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| Notice: GeekPress is back up and running, thanks to Paul! It's still a not-so-serious tech news blog, but the format is significantly looser. Diana, having given up programming for philosophy, has her own philosophical blog NoodleFood. More of her work can be found at DianaHsieh.com. |
| "I hate Java" |
| 2:10:27 am mst / 8 January 2001 found by paul / filed in software / source Salon 208 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Simson Garfinkel explains why he hates Java -- because it's "slow, ugly, and irrelevant". He says that Java hype is based on two Big Lies -- (1) it's faster, and (2) it's portable -- and he proceeds to critique both claims. |
| His article is bound to be controversial. Since I don't know Java, I can't commment too much on his detailed arguments. Interestingly enough, he thinks Java will still thrive despite its flaws, but on smart cards, handhelds, and other non-PC platforms. |
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| Pigs should eat potato chips, yogurt |
| 9:04:39 am mst / 8 January 2001 found by paul / filed in science / source ABC News 24 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Scientists at Iowa State and Ohio State universities recommend that pigs be fed a diet of potato chips and yogurt. The potato chips will make the pork meat taste better, and the Lactobacillus in yogurt should lower the levels of Salmonella. |
| The next study should be the effects of feeding them pizza and nachos -- generations of college students have thrived on this diet. |
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| A Historical Perspective on Censoring Pornography |
| 11:30:18 am mst / 8 January 2001 found by diana / filed in legal / source Politech 142 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| This is an excellent article on the futility of censoring pornography, from the perspective of a woman growing up in the 40's when anything even remotely taboo (like Gone with the Wind) was censored. |
| My favorite comment: "It amazes me to see parents who support 'family values' demanding government censorship on the Net. In other words, their family values have failed, and they can't control their children, so they expect the government to control the situation for them." |
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| Deciphering the Free Speech and Encryption Debate |
| 12:42:19 pm mst / 8 January 2001 found by diana / filed in legal / source GigaLaw 40 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Our national-security-conscious government is trying to prevent export of yet another encryption program (called Snuffle, created by Daniel Bernstein of UC Berkley). So once again, the question of whether code is protected free speech gets raised. (An article in The Register pointed me to this commentary.) |
| I think that any human-readable code ought to be protected as free speech. Compiled code, on the other hand, is all about action. |
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| What Were You Doing When 2.4 Was Released? |
| 1:42:09 pm mst / 8 January 2001 found by diana / filed in humor / source SatireWire 51 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Sadly, a new study shows that most Americans won't remember what they were doing the day that the Linux 2.4 kernel was released. The day of the open sourcing of the Netscape code and even Linus' birthday aren't remembered either. |
| This is a dark time for our country. |
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| Censor-Sheep |
| 6:11:33 pm mst / 8 January 2001 found by diana / filed in shorts / source Wired 160 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| On our censorship thread today, this is a short animation about sheep censorship. |
| A very nice satire! |
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| Can a Monkey Be President? |
| 11:54:55 pm mst / 8 January 2001 found by diana / filed in humor / source Daily Radar 259 hits / 0 comments / 1 e-mail |
| Daily Radar provides us with an astute analysis of the issue of whether a monkies have the necessary skills to be president. However, it is the side-by-side pictures of George W Bush and a primate with the same facial expression that make this story a must-see. (Thanks to BBspot for the link.) |
| This is definitely the funniest parody of GW Bush that I have ever seen. |
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