I've just got this message from the Slashdot Message System:

Comment Moderation
sent by Slashdot Message System on 0:05 Wednesday 25 June 2008

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (4).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (5).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (4).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (5).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (4).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (3).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (4).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (5).

Insightful , posted to Brendan Eich Discusses the Future of JavaScript , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (2).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (4).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (5).

Insightful , posted to Brendan Eich Discusses the Future of JavaScript , has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (3).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (4).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (5).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (4).

Insightful , posted to Brendan Eich Discusses the Future of JavaScript , has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (4).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (5).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (4).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (3).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (2).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (3).

Insightful , posted to Brendan Eich Discusses the Future of JavaScript , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Interesting (3).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (4).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (5).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (4).

Surprising? , posted to Google Abandons the Gmail Name In Germany , has been moderated Informative (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (5).

Wait , posted to Real-World Firefox 3 Memory Usage Leads the Field , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (2).

Wait , posted to Real-World Firefox 3 Memory Usage Leads the Field , has been moderated Informative (+1).

It is currently scored Informative (3).

Wait , posted to Real-World Firefox 3 Memory Usage Leads the Field , has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (4).

Wait , posted to Real-World Firefox 3 Memory Usage Leads the Field , has been moderated Informative (+1).

It is currently scored Informative (5).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Normal (0).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (1).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (2).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Flamebait (-1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (1).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (2).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Flamebait (-1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (1).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Informative (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (2).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Flamebait (-1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (1).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Troll (-1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (0).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (1).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (0).

Needless to say, the conclusions are obvious.

This just came in:

Comment Moderation
sent by Slashdot Message System on 0:05 Thursday 26 June 2008

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (1).

Wait , posted to Real-World Firefox 3 Memory Usage Leads the Field , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Informative (4).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (2).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Insightful (1).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Troll (-1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (0).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Informative (+1).

It is currently scored Flamebait (1).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Funny (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (2).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Troll (-1).

It is currently scored Troll (1).

Interesting , posted to When Is a Self-Signed SSL Certificate Acceptable? , has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (2).

Interesting , posted to When Is a Self-Signed SSL Certificate Acceptable? , has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (3).

Interesting , posted to When Is a Self-Signed SSL Certificate Acceptable? , has been moderated Interesting (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (4).

Interesting , posted to When Is a Self-Signed SSL Certificate Acceptable? , has been moderated Insightful (+1).

It is currently scored Interesting (5).

Interesting , posted to When Is a Self-Signed SSL Certificate Acceptable? , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Interesting (4).

This is too much , posted to RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices , has been moderated Underrated (+1).

It is currently scored Insightful (2).

Interesting , posted to When Is a Self-Signed SSL Certificate Acceptable? , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Interesting (3).

Interesting , posted to When Is a Self-Signed SSL Certificate Acceptable? , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Interesting (2).

Interesting , posted to When Is a Self-Signed SSL Certificate Acceptable? , has been moderated Overrated (-1).

It is currently scored Interesting (1).

Not as numerous but the trend is evident.

Time for an update on EmGee's continuing presence on Slashdot.

There's not much to say. This is after about 10 years of reading Slashdot every morning and usually again in the evening, and writing comments perhaps an average of once a week. Slashdot has been, and continues to be, one part of my data gathering strategy to stay in touch with the world. It has been an effective way to identify things I want to know more about.

Nufsed. Byenow.

I've been lurking for more than four months. Posting anonymously provides a curious freedom of expression that I am glad I have tasted, but I don't want a steady diet of it.

Life is much the same, and if my views are now more moderate than they were, it is only because the center of the curve is shifting toward my position.

About slashdot: for a long while the slashdot community was getting more juvenile, and I was beginning to wonder if it was headed into end stage teenybopperism. However in the last four to six months it seems like the voices of those with a little more life experience have started to become clearer again. I'm wondering if much of the younger set has moved on from slashdot to more interactive things like facebook or something. In any event, it seems like the slashdot community is achieving a healthier mix of ages.

We could use a few more women though...

1. As much wood as Jesus would
2. 42
3. OMG, wood!
4. A real woodchuck doesn't chuck wood, it levels the whole forest in one kick

It has been 3 years and 11 months since I last had Mod points. I am unable to recall any reason why I have been blacklisted; apparently some editor took grievous offense at some minor infraction of some unwritten rule that I broke without intent, nor even awareness of having misbehaved.

My karma is excellent. I metamoderate around 3 times per week. I have been a slashdot subscriber and will be so again. But I have not seen any mod points.

I have been reading that slashdot will sometimes take people off the blacklist if they go fallow for a few months. So I think I'll try that.

So, ttfn. I'm going into lurk mode.

This is my first session on slashdot using Firefox under Kubuntu. It is also my first session on slashdot with Kubuntu at all. In fact, at this point my total experience with Kubuntu is less than 4 hours— and half of that was just reading the noobie toots. Most of the rest has been in just looking around to see what came in the package.

I'm dual booting with WinXP Pro on a Dell 4400 with 768 MB ram and about 40 GB internal hard disk (spread across 2 drives). AIR, the CPU is rated at 1.66 GHz. This is a modest 6 year old system.

This is my fourth attempt over about 5 years at dual booting a linux (with the intent of doing a controlled migration from Win XP). The first was Red Hat, then I tried Debian, then Mandrake v9.2. These were unsuitable because the technical hurdles of getting peripherals to work and managing upgrades of applications during the early stages of system setup were too high for me. I was unwilling to spend the time to learn the sub application level stuff that those distros required.

I'm pretty sure that Kubuntu is going to work out well. I have spent a total of maybe 5 minutes in the System Settings dialog, mostly because I use an odd tablet mouse (Wacom Intuos 2) and I'm fussy about the acceleration setting. The screen came up perfectly without any fuss on my part at all! No fuss automated setup of my internet connection! Installing Firefox was almost a one-click operation with the Adept package handler! I just did the most painless upgrade of systems and applications I've ever experienced by clicking an item in the toolbar and saying that yes, I wanted the 200+ upgrades that have become available since the CD image I used for the install was created! That's it: the smoothest installation I've experienced since the golden age of DOS 3.3, Quattro Pro, and Word Perfect. And a lot neater and faster than shuffling through the piles of floppies had been.

This is all good.

Plan is to keep identical apps on WinXP and Kubuntu and swap back and forth between the OSs until I'm comfortable enough with the KDE desktop to do almost all my work in Kubuntu. Then I'll delete all but the few Win apps that I absolutely have to keep (photoquality 11x17" printing on the Canon is not something I'm willing to give up, and I've got years of experience invested in some PaintShop Pro techniques). I'll resize the Win XP partition to a minimum, and start thinking about using Wine, or maybe a VM, to replace it completely.

A quiet hurray is in order. After waiting patiently for years, finally a Linux that I can cross over to without pain has arrived. Good for Kubuntu.

Linus Torvalds: Because it sucked so much where it was. And, quite frankly, it sucks where it is now, just not as much.

Richard Stallman: Because chickens should be free to share, to modify and to distribute across the road.

Eric Raymond: It was a bold act of civil disobedience to protest government's control of the roads.

Alan Cox: To avoid being imprisoned for DMCA violations.

Larry Wall: It crossed first and rationalized afterwards.

Hans Reiser: Because roads and chickens should be mutually interchangeable.

It took about 3 months longer than I expected it would, but I finally burned through the minimum $5 subscription I bought 7 months ago. I've re-upped for another whopping $5.

On another issue, I've done some trolling the last couple of days and I've not been entirely happy with the result. I hooked an interesting mark (despite blatantly saying I was trolling), but I didn't have time to play him out; I had to let him get away. There was every appearance that this fellow was claiming a knowledge that he does not have, but matters at work got in the way of researching him and laying the groundwork for the verbal trouncing I believe he deserves.

Ahem.

Do it, George. Good riddance!

P.S. Rove was indicted, under seal, agreed to turn states' evidence against Cheney, and the indictment was withdrawn.

Fitzgerald Collecting Cheney's Smoking Guns -- see Cheney jot some questions in the margin of his copy of Joe Wilson's Times op-ed.