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The Media

Technocrat.net Shut Down 326

Posted by timothy from the best-wishes-good-luck-and-too-bad dept.
twitter writes "Bruce Perens has pulled the plug on Technocrat.net. 'The technocrat.net public discussion site is shut down. This has happened because the site never achieved the ability to financially sustain its editorial staff and system expenses with its revenues. When it became evident that Technocrat was un-viable as a business, I found that I did not wish to keep supporting the site as a hobby. Certain elements of the community that developed here, unfortunately, creep me out. At the end I faced the decision of asking for donations to keep the site running, or letting it die, and it became clear to me that I'd feel better if it would just die. I am very busy building a new software business, with some great new (and yet unannounced) Open Source software in development. I must focus on that for now. Best holiday wishes to you all.'"

Comment Re:64 bit Java? (Score 1) 387

by ketilwaa (#26132761) Attached to: 64-Bit Java For Linux
Are those the useless applets that will make my internet banking actually work on 64 bit, without crappy workarounds? Not very useless to me... BankID, is the name of the "service". It is, afaik, used by all major banks in Norway. I'm sure we are not alone going through this stuff.
The Java browser plugin and Flash was the main obstacles, that made me go back to 32 bit Ubuntu. Now, all I need is Mozilla Weave for 64 bit. (Actually, for it to actually work at all, these days)

I'll give these apps half a year to mature and I'm back on 64.

Today, I also read that Adobe Air will be out of beta for linux in short time. Article in Norwegian, no source, I'm afraid If that also comes in 64 bit, these are good times for 64 bit.

Comment Re:OpenOffice works on Windows??? (Score 1) 348

by ketilwaa (#26078003) Attached to: Best Open Source Alternatives To Enterprise Apps
A Linux based distro can run as fast as you need it to. It depends on what desktop environment you choose. For small and ease of use, go with XFCE, like Xubuntu. Avoid Gnome or KDE with an old computer, that will be slow. You can strip all the stuff you don't need. Distros are also different. From Damn Small Linux which has an install medium of ~50 megs, to the standard distros which fit on a Live CD.

Utorrent runs in Wine on Linux, AFAIK. Google it to be sure. Deluge is a good alternative that runs natively on Linux.

Comment Re:Why not use a phone (Score 1) 608

by ketilwaa (#26022085) Attached to: Obama's "ZuneGate"
How did your point coincide with mine? I have not seen any evidence that mobile phones are dangerous to carry around, neither have I been presented anything in that regard from my lecturers at Faculty of Medicine at my school.

Comment Re:Why not use a phone (Score 1) 608

by ketilwaa (#26019471) Attached to: Obama's "ZuneGate"

Because despite the propaganda from various cell phones makers, there's more and more evidence coming out that tends to show it's not very healthy to carry one over you for long stretches of time.

Citation, please. A glance at PubMed does not give any clear indication, especially not regarding just carrying a mobile phone around.
Government

Red Flag Linux Forced On Chinese Internet Cafes 295

Posted by timothy from the billions-and-billions-served dept.
iamhigh writes "Reports are popping up that Chinese Internet Cafes are being required to switch to Red Flag Linux. Red Flag is China's biggest Linux distro and recently received headlines for their Olympic Edition release. The regulations, effective Nov. 5th, are aimed at combating piracy and require only that cafes install either a legal version of Windows or Red Flag. However, Radio Free Asia says that cafes are being forced to install Red Flag even if they have legal versions of Windows. Obviously questions about spying and surveillance have arisen, with no comment from the Chinese Government."
Robotics

Ethical Killing Machines 785

Posted by kdawson from the i-for-one-welcome dept.
ubermiester writes "The New York Times reports on research to develop autonomous battlefield robots that would 'behave more ethically in the battlefield than humans.' The researchers claim that these real-life terminators 'can be designed without an instinct for self-preservation and, as a result, no tendency to lash out in fear. They can be built without anger or recklessness ... and they can be made invulnerable to ... "scenario fulfillment," which causes people to absorb new information more easily if it agrees with their pre-existing ideas.' Based on a recent report stating that 'fewer than half of soldiers and marines serving in Iraq said that noncombatants should be treated with dignity and respect, and 17 percent said all civilians should be treated as insurgents,' this might not be all that dumb an idea."
The Courts

Final Judgment — SCO Loses, Owes $3,506,526 265

Posted by timothy from the seems-charitable-to-sco dept.
Xenographic writes "SCO has finally lost to Novell, now that Judge Kimball has entered final judgment against SCO. Of course, this is SCO we're talking about. There's still the litigation in bankruptcy court, which allowed this case to resume so that they could figure out just how much SCO owes, which is $3,506,526, if I calculated the interest properly, $625,486.90 of which will go into a constructive trust. And then there's the possibility that SCO could seek to have the judgment overturned in the appeals courts, or even the Supreme Court when that fails. Of course, they need money to do that and they don't really have much of that any more. Remember how Enderle, O'Gara and company told us that SCO was sure to win? I wonder how many people have emailed them to say, 'I told you so.'"
Image

Dead Parrot Sketch Is 1,600 Years Old Screenshot-sm 276

Posted by samzenpus from the he-prefers-kipping-on-his-back dept.
laejoh writes "Monty Python's 'Dead Parrot sketch' — which featured John Cleese — is some 1,600 years old. A classic scholar has proved the point, by unearthing a Greek version of the world-famous piece. A comedy duo called Hierocles and Philagrius told the original version, only rather than a parrot they used a slave. It concerns a man who complains to his friend that he was sold a slave who dies in his service. His companion replies: 'When he was with me, he never did any such thing!' The joke was discovered in a collection of 265 jokes called Philogelos: The Laugh Addict, which dates from the fourth century AD. Hierocles had gone to meet his maker, and Philagrius had certainly ceased to be, long before John Cleese and Michael Palin reinvented the yarn in 1969."

Comment Re:First thing I thought about... (Score 4, Insightful) 3709

by ketilwaa (#25640073) Attached to: Barack Obama Wins US Presidency
As far as I can tell, there's a history of white people voting close to 100% white in presidential elections. (Take it as a lame joke, or acknowledge the point)

African-american people voting for an african-american candidate is not necessarily a problem. My view: It is a natural thing, stemming from years and years of oppression. If this is still the case in 200 years, we (or should I say they, as I'll bed dead then) might have a problem.

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