Looks like I tripped over one of those nasty little fascists who somehow manage to get Moderator privileges from time to time. Perhaps somebody should teach them what "fair comment" means, and how it contributes to open, honest discussion. Or, in this case, how "fair comment" includes a very reasonable analysis of how a truly unacceptable and potentially dangerous situation was permitted to arise.
You have a "Perfect Storm" of apathetic voters, an administration that has displayed its contempt for democracy at every turn and aggressively appointed people who place ideology above honour and country to positions affecting all levels of government, a company that has exhibited at every opportunity a predilection for cover-ups, a House and Senate that have abrogated their role in the checks and balances equation, and a judiciary that has similarly abandoned its responsibility to remain independent of politics.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Hell, couldn't have said it half as well. I can understand that it might be almost impossible to detect the damned thing, but I can't believe there's no way to get rid of it once you know you're infected.
And that's one of the things that a user should have a fighting chance to figure out by non-standard means. If you work on a PC for several hours per day, you should be able to notice small changes that your overworked IT guy won't.
...If the photographer/videographer is in a public place when they make the picture, they can tell people like this to kiss their rosy bum. The courts in many countries have spoken unequivocally on this. The case might be different if the entire road is on private property, but that doesn't sound like that's what's happening.
This particular phrase caught my eye: "...or by the acceptance of the ISP terms and conditions."
It's pretty reasonable to suppose that all of the major ISP's will make consent a condition of use, thus making it impossible to "opt out". Of course, this is simply the opinion of some faceless drone in the Home office. The courts might take a different view of the situation.
Lord knows I'm no fan of Vista, but it seems to me that Creative was trying to lay their own incompetence or dishonest marketing plans off on Microsoft. They must have been pretty embarrassed when this guy came along with a set of working drivers to blow their alibi out of the water. I sincerely hope the people who made the decision to harass him are shown the door in a very public way. Proper damage control requires on less.
I'd love to know how much of the drop in sales is due to "escalating on-line piracy", and how much is due to the fact that people no longer have to accept a bunch of crap being shoved down their throats so they can get the one or two songs on a CD that are worth listening to. If I like even three songs, it's a pretty safe bet that I'll be forking out the cash. One or two songs? Not so much.
Wouldn't it be interesting to have every song on a particular CD available on a site like this, then track how much money each had made after a year, or how many times it had been downloaded. There'd certainly be some tunes that caught on slowly and eventually overtook the initial hit tune. "Ball and a Biscuit" off the same White Stripes CD as "Seven Nation Army" would be an example in my particular case. But those are the exception. Finally, we'd finally get a chance to see objective proof of just how much filler there is on your basic $20 CD.
I'm one of those "nouveau-techie little bit of knowledge types". Like many of my ilk, I'm intelligent enough to know my limitations and therefore when I should seek help instead of providing it to somebody who knows even less than me. I've done both.
In my experience, problems often originate with IT professionals. Many (though definitely not all) tend toward arrogance, self-importance and impatience with people who do not immediately grasp why, for example, a computer should waste two minutes of one's life shutting itself down when there's a perfectly good button on the front of the box that does this immediately.
Let me put it this way: many within the IT community cannot understand that there are extremely intelligent and competent people to whom the computer is a means to an end, not an end in itself. We don't play games on it and we don't watch movies on it and we don't get any great joy from tinkering with it. When it doesn't work, we either fix it ourselves or have it fixed.
Another example: I know of an IT guy who wants to spend the next two years (as computers gradually wear out and get replaced) upgrading a fair-sized law firm to Vista. While this might make it easier for him from a security point of view, he apparently doesn't understand that the ensuing wholesale replacement of old but effective (and staff-friendly) printers and scanners is going to piss off every secretary in the place. And when the secretaries on three entire floors of an office building get pissed off, the lawyers who depend on them get pissed off, too.
Prediction: If a certain IT guy doesn't adjust his attitude, his narrow ass is going to be out the door faster than a politician can pick your pocket.
As long as the IT folks remember that those of us who regard computers as tools rather than the major focus of our working lives are not congenital idiots, I'm sure something can be worked out that would keep both groups working smoothly together in the kind of situation described.
I don't doubt for a minute that NXP does a much better job on security these days. But based on past performance, you can bet a lot of the old ones are still floating around, and will be for a long, long time to come.
I disagree with your opinion on public protest. It has been and remains an effective tool to change public policy. Why do you think governments are so anxious to suppress it?
And while you may be right about air travel, I think you have to acknowledge that other alternatives remain, though they may impose a burden on the traveler. I would expect that sooner, rather than later, American professionals who need to fly frequently will be forced to submit to thorough vetting in return for some kind of enhanced internal passport. Or perhaps the American people will finally decide they've had enough and kick the troublemakers out of office.
The bottom line is that freedom isn't free, and if you want to preserve the things that made the United States worth living in, you're occasionally going to get cheap-shotted by terrorists. My personal view is that it might be wise to quietly let the governments of those nasty little terror factories in the Middle East know that any nuclear detonation in the United States would be closely followed by a much larger one over Mecca.
Every time you surrender your rights to the state in return for assurances that a) people who might be breaking some minor law like jaywalking have nothing to worry about and b) the new powers will be used only against the really, really bad people, should sit up and take notice. This is exactly the kind of thing you can expect.
How many people who want to exercise their legal right to protest will sit home next time because their career ambitions include jobs where even being on the same street as a protest could knock them off the hiring list?
It's always best to assume governments and police forces are led by lying, treacherous fascists. You will occasionally be pleasantly surprised to find that it's not the case. More often, you'll find out that power-tripping assholes are attracted to those jobs the same way child molesters are attracted to schoolgrounds and bank robbers are attracted to banks.
I could be wrong, but I think the real take-off of MTV and music videos had something to do with it. All of a sudden, musicians were supposed to be good-looking. That brought in a whole bunch of other "marketing opportunities", too. Britney Spears sold a lot of clothing, dolls and cosmetics to "tweens" as well as CD's. Why take a chance on a new band that played music you can't understand when you can pre-market crap and then teach some no-talent pretty-faced hack to bang away at a musical instrument? Nashville actually went that route years before.
And by mentioning Led Zeppelin, you brought back a REALLY good memory: One of the first albums I owned was Led Zeppelin 1. It was bought for me by my great aunt, who recognized the titles of the old blues tunes and thought she'd expose me to some of the music she loved. When she heard Zeppelin's version.....she still loved 'em. My poor mother just kept yelling at BOTH of us to turn it down!
There is ample evidence that meteorites found in Antarctica have their origin on Mars. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if, in the event that indications of life are found elsewhere in the solar system, it turns out to be similar in many ways to life on Earth.
Finally, after countless hours of work by thousands of fantastically intelligent hardware and software designers, we have reached a seminal point in the development of this incredible machine that we call the computer. At long last, somebody has developed a program that, with training, might actually be as smart as my dick.
And women dare to complain that we men spend too much time "thinking with the wrong head"!
You're just about completely right, in my opinion, but I think that was true in the past, too. We tend to forget all the really, really bad music that's fallen by the wayside. A 60's science fiction writer named Theodore Sturgeon came up with "Sturgeon's Law", which states, "Ninety percent of everything is shit". I can't say I disagree. It just seems that with today's market fragmentation, it's harder to track down the good stuff. Example: I stumbled across a Vancouver band called C.R. Avery and the Boomchasers. Their first CD isn't going to break any records, but it shows one hell of a lot of promise. If a young Lou Reed fell into a time warp and started writing music now, this is what you might expect. If they polish their stuff a little bit, they're going to be deadly.
I've found quite a few other genuinely talented bands, none of which are into the compression thing. I suggest (if you care enough to wade through a lot of crap to find the occasional jewel) that you listen to CBC radio or some of the university radio stations. You might be surprised. And I'm speaking, by the way, as one lover of music from the decades you mentioned to another.
Moving into your parents' basement and erecting a shrine to Natalie Portman would be a good start. That way, you'll fit in well with other interns (which is the job you should look for to start).
With all the well-documented cheating going on, why is anybody even pretending to take this seriously? What democratic government would agree to commit time and resources to decisions made in such a corrupt manner?
This has the fingerprints of Scientologists all over it. Germany has it right: Scientology is a cult. It is dangerous. In a sane society, it deserves to be outlawed.
And just a quick shout-out to Tom Cruise: Blow me.
I'm surprised you people don't know your basic science. This is known as Dave's Law of Perpetual Male Sexual Optimism.
The law has been understood in general terms since the dawn of time, but did not gain wide acceptance in the scientific community until I provided the specific units and measuring system that allowed it to be quantified and reported.
The unit, known in research circles as the Beer Glass, allows for easy measurement and rigorous scientific analysis of the soon-to-be-disappointed male's iron-clad belief that he's going to get lucky at some point within the next three encounters with a particular female. It ranges from, "Hey, man, she likes me" at the low end of the spectrum to, "I am SO gonna get laid tonight" at the eight or nine BG level. The basic assumption is that unless a female actually drops puking to her knees at the sight of the male in question, he will assume that there is some level of interest. The question then becomes, "Would I do her?" That's where the measurement system kicks in and allows the male's level of optimism to be counted, charted and evaluated.
Significantly, no similar system has been developed for females, though some research in the "Girlfriend's Hot Boyfriend" area seems promising.
I hope this helps to put things in the proper perspective.
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What's these bastards' excuse for standing around with their thumb up their bum for eight months while people get their lives turned inside out?
I smell lawsuits. Many, many lawsuits.
Looks like I tripped over one of those nasty little fascists who somehow manage to get Moderator privileges from time to time. Perhaps somebody should teach them what "fair comment" means, and how it contributes to open, honest discussion. Or, in this case, how "fair comment" includes a very reasonable analysis of how a truly unacceptable and potentially dangerous situation was permitted to arise.
"Flamebait" my ass!
You have a "Perfect Storm" of apathetic voters, an administration that has displayed its contempt for democracy at every turn and aggressively appointed people who place ideology above honour and country to positions affecting all levels of government, a company that has exhibited at every opportunity a predilection for cover-ups, a House and Senate that have abrogated their role in the checks and balances equation, and a judiciary that has similarly abandoned its responsibility to remain independent of politics.
What the hell did you expect?
Couldn't have said it better myself. Hell, couldn't have said it half as well. I can understand that it might be almost impossible to detect the damned thing, but I can't believe there's no way to get rid of it once you know you're infected.
And that's one of the things that a user should have a fighting chance to figure out by non-standard means. If you work on a PC for several hours per day, you should be able to notice small changes that your overworked IT guy won't.
There's been something around since the dawn of history that can detect a lie from a significant distance. We call her, "Mom".
How much are they going to pay me?
Thanks for the information.
This particular phrase caught my eye: "...or by the acceptance of the ISP terms and conditions."
It's pretty reasonable to suppose that all of the major ISP's will make consent a condition of use, thus making it impossible to "opt out". Of course, this is simply the opinion of some faceless drone in the Home office. The courts might take a different view of the situation.
It will be interesting to see how this comes out.
These people should be shut down completely or compelled to pay some very serious damages to the people whose privacy was compromised this way.
A strong response now would send a message to other ISP's who may be moved to try this kind of irresponsible, illegal spying.
Lord knows I'm no fan of Vista, but it seems to me that Creative was trying to lay their own incompetence or dishonest marketing plans off on Microsoft. They must have been pretty embarrassed when this guy came along with a set of working drivers to blow their alibi out of the water. I sincerely hope the people who made the decision to harass him are shown the door in a very public way. Proper damage control requires on less.
I'd love to know how much of the drop in sales is due to "escalating on-line piracy", and how much is due to the fact that people no longer have to accept a bunch of crap being shoved down their throats so they can get the one or two songs on a CD that are worth listening to. If I like even three songs, it's a pretty safe bet that I'll be forking out the cash. One or two songs? Not so much.
Wouldn't it be interesting to have every song on a particular CD available on a site like this, then track how much money each had made after a year, or how many times it had been downloaded. There'd certainly be some tunes that caught on slowly and eventually overtook the initial hit tune. "Ball and a Biscuit" off the same White Stripes CD as "Seven Nation Army" would be an example in my particular case. But those are the exception. Finally, we'd finally get a chance to see objective proof of just how much filler there is on your basic $20 CD.
I'm one of those "nouveau-techie little bit of knowledge types". Like many of my ilk, I'm intelligent enough to know my limitations and therefore when I should seek help instead of providing it to somebody who knows even less than me. I've done both.
In my experience, problems often originate with IT professionals. Many (though definitely not all) tend toward arrogance, self-importance and impatience with people who do not immediately grasp why, for example, a computer should waste two minutes of one's life shutting itself down when there's a perfectly good button on the front of the box that does this immediately.
Let me put it this way: many within the IT community cannot understand that there are extremely intelligent and competent people to whom the computer is a means to an end, not an end in itself. We don't play games on it and we don't watch movies on it and we don't get any great joy from tinkering with it. When it doesn't work, we either fix it ourselves or have it fixed.
Another example: I know of an IT guy who wants to spend the next two years (as computers gradually wear out and get replaced) upgrading a fair-sized law firm to Vista. While this might make it easier for him from a security point of view, he apparently doesn't understand that the ensuing wholesale replacement of old but effective (and staff-friendly) printers and scanners is going to piss off every secretary in the place. And when the secretaries on three entire floors of an office building get pissed off, the lawyers who depend on them get pissed off, too.
Prediction: If a certain IT guy doesn't adjust his attitude, his narrow ass is going to be out the door faster than a politician can pick your pocket.
As long as the IT folks remember that those of us who regard computers as tools rather than the major focus of our working lives are not congenital idiots, I'm sure something can be worked out that would keep both groups working smoothly together in the kind of situation described.
I don't doubt for a minute that NXP does a much better job on security these days. But based on past performance, you can bet a lot of the old ones are still floating around, and will be for a long, long time to come.
I disagree with your opinion on public protest. It has been and remains an effective tool to change public policy. Why do you think governments are so anxious to suppress it?
And while you may be right about air travel, I think you have to acknowledge that other alternatives remain, though they may impose a burden on the traveler. I would expect that sooner, rather than later, American professionals who need to fly frequently will be forced to submit to thorough vetting in return for some kind of enhanced internal passport. Or perhaps the American people will finally decide they've had enough and kick the troublemakers out of office.
The bottom line is that freedom isn't free, and if you want to preserve the things that made the United States worth living in, you're occasionally going to get cheap-shotted by terrorists. My personal view is that it might be wise to quietly let the governments of those nasty little terror factories in the Middle East know that any nuclear detonation in the United States would be closely followed by a much larger one over Mecca.
Every time you surrender your rights to the state in return for assurances that a) people who might be breaking some minor law like jaywalking have nothing to worry about and b) the new powers will be used only against the really, really bad people, should sit up and take notice. This is exactly the kind of thing you can expect.
How many people who want to exercise their legal right to protest will sit home next time because their career ambitions include jobs where even being on the same street as a protest could knock them off the hiring list?
It's always best to assume governments and police forces are led by lying, treacherous fascists. You will occasionally be pleasantly surprised to find that it's not the case. More often, you'll find out that power-tripping assholes are attracted to those jobs the same way child molesters are attracted to schoolgrounds and bank robbers are attracted to banks.
"No war of independence in your neck of the woods? No prying oneself from the tyranny of monarchy or the invasion of foreign expansionists?"
Not since the advent of the .50 caliber machine gun. You either, I bet.
I could be wrong, but I think the real take-off of MTV and music videos had something to do with it. All of a sudden, musicians were supposed to be good-looking. That brought in a whole bunch of other "marketing opportunities", too. Britney Spears sold a lot of clothing, dolls and cosmetics to "tweens" as well as CD's. Why take a chance on a new band that played music you can't understand when you can pre-market crap and then teach some no-talent pretty-faced hack to bang away at a musical instrument? Nashville actually went that route years before.
And by mentioning Led Zeppelin, you brought back a REALLY good memory: One of the first albums I owned was Led Zeppelin 1. It was bought for me by my great aunt, who recognized the titles of the old blues tunes and thought she'd expose me to some of the music she loved. When she heard Zeppelin's version.....she still loved 'em. My poor mother just kept yelling at BOTH of us to turn it down!
There is ample evidence that meteorites found in Antarctica have their origin on Mars. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if, in the event that indications of life are found elsewhere in the solar system, it turns out to be similar in many ways to life on Earth.
Finally, after countless hours of work by thousands of fantastically intelligent hardware and software designers, we have reached a seminal point in the development of this incredible machine that we call the computer. At long last, somebody has developed a program that, with training, might actually be as smart as my dick.
And women dare to complain that we men spend too much time "thinking with the wrong head"!
Thanks. It's always fun to sneak a little low comedy in once in a while.
You're just about completely right, in my opinion, but I think that was true in the past, too. We tend to forget all the really, really bad music that's fallen by the wayside. A 60's science fiction writer named Theodore Sturgeon came up with "Sturgeon's Law", which states, "Ninety percent of everything is shit". I can't say I disagree. It just seems that with today's market fragmentation, it's harder to track down the good stuff. Example: I stumbled across a Vancouver band called C.R. Avery and the Boomchasers. Their first CD isn't going to break any records, but it shows one hell of a lot of promise. If a young Lou Reed fell into a time warp and started writing music now, this is what you might expect. If they polish their stuff a little bit, they're going to be deadly.
I've found quite a few other genuinely talented bands, none of which are into the compression thing. I suggest (if you care enough to wade through a lot of crap to find the occasional jewel) that you listen to CBC radio or some of the university radio stations. You might be surprised. And I'm speaking, by the way, as one lover of music from the decades you mentioned to another.
Moving into your parents' basement and erecting a shrine to Natalie Portman would be a good start. That way, you'll fit in well with other interns (which is the job you should look for to start).
With all the well-documented cheating going on, why is anybody even pretending to take this seriously? What democratic government would agree to commit time and resources to decisions made in such a corrupt manner?
This has the fingerprints of Scientologists all over it. Germany has it right: Scientology is a cult. It is dangerous. In a sane society, it deserves to be outlawed.
And just a quick shout-out to Tom Cruise: Blow me.
I'm surprised you people don't know your basic science. This is known as Dave's Law of Perpetual Male Sexual Optimism.
The law has been understood in general terms since the dawn of time, but did not gain wide acceptance in the scientific community until I provided the specific units and measuring system that allowed it to be quantified and reported.
The unit, known in research circles as the Beer Glass, allows for easy measurement and rigorous scientific analysis of the soon-to-be-disappointed male's iron-clad belief that he's going to get lucky at some point within the next three encounters with a particular female. It ranges from, "Hey, man, she likes me" at the low end of the spectrum to, "I am SO gonna get laid tonight" at the eight or nine BG level. The basic assumption is that unless a female actually drops puking to her knees at the sight of the male in question, he will assume that there is some level of interest. The question then becomes, "Would I do her?" That's where the measurement system kicks in and allows the male's level of optimism to be counted, charted and evaluated.
Significantly, no similar system has been developed for females, though some research in the "Girlfriend's Hot Boyfriend" area seems promising.
I hope this helps to put things in the proper perspective.