My bank sends me a one-time PIN by SMS to my cell phone when I log in. Any thief would have to be in possession of my cellphone as well as my password. Not 100% secure, but at least it's another layer.
Of course it is. This is yet another manifestation of counterphenomenological resistentialism which holds that les choses sont contre nous, or things are against us. Resistentialism is the belief that inanimate objects have a natural antipathy towards humans, and therefore it is not people who control things but, to an increasing extent, things that control people.
Precisely. I started off working in the horse-racing racing industry, then a lottery and scratch card operator, then cellphone networks and retailers, now I'm with a major drug dealer. The drug dealer gave me a hairy eyeball over the cellphone networks, not the gambling outfits.
They are going to be available in South Africa, but how's this--they ship with a US 110v power supply, so to use it you'll have to buy a separate adaptor. Is it the same in the UK or other 220v countries?
Even today most ship weather observations are little better than estimates, especially when it comes to wind speeds. The officer of the watch looks at the sea state and makes an estimate based on the Beaufort Scale. Sea temperatures are measured from an engine room intake that is often in a "hot" area such as a seperator room, so aren't spectacularly accurate, either. Cloud taxonomy and coverage are subjectively estimated by looking at the sky, and so on. Atmospheric pressure is usually fairly accurate because there is a requirement to have barometers checked for annual surveys. I refer to merchant ships of which I have experience, not naval. I should imagine that three hundred years ago weather observations, whilst not useless, should be regarded with some sceptisism and certainly not considered accurate.
Just to set the record straight: Alfred Nobel did not endow an economics prize; that was done by a Swedish bank and the prize is properly called the "Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel".
Whether or not Alfred Nobel is spinning in his grave to have his name associated with achievements in pseudoscience is unknown.
Re:Why all that antismoking bullshit?
on
A Geek Funeral
·
· Score: 1
In the UK, apparently smokers cost the NHS (the UK healthcare system) an extra 5 billion pounds a year. However, the tobacco taxes come up to about 10 billion pounds a year.
Same pattern most places, I should think. The reason smoking and alcohol are not illegal like other drugs is that it benefits the state for you to ruin your health. Best outcome for the exchequer is you pegging out at your retirement party from a smoking induced coronary or a booze liver explosion. They don't want you hanging in there 'til you're 105 drooling away in an expensive clinic wasting taxpayer cash. This realization made me become an ex-smoker..
Inefficiency? Come, now. The last ship I served in was a 3,000 TEU container ship which regularly made the voyage from Cape Town to Southhampton, a distance of 6,000NM carrying 50,000 tons of cargo on 1,500 tons of heavy fuel oil. Engines, for those interested, were 2X Sulzer 8rnd90 turbo-charged slow speed diesels driving 2 propellors. Work this out: to move 1 ton of cargo 6,000 nautical miles (over 11,000 km) burned a whopping 30 litres of fuel. Ships are the most efficient form of transport we have yet devised.
It got attention. Isn't that the point of marketing?
Yes. MS are a marketing company--the crap software they sell is incidental to the marketing effort. It's the same monkey they've been peddling for the last 2 decades, just with a different shade of lipstick. If Nobel prizes were dished out for marketing, Gates would have a cupboard full of them.
people who have been given the proper training in lgeal issues (ie. judges and prosecutors) should be able to determine that.
I mostly agree with you. My grandfather was a criminal lawyer in the days when the accused had a choice between jury or judge and assessors. He always said that if you are guilty choose the jury, but if you are innocent choose the judge who is more likely to reach the correct verdict.
the only semi-compelling argument against abolishing juries is the possibility of corruption amongst the judiciary, which could result in, say, a not guilty verdict in favour of a mafia don and a new yacht for the judge.
You are correct in that Chaucer in the original middle English is not easily accessible to speakers of modern English, but don't forget that there are good 'translations' available. I'm sure that in a millenium or two Shakespeare will be translated into whatever it is they speak then. (2 b owt 2 b, ??)?
What amazes me about this and other internet forums is that people forget that the internet is global in its reach and a good proportion of people taking part in these discussions do not have English as their mother-tongue--I am one of them. I feel it is arrogance to hold people who are doing their level best to make themselves understood as best they can in what is for them a foreign language to the same high standards as you would an educated native speaker.
On the other hand I agree that there is no excuse for laziness and lack of care in spelling and syntax; you should at least try to get it right as a courtesy to your readers.
Probably not, but let that not detract from the general hysteria that surrounds the existence of bacteria specifically and "germs" generally. Think of those ridiculous ads on the telly where Mom goes *gasp* shock-horror because there may be a germ on her kitchen floor. She cleans the floor with the latest anti-bacterial-floor-cleaning-crap and then we get to see her radiantly healthy, smiling offspring. I don't have a link to it, but there was research that shows that the incidence of allergies and asthma has increased markedly since our obsession with hygiene began. The hypothesis is that the immune system needs to be exposed to a variety of pathogens in early life to develop properly.
Why do humans want to live in a sterile environment, anyway? I am fortunate enough to live on the edge of a wilderness surrounded by wildlife. I tolerate the bacteria in my showerhead in the same way as I tolerate the baboons on my roof or the chamelions in my trees. Provided they don't cause unpleasant smells, or otherwise imact negatively my quality of life, then live and let live.
who modded this flamebait? Parent makes a valid, insightful point. A rule like this does give ISPs carte blanche to disconnect customers whenever they like, using this as the excuse.
How significant is it for people to apologise for acts for which they bear no guilt? On the face of it, it is a meaningless political gesture and I see it as a gross act of cynicism. A decade ago we saw the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa where people who were guilty of horrific acts in the name of apartheid apologised and attempted to atone for what they had done (I know that in some cases, but not all, the motive may have been to avoid prosecution), but at least the people doing the apologising were the guilty parties. Now we have the absurd spectacle of George Bush apologising for slavery, for example. He had nothing to do with slavery and does not have a mandate to apologise for his ancestors. Should I demand that the Italian government apologise to me because, when he invaded Britain, Julius Caesar did bad things to my ancestors?
I understand why searches are made for contraband goods, but why the data on a laptop? It certainly isn't dutiable, so what is the reason given for searching it? Are you legally bound to provide passwords to encrypted data? You don't have to reveal data that you carry in your head, so why should you reveal data on a laptop? I am not an American, so I don't know what the constitutional or legal position is, but it seems to be a gross violation of privacy and a policy I would certainly strenuously object to if it were introduced in my own country.
Why? Simple answer KISS! If you look at the Russian space program you would think that nothing has changed since their stuff seems so old.
I'm not sure whether or not the following anecdote is true, but if it is it confirms your theory.
It is alleged that the US space program back in the early days of the shuttle spent several million dollars developing a ballpoint pen that would work reliably in microgravity. The Soviets used a pencil.
Slashdot Mirror
My bank sends me a one-time PIN by SMS to my cell phone when I log in. Any thief would have to be in possession of my cellphone as well as my password. Not 100% secure, but at least it's another layer.
Of course it is. This is yet another manifestation of counterphenomenological resistentialism which holds that les choses sont contre nous, or things are against us. Resistentialism is the belief that inanimate objects have a natural antipathy towards humans, and therefore it is not people who control things but, to an increasing extent, things that control people.
Precisely. I started off working in the horse-racing racing industry, then a lottery and scratch card operator, then cellphone networks and retailers, now I'm with a major drug dealer. The drug dealer gave me a hairy eyeball over the cellphone networks, not the gambling outfits.
They are going to be available in South Africa, but how's this--they ship with a US 110v power supply, so to use it you'll have to buy a separate adaptor. Is it the same in the UK or other 220v countries?
Windows is more patch than trousers.
That's still tiny compared to the one that allegedly wiped out the dinosaurs, which was about the size of Table Mountain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_Mountain/
Even today most ship weather observations are little better than estimates, especially when it comes to wind speeds. The officer of the watch looks at the sea state and makes an estimate based on the Beaufort Scale. Sea temperatures are measured from an engine room intake that is often in a "hot" area such as a seperator room, so aren't spectacularly accurate, either. Cloud taxonomy and coverage are subjectively estimated by looking at the sky, and so on. Atmospheric pressure is usually fairly accurate because there is a requirement to have barometers checked for annual surveys. I refer to merchant ships of which I have experience, not naval. I should imagine that three hundred years ago weather observations, whilst not useless, should be regarded with some sceptisism and certainly not considered accurate.
Noone is the one who left his laptop with the secrets in a taxicab.
Just to set the record straight: Alfred Nobel did not endow an economics prize; that was done by a Swedish bank and the prize is properly called the "Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel". Whether or not Alfred Nobel is spinning in his grave to have his name associated with achievements in pseudoscience is unknown.
Same pattern most places, I should think. The reason smoking and alcohol are not illegal like other drugs is that it benefits the state for you to ruin your health. Best outcome for the exchequer is you pegging out at your retirement party from a smoking induced coronary or a booze liver explosion. They don't want you hanging in there 'til you're 105 drooling away in an expensive clinic wasting taxpayer cash. This realization made me become an ex-smoker..
I thought that was down to Dracula?
And I would test pure-blooded European, even though I'm 4th generation African.
Inefficiency? Come, now. The last ship I served in was a 3,000 TEU container ship which regularly made the voyage from Cape Town to Southhampton, a distance of 6,000NM carrying 50,000 tons of cargo on 1,500 tons of heavy fuel oil. Engines, for those interested, were 2X Sulzer 8rnd90 turbo-charged slow speed diesels driving 2 propellors. Work this out: to move 1 ton of cargo 6,000 nautical miles (over 11,000 km) burned a whopping 30 litres of fuel. Ships are the most efficient form of transport we have yet devised.
Yes. MS are a marketing company--the crap software they sell is incidental to the marketing effort. It's the same monkey they've been peddling for the last 2 decades, just with a different shade of lipstick. If Nobel prizes were dished out for marketing, Gates would have a cupboard full of them.
I mostly agree with you. My grandfather was a criminal lawyer in the days when the accused had a choice between jury or judge and assessors. He always said that if you are guilty choose the jury, but if you are innocent choose the judge who is more likely to reach the correct verdict. the only semi-compelling argument against abolishing juries is the possibility of corruption amongst the judiciary, which could result in, say, a not guilty verdict in favour of a mafia don and a new yacht for the judge.
You are correct in that Chaucer in the original middle English is not easily accessible to speakers of modern English, but don't forget that there are good 'translations' available. I'm sure that in a millenium or two Shakespeare will be translated into whatever it is they speak then. (2 b owt 2 b, ??)?
What amazes me about this and other internet forums is that people forget that the internet is global in its reach and a good proportion of people taking part in these discussions do not have English as their mother-tongue--I am one of them. I feel it is arrogance to hold people who are doing their level best to make themselves understood as best they can in what is for them a foreign language to the same high standards as you would an educated native speaker.
On the other hand I agree that there is no excuse for laziness and lack of care in spelling and syntax; you should at least try to get it right as a courtesy to your readers.
Probably not, but let that not detract from the general hysteria that surrounds the existence of bacteria specifically and "germs" generally. Think of those ridiculous ads on the telly where Mom goes *gasp* shock-horror because there may be a germ on her kitchen floor. She cleans the floor with the latest anti-bacterial-floor-cleaning-crap and then we get to see her radiantly healthy, smiling offspring. I don't have a link to it, but there was research that shows that the incidence of allergies and asthma has increased markedly since our obsession with hygiene began. The hypothesis is that the immune system needs to be exposed to a variety of pathogens in early life to develop properly. Why do humans want to live in a sterile environment, anyway? I am fortunate enough to live on the edge of a wilderness surrounded by wildlife. I tolerate the bacteria in my showerhead in the same way as I tolerate the baboons on my roof or the chamelions in my trees. Provided they don't cause unpleasant smells, or otherwise imact negatively my quality of life, then live and let live.
who modded this flamebait? Parent makes a valid, insightful point. A rule like this does give ISPs carte blanche to disconnect customers whenever they like, using this as the excuse.
If anyone asks, I definitely did not shoot this delicious, plump-breasted pigeon.
How significant is it for people to apologise for acts for which they bear no guilt? On the face of it, it is a meaningless political gesture and I see it as a gross act of cynicism. A decade ago we saw the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa where people who were guilty of horrific acts in the name of apartheid apologised and attempted to atone for what they had done (I know that in some cases, but not all, the motive may have been to avoid prosecution), but at least the people doing the apologising were the guilty parties. Now we have the absurd spectacle of George Bush apologising for slavery, for example. He had nothing to do with slavery and does not have a mandate to apologise for his ancestors. Should I demand that the Italian government apologise to me because, when he invaded Britain, Julius Caesar did bad things to my ancestors?
I have a request: please don't use the word "massive"http://markwiddicombe.wordpress.com/2009/08/21/words/ to mean "big".
I understand why searches are made for contraband goods, but why the data on a laptop? It certainly isn't dutiable, so what is the reason given for searching it? Are you legally bound to provide passwords to encrypted data? You don't have to reveal data that you carry in your head, so why should you reveal data on a laptop? I am not an American, so I don't know what the constitutional or legal position is, but it seems to be a gross violation of privacy and a policy I would certainly strenuously object to if it were introduced in my own country.
Please use your shift key to produce conventional capitalization. Your posts are really annoying to read.
No, that's why you write the code first, then the spec once you've seen what the code actually does.
I'm not sure whether or not the following anecdote is true, but if it is it confirms your theory. It is alleged that the US space program back in the early days of the shuttle spent several million dollars developing a ballpoint pen that would work reliably in microgravity. The Soviets used a pencil.