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Slashback: Railing, Blocking, Scoffing 324

Posted by timothy from the in-seattle-it-never-rains dept.
Slashback tonight brings you more information on homemade railguns, the future history of SCO (seen from the past), one website's response to alleged RIAA mendacity, a legal victory for famous web jerk Tucker Max, and more -- read on for the details.

Please don't point that thing at me. BoomZilla writes "If you thought that the recent Gauss Gun article on Slashdot was spiffy, check out Jengel & Fatro's Rail Gun Page. Everything you need to know about the physics behind building your very own rail gun. Ever used the Quake rail gun and lusted after the real thing? Here's your opportunity."

Telepathic telegrams work as well as ever, though. markgo2k writes "After the web site experienced 'an unusually high number of visitors,' the White House modified the contact page and added a prominent link to president@whitehouse.gov. Here's the latest NYT story (once again, reprinted here in the non-subscription Seattle PI). Of course, the White House is still confused on the difference between the New York Times effect and the Slashdot effect. It's not mentioned in the story, but there is also now a feedback link to submit comments to the 'White House Web Development Team,' if you want to drop them a line..."

It's half-Greek to me. In response to the recent story on perpendicular data storage in next-generation hard drives, Anonymous Coward writes "Here is a better overview of Perpendicular HDD technology. Here is a real detailed scientific article that seems to be written in Greek."

They're off my Christmas card list, too. Techfocus ran an interview with Fred von Lohmann earlier this year. Now, an anonymous reader points to an update on their site: "Effective immediately, the RIAA and MPAA will need to find another way to get to Techfocus. In response to their legal targeting of individual file-swappers, access from their known networks to this site has now been blocked. While it may still be possible for them to access Techfocus via address ranges which we're not aware of, they'll otherwise have to use non-RIAA and non-MPAA networks to view the site."

Techfocus cites three reasons for the denial, the top one being that the RIAA took advantage of the interview with von Lohmann, "quoting him out of context in a manner which could lead readers of their materials to believe that we supported their efforts. This could not be further from the truth."

The secret is to predict enough things. An anonymous reader points out this article from early 2000 citing Gartner analyst Al Hilwa's prediction that Linux is "probably going to kill SCO UnixWare," writing "As you can read, SCO's end was predicted near perfectly." I think "hinted at" is more accurate, since SCO is still alive and at least making a good show of kicking, but it's interesting to revisit a story about SCO which mentions that "industry observers thought that the company would be Linux's first victim," back when Project Monterey was a going concern.

A victory for discourteous boors everywhere. aeaas writes "The beauty queen Katy Johnson dropped her suit against Tucker Max over the posting of stories from their relationship on his website. This story was first brought up in the context that he was forced to take down stories relating to her without holding a hearing or notifying Max prior to it. This is unusual in American law."

A quarter mil is a lot of suffering, even in Canadian money. Skippy321 writes "Justified or not, Ghyslain Raza--better known as the Star Wars Kid--is suing the four students who posted his homemade video of himself doing acrobatic "sword-fighting stunts" on the Internet for $250,000. He claims that he has suffered harassment and persecution. It's also interesting how the article states that he quit high school due to this video, at only 15 years of age. Although things aren't so bad for him -- here's a petition for him to get a role in Episode III."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Slashback: Railing, Blocking, Scoffing More

Slashback: Railing, Blocking, Scoffing

Comments Filter:

  • Note to self (Score:4, Funny)

    by John Paul Jones ( 151355 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:01PM (#6527706)
    Sell SCO short.

    • Re:Note to self (Score:5, Insightful)

      by beacher ( 82033 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:20PM (#6527828) Homepage
      Second note to self: This is the forge that will make Linux either extremeley hard and brittle or strong and flexible with the ability to stay sharp. As much as I hate hearing SCO stories, I am glad that the threat is a light-weight that spews out so many lies that their story is hardly credible. Hopefully everyone will analyze what they are doing and some preventive measures can be put in place for tougher future challengers when IBM isn't taking up the defense.

      I really hate MCBride and SCO, but I think this is a good thing for us in the long run. Please remember that we all have to concentrate on making Linux just right for us. If other people/corporations appreciate Linux, then it will be on merit alone. Corporate backing is great and it makes other corporations look towards supporting hardware for Linux, but we're not selling to corporations, we're selling Linux to ourselves - and I think I'm my own worst customer.

      -B
      • From the article (Gartner report from 2000)

        But while Linux may have caused SCO to stumble, the blow won't likely be fatal, he said. Novell Inc. has been battling Windows for years and didn't die. Instead, it adapted, moving into directory services. SCO, he said, will have to evolve as well.

        I guess we all can guess how SCO adapted, eh?

    • Re:Note to self (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MrLint ( 519792 )
      "John Fisher, SCO's Canadian manager, disagreed, saying so far there's no evidence Linux is to blame for what he call the 'sharp" drop in sales in this country."

      Well in the context of SCO's claims that linux couldn't have reached enterprise level without code 'from' SCO, we have an admission that Linux played no part in their revenue loss (in 2000).

      The question is.. what is the sale drop for SCO products in 01, 02, and 03 as compared to 99-00?

  • wow, cool (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Trelane, the Squire ( 608266 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:04PM (#6527724)
    3. The RIAA is choosing to devote their resources to target individuals, rather than devoting their resources to creating a feasible distribution method (see iTunes).
    It's nice to see this presented somewhere other than slashdot.

    but then, I don't get out much, so I don't know how prevalent this viewpont is ;)

    • Re:wow, cool (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Kris_J ( 10111 )
      I think now that the RIAA is suing grandparents and the girl next door, braindead consumers of mainstream media are finally able to form an opinion.

  • Petition (Score:3, Informative)

    by Adam9 ( 93947 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:07PM (#6527746) Journal
    It's currently at 17,085 signatures. Can Slashdot get it to at least 20,000?

  • The Star Wars Kids Videos (Score:5, Funny)

    by pgrote ( 68235 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:10PM (#6527759) Homepage
    Here is the original and remix videos [jedimaster.net]
    of the kid. Pretty funny stuff.

    I guess this will teach him to leave his tapes laying around. Good lesson to learn in case he actually gets out of puberty and starts taping his girlfriends.

  • Ghyslain Raza (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:10PM (#6527760)
    it should be noted that even though embarrased, he actually wasnt/isnt angry at the people who posted it. simply; he has greedy parents...

    shame, i think they are doing more damage to him by teaching him to be greedy versus 'taking' the joke.

  • Pay him! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sebi ( 152185 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:10PM (#6527764)

    I can feel for that Star Wars kid. Being an outsider in school is hard enough when you are only mocked by those that you see every day. But suddenly being laughed at by a global audience must be hell. I haven't seen the video, so I can't comment on how stupid he looks on it, but that is beside the point. He clearly did not intend it to be seen by anyone. High school bullying is good fun, until one of the victims decides to shoot some classmates. Then it is newsworthy. When they drop out, or even kill themselves then nobody cares. This case can send the right message if you ask me (which you really shouldn't)

    • If he didn't intend for anybody else to see it, then how did 4 students that didn't like him get a copy of it to post to the net?

      • Re:Pay him! (Score:2, Informative)

        by dacetone ( 177878 ) *
        The article says: "They say the four stole the video from a school filing cabinet where Ghyslain had stored a video camera he was using for a student project."

      • Re:Pay him! (Score:2, Insightful)

        by sebi ( 152185 )

        If he didn't intend for anybody else to see it, then how did 4 students that didn't like him get a copy of it to post to the net?

        Let me quote TFA: [theglobeandmail.com]
        They say the four stole the video from a school filing cabinet where Ghyslain had stored a video camera he was using for a student project.

        Even if this is not true and he just left the tape lying around, or even forgot it in the camera, common decency (who am I kidding? There is no such thing anymore) should have led to any other course of action than posti

    • Re:Pay him! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      I agree that being an outsider is high school is hard, and being mocked is hard, but i think what this kid needs is counseling. Dropping out of school for this is a bit much.

      I guess what i really feel bad about is that he has to go to a substandard school where the kids don't think the movie was cool. Any real geek knows that the clip is cool, and would respect it. In my public high school, I would have had any number of people coming up to me telling me how cool it was. I would have had teachers comi

    • High school bullying is good fun, until one of the victims decides to shoot some classmates.

      Never mind the extreme personal hell inflcited in the one being bullied. Guns or words, either one can ruin a life.

    • Re:Pay him! (Score:4, Interesting)

      by benjamindees ( 441808 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @09:15PM (#6528131) Homepage
      Look, I just downloaded the video and I don't think he looks stupid at all. It's obvious that he spent a little time working out the choreography of his performance and that's commendable considering it's something he just did for fun.

      The people who spent the time to add sound and video effects obviously felt his work was worth adding to, otherwise they wouldn't have done it.

      I'll admit, it's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time, but that shouldn't make it embarrassing for him. Lots of people make a good living doing seemingly foolish things. Lots of people did nerdy stuff like this in highschool just for the experience and that has turned out to benefit them later in life.

      I feel like an ass whenever I'm on camera mostly because I don't have the ability to entertain people. This kid seems to have attracted a large audience and a lot of attention. He should take that as a sign that he's doing something right.

      • Re:Pay him! (Score:3, Insightful)

        by sebi ( 152185 )

        I'll admit, it's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time, but that shouldn't make it embarrassing for him.

        The funniest thing I have seen in a long time was Steve Ballmer's demented dance act. I have no problem laughing at people who set themselves up for it, but when events are forced into the public my problems start. Jackass can be really funny, hidden camera style humour can't. There is a line that many people don't seem to respect--the border between public and private. Ultimately the kid should

        • I knew someone would mention Jackass. That's not what I meant by "people doing seemingly foolish things". I meant that entertainment itself is foolish, when you think about it, yet it is a highly valued skill in almost every society.

          The kid is obviously pretty good at entertaining, if only because lots of us have thought about doing something like that and that's probably what most of us would look like doing so. Normal people who have the guts to live out their normal lives and be themselves while lett

      • Re:Pay him! (Score:4, Funny)

        by pi_rules ( 123171 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @11:18PM (#6528893)
        I say we start making a list of stupid things that we've done.

        I submit: this mp3 [bunchofdrunks.com]. Granted, I posted this as a one-off thing for a buddy so he'd get a laugh out of it and after such a postive response from him (and former coworkers) kept it online.

        If I had a video if the dumb-assed look on my face as I had a half Stevie Wonder half 'Timmmay!' (South Park) look to me it'd be even funnier.

        For a football game where the women played football and the men cheerleaded in high school I signed up. Twice, although the first was accidental. I got pressured by some friends who signed up to be part of the halftime show. We were all wrestlers, me being a lightweight so I was litterally -tossed- between groups for the show. Not safe, but a skinny guy going "gaaaahhaha!" through the air is hugely entertaining I guess.

        The next year I signed up and got some buddies to do it with me. We all dressed up in something stupid -- I picked a wrestling signlet. A small one... cut like briefs... in 40 degree weather... can you say "turtle effect"? I hadn't counted on that one. Shoulda brought an extra sock. Or two. I've never said "Oh shutup -- it's cold" so many times in a night in my life.

        I wore a 3 foot tall foam Guiness top had during a short stroll from my buddie's house to the beer store downtown in a decent sized town once. Somebody stuck their head out the window doing 25 to express their feelings with the word "Shithead" rather loudly. Not a fan of Guiness I guess.

        Ventured out onto my balcony once to watch a thunderstorm. Chilled ou there for about a half an hour reveling in how insignificant I really am in comparsion with the One that can make stuff like that happen on command. I go to open the slider door and realize how insignificant I really am as the door has locked itself behind me. With my keys inside. With my cellphone. Oh, and I'm on the 2nd story -- and it's still raining. A 20 foot fall into some mushy ground and 20 minutes of walking later I'm using somebody's phone (who thankfully I knew) to call maintence and get back into my apartment.

        Of course, standing around with a group of guys in high school chit chatting and interjecting, "yeah, I noticed that X has a huge friggen crank. Wouldn't have thought that" and then being informed that you completey misunderstood about 4 of the 6 words out of the last guys sentence really puts a crimp in our style. Hey, I'm not the smartest peanut in the turd. Try explaining -THAT- one off!

        Got on a mechanical bull once drunk... well, three times in a night. 'Nuff said there.

        My first jump out of a plane I was informed that me yelling "waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" can be heard 3500 feet below. I've probably watched 100 people dump so far and I've never heard somebody yell loud enough to hear them. I think I got a record there.

        Hopefully the 'Star Wars Kid', if he's reading this, doesn't feel so bad now. Personally, if he had developed a little more flexibility in his legs he coulda looked a whole lot cooler in some of those shots.

    • 250 grand, my ass. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Squeamish Ossifrage ( 3451 ) * on Friday July 25, 2003 @01:47AM (#6529661) Homepage Journal
      I'm pretty sure I'm not the only slashdot reader who got picked on while going through the school system. And I'm sorry, as much as being picked on sucks, it doesn't suck $250,000 worth. That's like 20 years' worth of savings, depending on how one's employed.

      There's just no way that one embarrassing incident and the subsequent mockery is worth more than half a lifetime of hard work. Besides which, he's not even suing the people who actually mocked him. He's suing people who did something that may have induced the actual guilty parties to mock him. What's the accusation, contributory mockery?

  • Now... what we really need to figure out how to do (Score:5, Funny)

    by miketang16 ( 585602 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:10PM (#6527769) Journal
    Is how to ban the RIAA from accessing the Internet.

  • The real question (Score:5, Interesting)

    by pcgamez ( 40751 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:10PM (#6527770)
    ...is if Slashdot has the balls to ban the RIAA.

  • Wouldn't the DMCA apply? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RedLeg ( 22564 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:13PM (#6527784) Journal
    "In response to their legal targeting of individual file-swappers, access from their known networks to this site has now been blocked. While it may still be possible for them to access Techfocus via address ranges which we're not aware of, they'll otherwise have to use non-RIAA and non-MPAA networks to view the site."

    So, this site's admin has put in place a technical measure to prevent or limit certain persons from accessing his site. Wouldn't attempts by those persons to circumvent that access control technology constitute a violation of the DMCA?

    Where's the FBI and a Federal Prosecutor when you need one?
    • The problem is that the RIAA used the Von Lohmann quote before the technical measures were put in place, so your argument is only good if they decide to grab another quote. Even then, some RIAA lawyer working from home or a separate office could easily view the site.

      The bigger picture is the fallout.

      boycott-riaa.com [boycott-riaa.com] has covered Techfocus' efforts, as has several other web sites. There seems to be quite an underground movement supporting Techfocus. I am a moderator for the Techfocus forum [techfocus.org] on this subje
    • Using and IP address that is permitted access to the site would be roughly equivalent to using a DVD player that is permitted access to DVDs.

      Nothing is being circumvented, you are just using a device that has been permitted access.

    • Probably not since they would just have to use an IP that is not being blocked - an IP that is allowed thus.

      What techfocus, slashdot, and everyone else should really do is put up one of those porno-style front pages where you have a disclaimer that says by entering the site, you are attesting that you are not an employee or associate of the RIAA, and you have to press 'agree' to enter. That might make them a little shy of quoting us out of context...

  • Star Wars Kid (Score:5, Informative)

    by Keebler71 ( 520908 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:14PM (#6527794) Journal
    Here [jedimaster.net] is the link to a "Star Wars Kid" Parody site. I didn't want to post it till I watched the videos for fear of slashdoting depriving me of nearly wetting myself it was so funny.

  • He forgot to say thank you (Score:4, Informative)

    by DennisZeMenace ( 131127 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:16PM (#6527804) Homepage
    Ghyslain/Star-Wars-Kid forgot to say thank you [waxy.org] for the $3250 he received from the Internet community. I wonder whether it's him or his parents pushing for the lawsuit...

    -DZM

  • For those wishing to block RIAA/MPAA: (Score:5, Informative)

    by bivaughn ( 235462 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:16PM (#6527805) Homepage
    12.150.191.0 - 12.150.191.255 | RECORDIN50-191 | RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOC OF AMERICA | RIAA | 1330 CONNECTICUT AVENUE NW SUITE 300 - WASHINGTON US | 2001-08-11 | reassignment | ARIN

    12.29.112.0 - 12.29.112.15 | MPLC-112-0 | Motion Picture Licensing Corp | MPLC | 5455 Centinela Ave. - LA - CA - 90066 - US | US | 1999-07-29 | reassignment | ARIN

    208.49.164.0 - 208.49.164.255 | GBX-REQ000000015136 | MPAA/Motion Picture Association | C00282131 | 15503 Venture Blvd - Encino - CA - 91436 - US | US | 2002-03-07 | reassignment | ARIN

    198.70.114.0 - 198.70.114.255 | NET-MPA-1 | Motion Picture Association | C00012562 | 15503 Ventura Boulevard - Encino - CA - 91436 - US | US | 1998-03-04 | reassignment | ARIN

    63.199.57.120 - 63.199.57.127 | SBCIS68048 | Motion Picture Assoc. | C00048959 | 15503 Ventura Boulevard - Encino - CA - 91436 - US | US | 1999-12-08 | reassignment | ARIN

    208.50.66.224 - 208.50.66.255 | GBX-REQ000000012662 | MPAA | C00194717 | 15503 Venture Blvd - Encino - CA - 91436 - US | US | 2001-06-26 | reassignment | ARIN

    • $ host riaa.org
      riaa.org A 146.82.174.13
      riaa.org A 68.163.90.13
      $ host mpaa.org
      mpaa.org A 66.252.129.188

      neither appear in those netblocks...

      Also, somebody should put up a nice iptables script for those of us too lazy to figure them out for ourselves
      • I was on it already...
        According to the .htaccess that is on that site, this should cover them... I didn't test the IP's, so if anyone has additions or subtractions, modify this post and continue until we have a good one, because it's going on every box I have root on :) If any calls me on it, then I'll know I've helped send a signal to those bastards. When they pay artists more, charge less, or stop fighting their customers, I'll remove the ban.

        iptables -A INPUT -s 12.150.191.0/24 -j REJECT --reject-wit

        • here is mine, but 66.252.129 is still missing (Score:5, Interesting)

          by nyet ( 19118 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @09:58PM (#6528407) Homepage
          is it a typo? their htaccess lists 66.252.128

          # Generated by iptables-save v1.2.8 on Thu Jul 24 18:52:32 2003
          *filter :INPUT ACCEPT [251238:18127669] :FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0] :OUTPUT ACCEPT [147443:28849496]
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 12.29.112.0/255.255.255.240 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 63.199.57.120/255.255.255.248 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 198.70.114.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 208.49.164.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 208.50.66.224/255.255.255.224 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 64.166.187.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 64.241.31.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 65.244.101.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 66.252.128.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 67.112.252.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 67.125.49.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 81.4.78.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 146.82.174.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 208.192.0.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 208.209.2.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 208.225.90.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 208.229.253.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 208.49.164.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 212.241.48.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          [0:0] -A INPUT -s 217.228.123.0/255.255.255.0 -j DROP
          COMMIT
          # Completed on Thu Jul 24 18:52:32 2003
    • I'm really, really confused about netmask calculations (the networks I've set up haven't been very complex). What are the corresponding netmasks for the above blocks? I've tried the following:

      12.150.191.0/24
      12.29.112.15/28
      208.49.164.0/2 4
      198.70.114.0/24
      63.199.57.127/27
      208.50.66.25 5/29

      But it blocks too many... I think I have the bounds mixed up on the sub-netblocks (like .120 - .127) ...??
      • I got it... for the subblocks you specify the first IP address in the block, then subtract the number of bits (from 32) required to address the entire block. So the 2nd, 5th and 6th are wrong:

        12.150.191.0/24
        * 12.29.112.0/28 (need 4 bits, or 32-4=28)
        208.49.164.0/24
        198.70.114.0/24
        * 63.199.57.120/29 (need 3 bits, or 32-3=29)
        * 208.50.66.224/27 (need 5 bits, or 32-5=27)

        Great... that does a whole lot of nothing :).

    • Re:Greedy Star Wars Kid! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by josh crawley ( 537561 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:48PM (#6527986)
      He's not suing the people who bought him an Ipod, he's suing the people who held him up for global ridicule and ruined his life. If I beat the shit out of you, and someone else comes along and gives you a teddy bear to comfort you, does that mean you shouldn't take action against me?
      • That may be too strong a word. The kid is famous... hell, when I first saw it I thought he was doing a Chris Farley impersonation... and that he was a rather gifted physical comic.

        But from a legal sense... how can he show a quarter million in damages? Is that how much his counseling bills will be? Is that what it cost him to change schools? Has he lost future income?

        Come on... he'll claim emotional distress but how do you quantify that?

        This case will be thrown out very fast if they don't settle first
        • As a lot of people has pointed out already, he currently is in a mental institution, has quit high school and has had his social life destroyed. He is in his right to sue, and deserves a huge compensation.
          • As a lot of people has pointed out already, he currently is in a mental institution, has quit high school and has had his social life destroyed. He is in his right to sue, and deserves a huge compensation.

            And just think, if he was American, he'd just march to his high school, kill a few kids, be convicted as an adult and sentenced to death, a new wave of hypersensitive administrators would expel kids for having even a Han Solo collectable doll, George Lucus would be the new Face of Evil, and Jon Katz woul
      • It isn't greed when you claim your life is ruined, when people do thing like buy an ipod or gift certificates for you or try to give you a few minutes of international fame?

        This kid didn't have the shit beaten out of him. He had his likeness promoted on the internet. If you released a video I made in high school on the inernet & I got a teddy bear (let alone thousands of dollars and an ounce of fame), I wouldn't take action against you...I'd hire you as my @#$@#ing agent.
    • If you read the linked article about the lawsuit, one of the claims made in the suit (bolstered by a series of supposed chat logs between the four defendants) is that the four children named wanted to misdirect the sympathy money/iPod he was sent. Whether or not that claim holds any water will, no doubt, be determined in court.

  • Ghyslain in Episode III (Score:4, Funny)

    by LMariachi ( 86077 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:21PM (#6527838) Journal
    Wouldn't that just compound his humiliation?

  • heheh (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:24PM (#6527852)
    why don't we hook the star wars kid up with that
    blair whorenstein chick that sued to be sole
    valedictorian?

    people, people .. just take the lumps as they come.
    nobody promised you Anything
  • They wouldn't even have to make up a name for his character in Star Wars... maybe Lucas could the extra creativity he'd be saving to actually write some decent dialog.

  • Poor kid (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Rhinobird ( 151521 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:29PM (#6527874) Homepage
    That poor star wars kid...

    This reminds me of this one Bloom County comic:
    Opus the penguin was listening to headphones and playing air guitar. There he was twirling and spinning and sut in general jamming. Then he turns around and ALL the other charachters are watching him and the rabbit has a lighter lit up in mock praise of the performance.

    This is a bit more than his friends seeing it, but still, being morbidly embarrassed is nothing to sue over.
    • There was another one, a Sunday edition, where Steve Dallas was singing "Billie Jean" in the bathroom, and going all out. In the last frame, you see him as he really is, instead of as he's imagining it: he's wearing only a towel, dancing on a stool, and the microphone is a hairbrush. The other Bloom County residents are peering in the door and applauding. (The funniest part is Steve's thoughts, of course. He's thinking, "Okay, take it easy, every star has to know his...", then in the last frame, "...uh

  • What I'm interested in... (Score:5, Funny)

    by shr3k ( 451065 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:30PM (#6527881) Homepage
    Slashback tonight brings you more information on homemade railguns, the future history of SCO (seen from the past),

    Hey, speaking of which, I know a great place you can test out those railguns:
    355 South 520 West

    Suite 100
    Lindon, Utah 84042 USA

  • Do they know something I don't? (Score:5, Funny)

    by bopo ( 105833 ) * <bopo@n e r p .net> on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:33PM (#6527903) Homepage

    "The connection was refused when attempting to contact techfocus.org"

    Either this is the result of a good slashdotting, or I've been brainwashed into an *IAA agent. Stand back, I don't know what I'll do next!!

    • Actually, blocking innocent bystandards is a major drawback to this. Techfocus is up and not too slow at the moment, but if you still can't get on drop me an email at shakin [at] opdl [dot] org with your IP and I'll make sure to remove it from the block list after doing a friendly reverse lookup on it.

  • She dropped her suit (Score:5, Funny)

    by N8w8 ( 557943 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:36PM (#6527919)
    The beauty queen Katy Johnson dropped her suit
    She dropped her suit! Did anyone take any pictures? Where are the pictures?

  • Stop with the damn lawsuits (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MalleusEBHC ( 597600 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:36PM (#6527929)
    I suppose I shouldn't be shocked anymore about the kind of lawsuits that get filed, but there are two in this Slashback that did so.

    First, I am happy that Tucker Max won his case. While he seems like an arrogrant asshole on his website, he does have the right to be one. I'm just afraid about what kind of precedent may have been set by the judge who ordered him to take down the story in the first place. IANAL, but if the lawsuit had been seen through to the end, wouldn't that have undone the precedent in a way? As it stands now, it seems like the moronic judge has put a bit of legal validation (however wrong it may be) on his actions.

    Second, the kid in the Star Wars video needs to get over it. We all have videos floating around of stupid things we have done, although some of us are at least lucky enough to have the excuse of being drunk. Sure the kids who stole the tape should get in a bit of trouble, but suing for $250,000 apiece won't make things any different for Star Wars Kid. All it will do is financially crippled the parents of the other children.

  • Bruce Perens's second cousin's roomate on SCO! (Score:5, Funny)

    by gatesh8r ( 182908 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:50PM (#6527994)
    "Yeah I think SCO is in it for the money and they'll go bankrupt." -- ONLY ON SLASHDOT!


    (Yes yes I know, it should of been "father's second cousin's roommate", just like in Spaceballs. The subject box isn't that big...)

  • Slashdot? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Lord_Dweomer ( 648696 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:52PM (#6528007) Homepage
    We slashdotted the Whitehouse? Whitehouse.gov right? I sure as hell hope it wasn't Whitehouse.com

  • Starwars Kid (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Lord_Dweomer ( 648696 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:55PM (#6528018) Homepage
    Hey, ya know what, I gotta be honest, if I was in his situation, I'd be milking this for all its worth too. Once you're on the news, especially for something that has potential to pull heartstrings like this......you can make some big bucks. Especially for a 15 year old kid. Nothing says revenge like letting kids at school see you drive around in your new Ferrari the second you turn 16.

  • Ahem! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Myuu ( 529245 ) <myuu@pojo.com> on Thursday July 24, 2003 @08:57PM (#6528030) Homepage
    "they'll otherwise have to use non-RIAA and non-MPAA networks to view the site"

    And if they use a different provider to bypass my .htacess file blocking them, wouldn't that constitute a DMCA voilation by circumventing an access control?

  • Tucker Max (Score:3, Interesting)

    by El ( 94934 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @09:03PM (#6528071)
    Er, if you make a habit of bragging on the net about what sluts the girls you used to date are, doesn't it make it a little difficult to get a date? Tucker must be more interested in impressing the guys in the locker room then of ever scoring with an attractive woman again! Seems like pretty self-defeating behaviour to me... on the bright side, it does decrease the chances that the jerk will breed!

  • Lightsaber boy! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Valar ( 167606 ) on Thursday July 24, 2003 @09:29PM (#6528226)
    No, lightsaber boy! You don't understand, we love you! You are a hero! You are a rockstar, even! Go lightsaber boy, go!
  • Would that make it go faster, or at least reach the theoritical limit faster? You have a rail to the left and a rail to the right of your projectile, now add a rail above and a rail below, on a separate power supply isolated from the first. Add more rails and power supplies.

    Can anyone comment on if this would work or not?
    • You obviously dont understand railguns. Go to 4hv.org, and go to the electronic weapons thread. Or go to railgun.com. A railgun works via a high voltage pulse going through the side rails, which causes eddy currents in the rail behind the projectile. These eddy currents make the the rails repel, but the side rails can't move, so only the rail in the center gets moved, violently. Im am pretty sure that is what it is, but I could be wrong.
  • "3. The RIAA is choosing to devote their resources to target individuals, rather than devoting their resources to creating a feasible distribution method (see iTunes). We will not allow this website to be used as a resource with which they could utilize user statements or comments against them. While this has not happened, we are pre-emptively moving to avoid this."

    You just mentioned iTunes in the same sentence where you claim the recording industry is not creating a feasible ditribution method for music o
    • Can you get every song from iTunes? Every piece of every RIAA (jackbooted thugs that they are) member artist's back catalog? With no requirements to buy a whole album to get the one good song?

      No, you can't. It's not feasible.

      Besides, even iTunes contributes to the RIAA members' coffers, and I thus have stopped buying from them in addition to my previous boycott of new CDs (used only has been my policy since Napster).

      • " Can you get every song from iTunes? Every piece of every RIAA (jackbooted thugs that they are) member artist's back catalog? With no requirements to buy a whole album to get the one good song?"

        What does this have to do with anything. Techfocus claimed the recording industry wasn't working on methods of distributing over the internet, but instead just suing people. In reality, they're doing both, as techfocus alluded to themselves by mentioning iTunes. But Techfocus is too stupid to realize that. The fact

  • SWK kid took the wrong angle -- (Score:4, Funny)

    by toganet ( 176363 ) <gwhodgson.gmail@com> on Thursday July 24, 2003 @11:18PM (#6528892) Homepage
    He should have acted like he _intended_ to look like an idiot -- instead of being laughed AT, he could have been the next Chris Farley!

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