Modern 'just in time' supply chains have less stock everywhere in the pipeline, so are intolerent of the slightest disruption. How would we do if this kind of thing hit again?
OK, so maybe you're concerned that some bad person could gain access to your teenage daughter's phone and turn this on? (Probably not too hard, actually, based on my experience of kids leaving their stuff all over the place).
Surely Google could have implemented some basic security, like you receive an SMS every day for a week after you've activated it, reminding you & asking to conifirm; or automatically disabling the service if it's not re-confirmed every month, or copying you by mail on every notification that it sends, and to whom, of your location...
I worked on the S/38 - fantastic...really. But there's a reason for nearly all the advanced features of Pacific disappearing through the generations of AS/400 and now IBM i.
Much to learn, you have, young Jedi...and answers all you will not find on Wikipedia.
Long-range wifi with consumer stuff can work. I built one for giggles (USB wifi key on old sat dish) and picked up my home signal from miles away... Wife promptly banned me from surfing web during family picnic:(
People have claimed for than 125 mi LOS with bigger stuff.
All you need is a friend in line of sight with broadband. (OK, a big 'if' in hilly country, but you can always hide a passve repeater in a tree on top of a hill. Again, see instructions on web)
and I'll third it, for this reason - works fine on boxes that people would otherwise throw away. So it's great for situations where you want to give people a 'modern' desktop environment & apps without mega-budgets, for example local associations...
Totally agree with you - although at the end the ZDnet video they said 'they learnt nothing', that's not quite correct. They learnt that nobody in their (presumably not very scientific sample) has any idea of what KDE4 looks like...
Try reloading the page. Also, next time you visit the site, NoScript will remember your choice. Finally, as per my post above, configuring noscript to allow 'top level' domains is a great balance between security and functionality IMHO.
To make NoScript less intrusive, try configuration options. For example, 'temp allow top-level sites by default' is good for seeing most of what you want, without seeing what you don't (ad content from another site). Of course, more risky for users blindly following pr0n links to sites where even the top level is dangerous.
But then again, I'm sure you don't do that, eh?
While we're on the subject, Redirect Remover is worth a look too...
Not another 'anti-Bill' troll - kudos for what he's trying to do for world health, but:
Reminds me of the infamous 'anthrax' incident with Colin Powell. I'm all for livening up presentations, but the risk with this kind of stunt is that it will be the only thing attendees will remember.
Also, scaring/threatening people you are (presumably) hoping will help you is perhaps not the best...
Reminds me of the story of the airline pilot who, late at night and after a long transatlantic trip, smashed into the back of a car at a red lght. When questioned, he swore that his first relex was to pull back on the steering wheel and fly over the obstacle rather than brake...
Getting back on topic, why not? Simulation programs have traditionally been bespoke, hugely expensive and frequently less 'rich' than some games. Also, actually doing a fire drill in a large complex is not without risk and expense.
Well, we're unfortunately pretty good at exterminating megafauna, regardless of climate & habitat. It's the superbugs we're breeding and/or spreading around the planet that worry me.
You're right about the article, tho. interesting:
'Paleontologists have long known of a rough correlation between an age's temperature and the size of its poikilotherms (cold-blooded creatures). Over geological time, as ages get warmer, so does the upper size limit on poikilotherms.
"There are many ways the anatomy of a species is correlated with its environment on broad scales," Polly said. "If we understand these correlations better, we will know more about how climate and climate change affect species, as well as how we can infer things about past climates from the morphology of the species that lived back then."
Assuming the Earth today is not particularly unusual, Head and Dr Jonathan Bloch, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, estimated a snake of Titanoboa's size would have required an average annual temperature of 30 to 34ÂC (86 to 93 F) to survive. By comparison, the average yearly temperature of today's Cartagena, a Colombian coastal city, is about 28ÂC.
"Tropical ecosystems of South America were surprisingly different 60 million years ago," said Bloch. "It was a rainforest, like today, but it was even hotter and the cold-blooded reptiles were all substantially larger. The result was, among other things, the largest snakes the world has ever seen... and hopefully ever will."
"The temperature estimation shows that a tropical rainforest, like Cerrejon, lived at a temperature of 32ÂC, five degrees above the upper limit of temperature for tropical rainforest in modern times," said Carlos Jaramillo, a palaeobotanist ad the Smithsonian Topical Research Institute. "These data challenge the view that tropical vegetation lives near its climatic optimum and it has profound implications in understanding the effect of current global warming on tropical plants."'
Could be useful for companies who are looking for cheap geolocation of, say, their truck, service engineers...
Google maps works well for me with GPS and surprisingly well just using tower triangulation...just wish it had 'turn by turn' voice direction for when I'm driving.
I'm sure others here will discuss the privacy concerns better than I could.
As a very frequent traveller, (including to some fairly scary places), I always keep my passport on me. I've stuck some plastic tinfoil (use an emergency blanket) inside the wallet pocket where I keep the passport. Works a treat. Why do this, well:
1. FTA:
Using the data gleaned it would be relatively simple to make cloned passport cards he said. Real passport cards also support a âkill codeâ(TM) (which can wipe the cardâ(TM)s data) and a âlock codeâ(TM) that prevents the tagâ(TM)s data being changed.
However he believes these are not currently being used and even if they were the radio interrogation is done in plain text so is relatively easy for a hacker to collect and analyse.
Adults should be free to buy whatever weapons they want. Requiring licenses and waiting periods is just tyranny by another name.
Adults should be free to buy whatever drugs they want. Banishing marijuana and LSD is just oppression by another name.
Yup, people as high as a kite, or drunk as a skunk, should be able to buy firearms - preferably automatic weapons - at any time of the day or night. In fact, we should create a place for all these 'freedom-loving' people, oh wait, it already exists! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5066860.stm
See if you can use this as a selling point: "All our software is legit; the competitors use stolen software that may have trojans or be incompatible."
Exactly! In among the good, the bad and the ugly, here at last is a great point that's germane to the arguement, and the man's job title. Even if he is somehow not responsable for licence compliance, (which I'd somehow doubt, since he is 'I.T. manager'), he damn well is for system integrity. Anyway - whichever way this thing eventually goes wrong - he'll end up getting hit by some of the shrapnel.
The angles of security, support and compatibility are all areas where IT can legitimately address the issues of pirating software whilst neatly sidestepping the ethical/legal ones, (pass that buck on to managmeent). If your local guys are installing pirate aps on their boxen, what else is on there? Could it potentially infect your entire network?
As someone else has pointed out, you need to get your IT policy written and approved by your management first. Then I'd do a memo to the local management, pointing out the security risks of using software from 'non-approved' sources. Give him a chance to fix things before you drop the boom on him.
Agree with the local users what they need, buy the software at corporate level, install and monitor for compliance using tools mentioned in other posts. Educate users as to their role in ensuring compliance with company IT policy. Then educate them again...
Way back in the day, when Pournelle was still posting on BIX and writing in Byte, he recommended Norton Windoctor. For a while, (before, like all Norton products, it was ruined by bloat), it automagically fixed Win95/98 and even some XP installations quite well.
Worth trying if you're trying to fix one of those old installations and don't really want to re-install.
That's why I doubt it can get enough contributors to make a difference.
Can't we just force the patent examiners to use Google search instead?
Well, based on their recent dismal performance, I think that that's not likely to happen soon. The USPO just does not seem to have the competence available in sufficient numbers.
They might be better off just posting a summary of all s/w patents to/., where there seem to be plenty of experts with plenty of time *cough*
Slashdot Mirror
And with roads and rivers blocked by snow and ice, it was impossible to transport food to the cities. Paris waited three months for fresh supplies.
OK, modern power transmission and transport infrastructure is much more sophisticated. But still very vulnerable to extreme weather conditions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_storm#Notable_ice_storms
Modern 'just in time' supply chains have less stock everywhere in the pipeline, so are intolerent of the slightest disruption. How would we do if this kind of thing hit again?
OK, so maybe you're concerned that some bad person could gain access to your teenage daughter's phone and turn this on? (Probably not too hard, actually, based on my experience of kids leaving their stuff all over the place).
Surely Google could have implemented some basic security, like you receive an SMS every day for a week after you've activated it, reminding you & asking to conifirm; or automatically disabling the service if it's not re-confirmed every month, or copying you by mail on every notification that it sends, and to whom, of your location...
I worked on the S/38 - fantastic...really.
But there's a reason for nearly all the advanced features of Pacific disappearing through the generations of AS/400 and now IBM i.
Much to learn, you have, young Jedi...and answers all you will not find on Wikipedia.
Long-range wifi with consumer stuff can work. :(
I built one for giggles (USB wifi key on old sat dish) and picked up my home signal from miles away... Wife promptly banned me from surfing web during family picnic
Many sites with 'how tos', for example here:
See here, for ex: http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/15/how-to-build-a-wifi-biquad-dish-antenna/
People have claimed for than 125 mi LOS with bigger stuff.
All you need is a friend in line of sight with broadband. (OK, a big 'if' in hilly country, but you can always hide a passve repeater in a tree on top of a hill. Again, see instructions on web)
and I'll third it, for this reason - works fine on boxes that people would otherwise throw away. So it's great for situations where you want to give people a 'modern' desktop environment & apps without mega-budgets, for example local associations...
Totally agree with you - although at the end the ZDnet video they said 'they learnt nothing', that's not quite correct. They learnt that nobody in their (presumably not very scientific sample) has any idea of what KDE4 looks like...
So, as you imply, should be on 'idle' really...
My pleasure. I must admit I only found it recently, having used noscript for years!
Try reloading the page. Also, next time you visit the site, NoScript will remember your choice. Finally, as per my post above, configuring noscript to allow 'top level' domains is a great balance between security and functionality IMHO.
To make NoScript less intrusive, try configuration options. For example, 'temp allow top-level sites by default' is good for seeing most of what you want, without seeing what you don't (ad content from another site). Of course, more risky for users blindly following pr0n links to sites where even the top level is dangerous.
But then again, I'm sure you don't do that, eh?
While we're on the subject, Redirect Remover is worth a look too...
Not another 'anti-Bill' troll - kudos for what he's trying to do for world health, but:
Reminds me of the infamous 'anthrax' incident with Colin Powell. I'm all for livening up presentations, but the risk with this kind of stunt is that it will be the only thing attendees will remember.
Also, scaring/threatening people you are (presumably) hoping will help you is perhaps not the best...
Reminds me of the story of the airline pilot who, late at night and after a long transatlantic trip, smashed into the back of a car at a red lght. When questioned, he swore that his first relex was to pull back on the steering wheel and fly over the obstacle rather than brake...
Getting back on topic, why not? Simulation programs have traditionally been bespoke, hugely expensive and frequently less 'rich' than some games. Also, actually doing a fire drill in a large complex is not without risk and expense.
Yup, but they were ISO9000, Six Sigma and CMMi, so it must have been your fault!
Nice sentiment, but let's see how we feel about it in 50 years when the moon is covered with gigantic advertisements for Pepsi and Budweiser.
Well, if they hire me as the tech to go up and reboot the servers & change the lights then I won't be complaining
Well, we're unfortunately pretty good at exterminating megafauna, regardless of climate & habitat. It's the superbugs we're breeding and/or spreading around the planet that worry me.
You're right about the article, tho. interesting:
'Paleontologists have long known of a rough correlation between an age's temperature and the size of its poikilotherms (cold-blooded creatures). Over geological time, as ages get warmer, so does the upper size limit on poikilotherms.
"There are many ways the anatomy of a species is correlated with its environment on broad scales," Polly said. "If we understand these correlations better, we will know more about how climate and climate change affect species, as well as how we can infer things about past climates from the morphology of the species that lived back then."
Assuming the Earth today is not particularly unusual, Head and Dr Jonathan Bloch, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, estimated a snake of Titanoboa's size would have required an average annual temperature of 30 to 34ÂC (86 to 93 F) to survive. By comparison, the average yearly temperature of today's Cartagena, a Colombian coastal city, is about 28ÂC.
"Tropical ecosystems of South America were surprisingly different 60 million years ago," said Bloch. "It was a rainforest, like today, but it was even hotter and the cold-blooded reptiles were all substantially larger. The result was, among other things, the largest snakes the world has ever seen... and hopefully ever will."
"The temperature estimation shows that a tropical rainforest, like Cerrejon, lived at a temperature of 32ÂC, five degrees above the upper limit of temperature for tropical rainforest in modern times," said Carlos Jaramillo, a palaeobotanist ad the Smithsonian Topical Research Institute. "These data challenge the view that tropical vegetation lives near its climatic optimum and it has profound implications in understanding the effect of current global warming on tropical plants."'
You may be joking, but you should probably patent that idea fast!
Here:
http://www.google.com/mobile/default/latitude.html
Could be useful for companies who are looking for cheap geolocation of, say, their truck, service engineers...
Google maps works well for me with GPS and surprisingly well just using tower triangulation...just wish it had 'turn by turn' voice direction for when I'm driving.
I'm sure others here will discuss the privacy concerns better than I could.
To test they can't read it? Simple, asked the guy at the airport to try and read my passport while it was still in the wallet.
Because that's not how you're suppose to browse if you're modding - see the FAQ.
As a very frequent traveller, (including to some fairly scary places), I always keep my passport on me. I've stuck some plastic tinfoil (use an emergency blanket) inside the wallet pocket where I keep the passport. Works a treat. Why do this, well:
1. FTA:
Using the data gleaned it would be relatively simple to make cloned passport cards he said. Real passport cards also support a âkill codeâ(TM) (which can wipe the cardâ(TM)s data) and a âlock codeâ(TM) that prevents the tagâ(TM)s data being changed.
However he believes these are not currently being used and even if they were the radio interrogation is done in plain text so is relatively easy for a hacker to collect and analyse.
2. What information can they get? Well, depending on the passport type, at least your picture, and sometimes your fingerprints too.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_passport
And all this while you are having a drink at a roadside café with your passport 'safely' in your pocket...
Adults should be free to buy whatever weapons they want. Requiring licenses and waiting periods is just tyranny by another name.
Adults should be free to buy whatever drugs they want. Banishing marijuana and LSD is just oppression by another name.
Yup, people as high as a kite, or drunk as a skunk, should be able to buy firearms - preferably automatic weapons - at any time of the day or night. In fact, we should create a place for all these 'freedom-loving' people, oh wait, it already exists!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5066860.stm
See if you can use this as a selling point: "All our software is legit; the competitors use stolen software that may have trojans or be incompatible."
Exactly! In among the good, the bad and the ugly, here at last is a great point that's germane to the arguement, and the man's job title. Even if he is somehow not responsable for licence compliance, (which I'd somehow doubt, since he is 'I.T. manager'), he damn well is for system integrity. Anyway - whichever way this thing eventually goes wrong - he'll end up getting hit by some of the shrapnel.
The angles of security, support and compatibility are all areas where IT can legitimately address the issues of pirating software whilst neatly sidestepping the ethical/legal ones, (pass that buck on to managmeent). If your local guys are installing pirate aps on their boxen, what else is on there? Could it potentially infect your entire network?
As someone else has pointed out, you need to get your IT policy written and approved by your management first. Then I'd do a memo to the local management, pointing out the security risks of using software from 'non-approved' sources. Give him a chance to fix things before you drop the boom on him.
Agree with the local users what they need, buy the software at corporate level, install and monitor for compliance using tools mentioned in other posts. Educate users as to their role in ensuring compliance with company IT policy. Then educate them again...
For those non-Brit and/or youngsters out there:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Saville
Way back in the day, when Pournelle was still posting on BIX and writing in Byte, he recommended Norton Windoctor. For a while, (before, like all Norton products, it was ruined by bloat), it automagically fixed Win95/98 and even some XP installations quite well.
Worth trying if you're trying to fix one of those old installations and don't really want to re-install.
That's why I doubt it can get enough contributors to make a difference.
Can't we just force the patent examiners to use Google search instead?
Well, based on their recent dismal performance, I think that that's not likely to happen soon. The USPO just does not seem to have the competence available in sufficient numbers.
They might be better off just posting a summary of all s/w patents to /., where there seem to be plenty of experts with plenty of time *cough*
Thanks for that.