of the millions of cockroachbots that comprise a part of the Human galactic ecosystem.
Once the initial progress is made, it is only a matter of seconds before a fully aware translator is coded, compiled, and executed to start the drudging work of making sense of the Ancient Glass Platters. Word spreads out from Earth through the networks of spaceborne miniroaches via radio, until thousands of years later the full content of the platters spreads throughout the Human galaxy. Our decendents will wonder at the strange and quaint sense of humor of the ancients, who were just beginning the age of mass communication and intelligent robotics.
"What," they will wonder, "is 'first post' supposed to mean?"
I guess it's time for us to dust off the f00f bug jokes that plagued Intel when the Pentium first came out....
Q: What's that 'Intel Inside' sticker called? A: A warning label!
Comeon folks, use 'em if you got 'em...let's get all this out of our system before Jay Leno and Dave Letterman get on the bandwagon tonight and ruin the fun for everyone...
This is not just flamebait, it is known and well-established that a lot of those "protesters" were paid to stir up trouble by whacko left-wing
groups trying to draw attention to their causes.
For what it's worth, I've organized protest movements in the past, and we've never had to rely on paid protestors to show up and deliver the message. This country is large enough so that for any issue, you will find a significant number of people who will get pissed off about something, as long as it's fresh and current. Usually, you can rely on large numbers of students to fill the ranks, as well as people who are 'lifetime' radicals, who have pretty much made the politics of protest the center of their life. (You might call this latter group a bunch of losers, but on the other hand, you have to admire someone who foregoes the usual comforts for a cause they believe in.)
Frankly, I'd be quite surprised if any of these folks were brought to the protests by monetary incentives.
Of course, if you should have proof to substantiate your claims, you're free to post it here.
...can be found on the Philadelphia Independent Media Center website. Warning: this information is heavily slanted to the protesters' points of view. On the other hand, it's also a neet application of Slash.
I find it helps to stop and pray, even if just for a minute. I lean back in my chair, put my feet up on my desk and ask God for inspiration. It's helped me out of blocks many times.
In my case, I find that a lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram helps.
Hey, I just realized what this means. If it's reflective on such a wide range of frequencies, that means that the amount of multiplexing data compression you can do is huge. One of these fibers might be able to carry a hundred times more data then any current fiber, for instance, just by having sub-bands that use different light frequencies. Each band would think they had exclusive use of the superfiber, so they could all be running at max datarate.
Just what we need. Another 50,000 channels of cable TV.
...how is this any different from the "plasma ball" device, which has been on the shelves of novelty shops for years, and which operates by passing an electric current through an inert gas contained within a plexiglas bulb?
One of the things they said is that the seats are not the comfortable for long trips.
Which is why I'd love to see this same technology in something more Accord sized...the fuel efficiency won't be anywhere NEARLY as good, but it'll beat what I get now out of my Camry.
Here's a copy of a letter that I sent to my congresscritter. Please send this on to your own representatives. You can look up your representative here. I did attach a copy of Richard Stallman's essay on copyright law to my letter; you can find that here. (Note that Stallman's essay can be redistributed in any format so long as the essay and the relevant notice at the bottom are preserved.) Write your reps. It's the least you can do to put on some public pressure, as consumers, geeks, and citizens. You should also get a letter back, where they explain their position. You should also fax this to them if you possibly can.
Rep. *****,
Congress is presently holding hearings on electronic music formats, such as Napster, to determine how they should be regulated and whether they pose a threat to copyright.
Copyright law has become an issue of essential importance, as it affects not only our economy, but also our fundamental freedom of expression. Congressional regulation of electronic music can have a chilling effect on free speech on the Internet, just as Title V of the Telecommunications Reform Bill of 1996 (the so-called Computer Decency Act) almost had a chilling effect on Internet speech. Please keep the First Amendment in mind when considering any bill that affects electronic music formats -- or for that matter, any other 'intellectual property' bills.
I've included an article from the Oregon Law Review with this email; it is written by free software advocate Richard Stallman and is well worth the consideration of yourself and your peers on this issue.
Slashdot Mirror
Another take on it:
But that's just me.
fearbush.com
The older I get, the more complicated I realize life is, and the more I think people need to have options. But that's just me.
fearbush.com
I respectfully disagree. This election isn't just about who's going to sit in the White House for the next four years; it's about who's going to sit on the Supreme Court for the next twenty.
Bush has stated that his favorite Justices on the Supreme Court are Scalia and Thomas. At present, at least two and maybe four Supreme Court justices are approaching the point where they will need to retire from the bench. These justices are all moderates or liberals and their replacements could decide on issues of privacy, reproductive freedom, and civil rights, in the very near future. A Bush election could mean the end of Roe v. Wade. A lot of people on the left would perceive this as a major loss, and it's not just Bush that they're going to blame.
I humbly submit to the reader, that a Bush win means four white-knuckle years for the Left, a Democratic party that's going to shift further to the right under the direction of the Democratic Leadership Council, and a Green Party that will lose its legitimacy with the Left. A Gore win gives the Left more wiggle room, and a chance to 'guilt' Gore into following up on his proposed policies in his book Earth in the Ballance.
That's my two cents, although it's probably worth less than that.
fearbush.com
You may be able to help the Greens this way in other states too; check your local Green party and/or your local election laws.
fearbush.com
I'm glad that we have Excel2k and Word2k running on Wine, at least to the point where we can get a screenshot. That's a huge step foreward. But how stable is it beyond that? Can we run Excel2k and be 99% sure that it won't crash on us?
fearbush.com
Do you think we should tell him that processor speeds are increasing expoentially, and not logarithmically? I personally don't have the heart...
That having been said, I'm voting Gore in 2000 anyways. He's at least a little more clueful than the other guys. Besides which, IMO, this race isn't just about who's in the White House for the next four years, but who's on the Supreme Court for the next 20. Roe v. Wade hangs in the ballance. But that's just my opinion.
fearbush.com
I would pay good money to see the following:
"Hi there. I'd like to buy a PC."
"Very well sir, would you like Windows ME or Windows 2000 with that?"
"Actually, you can just leave off the operating system."
"Sir, I can assure you that we are best equipped to install your operating system."
"OK, in that case, do dual boot Debian/OpenBSD install with this hard drive partitioning that I'm going to write down..."
fearbush.com
Jumping Jesus on a Pogo stick....who do you think the publisher is?? 90% of the time it's the record company that signed the artist.
More to the point, however, the really fat money comes not from radio broadcasts, but from record sales.
The Tyrrany Begins....
SOAP could be a good idea, but I'm not exactly sure that I like the security holes that it opens up. Counterpane points out that Microsoft's own security analysis faults SOAP for being able to "hide" protocol commands from firewalls. That basically means that you either prevent SOAP from at all functioning across your firewall, or go without a firewall. Granted, firewalls aren't the best security policy in the world, but I'd rather be assured that they'll work as advertised than have to worry about a brand new hole.
The Tyrrany Begins....
Here's a go.
Microsoft .NET is basically a virtual machine, kinda like the Java virtual machine. The virtual machine works with several different languages. This makes debugging and development easier than before.
Of course the big problems with virtual machines are that you get a performance hit, and your code will only run on those platforms which have an implementation of the machine. I'm not holding my breath for Microsoft to port the .NET machine to Solaris or Linux anytime soon, or to release the specs so that others can do it, either.
Basically, it looks to me like a Java ripoff.
Hope this helps.
The Tyrrany Begins....
Here's an idea: why not set it up so that one can go to MP3.com's web page and automatically send a fax to one's favorite legislator?
I mention this because this is the same tactic used by the ACLU, and I *always* get a reply from a fax. I can only imagine that this also generates a lot of real paper, too.
The Tyrrany Begins....
Why use hard drives at all? Why not put the whole thing -- OS and software and all -- on ROMs? It's cheaper, less likely to get badly damaged, and execution time goes up.
The Tyrrany Begins....
You can play your own version of RoboCup using the JavaBots package from Carnegie Mellon University. All you need is JDK 1.1 or better running on any box. I know I had fun with this when I was a grad student!
The Tyrrany Begins....
In 52001, the inhabitants of Earth will capture a sattelite and take it to Outpost Headquarters where paleologists will unlock it and find inside small platters of glass....
"Look," they will say, "perfectly preserved glass platters that our ancient ancestors used for record-keeping once! And they're remarkably well preserved!"
Many years are spent, graduate students (if they still exist in 52001) come and go having completed dissertations on the decoding of the Orbital Glass Platters, thousands will wonder what the ancients used to think were important. Eventually they manage to decode some of the Ancient Tounge, with a mere 50,000 words in it, barely enough to fill a single memory cell in one of the millions of cockroachbots that comprise a part of the Human galactic ecosystem.
Once the initial progress is made, it is only a matter of seconds before a fully aware translator is coded, compiled, and executed to start the drudging work of making sense of the Ancient Glass Platters. Word spreads out from Earth through the networks of spaceborne miniroaches via radio, until thousands of years later the full content of the platters spreads throughout the Human galaxy. Our decendents will wonder at the strange and quaint sense of humor of the ancients, who were just beginning the age of mass communication and intelligent robotics.
"What," they will wonder, "is 'first post' supposed to mean?"
The Tyrrany Begins....
I guess it's time for us to dust off the f00f bug jokes that plagued Intel when the Pentium first came out....
Q: What's that 'Intel Inside' sticker called? A: A warning label!
Comeon folks, use 'em if you got 'em...let's get all this out of our system before Jay Leno and Dave Letterman get on the bandwagon tonight and ruin the fun for everyone...
The Tyrrany Begins....
It would probably look like C written by first-year CS students.
The Tyrrany Begins....
For what it's worth, I've organized protest movements in the past, and we've never had to rely on paid protestors to show up and deliver the message. This country is large enough so that for any issue, you will find a significant number of people who will get pissed off about something, as long as it's fresh and current. Usually, you can rely on large numbers of students to fill the ranks, as well as people who are 'lifetime' radicals, who have pretty much made the politics of protest the center of their life. (You might call this latter group a bunch of losers, but on the other hand, you have to admire someone who foregoes the usual comforts for a cause they believe in.)
Frankly, I'd be quite surprised if any of these folks were brought to the protests by monetary incentives.
Of course, if you should have proof to substantiate your claims, you're free to post it here.
The Tyrrany Begins....
...can be found on the Philadelphia Independent Media Center website. Warning: this information is heavily slanted to the protesters' points of view. On the other hand, it's also a neet application of Slash.
The Tyrrany Begins....
In my case, I find that a lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram helps.
Mutatis mutandis for your own faith.
The Tyrrany Begins....
Just what we need. Another 50,000 channels of cable TV.
The Tyrrany Begins....
...how is this any different from the "plasma ball" device, which has been on the shelves of novelty shops for years, and which operates by passing an electric current through an inert gas contained within a plexiglas bulb?
The Tyrrany Begins....
Which is why I'd love to see this same technology in something more Accord sized...the fuel efficiency won't be anywhere NEARLY as good, but it'll beat what I get now out of my Camry.
The Second Amendment Sisters
Got Coke? Bush Does!
...the only thing that can produce significant OpenBSD downtimes.
The Second Amendment Sisters
Hatch wants to legislate 'fair use' to include giving tapes of albums to spouses and friends?
Is this a sign from God?
Do Orin Hatch and Jello Biafra actually agree on something?
What are those pigs doing flying by my office?
The Second Amendment Sisters
Rep. *****,
Congress is presently holding hearings on electronic music formats, such as Napster, to determine how they should be regulated and whether they pose a threat to copyright.
Copyright law has become an issue of essential importance, as it affects not only our economy, but also our fundamental freedom of expression. Congressional regulation of electronic music can have a chilling effect on free speech on the Internet, just as Title V of the Telecommunications Reform Bill of 1996 (the so-called Computer Decency Act) almost had a chilling effect on Internet speech. Please keep the First Amendment in mind when considering any bill that affects electronic music formats -- or for that matter, any other 'intellectual property' bills.
I've included an article from the Oregon Law Review with this email; it is written by free software advocate Richard Stallman and is well worth the consideration of yourself and your peers on this issue.
Sincerely, (name, address, city, state, ZIP+4)
The Second Amendment Sisters