Linux at the Dod

ken at flyingtoasters.net ken at flyingtoasters.net
Fri Jun 20 11:36:26 EDT 2003


>>>>>> On Fri, 20 Jun 2003, "Ben" == bscott at ntisys.com wrote:
>
>   Ben> Or better yet, maybe Microsoft will just buy the DoD. ;-)
>
> Have you read Neal Stevenson's Snow Crash ?
> There's General Bob's National Defense Force, Inc. :)

That's General _Bill_ to you, Mr. Linux weenie.  ;-)

[Note: if any of you reading this haven't read Snow Crash yet, go do so --
it's an awesome book.  Great summer reading.]

As for the rant from Stephen, I agree: people are trying to keep things
that threaten their existence from happening.  The good news is that
information -always- comes out.  The bad news is that it can be mightily
thwarted.  Somewhat akin (if you'll excuse a pretty pathetic analogy) to
Hari Seldon's thousand years of chaos vs. 30k years, the truly open
exchange of information -- regardless of media -- is going to happen.  The
only real question is whether or not morons like Jack Valenti will realize
that far more benefit can be gained by harnessing technology instead of
fighting it.  I don't know if any of you have read his testimony before
congress regarding VCRs; it's absolutely fascinating.  [Here's a decent
enough link: http://chron.edgecity.net/story/2002/6/1/105724/6394]  I'll
give a brief, highly-paraphrased summary here, though:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Senator: So, why are VCRs bad?

JV: Well, Senator -- my, aren't you looking smart in your suit today? --
while I'm not prejudiced against Asians, if I were, I'd worry about the
fact that all the VCRs are made by Japan.  Clearly, they're trying to
undercut us.  I mean, they've already stolen everything else!  What's the
one pure God-fearing American-mom-apple-pie thing left?  That's right: the
entertainment industry.  And, as soon as you let these crazy Japanese go
and _SELL_, God-forbid, VCRs and video tapes, well... that'll be it.  Back
to caves for us Americans.

Senator: Oh.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay, maybe I laid it on a little thick, but that really -is- the slant he
takes; go read it -- it's just an amazing look at a [techno|xeno]phobe's
mind... or, at least, someone _presenting_ himself as one.  I'm not sure
if he's really presenting his own ideas or not.  And, by the way, in his
testimony he actually admits that his family (_GASP_) just might have
recorded copyrighted materials with a VCR.

So where is he now?  Hearkening back for the good ol' days of analog
technology when you couldn't make perfect copies.  Freakin' bastid.

$.02,

-Ken



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