Journal Doktor Memory's Journal: Stuff that matters. Sure. Right. 13
I know, I know. "Grousing about rejected article submissions is off-topic." Bear with me for a second.
2003-03-25 19:58:35 War's latest casualty: aljazeera.net (articles,security) (rejected)
What was it that got rejected here? Only this:
AlJazeera.net, the online arm of the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite news service, is apparently the victim of a massive distributed denial of service attack, which has closed the website down. Postings to the North American Network Operators Group mailing list confirm that not only is aljazeera.net off the air, but that their ISP has been forced to null-route even their nameservers in order to cope with the attack.
Ironically, aljazeera.net had just this week launched their English-language section (which had originally been schedule to go live in April). Whether by accident or design, just about the only direct source of live information on the web from the "other side" of this war has now gone silent.
News for nerds? Stuff that matters? Yeah right. A quick sample of what's currently gracing slashdot's front page:
- Spirited Away Set for 800 Theatre Rerelease
- Mandrake Linux 9.1 (Bamboo) Is Available!
- First Mandrake 9.1 Review Out
- Mac OS X: The Missing Manual (Second Edition)
- Apple: Adobe Says PCs Are Preferred
- Robots!
So let's review: unpaid ads for David Pogue and Sony, hollywood gossip about animated films, and yet another flamebait article about Apple are "stuff that matters." Another point release of an undistinguished linux distro from a bankrupt company matters so much it gets two stories in the same day.
But a story about the most popular and important Arab news source being DDOSed off the web by a bunch of script kiddies in the middle of a goddamn war is...apparently not that interesting.
This is, of course, the same crowd of people who are shocked, shocked when their point of view on political matters loses just about every major battle in the courts and legislature. Here's a free clue, slashkiddies: don't expect politics to pay attention to you if you can't do it the same favor.
To add insult to injury (Score:3, Informative)
Re:You're surprised? (Score:1)
I have never understood why anime was a "prerequisite" to be a geek. Personally, I have 20 years of geekdom and I've never really gotten into the anime stuff (now, hentai, that's a bit more interesting, but I digress)...
Oh well - this can do nothing but start a big "j00 suxx0rz a$$w1p3" flame war from the Jr. High kids, so I'll leave it at that.
Re:You're surprised? (Score:2)
OKay, I agree with your other points, but this is not only largely wrong, it indicates misunderstanding.
The geek factor with anime comes from the fact it generally has a more intellectual bent that targets alternative thinking. Anime often challenges the social nor
Re:You're surprised? (Score:1)
I dunno. Inscrutability is often mistaken for depth.
When you look deep down inside the story of Ghost in the Shell, you get "Where does 'programming' end and become 'life'"--a common enough theme, when you think about it, but told here in such a convoluted, stilted manner that (I guess) makes sense to people with a Japanese cultural background, but just seemed awkward to me. I own the dubbed version (I dunno if it came sub-titled), so that may explain the stilted part.
Anime isn't brainier. It's just dif
Other ignored stories (Score:1)
Is there some pragmatic editorial policy at work here? They be trying to avoid the massive server load and controversy that is cementing divides within the
fun for the whole family! (Score:2)
To my dear readers: the above link, while educational and entertaining, is not actually an anti-war resource page. For up-to-the-minute war news, you want to go here [gelatinous.com].
Dude. (Score:1)
I hear you! (Score:1)