>>>When I left, the project had been ongoing for 3 years, and they still didn't know what they wanted it to do
So basically Welfare for the white-collar workers. Nothing is actually done, but you still get paid. I like those jobs.;-) Reminds me of what I was working for the government...
This happened with both my Motorola analog and my Virgin Mobile (Nokia) digital cellphones:
I lay my phone in a little slot next to the car radio. From time to time I hear "digital noise" like a buzzing. I know I'm about 1 second from hearing my phone ring. Sometimes people ask me, "How'd you know I was calling? It didn't even ring.";-)
- - posted with LYNX, the Commodore 64 web browser (using 2 kbit/s modem)
Commodore 64's have mice. Here's a picture of one that's basically an Amiga 500 mouse and intended to be used with GEOS (Mac-like OS). Or with games like Marble Madness/Arkanoid.;-)
It's been-around for 5000 years. It's a proven technology. It "just works" and was used in elections dating back to the 1700s. So what if it takes 12 hours to physically handcount the ballots? (Thrice for verification.) Do we really need to know, immediately, who won? This election has drug-on since Christmas of last year... one more half-day is not going to kill us.
My district still uses paper. The only difference is that machines do the counting, however if you don't trust the machines, a handcount is still possible. I trust papers; I don't trust computers. I've been working with them for too long.
I could come out of the poll booth, walk-over to the local reporter and say, "I just voted straight Republican, but for some dumb reason the machine recorded straight Democrat. It switched my vote! This is despicable." And I could be lying through my teeth, just to cast doubt on whether the winner (whoever that might be) actually won.
Problem: You would have to arrest the State Legislators who tested & approved the machine with their own eyes. So, you'll never have that level of accountability.
There are a lot of people who simply don't know how to use a computer. My 75-year-old dad came home and told me about his job switching from paper to PC timecards. His boss directed him: Now move the mouse over to the box and type in your hours.
My dad's reply: What's a mouse?
Now imagine 50 million baby boomers with similar level of non-expertise trying to use a PC-based machine when they've never (or rarely) used a PC. You're going to have all kinds of mistakes, and the user will SWEAR that it was the machine's fault, rather than admit they don't know what they are doing. Nobody wants to look stupid.
- this message posted with LYNX, the Commodore 64 browser (2 kbit/s modem)
>>>The other is, for lack of better words, a "load balancing" part that requires using multiple free accounts instead of purchasing space and CPU time for less than $2,000 USD per month. The boss sees it as "distributed" computing when in reality it's "parasitic". >>>
Can someone explain what this means? Multiple free accounts of what? Gmail? I'm confused.
Since scraping is detectable, I would follow this course of action: - tell the boss you think "we'll get caught" - if boss appears to want to fire you, then go ahead and do the action, but ask for him to put it in writing - note on the order you think it's a bad idea; keep original for yourself and hand copy to boss - write the program - - (optional) - from your home computer (using an anonymous account), tell the website what your program does, and explain you would have been fired if you had not complied with your bosses' wishes, but feel it's unethical to scrap data. - watch as Boss looks like fool when website with stolen bandwidth decides to bar his company's access - if fired, hire lawyer and sue the company for unjustified dismissal $ profit
>>>Nintendo makes a nice profit from each console sold
How much?
The reason I ask is because it's unusual. Normal operating procedure is to lose $10-20 per unit sold, with money earned off the backend (game sales). So what is the cost of Wii manufacture (per unit)?
Doesn't matter. 5 years ago I spent $50 on a disappointing game called Starfox Adventures. Nintendo/Rare/somebody still has that $50 in their pocket (plus interest). I am not pleased about that.
"Excuse"? I don't need an excuse to not purchase trash, whether it's made by Nintendo or somebody else. I also didn't waste my money on the latest release of Stargate Atlantis Season 4 on DVD ("crap" for short). Just because a manufacturer publishes something does NOT mean it's worthy of handing-over the greenbacks.
As I said, if it's worthy, then I'll buy it (Zelda Ocarina of Time was actually purchased twice; once on the N64, and again on Mini-DVD for Cube/Wii playback). I don't just throw-away my cash foolishly, and you will not succeed in making me feel guilty about not buying poor products.
When I needed a "netbook" for my frequent hotel travels, I just bought a used 15 inch laptop off Ebay. It's about three years old, has 1/2 gig of memory, XP desktop, and only cost me $110. Certainly a lot cheaper than this $1000 Dell Netbook thing.
It has the added benefit of being able to play movies off the C: drive, in case there's nothing on the TV worth watching.
>>>When do you folk feel a bit ethically obliged to let the company just make some money out of the good work they've done.
When they produce good work. That's when I hand-over the cash. Not before. Not when Nintendo has been known to produce junk like Starfox Adventures (a poor attempt at a Zelda clone).
Again: The proper response was to increase border security, not to start killing foreigners. Treat the 9/11 incident the same way we treated the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing - a tragic event. Mourn the loss and move on; don't go on a killing spree.
That's how Putin justified the invasion of Georgia. "You are effecting Russian citizens; that makes it my business even though they are technically in another country." And thus the tanks rolled-in and Putin violated the private territory of a foreign nation.
There was another guy who used the same argument to invade Austria in the 1930s. What was his name? Napoleon? No that wasn't it. I think it started with an A. Or maybe an H. (shrug)
Cartels are illegal in the United States. That's why the record companies were recently-forced to mail out $500 million dollars to their customers. They treid to price-fix CDs, and they were caught, and the over 20 States sued them in court for forming an illegal cartel.
So you do need government to police and enforce competition, and block mega-mergers, but otherwise the government should let Pro-Choice reign - let the people have multiple suppliers, and let the People decide where they want to spend their money. Put the "power of the purse" in the hands of the People, not some bureaucrat in washington.
>>>>>> What you're really talking about is a government monopoly.... that is no better than a Corporate monopoly. It has exactly the same flaws, with the additional flaw that government doesn't listen to the people (it just takes the money directly from your paycheck).
It makes a lot more sense to sub-divide those things across multiple owners, and have those owners compete for your business. That provides the People with the *most direct* method of control - the power of the purse. If you don't like company A's practices, withhold your money. Stop buying the product. Or continue buying the product, but instead choose company B, C, D,..., X, Y, or Z.
THAT is true pro-choice and true power to the people.
>>>Bill Henson recently had a skirmish with the law over some photographs he took of a 13 year old girl.
He should move to either the U.S. or the E.U. Such things are perfectly legal. Images of the human body are not considered obscene. There are lots of "photobooks" of this exact-same type of photography on amazon.com - it's considered art. Same as Michaelangelo's depiction of David in the nude.
That's why I loved my Commodore 64 so much. And my Amiga 500. They had Commodore-controlled standard hardware and they were always FUN to use - just as easy as a modern-day PS3 or Wii console. Plug-and-play.
If Windows NT 7 is another POS like Windows Can't-see-ya, then I'll jump ship and go to a Macintosh next time. I always liked the Quadra models, and I imagine today's models are just as pleasing.
>>>massive amount of bandwidth represented by those 200 stations spread across the continent than the rest of us are?
(1) It's not that massive. 200 * 15 Mbit/s == Just 3 Gbit/s to feed the entire United States.
(2) Because it has 70+ years of proven ability to work. When the president needs to be heard, his image can reach almost all 300 million citizens (99.9% coverage). It gets the job done. The only thing internet has proven is its ability to produce fuzzy images that frequently freezeup. Websites often fail during high-demand periods (like the 9/11 attacks).
(3) How is having Google, Microsoft, Apple, et cetera any better than NBC, ABC/Disney, CBS, et cetera? They are still corporations; they are still in control access, and can't wait to sell you shiny-new $200 devices with $50 a month subscription fee.* All you're doing is trading one corporate oligarchy for a different corporate oligarchy.
Doesn't multicast still require "splitting" the signal at some point, so it can reach individual PC? That would work better, but it still means you have to watch Heroes at a set multicast time (9 p.m.) rather than on-demand, or via tape-delay (VCR/DVR).
Slashdot Mirror
Correct. Also downloading saves the earth by not burning gasoline in a car driving to Blockbuster rental.
>>>When I left, the project had been ongoing for 3 years, and they still didn't know what they wanted it to do
So basically Welfare for the white-collar workers. Nothing is actually done, but you still get paid. I like those jobs. ;-) Reminds me of what I was working for the government...
P.S.
Now imagine the same thing if a Whitespace Device starts broadcasting on channel 18 (directly next to WPLH-17). You won't just get noise. You'll get digital breakup of the television's video, like so: http://broadcastengineering.com/hdtv/video-show-congress-white-space-interference-1014/
This happened with both my Motorola analog and my Virgin Mobile (Nokia) digital cellphones:
I lay my phone in a little slot next to the car radio. From time to time I hear "digital noise" like a buzzing. I know I'm about 1 second from hearing my phone ring. Sometimes people ask me, "How'd you know I was calling? It didn't even ring." ;-)
-
- posted with LYNX, the Commodore 64 web browser (using 2 kbit/s modem)
Commodore 64's have mice. Here's a picture of one that's basically an Amiga 500 mouse and intended to be used with GEOS (Mac-like OS). Or with games like Marble Madness/Arkanoid. ;-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64_peripherals#Input_devices
Let's just go back to paper.
Seriously.
It's been-around for 5000 years. It's a proven technology. It "just works" and was used in elections dating back to the 1700s. So what if it takes 12 hours to physically handcount the ballots? (Thrice for verification.) Do we really need to know, immediately, who won? This election has drug-on since Christmas of last year... one more half-day is not going to kill us.
My district still uses paper. The only difference is that machines do the counting, however if you don't trust the machines, a handcount is still possible. I trust papers; I don't trust computers. I've been working with them for too long.
Good point.
I could come out of the poll booth, walk-over to the local reporter and say, "I just voted straight Republican, but for some dumb reason the machine recorded straight Democrat. It switched my vote! This is despicable." And I could be lying through my teeth, just to cast doubt on whether the winner (whoever that might be) actually won.
Problem: You would have to arrest the State Legislators who tested & approved the machine with their own eyes. So, you'll never have that level of accountability.
There are a lot of people who simply don't know how to use a computer. My 75-year-old dad came home and told me about his job switching from paper to PC timecards. His boss directed him: Now move the mouse over to the box and type in your hours.
My dad's reply: What's a mouse?
Now imagine 50 million baby boomers with similar level of non-expertise trying to use a PC-based machine when they've never (or rarely) used a PC. You're going to have all kinds of mistakes, and the user will SWEAR that it was the machine's fault, rather than admit they don't know what they are doing. Nobody wants to look stupid.
- this message posted with LYNX, the Commodore 64 browser (2 kbit/s modem)
In Pennsylvania we have the option of either using the electronic machines, or using a paper ballot. I use the paper ballot every time.
-posted with LYNX, the Commodore 64 browser
>>>The other is, for lack of better words, a "load balancing" part that requires using multiple free accounts instead of purchasing space and CPU time for less than $2,000 USD per month. The boss sees it as "distributed" computing when in reality it's "parasitic".
>>>
Can someone explain what this means? Multiple free accounts of what? Gmail? I'm confused.
Since scraping is detectable, I would follow this course of action:
- tell the boss you think "we'll get caught"
- if boss appears to want to fire you, then go ahead and do the action, but ask for him to put it in writing
- note on the order you think it's a bad idea; keep original for yourself and hand copy to boss
- write the program
-
- (optional)
- from your home computer (using an anonymous account), tell the website what your program does, and explain you would have been fired if you had not complied with your bosses' wishes, but feel it's unethical to scrap data.
- watch as Boss looks like fool when website with stolen bandwidth decides to bar his company's access
- if fired, hire lawyer and sue the company for unjustified dismissal
$ profit
>>>Nintendo makes a nice profit from each console sold
How much?
The reason I ask is because it's unusual. Normal operating procedure is to lose $10-20 per unit sold, with money earned off the backend (game sales). So what is the cost of Wii manufacture (per unit)?
I see. Well I would be hard-pressed to find a 10 inch or smaller "laptop" on Ebay. I guess netbook truly is a new kind of form factor.
Doesn't matter. 5 years ago I spent $50 on a disappointing game called Starfox Adventures. Nintendo/Rare/somebody still has that $50 in their pocket (plus interest). I am not pleased about that.
"Excuse"? I don't need an excuse to not purchase trash, whether it's made by Nintendo or somebody else. I also didn't waste my money on the latest release of Stargate Atlantis Season 4 on DVD ("crap" for short). Just because a manufacturer publishes something does NOT mean it's worthy of handing-over the greenbacks.
As I said, if it's worthy, then I'll buy it (Zelda Ocarina of Time was actually purchased twice; once on the N64, and again on Mini-DVD for Cube/Wii playback). I don't just throw-away my cash foolishly, and you will not succeed in making me feel guilty about not buying poor products.
When I needed a "netbook" for my frequent hotel travels, I just bought a used 15 inch laptop off Ebay. It's about three years old, has 1/2 gig of memory, XP desktop, and only cost me $110. Certainly a lot cheaper than this $1000 Dell Netbook thing.
It has the added benefit of being able to play movies off the C: drive, in case there's nothing on the TV worth watching.
>>>When do you folk feel a bit ethically obliged to let the company just make some money out of the good work they've done.
When they produce good work.
That's when I hand-over the cash.
Not before.
Not when Nintendo has been known to produce junk like Starfox Adventures (a poor attempt at a Zelda clone).
Again: The proper response was to increase border security, not to start killing foreigners. Treat the 9/11 incident the same way we treated the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing - a tragic event. Mourn the loss and move on; don't go on a killing spree.
>>>That is very much my business.
That's how Putin justified the invasion of Georgia. "You are effecting Russian citizens; that makes it my business even though they are technically in another country." And thus the tanks rolled-in and Putin violated the private territory of a foreign nation.
There was another guy who used the same argument to invade Austria in the 1930s. What was his name? Napoleon? No that wasn't it. I think it started with an A. Or maybe an H. (shrug)
Cartels are illegal in the United States. That's why the record companies were recently-forced to mail out $500 million dollars to their customers. They treid to price-fix CDs, and they were caught, and the over 20 States sued them in court for forming an illegal cartel.
So you do need government to police and enforce competition, and block mega-mergers, but otherwise the government should let Pro-Choice reign - let the people have multiple suppliers, and let the People decide where they want to spend their money. Put the "power of the purse" in the hands of the People, not some bureaucrat in washington.
Quoted for Truth:
>>>>>>
What you're really talking about is a government monopoly.... that is no better than a Corporate monopoly. It has exactly the same flaws, with the additional flaw that government doesn't listen to the people (it just takes the money directly from your paycheck).
It makes a lot more sense to sub-divide those things across multiple owners, and have those owners compete for your business. That provides the People with the *most direct* method of control - the power of the purse. If you don't like company A's practices, withhold your money. Stop buying the product. Or continue buying the product, but instead choose company B, C, D, ..., X, Y, or Z.
THAT is true pro-choice and true power to the people.
I think you meant: "there is [no] reason to censor the human body"
>>>Bill Henson recently had a skirmish with the law over some photographs he took of a 13 year old girl.
He should move to either the U.S. or the E.U. Such things are perfectly legal. Images of the human body are not considered obscene. There are lots of "photobooks" of this exact-same type of photography on amazon.com - it's considered art. Same as Michaelangelo's depiction of David in the nude.
100%.
That's why I loved my Commodore 64 so much. And my Amiga 500. They had Commodore-controlled standard hardware and they were always FUN to use - just as easy as a modern-day PS3 or Wii console. Plug-and-play.
If Windows NT 7 is another POS like Windows Can't-see-ya, then I'll jump ship and go to a Macintosh next time. I always liked the Quadra models, and I imagine today's models are just as pleasing.
>>>massive amount of bandwidth represented by those 200 stations spread across the continent than the rest of us are?
(1) It's not that massive. 200 * 15 Mbit/s == Just 3 Gbit/s to feed the entire United States.
(2) Because it has 70+ years of proven ability to work. When the president needs to be heard, his image can reach almost all 300 million citizens (99.9% coverage). It gets the job done. The only thing internet has proven is its ability to produce fuzzy images that frequently freezeup. Websites often fail during high-demand periods (like the 9/11 attacks).
(3) How is having Google, Microsoft, Apple, et cetera any better than NBC, ABC/Disney, CBS, et cetera? They are still corporations; they are still in control access, and can't wait to sell you shiny-new $200 devices with $50 a month subscription fee.* All you're doing is trading one corporate oligarchy for a different corporate oligarchy.
(4) * Broadcast television has no fee.
Doesn't multicast still require "splitting" the signal at some point, so it can reach individual PC? That would work better, but it still means you have to watch Heroes at a set multicast time (9 p.m.) rather than on-demand, or via tape-delay (VCR/DVR).