Slashback: Things, Stuff, Items 260
Fitting tributes? SEWilco writes "New Scientist reports that an asteroid was officially named "18610 Arthurdent" on May 9; it is not known if Douglas Adams heard of it before he died May 11."
And dclydew writes "We at Binary Freedom would like to propose "Towel Day." May 25, two weeks after Douglas Adams' passing, all fans worldwide are encouraged to carry a towel around for the day."
It would be nice to see Thursday renamed as well.
Wait till the Jedi control the Senate. Slightly aging news, but CuriousGeorge113 writes "According to this Theage.com.au article, the Australian Government has issued yet another warning to Star Wars fans intent on writing in 'Jedi' as their religion in the upcoming census. It appears that this e-mail is beginning to pick up some steam."
Join the parade. Macki writes "Three weeks ago, Ford Motor Company sued 2600 over a DNS entry pointing FuckGeneralMotors.com at the Ford website. A hearing is set for May 18th in Detroit. Supporters are invited to join a caravan to Detroit that will go through up state New York and Canada in time for the hearing. A motion has already been filed for a protective order from legal shenanigans while in Michigan-- it's a good read and gives a thorough run-down of the case."
Open for the public, yes. Delphion may be about to start charging for certain of its formerly free services, but my note that the USPTO should put more documents on the Web was too harsh. A USPTO employee helpfully wrote:
"The United States Patent and Trademark Office offers the entire USPTO Patent database online for free (we've been doing this for some time now) -- just click any of the Search Patents links to get started.You can search text for all patents since 1976 and view images of all patents since 1790 (except those files lost in the early Patent Office fires and fractional patents). We have the entire available patent database on line. You will need a TIFF image browser plugin (we offer a link to a free plugin on our site).
We also offer Patent Application Publications online. These are pending patent applications received after the new rules went into effect (from March 15 2001 through the present weekly issue). The database consists of the full text of US published applications (including new utility and plant). The full text of a published application includes all bibliographic data, such as the inventor's name, the published application's title, and the assignee's name, as well as the abstract, the full description of the invention, and the claims. All of the words (text) in the publication are searchable."
Thanks for the information. Sorry for being the source of FUD. Now where are the searchable PDFs? :)
Re:The Ford Suit (Score:1)
Am I the only one who thinks that Ford should, instead of going to court over this, try building decent cars?
Darth Dundee's Definition (Score:1)
Philosophy: Regard for the force as a supreme supernatural power
Organizational Structure: The Jedi Council
Towel Day (Score:1)
Re:I guess we'll never know... (Score:2)
Re:towel day (Score:3)
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:1)
WEST finally replaced? (Score:3)
--
WolfSkunks for a better Linux Kernel
$Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.keenspace.com";
Re:Jedi and the Census - the real deal (Score:1)
But wait a minute! Pissing off large, statistics-collecting organizations is one of the guiding principles of my life! One could almost call it...a religion :-)
Re:Towel? (Score:1)
Re:New Zealand != Australia (Score:3)
NOT Americans (Score:1)
Re:Jedi and the Census - the real deal (Score:2)
Re:New Zealand != Australia (Score:2)
And a surprising number of pedantic imbeciles use crappy invented words like "USians." At least have a sense of utility and, well, elegance, instead of using some lop-sided moniker. If you don't like "Americans," try "US citizens" or "US residents" or "people who live in the United States of America."
Besides all that, "US" in any form could mean "United States of Mexico," couldn't it? So where does that leave your lame "USians"?
Re:NOT Americans (Score:2)
In the South American countries that I lived in they referred to US Citizens as "norteamericanos" or "North Americans." I always found this to be quite interesting in that technically Canadians and Mexicans are North Americans as well.
The funny thing about language is that words are important. People have strange attachment to specific words, and an equally strange dislike for others. That's why some folks on this site don't mind being referred to as "geeks," but balk at being labeled a "nerd." That is why it is always best to try and use the word that your audience expects, and not the word that you personally feel is the best fit. It's just good politics.
In this case while the original poster felt that USians was a proper way to address US Citizens most US Citizens would disagree. We prefer Americans, but will admit that US Citizen is probably a more accurate monniker. Arguing that "USian" is a better term with an American is a lot like arguing with someone from Japan about the term "Jap" or "Nip."
In a nutshell, if someone takes offense at the label that you have put on them, it makes sense to simply agree and call them whatever they prefer (within reason, of course). You can call them whatever you want behind their back.
Kudos to timothy (Score:2)
michael, perhaps you should learn from this example.
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:4)
Volume of patents? (Score:5)
Any estimates on the size of the USPTO's patent database? If it's something that could reasonably fit on a few hundred CDROMs, it might be worth asking them to think about distributing it.
Having an on-site copy of the database for searching and data-mining at your local university or large company's library would raise very interesting applications. Write the correct tools, and you could easily see what the state-of-the-IP-art is in any given field, and I'm sure that organizations like the EFF would like an easier way to peer-review the patent database, too.
OTOH, if you'd need the proverbial 747 full of CDs, this wouldn't be practical.
listening to host headers (Score:2)
This trick can be used to not serve a document to a request with an invalid host header. Or to redirect the request. Or to do any number of things, for example, point the request to slashdot, which is hopefully listening for invalid host headers and redirecting those requests to trolldot.
It's really not a big deal. Even IIS includes the ability to do this.
This whole lawsuit is clueless, and hopefully the judge hasn't been bought and will throw it out immediately upon learning that Ford had options other than a lawsuit.
Re:Jedi and the Census - the real deal (Score:3)
The real problem here is the process by which funding is allocated on the basis of census data.
In the US, during the census push, they went on and on about how filling out the census would help your wise and powerful legislators appropriately apportion the largess of taxes to the people. To me, it completely damages the credibility of the census as an 'apolitical' process.
I don't want a 'father government' who I must tell the truth to so that he might wisely care for the needs of the individual family members he is somehow responsible for. The whole belief structure leading to the idea of needing an accurate census is an anathema to me.
If someone in my community wants my help, they can ask me. They shouldn't go running to the government to get them to take money from my pocket and put it in theirs. That kind of thing breeds dissension and distrust and destroys communities.
Re:Quit slammin' the U.S.of A. (Score:2)
Douglas Adams Tribute (Score:2)
At Duckon [duckon.org] this weekend some friends and I intend to devise the definitive Pan Galactic Gargleblaster recipe. I haven't liked the looks of anything I've seen on the net so far. Since it's described as being "rather like having one's brains bashed in by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick", I think it's only fitting to start with Stolichnaya Limonnaya and Goldschlager and work from there.
Assuming, of course, that our cocked-up room reservation is resolved... :-(
Chelloveck
Re:i'll do you one better, mate (Score:2)
Oh, come one -- this isn't flamebait, it's freakin' hilarious!
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Re:New Zealand != Australia (Score:5)
I guess now its "News for Nerds, and Computer Folks Who Never Looked at a Globe".
Next up: Georgia! It's both a state AND a country!
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Slightly OT, concerning towels (Score:2)
Back on topic, I for one will have my towel with me on May 25, with my name proudly displayed in old, unravelling embroidery.
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Re:The Ford Suit (Score:2)
DNS pointers do not consume bandwidth in and of themselves, but the traffic they generate can cost money. Why should Ford pay bandwidth fees for a domain it doesn't want or control?
AFAIK, it's not about having a SomethingSucks.com website, it's about (a) damaging the image of a company and (b) unfair use of resources (Ford's bandwidth). 2600 _could_ have pointed the domain at their own servers. Instead they act like children and point it at Ford.
Again, AFAIK General Motors has no relation to Ford. In fact, AFAIK, they compete with each other. If typing in "GeneralMotorsSucks.com" leads you Ford's homepage, what are you going to think about Ford? Oh, instead of competing they resort to slander. Yeah. Okay.
Ford has been wronged here.
2600 has not done ANYTHING in this case that could be "standing up for their freedoms". Grow up.
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Computer Science: solving today's problems tomorrow.
How about just putting 'None'? (Score:2)
Quit slammin' the U.S.of A. (Score:2)
Re:Quit slammin' the U.S.of A. (Score:2)
Beer was brewed by many ancient civilizations long before Christ, most prominently was the Egyptians.
The Chinese invented gunpowder and fireworks and probably the gun as well.
IIRC, Daimler, who was German, I believe, built the first automobile. I dunno who first made a pickup truck, since many early models could have counted.
I would strongly suspect corn whiskey predates the U.S., so the only item that is truly American (U.S.A.ian, for all you Canadians and Mexicans) is TNN. Hey, who else could invent the show "18 Wheels of Justice"? Yee hah!
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:4)
I believe this is the relevant article in the Australian Consitution:
116. The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.
Re:Volume of patents? (Score:3)
Re:To all bloats thinking about putting Jedi down. (Score:5)
dave
Why put Jedi as religion.. (Score:2)
Re:New Zealand != Australia (Score:2)
--
You think being a MIB is all voodoo mind control? You should see the paperwork!
Re:Hah. Politics in everything! :-) (Score:2)
White Europeans enslaved Black Africans and killed Native Americans because they thought them to be sub-human. As as result, the descendants of the White Europeans have the lion's share of the money and property in this country.
Once we minorities get reparations from the descendants from the Whites that fucked over our ancestors then maybe we could compromise.
For now "compromise" is impossible as long as Whites insist that everyone be "colorblind", which is really code for minorities to ignore their heritage and act White (white as in the absence of color when you mix paint, not all colors as in light)...
--
You think being a MIB is all voodoo mind control? You should see the paperwork!
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:2)
...and according to Episode 1, you'd have to have a particular level of midichlorians in your blood? If you don't have them, the Jedi Council won't train you, therefore you are not a Jedi.
Maybe you can apply with the Sith? I hear they're hiring.
Douglas Adams Charitable Donations (Score:2)
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:5)
"Yes, of course they're anonymous. Unless we don't like the answers, then we hunt you down and fine the shit out of you."
Anyone else notice this bit? Isn't there something very, very wrong with looking at census results before stripping off the identifying information?
-grendel drago
The Ford Suit (Score:3)
As a side note, doing a car caravan to protest actions by a car manufacturer is a fairly bizarre idea, isn't it? Why not do a bicycle rally instead? It might hurt Ford more...
Thalia
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:3)
116. The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.
This is true, but the Census and Statistics Act 1905-1973 doesn't prevent you from believing what you want. You have the right not to declare what religion you practice. However, if you choose to answer the question, you must answer it honestly. If you can honestly answer that you are a practicing Jedi (and show proof thereof), the ABS can't fine you.
This is confusing two issues - one is the freedom to practice religion, one is lying on a government form. You have the right to practice any religion you want, you don't have the right to lie to the government.
On a different note, S.52(xi) of the constitution gives the federal government the right to make laws concerning the census. Just a bit of trivia ...
Jedi and the Census - the real deal (Score:5)
Unlike most people here, I actually contacted the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics, the organisation that does the census to ask about this. The $1,000 fine for putting false information on the census is an actual penalty. The key issue, though, is knowingly providing false or misleading information. You don't have to answer the religion question if you don't want to. However, if you do ansewr it, you must answer truthfully. Jedi would be a legitimate answer if you can demonstrate a clear belief structure or if you can show that you try to live your life according to those precepts.
The information about religion is used by the government for distribution of funds. For example, a area surveyed with a high number of Orthodox Jews will see a lot of community funding going to Orthodox Synagogues. People who deliberately falsify their religion interferes with this process (making it more difficult for the ABS, which is only trying to do their best).
This isn't a case of 'the man' trying to shut people down. It's a case of a bunch of idiots thinking they're protesting (because they received chain mail that's been circultating since the NZ census - duh) when all they're actually doing is screwing up funding for other people in their community. If you don't want to answer, don't. What's the point? It doesn't matter how many people put Jedi down, it's not recognised as a religion. Before the devil's advocates come out the woodwork, it is not a religion that people currently follow. People could probably build a belief structure around it, but I doubt you could show active Jedi belief. You might as well say Trekkies are religious.
For the record, the person I spoke to at the ABS was very helpful and friendly.
In memory of Douglas Adams... (Score:2)
Re:New Zealand != Australia (Score:2)
Maybe I should say "Slashdot member" as opposed to Slashdotter.
Re:If not Jedi, what about Satanist? (Score:2)
You can't calim jedi unless (Score:4)
Duh.
-Adam
Honk if you've never seen a bazooka fired out a car window.
This sig 80% recycled bits, 20% post user.
Use the Force to Mod this up! (nt) (Score:2)
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I've just invented the light sabre! (Score:2)
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Re:I don't know what all the ruckus about "jedi" i (Score:4)
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On 2600 (Score:3)
Join the parade. Macki writes "Three weeks ago, Ford Motor Company sued 2600 over a DNS entry pointing FuckGeneralMotors.com at the Ford website.
Lets get some facts straight here. This is slander which is illegal, not only that but it is a waste of Ford's resources via way of bandwidth which is unfair. Aside from that 2600 may be whoring themselves in too broad fashions nowadays to make some outrageous statements for "the cause" well which cause of Hacking/Phreaking does General Motors fall into?
2600 which is a semi good magazine should be a slight bit more responsible with their actions, especially now that they're under the gun with e DVD case. I believe they should have the right to say whatever they want, its an Amendment, but they have no right to point Fuckgeneralmotors at Ford's website. I'm sure Ford never authorized it. They should have just created a virtual directory on their own sites with their own petty propaganda.
What if it were Apple making a "FuckLinux" website which pointed to Microsoft? I'm sure they'd be an uproar.
Get responsible 2600
The correct answer (Score:2)
"None of your damn business!"
Will the 2600 caravan be a... (Score:2)
Re:New Zealand != Australia (Score:2)
don't be shocked - a suprising number of USians have no idea where NZ is - I've seen it put off the coast of Africa (Madagascar), Brazil, etc - one of my co-workers (an intelligent engineer) thought I came from the east coast of Canada (New Foundland)
Re:Do they allow Scientology? (Score:5)
Re:I guess we'll never know... (Score:2)
That aside, last time I was there, it was an
Just to warn all you geeks out there; don't show up in slacks
Barclay family motto:
Aut agere aut mori.
(Either action or death.)
To all bloats thinking about putting Jedi down... (Score:5)
Re:The Ford Suit (Score:2)
Disclosure time...Do you work for Ford? (Score:2)
Re:New Zealand != Australia (Score:2)
...except New Zealand has sheep insted of beavers.
;)
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:2)
Australian Constitution [miredespa.com].
That site (found in 5 seconds with Google [google.com]) seems to have many constitutions of many nations listed, and it might be worth a read next time you feel like insulting some country you know nothing about.
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:2)
Yes, people are constitutionally free to practise whatever religion they choose, however 'Jedi' is not a religion, but a fictional way of life from an 20 year old trilogy of films. So, if you put it on the census, you are lying. Yes, YOU ARE, you can't say you're a practising Jedi, light sabres just don't exist (unfortunatly...
And sorry about the original angry reply, I just haven't had enough caffeine today I think
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:5)
If there were really a group of people, however small, following 'Jedi' then it should be (and would be) allowed on the census. But there is not; there is simply a bunch of people that think a stupid stunt like this is 'beating the system'.
Why Jedism isn't a religion. (Score:2)
Re:The Ford Suit (Score:2)
You mean this link ... ?
http://www.2600.com/news/display.shtml?id=413
Re:I can see it now... (Score:2)
But it will be sued out of existance for infringing on the intellectual property of Adams...
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:2)
Towel! (Score:3)
Although that would have been a great twist for Adams to have thrown into one of his stories...
Re:Deja vu all over again (Score:2)
Re:FP (Score:2)
Jedi? Indeed! (Score:2)
In short, I am officially registered with the government of Canada census as 'Jedi'. If we get more than 10,000 in Canada - someone could apply for a grant...
Then I could indeed become a Jedi Knight. Wait, that gives me an idea... I could move to Ohio and become a Jedi Knight of Columbus.
MaasNeotek - Building42.com
Jedi would be a legal answer in the UK (Score:5)
So, I wrote in "Linux". After all, we have a diety (Linus), a satan figure (Gates), rituals (compiling the kernel) and wars (KDE/Gnome).
Re:I guess we'll never know... (Score:3)
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:2)
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Check in...(OK!) Check out...(OK!)
Re:Towel? (Score:2)
Re:The Ford Suit (Score:2)
Err, how? Last I heard, running the host that has an A record or a CNAME record for a given domain doesn't automatically give you the ability to fiddle with the registration. The email address used in the registration is hosted out of 2600.com and presumably it's their DNS servers that all this points to, as well. Finally, the domain name doesn't reference 'ford', so it's not like they can attempt the standard trademark-based bullying.
I can see it now... (Score:4)
Anybody want to take bets on when 18610 Arthurdent will be demolished in order to make room for the Mars-Jupiter expressway?
b&
Re:Volume of patents? (Score:2)
Quite a few universities, and even some public libraries, already do. See here [uspto.gov].
Re:I guess we'll never know... (Score:2)
New Zealand != Australia (Score:3)
Re:Volume of patents? (Score:2)
Re:New Zealand != Australia (Score:2)
Re:I can see it now... (Score:2)
Re:Deja vu all over again (Score:4)
Does anyone else remember this game or should I just check myself into a "home" (as my wife has threatened to do to me recently)?
It did exist, we all loved it (that damned babel fish!), and you can play a java version of it here. [xcalibur.co.uk]
For the Goatse-paranoid, that's http://www.xcalibur.co.uk/games/hitchhik.html
Re:On 2600 (Score:3)
Why NOT Jedi? (Score:3)
On a side note, it's not like even following the 'Jedi Code' would get one locked up! As far as I can tell, Christianity and 'Jedism' would follow extremely similiar belief systems. Nobody (well, a very small minority) would say that Christianity encourages bad things- murder, rape, etc. Jedism wouldn't either. If I lived in Australia you can bet I'd put Jedi!
P.S.- In America denying someone the chance to put down their religion, whatever it is, would be unconstituational.. is something like this the case in Australia?
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Re:New Zealand != Australia (Score:2)
If not Jedi, what about Satanist? (Score:3)
I guess that in my view, ANY attempt to decree what is a "valid" religion, no matter how hokey it seems, would be ludicrous and immoral. Hey, if some guy worships tulips, good for him, hey may well believe it's his religion. All the (flower) power to him. q:]
MadCow.
Re:2600 - stupid move (Score:2)
Tomorrow they sue for linking [ford.com] to a site.
is that what you want?
jedi stuff.... (Score:2)
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:2)
Re:government (Score:3)
Well, my religion means something to me (I'm Council President at my church), but my government's curiosity means little to me, and their need to know my religious beliefs means nothing to me. To the contrary, any government's request to know my religious beliefs offends me, and I would gladly enter "Jedi" or just leave the form blank.
Deja vu all over again (Score:3)
The illustration on the jacket ignited a few brain cells that I thought I had long ago killed with alcohol, and memories of my Commodore-64 days rushed through what is left of my brain. I recalled a "Hitchhiker" game for the C-64 that I had nearly completely forgotten. I vaguely remember being Zaphod and Ford and every other character in the book, saving the universe and everything in 64 k-bytes through a text interface.
Does anyone else remember this game or should I just check myself into a "home" (as my wife has threatened to do to me recently)?
Re:Why NOT Jedi? (Score:2)
- Britain has a constitution, it's just not a written constitution. Trust me, it's perfectly possible for someone to be forbidden from doing something because it's unconstitutional, in the UK as with virtually every other governed place.
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US law has its roots in English common law. Need an authoritive reference? Ask the CIA [cia.gov].
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The appearance of a (written or otherwise) constitution has no bearing, in itself, on whether a religion is recognised or not. Only if the constitution actually mentions religion does it become an issue. In the US constitution, religion is relevent because of the 1st Ammendment, part of the bill of rights. In the British, the Queen is both the head of state and head of the Church of England. In British law, the concept of "recognised religions" is largely irrelevent, the government not formally recognising religions, nor granting any but the CofE special status, nor banning nor confering any other special rights upon them, but Britain does have several written bills of rights, varying from the Magna Carta to the European Declaration of Human Rights which was recently signed into British law.
So, other than demonstrating cluelessness about the workings of worlds outside that of the US, it's difficult to work out what the poster you're replying to was trying to say...--
Re:Quit slammin' the U.S.of A. (Score:2)
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Re:The Ford Suit (Score:2)
You can check their version of the story out at 2600.com [2600.com]. They don't mention the fact that it was hijacked, but then, if you were a hacker group and had your domain name hacked, would you let the world know. I submitted the story, but it was rejected (as usual).
PC version still available (Score:2)
It's a great game.
-Jade E.
Re:2600 - stupid move (Score:2)
You make a good point. I guess there isn't really all that much difference between pointing a DNS name and a plain hyperlink .. although most people perceive them to be quite different things .. the domain name somehow has more "authority". If what they did is wrong, then why wouldn't fuck General Motors [ford.com] be wrong too .. ? Hmm .. its not really slander either, is it. Still, either way, the public will side against 2600 just because of the word "fuck".
2600 - stupid move (Score:3)
I can't really agree with 2600's actions here. This doesn't come off as a valid protest of any sort - it comes off as a childish prank, and this is how the general public will see it. This doesn't do anything positive for "the cause", rather, it is only likely to hurt it. Would you (for example) use this incident as an example when trying to convince your mother? There are many far more mature ways to make a statement. This makes h(cr)ackers look really bad to the public, and provides exactly the kind of material organizations such as the FBI love to have for their anti-hacking campaigns to convince the government to give them more power and people less freedom.
I'm sorry, I just can't for the life of me see how pointing a DNS entry "fuckgeneralmotors" at ford's website can be construed as "making a statement" (unless the statement they're trying to make is that the DNS system can be too easily manipulated or something). I think its childish. I can imagine having found this sort of thing funny when I was 14.
www.FuckFreeKevin.org (Score:2)
Religion=Jedi? (Score:3)
*cough*Scientology*cough*
If you really want to do it... (Score:4)
Ford Prefect? (Score:2)
Apparently Ford chose his name after an imperfect understanding of what would be a suitably common name in England (the Ford 'Prefect' was very popular model for a few years).