The cognitive dissonance from this is that the politicians that seem to have the strongest tea party support tend to be the most scientifically backward bunch out there. From Michelle "pray the gay away" Bachman, to a whole host of global warming deniers. Have they decided to sacrifice their science principals to achieve the goal of lower taxes and smaller government, no matter what wacko they have to sign on with in order to get that?
Just make the point before signing up that you want an ATM-only card for an account
I bank with Wells Fargo. I've had my account long enough (10 years) that debit cards didn't exist when I signed up. One day when I got my replacement ATM card, it had a M/C symbol on it. I called to complain, and after arguing with the customer service rep for about 20 minutes, I was given the definite impression that getting an ATM card without debit card link wasn't possible. I was tempted to close my account and move on, but I didn't want the hassle of changing all my automatic deposits and payments.
My parents bank at US Bank, and they also called to complain and request an ATM only card, and were also told that they had to take it or close their account. This was about 8 years ago, and they didn't close theirs either for similar reasons. About the only places that I've heard of that offer ATM only cards any more are small credit unions.
Reg E limits the liabilty that you have when using your debit card
Ahh.. but the fundamental difference between a debit and a credit card is that on a debit while the fraudulent charge is being contested, the money isn't in your account. He said the bank told him it will be up to 10 weeks before he gets his money back. I've heard of horror stories where it takes over 6 months and (cumelatively) 20 or 30 hours on hold before the money is put back in your account. I remember protesting strongly that I didn't want that Visa/MC symbol on my ATM card for that very reason, but pretty much no bank offers an ATM card without it any more. (It's too big a profit center.)
I found this site that collects offers that are Free after rebate. It does a good job of finding the offers, and finding the best places to buy with cheap shipping.
I thought it was a little early for April Fool's jokes, but an Atari 2600 joystick to USB adapter sounded just about as plausible as a new PCI based Z80 coprocessor card,
Truth is stranger than TCP over Avian Transport.
-- Mitch
If you can wait for about 2 months, then a new one coming out in a month may be a better option: The Garmin 60CS has the same features as the 76S, but also has:
Color screen
USB interface (map uploads are VERY slow over a serial interface)
56Meg of map memory (vs 24 for the 76S)
Longer battery life
Auto-routing with appropriate maps
It looks like a sweet little unit. If I hadn't bought a GPS V 6 months ago, I'd seriously consider getting one myself.
...at least for small aircraft. My dad is a private pilot, and my parents often take vacations in their small airplane.
One day I made a call to my Mom's cell phone. All I heard was the (loud) sound of the plane's engine, my mom saying "Hello", and (in the background my) dad screaming "SHUT IT OFF! SHUT IT OFF!" and then the line went dead.
Turns out I called while he was making an IFR (instrument) approach into Bakersfield (refueling stop). He was on final, about 5 miles out, and when the cell phone rang, all the navigation instruments freaked out. Most importantly, the localizer and glide slope indicators went off-scale, so he had no idea if we was still on the glideslope (remember, he's in the clouds now, and he can't actually see the airport.) For about 20 minutes I wasn't sure if I'd killed them (until they got on the ground and tied down the plane and then called me back.)
Well.. they're extra careful about shutting off their cell phones before takeoff now.
...if I put "hot teens go crazy for debt-free viagra while earning $$$ from home" in the middle of some fine Shakespeare, that will get flagged as spam.
Third part screenshot programs fail for technical reasons (I suspect that the DVD decoding hardware is writing directly to video memory), but Apple's won't even let you attempt to take the screenshot, it just pops up a dialog saying that you're not allowed, even if there are other things on the screen that would come out fine (the DVD player controls for instance)
Apple's hands aren't clean here either. The other day I was watching a DVD, and there was a beautiful picture just before the end-credits.. I paused the playback and fired up "Grab" so I could take a screenshot to use as a backdrop. Grab popped up a dialog saying that all screen-grabbing utilities are disabled during DVD playback. IANAL, but I'm pretty sure that taking a single screenshot of a DVD I own is a protected fair-use right. Needless to say, I am not happy, but what am I to do? I'll complain to Apple, but something tells me I'm pissing in the ocean.
How long before apple adds the same restrictions to their software. Admittedly, they ask before you download updates, but what's to stop them from sneaking in a "DRM cleaning program" into an update.
All this reminds me of the poem by the German during World War 2 that mentioned he never stood up for anyone because he wasn't one of them, but when the Nazis showed up for him, there was no one left to stand up for him.
I'm surprised it took this long before someone proved Godwin's Law.
While I've got a fair number of qualms with IP laws,and how they're implemented in the US (and soon everywhere else thanks to WIPO). I can't really rationalize what these kids did, and comparing this crackdown to anything the Nazi's did seems bizzare and freekish.
It has been discussed before for other vulnerabilities as well. But the consesus is that this is a bad idea for a number of reasons, and they can be summarized as:
Liability: Most viruses and worms cause problems because they're wrtten poorly. If the "anti-worm" doesn't behave as expected on all systems, and causes damage, the person who wrote it could be liable.
Legality: Even though it's well intentioned, it's still legally the same criminal act as the original virus/worm writer commited. If the worm does harm (by breaking somebody's app) then there will likely be criminal as well as civil charges filed.
Morality: Fundamentally, this isn't the way the white hats behave. We, as a community should help others fix the problems, but shouldn't be using the techniques of the black-hats to do it... including exploiting security holes and mucking with other people's machines.
It's certainlly a tempting idea, especially for thorny problems like CR, and CRII, but it's also a real minefield.
I'm dyslexic. I read at around 1/2 the speed of an average person, and 10 hours time isn't near enough time for me to read a decent sized novel.
If a publisher were to release one of their titles only as a 10 hour window rental, would I have a remedy under the ADA? It doesn't cost them anything more to make it a 15 hour rental.. since there is no exclusive commodity that I'm holding up (like there is with video, car or equipment rentals.) What would be a "reasonable accomidation"?
If the ADA and the DMCA got into a fight, who would win? Particle Man?
I suggest you ask a female friend to take nude pictures of herself which she will send on a regular basis to this guy.
Oh come on... He's a slashdot reader.. he doesn't have any female friends. He'd be better off snarfing some pr0n from usenet and trying to pass himself off as a woman.
And when they are smart enough to circumvent my spying... then they have proved they are smart enough to handle whatever they may see...
That is the equivilent to saying "When they're smart enough to hot-wire a car, they're ready to drive." I'm all for open censorship by parents. If they're being open about the fact that some things are off limits, then how they enforce that (with monitoring, blocking proxies, or trust in your child to do as you ask) will depend on the situation, and I don't have a problem with that.
My problem with most censorware is that it allows (almost forces) parents to abdicate that role/responibility. It's no longer an issue of parents deciding what's appropriate for their child, it's an outside group (school board, morales brigade, corporate lawyer, etc) deciding what's right for all the children (and most of the adults as well.) The fact that exactly what gets blocked is secret (under the guise of protecting IP) that makes it downright dangerous for a free society.
Starting when I was about 11 years old, my dad told me that if I wanted beer or wine, all I had to do was ask., but it had to be at home, and it had to be with his permission. The few times I asked, I was allowed to drink, but it was relatively rare, and I never drank outside the home. I never had a problem, and it's at least partially because I didn't want to abuse the trust he had put in me. Most kids will respect resonable boundries if they're treated with respect (which is different than treating them like little adults.)
Vintage computers are cool, but CA Extreme is going to be a much cooler event. Think of it. hundreds of arcade games and pinball machines, all on freeplay. I'm bringing a few of my collection. I'm trying to decide if I should bring the Ms. Pac Man, the Astroids Deluxe, the Space Duel, the Xenophobe, the Sinistar, or the Tempest.
I know that it's not the same as the old register lights, but register displays on any modern processor would be just a blur anyway (What does a ~10Mhz signal look like on an LED anyway?)
It's interesting to note that after the blinkenlights ceased to have a purpose, people expected them anyway. I vaguely remember some story about a travel agency getting it's first compter (probalby something like a microvax), and being disappointed because:
It was so small...
It didn't have the impressive blinkenlights.
So they actually built a faux mainframe in front of it with pretty blinking lights just to impress somebody (probably a PHB).
I agree that in general wider public dissemination of research results is a good thing, but I have some grave concerns about the publication of preliminary medical research.
There is a broad public perception that newer == better. And that if it's the latest research, it must be the best. I worry that people in desperate (or not so desperate) medical need will read preliminary results, or mis-interpret the conclusions, and immediately act on that (mis)information as if it were the best treatment. So far the general public has shown an alarming lack of understanding of even the basic conceptual framework on which most of this research is based.
Does anybody remember the run on shark cartilage capsules and additives after preliminary info showed that sharks seldom got cancer. (Even though there was no evidence that ingesting the stuff was at all helpful, and there was lots of reason to believe it wasn't.) There are also plenty of cases of patients demanding antibiotics of their physicians when they're suffering from viral infections, thereby not treating the real illness while at the same time providing a perfect breeding ground for drug resistant bacterial strains like the drug resistant TB strains croping up all over.
Maybe the long term answer is to educate the public in research practices and critical thinking, as well as improve science education in general, but I fear that the short term result will be bad decisions, and litigation arising from those bad decisions which will hamper research rather than help.
Slashdot Mirror
The cognitive dissonance from this is that the politicians that seem to have the strongest tea party support tend to be the most scientifically backward bunch out there. From Michelle "pray the gay away" Bachman, to a whole host of global warming deniers. Have they decided to sacrifice their science principals to achieve the goal of lower taxes and smaller government, no matter what wacko they have to sign on with in order to get that?
If this is the "alternative" motive, what is Microsoft's motive for not fixing the underlying vulnerability?
Just make the point before signing up that you want an ATM-only card for an account
I bank with Wells Fargo. I've had my account long enough (10 years) that debit cards didn't exist when I signed up. One day when I got my replacement ATM card, it had a M/C symbol on it. I called to complain, and after arguing with the customer service rep for about 20 minutes, I was given the definite impression that getting an ATM card without debit card link wasn't possible. I was tempted to close my account and move on, but I didn't want the hassle of changing all my automatic deposits and payments.
My parents bank at US Bank, and they also called to complain and request an ATM only card, and were also told that they had to take it or close their account. This was about 8 years ago, and they didn't close theirs either for similar reasons. About the only places that I've heard of that offer ATM only cards any more are small credit unions.
-- Mitch
Ahh.. but the fundamental difference between a debit and a credit card is that on a debit while the fraudulent charge is being contested, the money isn't in your account. He said the bank told him it will be up to 10 weeks before he gets his money back. I've heard of horror stories where it takes over 6 months and (cumelatively) 20 or 30 hours on hold before the money is put back in your account. I remember protesting strongly that I didn't want that Visa/MC symbol on my ATM card for that very reason, but pretty much no bank offers an ATM card without it any more. (It's too big a profit center.)
I found this site that collects offers that are Free after rebate. It does a good job of finding the offers, and finding the best places to buy with cheap shipping.
I thought it was a little early for April Fool's jokes, but an Atari 2600 joystick to USB adapter sounded just about as plausible as a new PCI based Z80 coprocessor card,
Truth is stranger than TCP over Avian Transport.
-- Mitch
The Garmin 60CS has the same features as the 76S, but also has:
It looks like a sweet little unit. If I hadn't bought a GPS V 6 months ago, I'd seriously consider getting one myself.
-- Mitch
I don't want it. Have you seen what happens to most websites that are "given the gift of slashdot"? No thanks!
...at least for small aircraft. My dad is a private pilot, and my parents often take vacations in their small airplane.
One day I made a call to my Mom's cell phone. All I heard was the (loud) sound of the plane's engine, my mom saying "Hello", and (in the background my) dad screaming "SHUT IT OFF! SHUT IT OFF!" and then the line went dead.
Turns out I called while he was making an IFR (instrument) approach into Bakersfield (refueling stop). He was on final, about 5 miles out, and when the cell phone rang, all the navigation instruments freaked out. Most importantly, the localizer and glide slope indicators went off-scale, so he had no idea if we was still on the glideslope (remember, he's in the clouds now, and he can't actually see the airport.) For about 20 minutes I wasn't sure if I'd killed them (until they got on the ground and tied down the plane and then called me back.)
Well.. they're extra careful about shutting off their cell phones before takeoff now.
...if I put "hot teens go crazy for debt-free viagra while earning $$$ from home" in the middle of some fine Shakespeare, that will get flagged as spam.
eMerchant of Venice. Act I Scene IV, right?
How long before apple adds the same restrictions to their software. Admittedly, they ask before you download updates, but what's to stop them from sneaking in a "DRM cleaning program" into an update.
While I've got a fair number of qualms with IP laws,and how they're implemented in the US (and soon everywhere else thanks to WIPO). I can't really rationalize what these kids did, and comparing this crackdown to anything the Nazi's did seems bizzare and freekish.
-- Mitch
It has been discussed before for other vulnerabilities as well. But the consesus is that this is a bad idea for a number of reasons, and they can be summarized as:
- Liability: Most viruses and worms cause problems because they're wrtten poorly. If the "anti-worm" doesn't behave as expected on all systems, and causes damage, the person who wrote it could be liable.
- Legality: Even though it's well intentioned, it's still legally the same criminal act as the original virus/worm writer commited. If the worm does harm (by breaking somebody's app) then there will likely be criminal as well as civil charges filed.
- Morality: Fundamentally, this isn't the way the white hats behave. We, as a community should help others fix the problems, but shouldn't be using the techniques of the black-hats to do it... including exploiting security holes and mucking with other people's machines.
It's certainlly a tempting idea, especially for thorny problems like CR, and CRII, but it's also a real minefield.If a publisher were to release one of their titles only as a 10 hour window rental, would I have a remedy under the ADA? It doesn't cost them anything more to make it a 15 hour rental.. since there is no exclusive commodity that I'm holding up (like there is with video, car or equipment rentals.) What would be a "reasonable accomidation"?
If the ADA and the DMCA got into a fight, who would win? Particle Man?
Oh come on... He's a slashdot reader.. he doesn't have any female friends. He'd be better off snarfing some pr0n from usenet and trying to pass himself off as a woman.
That is the equivilent to saying "When they're smart enough to hot-wire a car, they're ready to drive." I'm all for open censorship by parents. If they're being open about the fact that some things are off limits, then how they enforce that (with monitoring, blocking proxies, or trust in your child to do as you ask) will depend on the situation, and I don't have a problem with that.
My problem with most censorware is that it allows (almost forces) parents to abdicate that role/responibility. It's no longer an issue of parents deciding what's appropriate for their child, it's an outside group (school board, morales brigade, corporate lawyer, etc) deciding what's right for all the children (and most of the adults as well.) The fact that exactly what gets blocked is secret (under the guise of protecting IP) that makes it downright dangerous for a free society.
Starting when I was about 11 years old, my dad told me that if I wanted beer or wine, all I had to do was ask., but it had to be at home, and it had to be with his permission. The few times I asked, I was allowed to drink, but it was relatively rare, and I never drank outside the home. I never had a problem, and it's at least partially because I didn't want to abuse the trust he had put in me. Most kids will respect resonable boundries if they're treated with respect (which is different than treating them like little adults.)
-- Mitch
P.S. it also helped that he drank coors... ick
Any suggestions? -- Tricot
It's interesting to note that after the blinkenlights ceased to have a purpose, people expected them anyway. I vaguely remember some story about a travel agency getting it's first compter (probalby something like a microvax), and being disappointed because:
- It was so small...
- It didn't have the impressive blinkenlights.
So they actually built a faux mainframe in front of it with pretty blinking lights just to impress somebody (probably a PHB).-- Mitch
There is a broad public perception that newer == better. And that if it's the latest research, it must be the best. I worry that people in desperate (or not so desperate) medical need will read preliminary results, or mis-interpret the conclusions, and immediately act on that (mis)information as if it were the best treatment. So far the general public has shown an alarming lack of understanding of even the basic conceptual framework on which most of this research is based.
Does anybody remember the run on shark cartilage capsules and additives after preliminary info showed that sharks seldom got cancer. (Even though there was no evidence that ingesting the stuff was at all helpful, and there was lots of reason to believe it wasn't.) There are also plenty of cases of patients demanding antibiotics of their physicians when they're suffering from viral infections, thereby not treating the real illness while at the same time providing a perfect breeding ground for drug resistant bacterial strains like the drug resistant TB strains croping up all over.
Maybe the long term answer is to educate the public in research practices and critical thinking, as well as improve science education in general, but I fear that the short term result will be bad decisions, and litigation arising from those bad decisions which will hamper research rather than help.