The Null Device
2000/4/6
Enforcing the kernels-are-free/UIs-are-proprietary divide, Apple releases Darwin 1.0, and threatens to sue GNUStep and distribution points for violating the copyright on OpenStep class names and the like. (via Slashdot)
Interesting (if perhaps not objective) essay about the English national character and its decline. (via A&L)
And I myself have had the sad privilege of witnessing the impressive stoicism of more than one English friend facing death. My fellow students, I noticed, were less frightened before exams than in Belgrade, and not so inclined to believe tales about incredibly difficult questions. And I soon realised that the sexual revolution in Britain was not only hedonistic but also heroic--it took place in cold bedrooms.
The main source of England's greatness was that it was an island, both geographically and in time. Its ideas, institutions and way of life were either more traditional or more advanced than in Europe or the US. Sometimes, most admirably, they were both. Now the English internal clock has become synchronised with the rest of the world--or at least the rest of the west. The millennium dome may become a symbol of a defeat worse than the one at Hastings.
In Britain the very upper classes don't give a stuff about manners, decorum or, it seems, much else: (via A&l; somewhat amusing)
Man arrested in Madrid for selling passports for an imaginary principality: (Reuters)
Sealand is based on a disused military platform in the Thames estuary and was originally set up by Briton Paddy Roy Bates more than 20 years ago, according to its Spanish Internet page. The Web site claims it follows international law and has its own flag and passports.(The Principality of Sealand's web site is located here.)
Geek entrepreneurs and the women who court them: (via RobotWisdom)
Ms. Pagkalinawan said that one dot-com chief executive claims there is a sure-fire way to tell if a woman he meets is only interested in his money. "The women start talking to him about charities," she said. "They want to be the next Melinda Gates."
"The ultimate holy grail is true cybersex," he said. "The holy grail is having cybersex that is not actually masturbation."
Hey kids; does that nerdy kid in your class who wears black and doesn't play sports give you the creeps? He could be a killer. Dob him in before he guns you down -- and you could win valuable prizes. (WIRED)