US and UK government agencies... ripping? Impossible, we all know they're in the pocket of the copyright maximalists...

I smell comments about a certain-greek-letter distribution... lurking...

Thanks for the link. The page source is hilarious, looks like the "great lazer eyed bunny" is a much bigger threat!

I think you wanted to reply to the GP, hey, I'm just "tech support"...

And when this happens "on a computer", it should be considered to be the same as physical destruction? I'm all for not making new law for "on a computer", but, well, I don't think that's a good idea (since in many cases the computer user is not the only one controlling his computer --- segue to NSA from GCSB).

I looked at it when Technocrat closed down, but it was/got, well, too weird even for me... Even Technocrat was a bit ingrown, kuro5hin was too much like that.

OTOH, it's been a looooong while. Maybe I should give it a second look.

> So, how do we copy over all of the users and their howevermanydigits user IDs?

This could be enabled by having interested Slashdotters post SHA1 hashes of long (>= 20 char) strings of their choice in their profile Bio (assuming beta still has that function) and then prompting for the original strings upon registration to the new site. Even non-technical readers could be guided to use any of the many online SHA1 hash generators (of course, that being not very secure --- or, the new site could just offer up a client-side web page to compute the hashes).

> Am I just missing something, or is that feature unavailable in beta?

I couldn't even figure out how to get a permalink to a comment... ugh.

> I would prefer that firefox shows the "302 Found" webpage instead of redirecting me, always, even for non slashdot pages.

There are multiple extensions for that, IIRC.

Mad Scientist's Club FTW!

Wow, this stuff got republished in 2001-2002? I loved reading it when I was a kid, but can't imagine enjoying it that much if I read it now, nor that my own children would be at all interested. Some things just have to be experienced at the right age and in the right context, I think.

Well, well, maybe this comment does have something to do with the new beta (omega?) design, after all...

> My understanding is that during a classified, closed door session
> with committeee members, the actual truth came out.

How would you know? The members of the Intelligence Committees are clueless/corrupt, and even less reliable sources of information than the intel brass.

> Sometimes, you are required by law to lie, even to Congress

No. Just, no. Clapper has on numerous occasions refused to answer questions in open sessions while providing the information in closed session (to the same Congressmen, not just committee flunkies).

Oh, I see, no matter how quickly they do their work, they only get a fixed number of patents. Well, it might work, except that one would think they'd value their free time, also, even assuming they were forbidden to take on extra work on their "off hours".

our system would be much better if the people doing the reviews actually got the full cost of the patent application.

I can't for the life of me figure out why you think this will help. Why shouldn't reviewers just shove through as much junk as they can in as little time as possible? Your idea could possibly work if in addition, they would be penalized triple the cost for every patent they let through which is invalid --- but then, not many people would like such a high-risk job.

may now be partly responsible for a documented decrease in Americans' scientific understanding

No, actually, there are probably two culprits involved with that:

• The education system has no interest in teaching critical thinking skills and what science really is about and how it actually works, because it is graded by how well the students it churns out do on standard tests (mainly) of factual knowledge only which don't require these skills (and it is not that easy to make tests which test these skills). In addition, government, which controls the education system, has a disincentive to improve the public's critical thinking skills, because that makes them less manageable/manipulable.
• The media has no interest in trying to teach what the education system didn't, because it is graded by profit which is, more or less, how many people watch, and it seems that most people, of their own free will, are not interested in watching content which is intellectually challenging. In addition, the journalists themselves are a product of the previous mentioned education system...

The only way to change this is to change the incentive structure enough to overcome a basic failing in human nature. Not easy.

Somehow I had thought that the "prison for the unemployed" scenario would look more like Christopher Anvil's vision, but after seeing what the current American public is willing to endure for the illusion of safety, I wonder...