JLucien - Slashdot User

Open Source Developer Knighted 101

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday May 02, 2010 @06:02PM from the knights-who-say-free dept.

unixfan writes "Georg Greve, developer of Open Document Format and active FOSS developer, has received a knighthood in Germany for his work. From the article: 'Some weeks ago I received news that the embassy in Berne had unsuccessfully been trying to contact me under FSFE's old office address in Zurich. This was a bit odd and unexpected. So you can probably understand my surprise to be told by the embassy upon contacting them that on 18 December 2009 I had been awarded the Cross of Merit on ribbon (Verdienstkreuz am Bande) by the Federal Republic of Germany. As you might expect, my first reaction was one of disbelief. I was, in fact, rather shaken. You could also say shocked. Quick Wikipedia research revealed this to be part of the orders of knighthood, making this a Knight's Cross.'"

Comment I Thought He Was Taking A Potshot At Yahoo (Score 2, Informative) 671

by JLucien on Tuesday December 08, 2009 @02:42PM (#30368412) Attached to: Google CEO Says Privacy Worries Are For Wrongdoers

Having read Yahoo's correspondence with US Marshall's Service regarding price of information and the need to keep it secret, and subsequent correspondence between Yahoo's lawyers and Cryptome, I thought Schmidt was taking a potshot at Yahoo.

The Yahoo lawyer clearly states that the public release of their sale of information to law enforcement would undermine their user's trust regarding privacy. This can only be taken as we don't want them to know that they in fact have none.

When I read that snippet from Schmidt, I immediately thought he was talking about Yahoo. I don't see him as the "if you have nothing to hide" kind of guy.

Comment CSI Is The X-Files For Joe Sixpack (Score 1) 815

by JLucien on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @06:19PM (#10847074) Attached to: Is The 'CSI Phenomenon' Good For Science?

I think CSI is a load of old bollocks, but each to her own. I watched one episode of David Caruso doing an amazing impression of William Shatner and that was enough for me. I bet none of the chicks on CSI are as nerdy and sexy as Scully!

However, if it gets the masses interested in science and the technology that goes with it, more power to it. It's a hell of a lot better than "reality" tv.

But the real question is what shows are now out there for geeks? There's no more Buffy, X-Files, Xena, or Farscape, and I just can't sink to the depths of The Beastmaster or get interested in Stargate.

Thank God for Netflix. I heard Babylon 5 rocked so I'm going to try that to get my geek tv fix.

Comment The industry will just have to adjust... (Score 1) 1203

by davedigi on Thursday October 17, 2002 @03:33PM (#4472273) Attached to: Star Wars Producer Says Box Office is Doomed

The cost of a movie ticket has increased dramatically over the last ten years, beating the consumer price index (used to measure inflation) be a considerable amount. One thing that theater owners and Hollywood is going to have to realize is that the market will no longer bear the $12 per ticket pricetag for often poorly made entertainment.

DVDs do provide a higher quality medium for distrubtion of movies than conventional VHS tapes, but thy do not replace the experience of going to the movies. Many people (myself included) enjoy an evening at the movie theatre, but I am unwilling to pay the exorbatant price tag for it. This is quite similar to the way I feel about golf. Great game. Not for $100.00 per afternoon. (Besides, why would anyone want to spend $100 to get pissed off, I can do that for free at home :)

In any event, I think that movies will be alive and well far into the future... as public demand for the physical theatre wains, prices will drop, actors salaries will go down, and people will return to the movies again.

--Dave

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