I was shocked that this was rejected!

IEEE-USA has a newsletter with a distressing story about the end of employer-paid healthcare in the USA. It documents the trend of benefits costs outstripping inflation, combined with tax breaks possibly shifting from employers to employees. The real question is, will salaries go up to offset an explicit shift, or do the employees lose out even more than they already have been? Need I even ask?

Does anyone else think that the new Burger King advertising campaign with the "king" in the weird mask is the worst ad in years? Some agency owes BK big bucks.

I thought this was just hearsay when I heard about it. Porter Goss, Bush's CIA nominee, was interviewed for Farenheit 9/11 and said he wasn't qualified for a job there. So he'll lead the whole place? Hmm.

Another interesting link from electoral-vote took me to The Case Against George W. Bush, by none other than Ron Reagan Jr.

Joe-Bob says check it out.

The Electoral vote predictor website, which tracks current US Presidential polls, has an interesting pointer today to JuliusBlog's item on Bush Ratings vs. Terror Alerts. The hypothesis is that when the president's approval rating dips, the government issues a new terror alert and the rating goes back up for a while. This starts approaching the question of what happens when everyone has perfect information: no one could have done this sort of analysis a few years ago. What other statistics are lurking out there? And does Howard Dean know about this?

``Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we,'' Bush said. ``They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.''

So finally the truth comes out!

Check out Springsteen's op-ed piece in the NYT. There's a concert I'd stand in line for, both for its politics and its performers.

So, I'm confused. It seems that usually submissions to /. get processed within a few hours at most. Yet I have one that's been pending almost 3 days. Another one has been in the pending state for months, but since I saw the same article posted by someone else, I assume it's the same as a rejection.

Are the Powers That Be using pocket vetoes?

For the record, here's the posting:

CNN.com reports that a Pennsylvania man who admitted to his doctors that he drinks a whole lot has had his driver's license suspended because the doctors were obliged to report him as a threat to public safety. "Pennsylvania is one of six states that require doctors to report motorists with medical conditions that could affect their driving, according to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. The other states are California, Delaware, Oregon, Nevada, and New Jersey." And apparently alcoholism is one of the medical conditions that merits reporting. I drink minimally, and I dread drunk drivers, but I'm seriously concerned about the erosion of doctor-patient confidentiality here. Be warned.

I've never really understood the whole concept of trolls in Slashdot. I guess I can see the fun in posting something that seems to be really interesting but is actually intentionally misleading, which I gather is the real definition of a troll. But then there are lots of people who like to post the same thing each time .... often stupid offensive material that is posted anonymously and immediately modded down, and sometimes other things that are posted from accounts that are even named after a troll.

So, SCO$699FeeTroll, maybe you can tell me why you post your "Don't forget" comment in every article, and why after I noticed this and made you my Foe to be sure I didn't see this comment again and again, you made me your Friend?! I'm flattered, but confused :)

The Register has run an article reporting that HP has gone from 10th place (in 1999, when Carly Fiorina took over) on Fortune's list of best places to work down to below 100th place, falling off the list in 2004. Unlike the "best" places, many HPers seem to fear layoffs being less than the last resort. HP has taken this to heart, however, and is trying hard to rebuild employee morale.

I saw a really interesting commercial the other night, in which a young child traveling the world and being helped by strangers was a metaphor for Linux. IMHO, it was the best IBM ad since the brain surgery commercial a few years ago. CNN points to a business2.com article about this ad, which starts with the comment: 'Imagine the following scenario: "OK, ad people. We want you to sell this really cool technology that's going to change the world. But it's not really our product. You can't hold it. You can't see it. And, um, there's no way to take a picture of it or even really show what it is. Oh, did we mention that the future of our $80 billion company depends on it? Thanks."' Personally, I hope IBM's future doesn't ride on Linux, but it's a cool ad anyway.

I hit a doubleheader today with two accepted posts (ok, so one was submitted yesterday):

• Pricing and Internet Architecture
• Downsides to Intrafamily IM?

I also opened up a huge can of worms, when the article that pointed at the NYT got a response complaining I didn't point at a version that didn't rely on NYT registration. This resulted in a number of responses, including a few of my own, both pro and con. I've never had so many negative mods on my own comments! And at the same time, I both flagged as "foes" anyone who cursed me out for me reasoning, and got at least one new foe listing by someone else.

So why the fuck does Slashdot have to get so abusive? (To the response "you must be new here" I can say I've been reading regularly for about 1.5 years -- I created my account on 07-08-02, hence the name, which I didn't realize at the time would become so public :)

Maybe someone beat me to it but it hasn't been posted yet.

The NY Times (free reg. req'd) reports that spam king Alan Ralsky has taken an hiatus while retooling to meet the new CAN SPAM act. He's quoted as saying the law is unfair, but adds, "You would have to be stupid" to try to violate it. Is this a case of "Do as I say, not as I do" or will he really put his money where his mouth is?

OK, it was posted several hours later :). Glad there was a reason for the rejection....

CNN is running an article that talks about how online mapping services are a peril to people since they can lead the person to their doorstep. But they really end up focusing on how a phone number can lead to the address used by the online mapping service in the first place, quoting a young woman who says she can't give out her phone number to potential suitors anymore. I suppose this is yet another nail in the coffin of wireline phones, or the assumption that addresses and phones are in directories unless one explicitly opts out (for a fee no less). And while we're at it ... anyone besides me experience the realization that putting a photo of your kid on your website, along with your address, is a blueprint for the weirdo who sees the kid and likes her/him?

What's happened to me? Until a few days ago, I read /. once a day or so, and virtually never posted. Then I started posting. Then I got 4 funny moderations and an insightful on one comment today and now I can't keep my fingers away from the keyboard. Instead, I'm scouring for other places to inject my vast experience and witty reparte.

Is there a Slashdot Anonymous support group?