01 Oct 2003
Details from Novell on SCO

A fine view from the inside on the run up to the current SCO lawsuit. Mr. Firmage clears some things up, and points out a contradiction inherent in SCO's position that I'd not noticed before.

An open-source letter. Former Novell executive Joe Firmage details the internal battles that led to the sale of the licensing rights for Unix to SCO and how that decision is now roiling the Linux market. [CNET News.com - Front Door]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Global Warming Causes Malaria

Ha! See what I mean! Not only does "marketing" cause diabetes, but "global warming" causes malaria! And here all this time I was under the impression that malaria was caused by parasites in the genus Plasmodium ...

Using this logic would force one to conclude that reading causes fascism: after all, if people couldn't read Mein Kampf, they could't be fascists! Ban reading now! Save the children!

Global Warming Deaths on the Rise. About 160,000 people die each year from malaria, malnutrition and other maladies caused by global warming, a new study says. Researchers estimate the number could almost double by 2020. [Wired News]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Commercial Alert

You know, I'm fairly particular about advertising: I don't like to see it constantly, and sometimes feel bombarded at every turn by corporate messages. So when I stumbled across Commercial Alert I was hoping that perhaps this would be a venue in which to express my annoynace with the "27/7 advertising infomercial". Alas, these folks go about as far overboard as possible, straining the credibility of all who rail against the "buy now blitz" ... from the site:

The ads help create an epidemic of marketing-related diseases in our children, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and eating disorders.

Gimme a break, guys! The excess of hype can certainly be, well, ghastly, but implying that "marketing" is causing obesity, type 2 diabetes and eating disorders? I don't think so - being sedentary may in fact contribute to those kinds of conditions, but one needn't be over-marketed to be sendentary!

It seems as though no one can reach a "happy medium" anymore - either ads must be everywhere, or nowhere. Either they're vital consumer information or they'll give you herpes! What ever happened to "a place for everything, and everything in it's place"? Whatever happened to understanding excess, and understanding that "use does not equal abuse"?

Who knows ... ?

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

The Victim Speaks

Comments from the victim.

Geer Comments On Firing From @Stake [Slashdot]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Wardialers

Get me in the Wayback Machine, Mr. Peabody! This is a term (and a practice) I've not heard about since the late `80's!

Remember "Shall we play a game?" How about "global thermonuclear war"? That's always fun!

Forgotten war dialling risk leaves networks in peril. Modem madness [The Register]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

License to Talk

Hey! I gotta an idea! Why don't we do our damnedest to kill the goose laying those golden eggs that've been making us rich?

California to license VoIP providers. Regulators in the Golden State have begun forcing Internet telephone service providers to apply for telephone operator licenses, a state official says. [CNET News.com - Front Door]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Romantic Geek Books

If Harlequin published computer books ...

Lost at C++

 

00:00 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link