First of all, no databases are 500+ tables. I'm serious. There aren't databases that big out there in real world applications. If you are getting pasta few dozen, you need to start using table domains and if you get to hundreds of tables, you need to look at what you're doing wrong.
I need but one word to dispute your claim: PeopleSoft.
I feel bad about taking apart my friend's falcon to get the buzzer motor out, but you had to do what you had to do those days. Besides, we saved the good parts before we blew it up with black cat and ladyfinger firecrackers. Ah the 70s...:-)
The beauty of AT&T Worldnet is that you can cancel online, without any interaction with a person.
I only know about cancellation because I signed up for a second account for a few weeks for a project and cancelled when finished.
I would not think of cancelling my primary Worldnet account. I've had the service for five years now, through multiple cable modems and time out of the country. (When I switch to their $11/month plan)
Pretty much everywhere I shop now takes debit cards, which require entry of a pin on a keypad facing the customer. Many require you to swipe your own card. Just substitute your fingerprint for the card. No need to carry cash. No need to carry cards. No worries about losing your ATM/Credit Card...
In Western Europe at restaurants the trend is the use of handheld card scanners. The card companies have found that one of the best ways to prevent credit card fraud is to make sure the cards never leave their owner's sight, and so they subsidize the handheld machines. I remember vacationing in France as far back as 1997 and having waiters bring card scanners to the table to settle bills.
In no case does the merchant ever maintain their own authentication systems for checking magnetic encoded information and PIN. It's always taken care of by the card company. (Mastercard/Maestro, Visa/Visa Electron, Cirrus, Plus, EuroCard, PolCard, American Express, you name it... no store sysadmins involved)
I don't see how fingerprint based biometrics could be any less secure than plain old cards! Combine with requiring an electronic signature as in many stores in the US, and you have an extremely difficult system to crack.
Of course I never want cash to go away... some places like Radio Shack and computer stores I never pay with a card.:-) But for groceries, clothing, restaurants, etc. I'll always pay with credit, no mater what the authentication system.
What more frequently happens is that traffic is monitored until a complaint arises or the boss needs an excuse to get rid of the employee. Having set up such systems for companies, I know. They don't want to know what their employees are doing online unless it is affecting their work or their coworkers.
I believe Thom Yorke said it best in Fitter, Happier:
"an empowered & informed member of society (pragmatism not idealism)"
Erik, man, it's not stupidity. It's pragmatism. It's what you need to have a nice house in the suburbs and a Ford Explorer (Eddie Bauer Edition).
It's very possible to hate Microsoft and still run XP on your desktop, and there really doesn't have to be much in the way of cognitive dissonance.
Look at one of the Palestinian kids on the TV news. The one holding a "kill Americans" poster. What's on his ass? Levi's Jeans. What's on his head? A Yankees cap.
People don't have to lie or be stupid to both hate Microsoft and run XP.
(However I run XP and quite like Microsoft. Then again, I always looked up to Andrew Carnige and the DuPonts, and Vanderbilts.)
Rather, let me decide and then it's my fault if I download a worm
What's nice about XP is that you do have the choice with auto-update. In fact, you have several choices. I'll list them:
1. Download the updates automatically and notify me when they are ready to be installed. 2. Notify me before downloading any updates and notify me again before installing them on my computer. 3. Turn off automatic updating. I want to update my computer manually.
I, being a lazy bastard, choose option 1, then hit the snooze button for a few days before installing... it's the only time I ever have to reboot!
2 programmers you can actually talk to and design with are probably as productive, if not more, than 4 you can't communicate well with.
I really hope you're talking about the fact that phone calls would be expensive, because in my experience, the many Indians I have worked with in the states communicate as well, if not better, than the average Slashdot poster.
This certainly doesn't mean that biometrics based on fingerprints should be ruled out.
Just as you need both a username and a password to log in to any computer system, a combination of a fingerprint and password, or fingerprint and pin should be used for any reasonable authentication.
Combined with decent access controls (this person may only do X at Y time) and a complete audit of actions, fingerprint biometrics can fit nicely into an extremely secure environment.
I'd certainly rather use my finger than my RSA number keychain!
I can see why, if the interface was designed by the same people who designed their website. [bmw.com]
I think the vast majority of their audience will be viewing this site using IE on 2K, XP or OSX. Those users (90+ percent of users on servers I manage) will be presented with an extremely cool website.
I bet many true customers will look at the website once at the dealer. I ordered a Mini at our local BMW dealership a few months ago and they had me do all the configuration online via a slick IBM workstation, running 2K and IE.
I think we now have the technology to make domes worthwhile again. Roofing can now be sprayed on polymer. Inexpensive, long-lasting, and absolutely leak proof. Insulation can also be sprayed on, and can look nice enough that it need not be covered. Traditional drywall is not necessary... Windows, OTHO, I know little about.
I will definitely consider a dome as a vacation home off in the woods. 1000 acres, some solar panels, and a really tall mast for my cellphone antenna.:-)
For the past year I've been using a Matrox G200 MMS Quad card. (yeah, it's PCI and only 8mb * 4, but all I do is code.) At the moment I've got four matched IBM digital flat panels hooked up. (note, this doesn't inspire too many kind words from my coworkers!) I like it, however, #1 doesn't get much use. In Win2k, I have the taskbar in #3, and so my vision is centered, with #2 and #4 peripheral. I'm actually seriously considering removing the #1 panel!
What I'd really like to see from Matrox, and the industry, is some improving on the 1280*1024 @ 85hz limit for DVI spec. AFAIK you can't get digital output from a card to a flat panel monitor at higher than this resolution. (IBM's top end flat panel uses all four channels of a modified G200 to get digital to it's 2560*2048 model.)
If Matrox's new card will support a high res digital panels on an agp interface, I'll be first in line to pick one up.
I've been lusting over Sandisk's FlashDrive for about two years now, ever since I bought a Siemens Linux terminal whos primary disk was a 16MB flash with an IDE interface. I still have that box (it only has a 200 mhz cpu, but it runs linux great) and am waiting for the day that the 1GB flash drive hits $300. I will then have a very useful, completely quiet, and almost free of heat PC.:-)
O'Reilly actually sells electronic editions of their books, so please buy them! You can also subscribe and read many of their books online. Also a good idea.
(I personally like my dead tree O'Reilly books, and will stick with them until I have a really hi-res lcd to read electronic versions with.)
What's pathetic about my use of nonstandard American is that I've actually been paid to teach English, and have over 500 classroom hours of experience!:-)
I don't disagree at all with using an alias. In fact, I have one of my own, though not for Slashdot use.:-) I don't, however, pretend to be (an obscure fictional character from an Ayn Rand book) when I interact with others online!
I was just a little frustrated by the pains the author hadtaken in pretending, and the utter futility of their methods. Before commenting the first time, I reviewed all posts by "Sir Elton John." (I was curious.) I was disappointed because it all seemed so formulaic:
Intelligent, interesting posts with subtle hints and a less obvious alias would be a better way to troll as Elton John. But this person really seems to want to convince the reader (via brute force) that they are, in fact, "Sir Elton John."
uugh. I don't get it. But then again, I rarely understand why people do things.
"
As someone who was to some extent in the "public eye" during the first science fiction boom (a product of the American Cold War with the USSR), I feel the need to point out that tracking books alone does not provide the whole story, as it were."
Please give it up! There are more interesting ways to troll Slashdot than to impersonate an artist.
"
The large chain bookstores already track author popularity very closely and, if your last book didn't do well, your next book may not get the opportunity to do well."
I know from experience that Barnes and Noble will take books from local authors and feature them prominently in their stores, irregardless of popularity or past sales of the author. The managers of such chain bookstores are not entirely dictated to from above, so I don't believe your blanket statement to be true.
"
Inform us then, how much did Oracle donate the the Republican candidate in California? And to every candidate in every other state? $25K each?"
You might consider doing a little quick research on donations from Oracle to both republican and democratic candidates. I certainly won't convince you with anything I say, so find out for yourself.
It's common for corporations to donate to candidates from both parties.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm afraid you're dead wrong. A victim of credit card fraud in the US is liable for $50 USD per card. Here's a reference for you.
Now if it's a debit / check card, you're SOL. Of course that's if you actually keep a sizable amount of money in your checking account.
No T1 in Australia? What do you have, E1?
I feel bad about taking apart my friend's falcon to get the buzzer motor out, but you had to do what you had to do those days. Besides, we saved the good parts before we blew it up with black cat and ladyfinger firecrackers. Ah the 70s... :-)
The beauty of AT&T Worldnet is that you can cancel online, without any interaction with a person.
I only know about cancellation because I signed up for a second account for a few weeks for a project and cancelled when finished.
I would not think of cancelling my primary Worldnet account. I've had the service for five years now, through multiple cable modems and time out of the country. (When I switch to their $11/month plan)
How to pass the PIN?
:-) But for groceries, clothing, restaurants, etc. I'll always pay with credit, no mater what the authentication system.
Pretty much everywhere I shop now takes debit cards, which require entry of a pin on a keypad facing the customer. Many require you to swipe your own card. Just substitute your fingerprint for the card. No need to carry cash. No need to carry cards. No worries about losing your ATM/Credit Card...
In Western Europe at restaurants the trend is the use of handheld card scanners. The card companies have found that one of the best ways to prevent credit card fraud is to make sure the cards never leave their owner's sight, and so they subsidize the handheld machines. I remember vacationing in France as far back as 1997 and having waiters bring card scanners to the table to settle bills.
In no case does the merchant ever maintain their own authentication systems for checking magnetic encoded information and PIN. It's always taken care of by the card company. (Mastercard/Maestro, Visa/Visa Electron, Cirrus, Plus, EuroCard, PolCard, American Express, you name it... no store sysadmins involved)
I don't see how fingerprint based biometrics could be any less secure than plain old cards! Combine with requiring an electronic signature as in many stores in the US, and you have an extremely difficult system to crack.
Of course I never want cash to go away... some places like Radio Shack and computer stores I never pay with a card.
God how I long to play Marathon again. Pity I have only this XP workstation now and am too poor for a Mac at home. :-(
What more frequently happens is that traffic is monitored until a complaint arises or the boss needs an excuse to get rid of the employee. Having set up such systems for companies, I know. They don't want to know what their employees are doing online unless it is affecting their work or their coworkers.
I believe Thom Yorke said it best in Fitter, Happier:
"an empowered & informed member of society (pragmatism not idealism)"
Erik, man, it's not stupidity. It's pragmatism. It's what you need to have a nice house in the suburbs and a Ford Explorer (Eddie Bauer Edition).
It's very possible to hate Microsoft and still run XP on your desktop, and there really doesn't have to be much in the way of cognitive dissonance.
Look at one of the Palestinian kids on the TV news. The one holding a "kill Americans" poster. What's on his ass? Levi's Jeans. What's on his head? A Yankees cap.
People don't have to lie or be stupid to both hate Microsoft and run XP.
(However I run XP and quite like Microsoft. Then again, I always looked up to Andrew Carnige and the DuPonts, and Vanderbilts.)
1. Download the updates automatically and notify me when they are ready to be installed.
2. Notify me before downloading any updates and notify me again before installing them on my computer.
3. Turn off automatic updating. I want to update my computer manually.
I, being a lazy bastard, choose option 1, then hit the snooze button for a few days before installing... it's the only time I ever have to reboot!
This certainly doesn't mean that biometrics based on fingerprints should be ruled out.
Just as you need both a username and a password to log in to any computer system, a combination of a fingerprint and password, or fingerprint and pin should be used for any reasonable authentication.
Combined with decent access controls (this person may only do X at Y time) and a complete audit of actions, fingerprint biometrics can fit nicely into an extremely secure environment.
I'd certainly rather use my finger than my RSA number keychain!
I believe the correct group is:
alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.soundtracks
at least on servers I checked.
1. Pick up your keyboard with two hands.
2. Invert 180 degrees.
3. Shake vigorously.
4. Sweep detritus from desk.
5. Repeat as necessary.
(You should replace it when the keys fall out, or when it's too sticky for anything to fall out.)
I had no problem on IE on OSX. Just tried it. Maybe you've blocked JavaScript?
I bet many true customers will look at the website once at the dealer. I ordered a Mini at our local BMW dealership a few months ago and they had me do all the configuration online via a slick IBM workstation, running 2K and IE.
I think we now have the technology to make domes worthwhile again. Roofing can now be sprayed on polymer. Inexpensive, long-lasting, and absolutely leak proof. Insulation can also be sprayed on, and can look nice enough that it need not be covered. Traditional drywall is not necessary... Windows, OTHO, I know little about.
:-)
I will definitely consider a dome as a vacation home off in the woods. 1000 acres, some solar panels, and a really tall mast for my cellphone antenna.
For the past year I've been using a Matrox G200 MMS Quad card. (yeah, it's PCI and only 8mb * 4, but all I do is code.) At the moment I've got four matched IBM digital flat panels hooked up. (note, this doesn't inspire too many kind words from my coworkers!) I like it, however, #1 doesn't get much use. In Win2k, I have the taskbar in #3, and so my vision is centered, with #2 and #4 peripheral. I'm actually seriously considering removing the #1 panel!
What I'd really like to see from Matrox, and the industry, is some improving on the 1280*1024 @ 85hz limit for DVI spec. AFAIK you can't get digital output from a card to a flat panel monitor at higher than this resolution. (IBM's top end flat panel uses all four channels of a modified G200 to get digital to it's 2560*2048 model.)
If Matrox's new card will support a high res digital panels on an agp interface, I'll be first in line to pick one up.
I've been lusting over Sandisk's FlashDrive for about two years now, ever since I bought a Siemens Linux terminal whos primary disk was a 16MB flash with an IDE interface. I still have that box (it only has a 200 mhz cpu, but it runs linux great) and am waiting for the day that the 1GB flash drive hits $300. I will then have a very useful, completely quiet, and almost free of heat PC. :-)
O'Reilly actually sells electronic editions of their books, so please buy them! You can also subscribe and read many of their books online. Also a good idea.
(I personally like my dead tree O'Reilly books, and will stick with them until I have a really hi-res lcd to read electronic versions with.)
I'll done learn you to criticize my English.
What's pathetic about my use of nonstandard American is that I've actually been paid to teach English, and have over 500 classroom hours of experience!
Thanks for the response. (really!)
:-) I don't, however, pretend to be (an obscure fictional character from an Ayn Rand book) when I interact with others online!
I don't disagree at all with using an alias. In fact, I have one of my own, though not for Slashdot use.
I was just a little frustrated by the pains the author hadtaken in pretending, and the utter futility of their methods. Before commenting the first time, I reviewed all posts by "Sir Elton John." (I was curious.) I was disappointed because it all seemed so formulaic:
Post #1: As a popular musician
Post #4: I find the clouds charming and psychadelic...reminds me of London, 1966
Post #5: Bernie and I actually did write that
Post #6: As a fellow musician
Post #7: As a professional in the popular music industry
Post #8: As someone "in the business,"
Post #9: As someone who was to some extent in the "public eye" during the first science fiction boom
Intelligent, interesting posts with subtle hints and a less obvious alias would be a better way to troll as Elton John. But this person really seems to want to convince the reader (via brute force) that they are, in fact, "Sir Elton John."
uugh. I don't get it. But then again, I rarely understand why people do things.
It's common for corporations to donate to candidates from both parties.