I also might just have a small pet peeve about applications starting their versioning at anything other than 1, seeing as how the number 1 represents "the first".
0. The version number 1 is usually reserved for a huge milestone such as Works as Intended -- All initially proposed features are now supported.
1. Version numbers are arbitrary because of such different "milestone" meanings that major/minor/patch numbers hold.
2. Programmers start counting at 0.
int * buffer = new int[100];
for ( int count = 0; count++ < 100; ) buffer[count] = count;
Note: The first buffer array element is buffer[0], buffer[1] is the second... In the above code the buffer array is filled with 100 integers (0 - 99) at their respective indicies.
>>>Comcast should not be charging another network any money for traffic which is destined for Comcast customers.
So businesses like netflix.com or google.com should just be able to connect to the internet without paying a fee? Hmmm.
Maybe I should start a business (of one) so I too can get free internet access.
Hmm... Not sure if Troll...
Of course Google, Netfix, and other web content producers have to pay for access to the Internet. They pay THEIR ISP, not your ISP so that you can access their content that you already pay to access via your Internet connection.
The double dipping is what we're pissed off about. That's what net-neutrality seeks to prevent. Let's say I make a website. It gets popular. All of a sudden, people are complaining that connections to my website are slow. I'm pissed because I'm allready paying my ISP for a huge pipe that should be more than adequate to serve my visitor traffic...
I investigate, and find that my traffic is mysteriously slower to customers using Comcast than other ISPs. I contact Comcast and after troubleshooting the problem I end up talking to a sales Rep that says I can "pay" to make it go faster by co-locating some of my servers on their properties...
The reality of the situation is that Comcast is running their links at near maximum. They're not "throttling" my traffic per-se, but during peak times the hardware is so saturated that my streaming website video lags all to hell.
My Co-Location servers may alleviate the symptoms MY visitors are having, but any other site like mine (that isn't co-locating with Comcast) will have the same shitty peak time problems. Should my traffic mysteriously get slow again, Comcast can say that I need to pay for additional co-location space. Distributed designs are good, but at some point you need to control your own content... Giving a 3rd party too much control over my website (esp. when I already pay my ISP for a huge pipe) is not a good idea.
Having discovered the root of the cause (Oversaturated links) in my initial troubleshooting session I propose a much better solution that will help not just MY visitors, but all other websites' visitors too. I offer to help fix the issue by giving Comcast a buch of free hardware (so they can actually handle their peak loads instead of dropping packets via QoS rules). The new hardware means that the links won't run as near full capacity.
Comcast outright refuses this offer (as they refused the same offer from Level3)... for if they accepted, they wouldn't be able to force people to charge exorbitant co-location fees because the shitty connection issue will go away!
Can you now see why transparency, and regulations need to be in place? It's Comcast's right to have a shitty service, but the tiered Internet with forced co-located servers gives Comcast (and other residential ISPs) power over what content gets to whom, and gives them incentive to give their customers shitty service! No Network Neutrality is a no-win for everyone (except Comcast).
Even without a non-tiering net neutrality regulation: If Comcast outright refuses to co-locate because they have a competing video on demand product, then Comcast can make the competitors' (Netflix, Google, etc.) services seem a lot worse to Comcast customers. They don't have to "block" Netflix or Google, they can just refuse to let their traffic go fast enough to be usable.
Another huge problem is that there is not much competition on the residential ISP front. If Comcast is the only game in town, and they say "Suck it: Netfix is going to be shitty over our connections", then as a consumer, you have no choice to switch providers -- The much praised "free market" doesn't exist in ISP land anymore...
Net neutrality is needed. This bullshit DOJ statement is just that. It doesn't address the issue I've pointed out above (which is what Level3 is dealing with RE: Comcast, FYI).
god damnit, it's not an "Anonymous" mask it's a Guy Fawkes mask.
Yeah, but the only reason Anonymous uses the mask is because they loved the movie V for Vendetta.
the historical connection is important as it's apt as all hell.
That's arguable. I'd say the connection to the motives in the Vendetta movie are more apt to Anonymous' use of the Guy Fawkes mask... The historical significance was important to the V movie, but I don't think making a direct link to Guy Fawkes (and all that he stood for) is really that "apt".
For instance. I'm positive that Anons care not of Guy Fawkes' support of Catholicism (many a flame-topic has burned under this banner). I'd also say that this historic fact adds irony to the Guy Fawkes masks used in the Vendetta movie (since the protagonist fought against an oppressive Catholic like state/church).
Additionally:
Wintour introduced Fawkes to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters secured the lease to an undercroft beneath the House of Lords, and Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder they stockpiled there. Prompted by the receipt of an ANONYMOUS letter, the authorities searched Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, and found Fawkes guarding the explosives.
Heh, I'd posit that, given that Guy Fawkes was foiled by an Anon, you could argue the use of Guy Fawkes visage by Anonymous is doubly ironic (that, or the historic link is not quite as "apt" as you believe).
To be fair, Fawkes is best known for the Gunpowder Plot wherein he "became involved with a small group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate the Protestant King James and replace him with his daughter, third in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth."
This was made the Guy Fawkes mask in V for Vendetta apt, but the imagery and plot of the V for Vendetta movie (wherein thousands of citizens don the Guy Fawkes mask to become anonymous and rise up against their oppressive government), was much more influential in the choice to use the masks by Anonymous.
Never attribute to insight that which can be adequately explained by pop culture references.
That's worth the thousands of dollars I've saved in the initial purchase as opposed to a single similar spec'ed Apple, or multiple computers... wait, I have saved aggravation, time AND money ? (I win?)
Granted the "well, reinstall the OS" solution is the only way to disinfect some Windows infections, fortunately I don't do dumb things with Windows (Like let it run outside of a VM). Load a snapshot != Reinstall...
So... If the brand doesn't indicate quality, then why do people pay more for the brand?
One way to combat this is to have the QC label on the outside with assembler's initials.
"Let's see here, CHS, eww, no thank you. I only buy products of this brand that are assembled by TML, SRS, or MRB."
Or... Here's a thought: "If you want something done right -- Do it yourself." Can I please get an option to purchase the unassembled "kit" for a discount? You can waive the assembly warranty so long as the individual component MFGR's warranty is preserved.
(I miss the days when Apple's came as kits... Now that was a Apple assembly line you could trust! Also: Get off my lawn.)
Need proof that faster is better? Look at your computer. Now, Look at the computers of the 1960s. See?
All the stuff you do on a computer is the product of a collection of mathematical algorithms and instructions called programs.
One way to make programs faster is to make the algorithms faster... Remember, "faster is better", Grandpa? Grandpa?
(He's asleep, I'll just tiptoe out...)
It also helps with respect to trust. You may not decide to purchase directly based on seeing the product... several other places etc and it builds the idea that this company is everywhere and so must be trustworthy.
I couldn't agree more. I've been using the MS OSs since MSDos 3.1 (switched from DR DOS). I did commercial electrical work (manual labor, wiring new buildings), but my hobby was computer programming. I taught myself BASIC, C, Assembler (MASM), Pascal... It got kind of expensive over the years, but I kept learning... Visual Basic (confound it), C++. Try as I might, it was so hard to get anything of value produced besides dinky one off programs that didn't appeal to anyone but me... Then I learned HTML, JavaScript, Perl. Finally I could put together UIs easily and expose my applications to the world through the web...
I wrote tons of CGI code in Perl and C... I remember seeing something called "Linux" in the HTTP Server headers when connecting to other servers... As time went on, the Linux name became so prevalent, I started looking into it -- I heard good things about it, but I already had my whole dev environment painstakingly configured just the way it worked for me...
While I worked my way up to Journeyman Electrician I kept working on my web "hobby" projects. I was frustrated with the fractured web though -- HTML, Java (also picked up) & JavaScript on the client side, with a different server side language -- ugh. I missed some of the things from working with single language native Pascal, C & C++ projects.
I saw the name Linux rise in popularity; It became a game to me to find out what software a server was actually running when it didn't say "Server: xxxxx (Linux)" -- More often than not it actually was Linux!
Some of my friends told me I should try Linux, but I was firmly entrenched in my own expensive and paid-for "hobby" build environment on MS Windows... Until one day I was creating a website for someone else and they asked me if I could use their existing server. The remote server ran Linux... At first I was wary, I said, "I'll see what I can do, I've heard good things about it but, I'm not familiar with Linux" -- It was all over the place, how hard could Linux be to use?
After becoming frustrated trying to configure my dev / testing environment's Active Perl / MySQL / Apache on Windows to mirror the remote Linux host's setup I threw my hands up and gave up. Linux & free software just wasn't just not compatible with Windows.
One of the modules needed Perl's "fork" to work -- Which it didn't work on Windows. I had always just written all of my own modules to work around such issues... Before throwing in the towel, I decided to try out one last crazy Idea.
I installed Linux on one of the older machines I was going to give away... I was amazed at how easy it was to install and setup the web dev environment. The concept of "Free Software Repositories" rocked my world. Soon I had installed compilers for all my favorite client languages -- I couldn't believe that it was all free! I stumbled upon the Linux sources and was awestruck -- The code for the whole OS? I had to resist the urge to tinker; I had work to do.
After I finished that web project, I found myself keeping the older Linux box and using it as my primary development machine -- How could the 1/2 speed beige box start & run faster than my new Windows box? (Now, I could actually find out -- I could see the code that made the machine work the way it did!)
Like a child that had been abused their entire life, I had used Windows without question -- I didn't know the years of frustration were unnecessary; When I was shown how easy freedom could be the proprietary MS Windows scales fell from my eyes.
All of the free & open source modules made knitting together useful applications a breeze. A year later, I was able to quit my Electrician job and write software full time on Linux. To
Apple's product placement has gotten out of hand in recent years.
Tell me about it -- People don't even care what's on the screen isn't OSX... Apple's crappy Logo is so very overrated, IMHO.
My friend and I were at the park watching his son play baseball. I borrowed his Apple Macbook to check the movie show times. Just then the attractive woman sitting next to me struck up a conversation with me about the movie I was checking out. We flirted a bit, and even talked about how tech is enriching our culture.
She seemed my type, we liked the same movies; So, I was interested -- Until she complimented me on having the slick new OSX update. I mentioned to her that the laptop wasn't mine. (I own a more powerful Toshiba model), "It's funny you should compliment the OS visuals -- both my friend and I run Fedora Gnu/Linux"
it wasn't Apple's OSX she was impressed with, it was Gnome w/ Compiz-Fusion. "Isn't it amazing that this cool software is 100% free?", I asked.
She remarked, "It can't be that good if it's free -- the Mac hardware is probably what makes it impressive."
She gave me her number, which I later threw away -- The free sex couldn't have been any good either, I reasoned, I didn't have "Mac hardware" to do it on.
Congratulations to the Tolkien Estate, on ensuring that I will never again spend money on anything that has the slightest chance of putting a penny in your grubby mits.
Eg: http://www.123people.com/s/tolkien that turns up Tolkiens by the page full — do you think that some of them might have something to say about their name being grabbed by the estate of an author — even if he was a good one ?
It's the "Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien"... not "The Tolkien Estate". Since those folk are not J.R.R. Tolkiens, then the J.R.R. Tolkien trademark does not apply to them.
Also: The buttons did not include the text "J.R.R. Tolkien", so it should not fall foul of the J.R.R. Tolkien trademark either.
Just because many people choose to shorten J.R.R. Tolkien's name to just Tolkien when talking about him, doesn't mean that the trademark actually covers any use of Tolkien or J.R.R. separately. In any event I would simply make new buttons: "While you were reading about Hobits I was watching Evangelion."
To be honest I cant see the issue, it's a simple case of copyright infringement and the rights holder doing what they legally have to do (don't forget if you don't protect your rights under US law you lose it). Suing when Tolkien is used in a historical context is pushing the limits though.
WOAH! That's news! Copyrights on Names?! No, I think you mean Trademark. And, As far as I can tell -- there is no "Tolkien Estate" It's the "Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien". Just because you and I abbreviate the name as Tolkien, doesn't mean that the shortened version is actually trademarked. Sony hasn't got all uses of the name Sony trademarked...
If my last name was Tolkien, and I wrote a book "by VC Tolkien". Would JRR T.'s estate would sue me to prevent me from diluting JRRT's "brand"? That's not how it works.
If I create buttons that say: "Kiss me I have a big Johnson" Johnson & Johnson won't sue me (see: 'Big Johnson" shirts/hats/buttons/etc) -- Penises and Lotions are two different brands... If I make buttons with the words: "Dip Your Johnson in Johnson & Johnson" they MIGHT have a case since I spelled out the full name of their company.
The buttons don't contain the text "JRR Tolkien". They say "Tolkien".
I question: What market is the J.R.R. TOLKIEN BRAND even in? If you're a completely different market, Trademarks don't apply -- There's a "Sony & Sons" motorcycle repair shop in my town -- Sony Computers can't force a name change because it's a totally different market.
Is the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien in the button production business? Nope.
Is it involved with Anime? Nope.
Does the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien write fiction? Nope! Not since J.R.R. Tolkien has been dead for 30 years.
Can I buy a book by "Tolkien"? Nope! The works entrusted to the estate of JRR Tolkien are all specifically authored by: "J. R. R. Tolkien"
How can you "read a Tolkien" anyway? (with one of those stupid Scientology ohm meters?)
What market is the JRR Tolkien estate in? Old Fantasy Fiction? What have they to do with new buttons containing references to old book authors & anime? (hint: The button didn't even read: "While you were reading books by J.R.R. Tolkien I was Watching Neon Genesis Evangelion", IMHO, that means neither brand should be able to use the DMCA to limit these buttons without facing penalties due to wilful abuse of the DMCA.
P.S. Guess I'll be adding JRRT's tired old fiction to my list of boycotts.
Uninstall banshee and install any of the other players if you don't like it. The mp3 purchase thingie is fairly small and non-intrusive in any case.
Or... Uninstall banshee & reinstall banshee (the one the Banshee devs maintain, instead of the Canonical devs).
I don't know if the Banshee-Team PPA for Ubuntu will have the Hijacked affiliate link or not, but you could always just compile & install it from source.
A solution could be to offer the user the choice of to whom the affiliate money goes. I would probably select Banshee, but at least you have a choice. Of course, Canonical would probable set the default to Canocical:)
That might work except that Ubuntu is all about removing 'customisation' options -- For instance: Screen saver options.
I'd take solution #3 or #4:
1. Do nothing
2. Code up an affiliate link switcher and give the users the choice
3. Uninstall Banshee & compile/install a version from the Banshee Dev's repo.
4. Uninstall Ubuntu & Install another distro that doesn't screw the Gnome devs every fucking chance they get.
Do you really expect a Distro that actively gets rid of any "usability" problems like "too many options" to enable a new option (that doesn't already exist) and has the express purpose enabling users to taking money out of their own pocket? (honest question)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) -- (Also, I've installed Linux -- Dual Boot)
6GB DDR3 1066MHz memory (50% more than Macbook?)
564GB: 64GB SSD (Serial ATA) + 500GB (7200rpm, Serial ATA) -- ( 52 more GBs than Macbook, but only part SSD )
1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460M -- (What's the Macbook got? Plus, I can play most games on this out of the box)
Additional features:
Quad-core Processor, 7200 RPM Hard Drive, Solid State Drive, Blu-ray, LED Backlit Keyboard, HDMI port, harman/kardon® speakers, Face Recognition, Numeric 10-key Pad, Webcam and Mic, Bluetooth®
Why wasn't there an article about my laptop? (Is it because it doesn't have that special Light Peak connector? Does my lit keyboard make up for that?:-P )
> The PS1 and 2 were my favorite consoles. 10 years of great gameplaying (1995-2005) so I'm hardly anti-sony.
How many games did you buy?
I'm not sure about anyone else, but I still have my modded PlayStation (original).
I've purchased over 200 games for it over the years (Many games were imports -- which required the mod-chip.)
Because it is modded, I can play burned PS1 games. I keep all of the original discs in pristine condition by only playing the backups. I've never pirated a game for the PS1, even though it would be easy to do (I like having the packaging & book -- Lunar came with a hardback book & cloth map (which I framed)).
I've even dumped the BIOS image from my PS1 and used it to play games on my PC via emulator. It's comforting to know that I'll always be able to play the games I paid for thanks to the mod & emulator community (an over $8000 USD investment). If I was unable to mod my console to play the imports & homebrew I wouldn't have played the console as long or kept buying games.
Sadly, Since Sony's root-kit debacle I've not purchased a single Sony brand item or any PS games. Every day I'm thankful that I decided to boycott Sony when I did; I know that otherwise I'd be in the same boat as the other Sony modders are today.
PS. I rebuild my car's engine last year (1996 Saturn Station Wagon; 42 to 38mpg -- WTF new cars?); I used many after-market parts. Good thing Saturn isn't as evil as Sony, eh?
The first thing I do when a phone operator robot asks me to say "English" for English or "Espanol" for Espanol, I push all the buttons to see if I can get to a number-based menu, or at least hurt the robot's ears. Saying "English" and waiting for it to confirm that I said English is not faster or more convenient than hitting 1. It's not scary, but it's a computer, and I'm not going to pretend it's not.
Especially annoying to blind people! Could you imagine if it were possible to actually get the computer to do complex things with minimal effort by only using your voice!? Imagine if the computer could actually tell you what's going on with it's voice! The horror!
Saying, "Open a command prompt," is in no way more convenient, faster, or easier than slamming the mouse to the lower left, clicking, and typing cmd.exe. Having it say, "OK, here's a command prompt," afterward would just be annoying.
"...researchers had subjects watch a movie featuring authentic scenes of live monkeys having their brains scooped out and of children — I kid you not — having their facial skin peeled away in preparation for surgery."
Link?
Damn children's doctors -- They're all f*ing sadists I tell you!
My point is: These scenes affect certain people, others not so much; It's all subjective. When my GF went through med school she was relatively unaffected, while others were puking and fainting. I believe that cannibals would look on face peeling with far less disgust, perhaps even with respect & honour...
Then you're doing it wrong -- at the point you can no longer grok what's going on, you've used too much of the feature (for your current level of ability to work with it).
Well, then, I suggest any C++ newbie stay away from the STL, (esp. <iostream> and <string>).
Last week: We have no leadership...
This week: Our leadership has declared...
Result? Of course there is a "leadership" in Anonymous
You've been trolled.
There were about 100 threads on 4chan's/b/ alone stating "Don't Feed Teh WBC Trolls".
Pretty much everyone but "newfags" saw those WBC articles and thought: "Pffft. Trolls."
Then, a wise sage, seeking to keep the noobs from getting trolled makes up the "Protip: WBC are successful trolls" advisory.
Common consensus amongst like minded individuals does not a leader make -- This constitutes a multi-headed hivemind (which some heed, and others don't; Hence: WBC DDOS ops that small groups of individuals separately participated in since they were actually being trolled).
TL;DR: Some inexperienced Anonymous noobs got trolled by WBC, but most of the more experienced ones recognised the trolls and advised the noobs they were being trolled. The "Don't feed WBC Trolls" message got loud enough that a few (or one?) Anonymous posted a "formal" sounding message with proof that WBC are pro trolls.
"Some go this way, most go that way" doesn't sound like follow the leader to me.
Slashdot Mirror
I also might just have a small pet peeve about applications starting their versioning at anything other than 1, seeing as how the number 1 represents "the first".
0. The version number 1 is usually reserved for a huge milestone such as Works as Intended -- All initially proposed features are now supported.
1. Version numbers are arbitrary because of such different "milestone" meanings that major/minor/patch numbers hold.
2. Programmers start counting at 0.
int * buffer = new int[100];
for ( int count = 0; count++ < 100; ) buffer[count] = count;
Note: The first buffer array element is buffer[0], buffer[1] is the second... In the above code the buffer array is filled with 100 integers (0 - 99) at their respective indicies.
>>>Comcast should not be charging another network any money for traffic which is destined for Comcast customers.
So businesses like netflix.com or google.com should just be able to connect to the internet without paying a fee? Hmmm.
Maybe I should start a business (of one) so I too can get free internet access.
Hmm... Not sure if Troll...
Of course Google, Netfix, and other web content producers have to pay for access to the Internet. They pay THEIR ISP, not your ISP so that you can access their content that you already pay to access via your Internet connection.
The double dipping is what we're pissed off about. That's what net-neutrality seeks to prevent. Let's say I make a website. It gets popular. All of a sudden, people are complaining that connections to my website are slow. I'm pissed because I'm allready paying my ISP for a huge pipe that should be more than adequate to serve my visitor traffic...
I investigate, and find that my traffic is mysteriously slower to customers using Comcast than other ISPs. I contact Comcast and after troubleshooting the problem I end up talking to a sales Rep that says I can "pay" to make it go faster by co-locating some of my servers on their properties...
The reality of the situation is that Comcast is running their links at near maximum. They're not "throttling" my traffic per-se, but during peak times the hardware is so saturated that my streaming website video lags all to hell.
My Co-Location servers may alleviate the symptoms MY visitors are having, but any other site like mine (that isn't co-locating with Comcast) will have the same shitty peak time problems. Should my traffic mysteriously get slow again, Comcast can say that I need to pay for additional co-location space. Distributed designs are good, but at some point you need to control your own content... Giving a 3rd party too much control over my website (esp. when I already pay my ISP for a huge pipe) is not a good idea.
Having discovered the root of the cause (Oversaturated links) in my initial troubleshooting session I propose a much better solution that will help not just MY visitors, but all other websites' visitors too. I offer to help fix the issue by giving Comcast a buch of free hardware (so they can actually handle their peak loads instead of dropping packets via QoS rules). The new hardware means that the links won't run as near full capacity.
Comcast outright refuses this offer (as they refused the same offer from Level3)... for if they accepted, they wouldn't be able to force people to charge exorbitant co-location fees because the shitty connection issue will go away!
Can you now see why transparency, and regulations need to be in place? It's Comcast's right to have a shitty service, but the tiered Internet with forced co-located servers gives Comcast (and other residential ISPs) power over what content gets to whom, and gives them incentive to give their customers shitty service! No Network Neutrality is a no-win for everyone (except Comcast).
Even without a non-tiering net neutrality regulation: If Comcast outright refuses to co-locate because they have a competing video on demand product, then Comcast can make the competitors' (Netflix, Google, etc.) services seem a lot worse to Comcast customers. They don't have to "block" Netflix or Google, they can just refuse to let their traffic go fast enough to be usable.
Another huge problem is that there is not much competition on the residential ISP front. If Comcast is the only game in town, and they say "Suck it: Netfix is going to be shitty over our connections", then as a consumer, you have no choice to switch providers -- The much praised "free market" doesn't exist in ISP land anymore...
Net neutrality is needed. This bullshit DOJ statement is just that. It doesn't address the issue I've pointed out above (which is what Level3 is dealing with RE: Comcast, FYI).
god damnit, it's not an "Anonymous" mask it's a Guy Fawkes mask.
Yeah, but the only reason Anonymous uses the mask is because they loved the movie V for Vendetta.
the historical connection is important as it's apt as all hell.
That's arguable. I'd say the connection to the motives in the Vendetta movie are more apt to Anonymous' use of the Guy Fawkes mask... The historical significance was important to the V movie, but I don't think making a direct link to Guy Fawkes (and all that he stood for) is really that "apt".
For instance. I'm positive that Anons care not of Guy Fawkes' support of Catholicism (many a flame-topic has burned under this banner). I'd also say that this historic fact adds irony to the Guy Fawkes masks used in the Vendetta movie (since the protagonist fought against an oppressive Catholic like state/church).
Additionally:
Wintour introduced Fawkes to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters secured the lease to an undercroft beneath the House of Lords, and Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder they stockpiled there. Prompted by the receipt of an ANONYMOUS letter, the authorities searched Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, and found Fawkes guarding the explosives.
Heh, I'd posit that, given that Guy Fawkes was foiled by an Anon, you could argue the use of Guy Fawkes visage by Anonymous is doubly ironic (that, or the historic link is not quite as "apt" as you believe).
To be fair, Fawkes is best known for the Gunpowder Plot wherein he "became involved with a small group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate the Protestant King James and replace him with his daughter, third in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth."
This was made the Guy Fawkes mask in V for Vendetta apt, but the imagery and plot of the V for Vendetta movie (wherein thousands of citizens don the Guy Fawkes mask to become anonymous and rise up against their oppressive government), was much more influential in the choice to use the masks by Anonymous.
Never attribute to insight that which can be adequately explained by pop culture references.
Well, I could say the same for my self built notebook & desktop machines that run Linux, Windows & OSX (Hackintosh in a VM).
That's worth the thousands of dollars I've saved in the initial purchase as opposed to a single similar spec'ed Apple, or multiple computers... wait, I have saved aggravation, time AND money ? (I win?)
Granted the "well, reinstall the OS" solution is the only way to disinfect some Windows infections, fortunately I don't do dumb things with Windows (Like let it run outside of a VM). Load a snapshot != Reinstall...
One way to combat this is to have the QC label on the outside with assembler's initials.
"Let's see here, CHS, eww, no thank you. I only buy products of this brand that are assembled by TML, SRS, or MRB."
Or... Here's a thought: "If you want something done right -- Do it yourself." Can I please get an option to purchase the unassembled "kit" for a discount? You can waive the assembly warranty so long as the individual component MFGR's warranty is preserved.
(I miss the days when Apple's came as kits... Now that was a Apple assembly line you could trust! Also: Get off my lawn.)
You ignored the P=0 solution, by assuming it wasn't in your third step..
There may have been a reason for that... Let's see:
N = P/P where P = 0
Substitute Zero for P...
N = 0/0
N =
ERROR: Divide by Zero exception at line 2.
Ah, you see, that form of math is frowned upon in computer science...
P and NP are both sets.
In that case, the problem hinges on whether or not the N subset of NP is empty...
Let's just do a bit of algebra..
State the problem.
P = NP
I'm solving for N, so lets swap the equation around.
NP = P
Let's isolate the N.
N = P/P
Simplify the division.
N = 1
Eureka! I've simplified the "Does P = NP?" problem down to just "Does N = 1?".
Need proof that faster is better? Look at your computer. Now, Look at the computers of the 1960s. See?
All the stuff you do on a computer is the product of a collection of mathematical algorithms and instructions called programs.
One way to make programs faster is to make the algorithms faster... Remember, "faster is better", Grandpa? Grandpa?
(He's asleep, I'll just tiptoe out...)
It also helps with respect to trust. You may not decide to purchase directly based on seeing the product ... several other places etc and it builds the idea that this company is everywhere and so must be trustworthy.
I couldn't agree more. I've been using the MS OSs since MSDos 3.1 (switched from DR DOS). I did commercial electrical work (manual labor, wiring new buildings), but my hobby was computer programming. I taught myself BASIC, C, Assembler (MASM), Pascal... It got kind of expensive over the years, but I kept learning... Visual Basic (confound it), C++. Try as I might, it was so hard to get anything of value produced besides dinky one off programs that didn't appeal to anyone but me... Then I learned HTML, JavaScript, Perl. Finally I could put together UIs easily and expose my applications to the world through the web...
I wrote tons of CGI code in Perl and C... I remember seeing something called "Linux" in the HTTP Server headers when connecting to other servers... As time went on, the Linux name became so prevalent, I started looking into it -- I heard good things about it, but I already had my whole dev environment painstakingly configured just the way it worked for me...
While I worked my way up to Journeyman Electrician I kept working on my web "hobby" projects. I was frustrated with the fractured web though -- HTML, Java (also picked up) & JavaScript on the client side, with a different server side language -- ugh. I missed some of the things from working with single language native Pascal, C & C++ projects.
I saw the name Linux rise in popularity; It became a game to me to find out what software a server was actually running when it didn't say "Server: xxxxx (Linux)" -- More often than not it actually was Linux!
Some of my friends told me I should try Linux, but I was firmly entrenched in my own expensive and paid-for "hobby" build environment on MS Windows... Until one day I was creating a website for someone else and they asked me if I could use their existing server. The remote server ran Linux... At first I was wary, I said, "I'll see what I can do, I've heard good things about it but, I'm not familiar with Linux" -- It was all over the place, how hard could Linux be to use?
After becoming frustrated trying to configure my dev / testing environment's Active Perl / MySQL / Apache on Windows to mirror the remote Linux host's setup I threw my hands up and gave up. Linux & free software just wasn't just not compatible with Windows.
One of the modules needed Perl's "fork" to work -- Which it didn't work on Windows. I had always just written all of my own modules to work around such issues... Before throwing in the towel, I decided to try out one last crazy Idea.
I installed Linux on one of the older machines I was going to give away... I was amazed at how easy it was to install and setup the web dev environment. The concept of "Free Software Repositories" rocked my world. Soon I had installed compilers for all my favorite client languages -- I couldn't believe that it was all free! I stumbled upon the Linux sources and was awestruck -- The code for the whole OS? I had to resist the urge to tinker; I had work to do.
After I finished that web project, I found myself keeping the older Linux box and using it as my primary development machine -- How could the 1/2 speed beige box start & run faster than my new Windows box? (Now, I could actually find out -- I could see the code that made the machine work the way it did!)
Like a child that had been abused their entire life, I had used Windows without question -- I didn't know the years of frustration were unnecessary; When I was shown how easy freedom could be the proprietary MS Windows scales fell from my eyes.
All of the free & open source modules made knitting together useful applications a breeze. A year later, I was able to quit my Electrician job and write software full time on Linux. To
Apple's product placement has gotten out of hand in recent years.
Tell me about it -- People don't even care what's on the screen isn't OSX... Apple's crappy Logo is so very overrated, IMHO.
My friend and I were at the park watching his son play baseball. I borrowed his Apple Macbook to check the movie show times. Just then the attractive woman sitting next to me struck up a conversation with me about the movie I was checking out. We flirted a bit, and even talked about how tech is enriching our culture.
She seemed my type, we liked the same movies; So, I was interested -- Until she complimented me on having the slick new OSX update. I mentioned to her that the laptop wasn't mine. (I own a more powerful Toshiba model), "It's funny you should compliment the OS visuals -- both my friend and I run Fedora Gnu/Linux"
it wasn't Apple's OSX she was impressed with, it was Gnome w/ Compiz-Fusion. "Isn't it amazing that this cool software is 100% free?", I asked.
She remarked, "It can't be that good if it's free -- the Mac hardware is probably what makes it impressive."
She gave me her number, which I later threw away -- The free sex couldn't have been any good either, I reasoned, I didn't have "Mac hardware" to do it on.
Congratulations to the Tolkien Estate, on ensuring that I will never again spend money on anything that has the slightest chance of putting a penny in your grubby mits.
"So Say We All"
Just walk away from the dumb [fantasy], and never look back. You'll be able to say, "I did this really adult thing, once."
>implying that adult and fantasy are mutually exclusive.
Eg: http://www.123people.com/s/tolkien that turns up Tolkiens by the page full — do you think that some of them might have something to say about their name being grabbed by the estate of an author — even if he was a good one ?
It's the "Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien" ... not "The Tolkien Estate". Since those folk are not J.R.R. Tolkiens, then the J.R.R. Tolkien trademark does not apply to them.
Also: The buttons did not include the text "J.R.R. Tolkien", so it should not fall foul of the J.R.R. Tolkien trademark either.
Just because many people choose to shorten J.R.R. Tolkien's name to just Tolkien when talking about him, doesn't mean that the trademark actually covers any use of Tolkien or J.R.R. separately. In any event I would simply make new buttons: "While you were reading about Hobits I was watching Evangelion."
(Note: Hobits, NOT Hobbits :-P )
To be honest I cant see the issue, it's a simple case of copyright infringement and the rights holder doing what they legally have to do (don't forget if you don't protect your rights under US law you lose it). Suing when Tolkien is used in a historical context is pushing the limits though.
WOAH! That's news! Copyrights on Names?! No, I think you mean Trademark. And, As far as I can tell -- there is no "Tolkien Estate" It's the "Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien". Just because you and I abbreviate the name as Tolkien, doesn't mean that the shortened version is actually trademarked. Sony hasn't got all uses of the name Sony trademarked...
If my last name was Tolkien, and I wrote a book "by VC Tolkien". Would JRR T.'s estate would sue me to prevent me from diluting JRRT's "brand"? That's not how it works.
If I create buttons that say: "Kiss me I have a big Johnson" Johnson & Johnson won't sue me (see: 'Big Johnson" shirts/hats/buttons/etc) -- Penises and Lotions are two different brands... If I make buttons with the words: "Dip Your Johnson in Johnson & Johnson" they MIGHT have a case since I spelled out the full name of their company.
The buttons don't contain the text "JRR Tolkien". They say "Tolkien".
I question: What market is the J.R.R. TOLKIEN BRAND even in? If you're a completely different market, Trademarks don't apply -- There's a "Sony & Sons" motorcycle repair shop in my town -- Sony Computers can't force a name change because it's a totally different market.
Is the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien in the button production business? Nope.
Is it involved with Anime? Nope.
Does the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien write fiction? Nope! Not since J.R.R. Tolkien has been dead for 30 years.
Can I buy a book by "Tolkien"? Nope! The works entrusted to the estate of JRR Tolkien are all specifically authored by: "J. R. R. Tolkien"
How can you "read a Tolkien" anyway? (with one of those stupid Scientology ohm meters?)
What market is the JRR Tolkien estate in? Old Fantasy Fiction? What have they to do with new buttons containing references to old book authors & anime? (hint: The button didn't even read: "While you were reading books by J.R.R. Tolkien I was Watching Neon Genesis Evangelion", IMHO, that means neither brand should be able to use the DMCA to limit these buttons without facing penalties due to wilful abuse of the DMCA.
P.S. Guess I'll be adding JRRT's tired old fiction to my list of boycotts.
Those folks at the Tolkien estate should get the Evangelion folks on the phone -- They should be suing the button making mooch too!
Bonus: Writers of that show haven't been dead for 30 years.
Uninstall banshee and install any of the other players if you don't like it. The mp3 purchase thingie is fairly small and non-intrusive in any case.
Or... Uninstall banshee & reinstall banshee (the one the Banshee devs maintain, instead of the Canonical devs).
I don't know if the Banshee-Team PPA for Ubuntu will have the Hijacked affiliate link or not, but you could always just compile & install it from source.
A solution could be to offer the user the choice of to whom the affiliate money goes. I would probably select Banshee, but at least you have a choice. Of course, Canonical would probable set the default to Canocical :)
That might work except that Ubuntu is all about removing 'customisation' options -- For instance: Screen saver options.
I'd take solution #3 or #4:
1. Do nothing
2. Code up an affiliate link switcher and give the users the choice
3. Uninstall Banshee & compile/install a version from the Banshee Dev's repo.
4. Uninstall Ubuntu & Install another distro that doesn't screw the Gnome devs every fucking chance they get.
Do you really expect a Distro that actively gets rid of any "usability" problems like "too many options" to enable a new option (that doesn't already exist) and has the express purpose enabling users to taking money out of their own pocket? (honest question)
Additional features:
Quad-core Processor, 7200 RPM Hard Drive, Solid State Drive, Blu-ray, LED Backlit Keyboard, HDMI port, harman/kardon® speakers, Face Recognition, Numeric 10-key Pad, Webcam and Mic, Bluetooth®
Why wasn't there an article about my laptop? (Is it because it doesn't have that special Light Peak connector? Does my lit keyboard make up for that? :-P )
> The PS1 and 2 were my favorite consoles. 10 years of great gameplaying (1995-2005) so I'm hardly anti-sony.
How many games did you buy?
I'm not sure about anyone else, but I still have my modded PlayStation (original).
I've purchased over 200 games for it over the years (Many games were imports -- which required the mod-chip.)
Because it is modded, I can play burned PS1 games. I keep all of the original discs in pristine condition by only playing the backups. I've never pirated a game for the PS1, even though it would be easy to do (I like having the packaging & book -- Lunar came with a hardback book & cloth map (which I framed)).
I've even dumped the BIOS image from my PS1 and used it to play games on my PC via emulator. It's comforting to know that I'll always be able to play the games I paid for thanks to the mod & emulator community (an over $8000 USD investment). If I was unable to mod my console to play the imports & homebrew I wouldn't have played the console as long or kept buying games.
Sadly, Since Sony's root-kit debacle I've not purchased a single Sony brand item or any PS games. Every day I'm thankful that I decided to boycott Sony when I did; I know that otherwise I'd be in the same boat as the other Sony modders are today.
PS. I rebuild my car's engine last year (1996 Saturn Station Wagon; 42 to 38mpg -- WTF new cars?); I used many after-market parts. Good thing Saturn isn't as evil as Sony, eh?
The first thing I do when a phone operator robot asks me to say "English" for English or "Espanol" for Espanol, I push all the buttons to see if I can get to a number-based menu, or at least hurt the robot's ears. Saying "English" and waiting for it to confirm that I said English is not faster or more convenient than hitting 1. It's not scary, but it's a computer, and I'm not going to pretend it's not.
Especially annoying to blind people! Could you imagine if it were possible to actually get the computer to do complex things with minimal effort by only using your voice!? Imagine if the computer could actually tell you what's going on with it's voice! The horror!
Saying, "Open a command prompt," is in no way more convenient, faster, or easier than slamming the mouse to the lower left, clicking, and typing cmd.exe. Having it say, "OK, here's a command prompt," afterward would just be annoying.
Maybe I'm just not picturing the right use case.
Indeed.
P.S. Vinux - Linux for visually impaired, Blinux - Blind + Linux discussion group & LinuxSpeaks
See also: StarTrek TNG -- Talking to the computer midship instead of having to be at the damn terminal.
I felt obliged to link you to this.
Note esp. the alt. text.
"...researchers had subjects watch a movie featuring authentic scenes of live monkeys having their brains scooped out and of children — I kid you not — having their facial skin peeled away in preparation for surgery." Link?
Damn children's doctors -- They're all f*ing sadists I tell you!
My point is: These scenes affect certain people, others not so much; It's all subjective. When my GF went through med school she was relatively unaffected, while others were puking and fainting. I believe that cannibals would look on face peeling with far less disgust, perhaps even with respect & honour...
Then you're doing it wrong -- at the point you can no longer grok what's going on, you've used too much of the feature (for your current level of ability to work with it).
Well, then, I suggest any C++ newbie stay away from the STL, (esp. <iostream> and <string>).
/cryoscript/src/core-test.cpp: In function ‘int main(int, char**)’:
/cryoscript/src/core-test.cpp:116: error: no match for ‘operator<<’ in ‘std::operator<< [with _Traits = std::char_traits<char>](((std::basic_ostream<char, std::char_traits<char> >&)(& std::cout)), ((const char*)"Mem: ")) << * mm’
/usr/include/c++/4.4/ostream:108: note: candidates are: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& (*)(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>&)) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/include/c++/4.4/ostream:117: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::basic_ios<_CharT, _Traits>& (*)(std::basic_ios<_CharT, _Traits>&)) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/include/c++/4.4/ostream:127: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::ios_base& (*)(std::ios_base&)) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/include/c++/4.4/ostream:165: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/include/c++/4.4/ostream:169: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/include/c++/4.4/ostream:173: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(bool) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/include/c++/4.4/bits/ostream.tcc:91: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(short int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/include/c++/4.4/ostream:180: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(short unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/include/c++/4.4/bits/ostream.tcc:105: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/include/c++/4.4/ostream:191: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/include/c++/4.4/ostream:200: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long long int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/include/c++/4.4/ostream:204: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long long unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/include/c++/4.4/ostream:209: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(double) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/inc
Last week: We have no leadership... ...
This week: Our leadership has declared
Result? Of course there is a "leadership" in Anonymous
You've been trolled.
There were about 100 threads on 4chan's /b/ alone stating "Don't Feed Teh WBC Trolls".
Pretty much everyone but "newfags" saw those WBC articles and thought: "Pffft. Trolls."
Then, a wise sage, seeking to keep the noobs from getting trolled makes up the "Protip: WBC are successful trolls" advisory.
Common consensus amongst like minded individuals does not a leader make -- This constitutes a multi-headed hivemind (which some heed, and others don't; Hence: WBC DDOS ops that small groups of individuals separately participated in since they were actually being trolled).
TL;DR: Some inexperienced Anonymous noobs got trolled by WBC, but most of the more experienced ones recognised the trolls and advised the noobs they were being trolled. The "Don't feed WBC Trolls" message got loud enough that a few (or one?) Anonymous posted a "formal" sounding message with proof that WBC are pro trolls.
"Some go this way, most go that way" doesn't sound like follow the leader to me.