Old sig: The truth alone will not make you free, but it's a prerequisite.
Only by knowing the truth can you choose freedom.

We don't need no stinking bio! Seriously, mine is too confused for this possibly mixed company. Been there, done that, wound up in Japan? Dumbest hobby was probably the pilot's license. Almost all of the "real" stuff involves computers, however: programming, sales, technical editing, whatever.

Old sig: The thoughtful we write at once, but insightful takes a little longer... Too bad the moderators have already left.

Longhorn? But a steer has no balls! It takes REAL balls to claim Microsoft software "just works"! The modern BIG lie.

The thoughtful we write at once, but insightful takes a little longer... Too bad the moderators have already left.

Everyone's crazy save thee and I, and sometimes I wonder about thee.(Always a metamod, never a moderator (but once).

Microsoft presumes I am guilty of "non-registered" Windows after they rammed it down my throat! I refuse to REregister!

Everyone's crazy save thee and I, and sometimes I wonder about thee. OTOH, Microsoft is crazy, greedy, monopolistic,...

Insight here? Why would anyone put so much effort into Slashdot? The anonymous and elitist mod system is borken (sic).

Old sig: The truth alone will not make you free, but it's a prerequisite.
Only by knowing the truth can you choose freedom.

We don't need no stinking bio! Seriously, mine is too confused for this possibly mixed company. Been there, done that, wound up in Japan? Dumbest hobby was probably the pilot's license. Almost all of the "real" stuff involves computers, however: programming, sales, technical editing, whatever.

Old sig: The thoughtful we write at once, but insightful takes a little longer... Too bad the moderators have already left.

"What axe are you grinding?"
"It's called objective scientific truth."
"On /.? No karma for you!

My favorite 'real reason' for Rove's departure? He has to stop his son from endorsing a Democratic candidate, hopefully Edwards or Obama. We should start a pool on the real killer... No wait, I meant the real reason that Rove resigned. Unfortunately, given Rove's penchant for secrecy and his cursed track record of success in hiding his lies, few of us are likely to live long enough to win the pool. I think historians will be unraveling this rats' nest for decades to come--though the real reason could be that someone deep in the quagmire is about to blow the whistle on the entire gang of thieves. In that case, we might live to see it unravel. Two reasons for optimism are possible. A true patriot might have had enough, and I think that some such people still exist within the GOP, if not within Rove's carefully purged neo-GOP wing of the GOP. Alternately, a true rat within the gang might have decided to sell the story while the value is very high. He's not stabbing all his buddies, in the back, he's just bowing to the inevitability of the truth coming out--but making sure he gets the most money possible for getting it out. The first few kiss and tell books are going to have a lot of sensationalist value, but the later ones are going to get boring and won't sell ones--and the last ones will probably be written from prison (as a result of the earlier ones).

I see that I wasn't on the system for 11 months there, but the system has not improved. (I returned for about two weeks in December.) In fact, I notice the moderation system and the actual moderation is still as awful as before, and new observations are that the humor seems much weaker than before, participation seems somewhat lower than before, and the system is still so stupid or buggy as to show last year's posts without any year indication. (The last one is probably an old problem that I never noticed.) As usual, they are promising improvements RSN.

Time to go away for another 11 months? Or maybe 11 years?

The following comment was prepared in response to a new article about IBM. Then I was notified it could not be posted due to excessive bad posting. That is pure and simple BS. In fact, I have have not posted from this part of Japan for over a week. Not sure how it was done, but basically sure it was more moderation abuse by the anonymous Bushevik trolls. Being an effective spokesman for positions they dislike, their goal is to censor me if possible. My karma had just recovered to Excellent from the last round of BS moderation. So what the devil are the /. "editors" being paid for if they can't tell the difference between use and abuse of their own moderation system?

In response, I have already visited digg and kuro5hin, though I don't like either of them too much... The kuro5hin system is minor, and digg is technically narrow, though it runs very quickly.

The comment:

First I better include the disclaimer that I'm in the IBM 'food chain', and I also own some IBM stock (as well as shares of a number of high tech companies).

My own belief on this is that that IBM is an unusually ethical company, though (I feel) there has been an increasing focus on stock prices over the recent years. I think that is a mistake. Now they say 'shareholder value.' They used to say a company was in business to make money. Wrongo and again awrongo. A business is in business to STAY in business. Of course profits help, but that's not the purpose or objective.

If you buy my premise that IBM is unusually ethical, why are they getting so much rapid heat in comparison to the very slow boil on such totally unethical companies as Enron and SCO? I think it is actually a reverse version of political pandering, and the real reason is because IBM doesn't encourage any political donations. That sort of neutrality has become an issue.

I'm sure that some of the Busheviks out there are going to jump up with the official talking point that both parties are corrupt and money grubbing, Jack Abramoff and all the other evidence notwithstanding to prove the bias of the big money. I certainly agree that the Democrats are able to raise some money from companies, but I think there still a difference there. The Republican donors see their donations as investments. In the most extreme case, Dubya's largest donor was Enron, and they hoped that investment was going to keep them above water. In contrast, Democratic donors are sometimes principled, or they may see their donations as 'insurance'. Even when they do see those donations as investements, you can argue that long-term investments in the balance of powers are the best way to make the system work--especially when you see how quickly the system is breaking down as the balances are dismantled.

In conclusion, I think the focus on IBM is because they have been sitting on the political fence. This is becoming a big no-no.

With regards to the NSA spying on Americans, I think the aspect that most disgusts me is not that they've been monitoring all this information. That sort of went without saying. I'm not even particularly amazed by Dubya's brazen disregard of the law. I think the aspect that most disgusts me is how quickly they decided they needed to have the criminal investigation of the disclosure. Something like investigating the security failures around 9/11 they were willing to stall for years. However, this one they need to ramp up as quickly as possible. Why? Bloody obvious. They want to intimidate various other people who have information about Dubya's impeachability. You don't think this is the last of their dirty secrets, do you?

Dubya's new 'atmosphere' of American politics:

"I don't want to obey that law, and you can't make me, you can't make me, you can't make me!"

"But you promised."

Yeah, the last part is the Democratic Party response whining about Dubya's little old presidential oath.

Today's abuse of moderation:

Comment Moderation
sent by Slashdot Message System on Sunday January 01, @09:05AM

Re:There's some sort of joke...., posted to Wikipedia Semi-Protection Begins, has been moderated Troll (-1).

It is currently scored Troll (0).

Re:There's some sort of joke...., posted to Wikipedia Semi-Protection Begins, has been moderated Flamebait (-1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (-1).

Re:There's some sort of joke...., posted to Wikipedia Semi-Protection Begins, has been moderated Flamebait (-1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (1).

Re:great letter!, posted to What's wrong with the MSM newspapers, has been moderated Offtopic (-1).

It is currently scored Offtopic (-1).

Small world coincidence--sent last week, posted to Why Haven't Online Newspapers Gotten it Right?, has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Informative (1).

[From another site, in response to a prediction of the government hitting the debt ceiling in February.]

Actually, it's been going on for many years. They just keep raising the debt limit--and then they continue right on borrowing more money until they "use up" the new credit limit.

Think of it in different terms. Imagine that a credit card holder was allowed to raise his credit limit whenever he wanted to. That's actually quite close to the situation we have here.

Some people might be able to raise their limits responsibly, but it's kind of hard to imagine. If you're living within your means in the first place, why do you need to borrow money? If there is some kind of special problem, maybe you need a little extra money to tide you over, but what happens when you've been living on credit for as long as you can remember? What's the difference if you owe a bit more?

Well, the situation with the federal government is that they've always lived on trust. It says "In God We Trust" on the money, but God doesn't have much to do with it, if you ask me. It's always been a matter of whether or not the recipient of the paper believes it's worth anything. We're back to 'any power will be abused' again. In this case, the government has said that HAVE to trust the money, and if you refuse payment in their official money, then they won't help you collect the debt.

Now the situation has been turned on its head. The government has become like the customer with a red hot credit card that keeps raising the limit. The situation is already beyond the point that our customer even imagines the debt can be paid off--but someone keeps accepting the IOUs. Excuse me, but this can't go on forever. At some point it's going to be obvious that the customer is broke, and further IOUs will not be useful.

Of course the amusing punchline is that this is being done in the name of the 'responsible spending' Republican Party.

Email sent to a newspaper:

I understand that newspapers such as the Austin American-Statesman (AAS) are increasingly concerned about declining readership. Many years ago, I read the AAS frequently. Pretty sure I was a subscriber at least some of the time, though it's so long ago that I can't really remember for sure. Therefore, I write on behalf of your lost readers, though I think I write from the 'leading edge' of that trend. My main message to you is that I see no sign of increasing attraction, either in general or as a result of today's website visit (to be addressed below). If you're waiting for me to resubscribe, I have to resort to the cliché: "Don't hold your breath."

First I'll address the general issue. Why would I want to read your newspaper? As a media organization, I think you have only two real assets: integrity and credibility. Do you speak the truth? And are you believed when you speak it? As already noted, I don't have enough recent contact with the AAS to address these assets specifically in your case, but I do think I can say that if you were doing a better job, then the AAS would have emerged visibly from the morass that is the modern MainStream Media (MSM). Since the AAS has not 'emerged' in that sense, I'm just classifying you with all the other MSM newspapers that I sample at random via recommended links to articles on their websites. In summary, the MSM rarely tells the complete truth, they often repeat unfounded and usually partisan lies, and why would I pay them for 'information' that has to be cross-checked and verified? (By the way, that even includes indirect payment via advertisers. No click-throughs from me.)

These large issues go too far afield, though I could say much more on them. Today, I visited your website for a highly specific reason, and I was quite disappointed. I should have known, but optimistic to the last, eh? The specific public issue which is troubling me is American-government-sponsored torture. The specific information I sought was a list of the Texas Representatives who joined the loser Senator Cornyn in opposing Senator McCain's legislation against torture. I do know that some of the Representatives from Texas were among the 112 members of the House that voted futilely along with Cornyn, and I want to know if my Representative from North Austin was among them. If so, I would like to start now in supporting his political opponent, though there are only a few days left to make such a donation in 2005. Perhaps the information exists somewhere in the AAS website, but I think not. I think you simply ignored the issue. Typical MSM behavior--and that's why I didn't even bother to write a "letter to the editor" on the topic. (There's also the minor reason that I am in general only an accidental reader of the AAS these years.)

My own belief is that such torture is an extremely serious matter that ought to be receiving *MUCH* more coverage. When I first read about this issue (in non-MSM sources), I was greatly offended and ashamed. I felt that I should express my outrage to the 'Senator'--who is certainly failing to represent me. I do not know if I succeeded, though I do know that I never received any response from him or from his staff. I think it most likely he never got my message because it isn't the sort of thing he wants to hear, and he has no sincere interest in representing anyone who doesn't agree with him. Cornyn's only concern is with his *LARGE* campaign donors.

Following is a copy of the message I attempted to send to Cornyn:

Your name appeared on a list of the nine Senators who opposed Senator McCain's anti-torture amendment. If that is incorrect, then please provide me with the corrected list and I will apologize. However, I think my source was reliable, and that you did vote against this amendment. Speaking specifically as an honorably discharged veteran, I wish to express my strongest displeasure and outrage at your action.

Torture does *NOT* work. It does not produce reliable information, but merely encourages the victim to say or do anything that he or she believes will stop the torture. Even worse, it destroys the humanity of the torturer. On the other hand, it does work for our enemies, inspiring them to greater hatred for our evil actions and helping them to recruit more extremists to oppose that evil.

I do not see any basis for attempting to reason with you about this issue. If you think there are *ANY* cases where torture is justified, then I regard you as insane. As I started writing, I was going to suggest that I would consider your explanation for your action, but as writing clarified my thinking, I realized that would be a waste of our time. Instead, I simply strongly encourage you to withdraw from politics and from any form of public visibility. I will certainly vote against you, and do everything I can to encourage other people to vote against you. Though I can't vote against your eight torture-loving peers, I will donate money to their opponents--and of course to your opponent. I certainly hope that your political career is over. You make me feel shamed that such a madman can claim to be my political representative.

Not much point in sending this, is there? However, I've taken the time to compose it, and it's barely conceivable that you can send me some response that would convince me you have recovered your sanity.

For reference, I've left the list [of Senators advocating torture] here:

>> Wayne Allard, Colorado
>> Kit Bond, Missouri
>> Tom Coburn, Oklahoma
>> Thad Cochran, Mississippi
>> John Cornyn, Texas
>> James Inhofe, Oklahoma
>> Pat Roberts, Kansas
>> Jeff Sessions, Alabama
>> Ted Stevens, Alaska

A man was passing next to a bridge, and he saw another fellow who was about to jump off.

Wait! Don't jump!

I have nothing to live for.

Wait! Are you religious?

Well, yes.

Are you a Christian?

Yes.

That's good. So am I. What's your church?

I'm a Baptist.

That's wonderful. That's my church.

Small world, eh?

So is your church in the reform of 1927 or 1934?

We accept the 1927 reforms.

Die, you heretic!

And he pushes the guy off the bridge.

Another example of abuse of the moderation system. At least I'm pretty sure it is targetted negative moderation with no real purpose except to reduce my karma in hopes of making my posts less visible. If the identity infomation were not hidden, I'm pretty sure most of those negative mods come from the same troll. For example, one of them is targetted at a two-line post that said something totally trivial. Not worth the effort of moderating in any direction--but the total number of negative mods comes to five. That's also the total number of mod points you normally get, so it would seem the troll blew his whole quota on me.

Another example of the remarkable stupidity of the Busheviks. My normal favorable moderations pretty much negated the troll's 'best shot'.

Here's the moderation report (but I tried to add a border to make it more visible):

Comment Moderation
sent by Slashdot Message System on Saturday December 03, @09:05AM

No the real problem is bankruptcy , posted to A Recipe for Newspaper Survival in the Internet Age , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Normal (0).

Re:Built for Linux , posted to Desktop Linux Survey Results Published , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Normal (0).

Is that a threat or a promise? , posted to Diebold Threatens to Pull Out of North Carolina , has been moderated Flamebait (-1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (0).

Re:Who to blame more than the RIAA? , posted to First RIAA Lawsuit to Head to Trial , has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (2).

Re:Who to blame more than the RIAA? , posted to First RIAA Lawsuit to Head to Trial , has been moderated Underrated (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (3).

Re:Who to blame more than the RIAA? , posted to First RIAA Lawsuit to Head to Trial , has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (4).

Re:Who to blame more than the RIAA? , posted to First RIAA Lawsuit to Head to Trial , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Interesting (3).

Re:Who to blame more than the RIAA? , posted to First RIAA Lawsuit to Head to Trial , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Interesting (2).

A lot of pundits are saying that last week's election shows something new or a surprising change in voter trends. The only surprising thing is that anyone still listens to such stupid pundits. All this election shows is that money buys votes and that modern American politics is just a war of big money. This is true in all of the elections, but the mayor's race in New York City is the best example. The only interesting question there is why he wanted to spend so much money to buy the relatively minor office of mayor.

I'd give the voters more credit if they had sold their votes for cash on the barrelhead. That's illegal in these "enlightened" days, but it doesn't change the big money reality. The political-power-buyers just have to disguise it a bit now. As a candidate, it doesn't matter what your policies are or what kind of person you are or anything else. The only thing that matters is coming up with the scratch--millions of dollars. (It does matter a little bit what kind of person you can pretend to be, but the Reagan/Dubya problem is relatively minor compared to the overwhelming influence of big money.)

Root cause? Easily manipulated voters. Show the voters enough of the appropriate ads, usually slash-and-burn attack ads, and many of them will even vote for a total incompetent and loser like George Dubya Bush.

Deeper root cause? "Free" advertiser-sponsored radio. An innovative (~70 years ago) economic model that ultimately led to rightwing talk radio. Finest propaganda ever! It was also propagated into TV where it led to increasingly mindless programs, and now it threatens the intellectual foundations of the Internet, too. The funny part is that the policy-makers of those days understood the risks and required that the public's interests should be protected. Thus started an erosive process that culminated when Reagan's handlers stripped off the last major protections. The negative dynamic is pretty obvious, however. Advertisers do not want well-educated and thoughtful citizens. They want easily manipulated suckers. That's how you get the most bang for your advertising buck--and the bucks have finally won out. Intelligent voting has to be reality-based, but advertising is NOT about the truth.

In conclusion, nothing matters except for the money. Good for a 20% margin in NYC! The only problem in New Jersey was that the Republican couldn't afford to run the ex-wife-attacks-ex-hubby ad enough times. If you actually believe (as I do) that freedom and democracy are good things and that they confer competitive advantages on the societies that have the most of them, then the sad conclusion is that America is doomed.

Some foe obviously got his moderation dose:

Comment Moderation
sent by Slashdot Message System on Thursday November 10, @09:05AM

Brings back bad memories..., posted to School Power Over Student Web Speech?, has been moderated Offtopic (-1).

It is currently scored Offtopic (0).

Re:I'm confused, posted to Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn Awarded Medal of Freedom, has been moderated Flamebait (-1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (0).

Re:They should turn down the medals., posted to Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn Awarded Medal of Freedom, has been moderated Flamebait (-1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (0).

Re:Theory^WIntro on /. needs work, posted to Vatican Rejects Intelligent Design?, has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Normal (1).

Re:your sig, posted to Microsoft Plans Deliberate Xbox 360 Shortage, has been moderated Offtopic (-1).

It is currently scored Offtopic (0).

Brings back bad memories..., posted to School Power Over Student Web Speech?, has been moderated Flamebait (-1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (-1).

Below is one moderation report message which I received today. Some of them, especially the one for older posts, are almost certainly more ad-hominem abuses of the moderation system. Knowing who submitted those moderations would of course be the easiest way to look for obvious patterns.

Comment Moderation
sent by Slashdot Message System on Thursday November 03, @09:05AM

Re:Considering..., posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (2).

Re:Considering..., posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (3).

Re:Considering..., posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (2).

Re:Considering how much data is out there?, posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (2).

Re:Considering..., posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (3).

Re:Considering how much data is out there?, posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (3).

Re:Considering..., posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (2).

Re:weasel word, posted to Significant FBI Abuses of the Patriot Act, has been moderated Troll (-1).

It is currently scored Troll (0).

Re:weasel word, posted to Significant FBI Abuses of the Patriot Act, has been moderated Troll (-1).

It is currently scored Troll (0).

Re:alas, parting is...., posted to Significant FBI Abuses of the Patriot Act, has been moderated Offtopic (-1).

It is currently scored Offtopic (0).

Re:Answer: This is truly evil, posted to Sony DRM Installs a Rootkit?, has been moderated Troll (-1).

It is currently scored Troll (0).

Re:Anti-Scientists are Political Manipulators, posted to Is The U.S. Becoming Anti-Science?, has been moderated Troll (-1).

It is currently scored Troll (0).

Re:Considering..., posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (3).

Re:Considering..., posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (4).

Re:Considering how much data is out there?, posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (4).

Re:Considering how much data is out there?, posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Interesting (3).

Re:Considering..., posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Offtopic (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (3).

Re:Considering how much data is out there?, posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (4).

Re:Considering..., posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Offtopic (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (2).

Re:Considering..., posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (3).

Re:Considering how much data is out there?, posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (5).

Sony is losing it, posted to More on Sony's "DRM Rootkit", has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (2).

Sony is losing it, posted to More on Sony's "DRM Rootkit", has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (3).

Sony is losing it, posted to More on Sony's "DRM Rootkit", has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (4).

Re:Considering..., posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (4).

Sony is losing it, posted to More on Sony's "DRM Rootkit", has been moderated Flamebait (-1).

It is currently scored Interesting (3).

Re:Considering..., posted to Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?, has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (3).

Sony is losing it, posted to More on Sony's "DRM Rootkit", has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (4).