"Kawaii is like epic win of cuteness". This generation will take over the civilization after us, just to let you know...

greenrd

That title is ageist!!

greenrd

We shouldn't jump to the conclusion that all of these requests were malicious and time-wasting. I think there is a good case to be made that all the source code that can legally be made available, should be made available.

But yes, it does seem like there is a problem with Freedom of Information laws in this instance. Large government departments are in a better position to deal with a large volume of FOI requests, than small research groups at universities.

Of course, again, the best way to avoid FOI requests, e.g. for code, is to publish the stuff online in the first place, if you can.

greenrd

This doesn't require using the abomination that is Network Manager.

On Fedora 11, it works quite well - if you want to do something it supports. Otherwise, it's worse than useless and should be killed or uninstalled.

Fortunately, it does support this, so I didn't have to Google all these commands (I always forget the iptables syntax).

greenrd

Some people commit suicide because they feel they have nothing worth living for. Others, because of the pressure they're under. I'm guessing this was a case of the latter.

greenrd

I worked on it for days, even ignoring the regular homework to try to prove it since it was worth "significant extra credit".

Sounds like Good Will Hunting.

greenrd

I feel like it's just like the other day when I saw grown Indian men dressed as eggplants to protest genetically modified food. I don't think the people you are protesting against are going "Wow, they mean business, they have masks/costumes"

I agree that it looks a little bit silly and embarassing. But like I always say in the context of activism - we need to use multiple tactics. Some people respond best to humour, others to long, detailed rebuttals, yet others to masses of people marching. I mean, it's not as if there are too many people taking part in political activism at the moment.

That's not to say there isn't such a thing as a counterproductive tactic. Violence against innocent people is a good example of that. But I guess I just don't see dressing up as a big deal. If they want to, let them, and maybe it will make some people take notice.

greenrd

Certainly. But they could use any masks for that. The choice of mask is inspired.

greenrd

Er... I'm sure political statements have been made in ebonics - doesn't strike me as an inherently stupid thing to do. If you are trying to communicate to people who don't understand ebonics, then sure, it's counterproductive.

And you know what? I don't think they are trying to intimidate the scientologists. That's a scientologist tactic, to scare the crap out of people. I think they are trying to use humour and, er, moralising (in the positive sense of the word) as a weapon. And it's an open letter - their words are just not directed at scientologists.

Of course, there is not just one Anonymous - you always have to bear this in mind. Anonymous contains multitudes.

greenrd

No, you have to have awareness of V for Vendetta to know that the masks represent strength in numbers.

greenrd

Great - but what about all those of us who live in rented accomodation?

This just adds to my argument that prospective renters should get their own kind of "home information pack" - just something very basic that includes things like an estimate of energy costs (winter and summer). Right now, energy costs aren't necessarily taken into consideration by renters, so there's less of an incentive for landlords to invest in energy efficiency measures, and schemes like this. Still, landlords can try advertising it as an added extra, or maybe include all energy bills in the rent (like some landlords do already).

greenrd

There are several specialized finance companies for solar system setups. They approve you in 24 hours or less, pay for the full system, and only ask a small percentage of the turnover.

That's awesome! I had that business idea a year or two ago but dismissed it as impractical for some reason. That's not the first time either... maybe I should take my green business ideas more seriously.

greenrd

Ah, yes, the old "all publicity is good publicity" canard. Try asking Gerald Ratner if all publicity is good publicity.

greenrd

Yeah, that's what I thought as well, before I read the article. If you read the actual article they say they are watching, and eventually scientology will have to face the law for what they've done. It's quite a good, inspiring letter actually, you should read it.

greenrd

Maybe so, but your quote is an example of misleading selective quotation. There will always be fringe religious cults of some sort. (If only libertarianism.)

greenrd

I think the Guy Fawkes masks are meant to signify Anonymity and strength in numbers. I think they do a pretty good job of that, although it does require a few brain cells to make the connection. (And it requires you to have seen enough of the movie or read the comic book, obviously.)

greenrd

Excuse me, I'm not a noob, and it took me ages to find this information, because the Fedora documentation is so patchy.

greenrd

Clearly increasing the other executives pay is going to make the CEO do his job better. Er, wait a minute...

greenrd

But we can influence the rate of bug adaptation far more easily than we can influence the rate of our own adaptation.

greenrd

Interestingly, this cult is a derivative of the Theosophists. The last man to be called the World Teacher by the Theosophists was another Indian man, Jiddu Krishnamurti. Although coached and prepared for the role, he had a sudden conversion and decided that he was not, in fact, the World Teacher. The Theosophists must have been very pissed off with him!

Although, J. Krishnamurti did continue to be a "spiritual teacher", giving talks and writing books, with large numbers of followers around the world, albeit one who frequently told people not to follow any gurus.

greenrd

TROPHY CASE

you'll need to login or register to do that

create a new account

login