It's what the British people want. There simply isn't the "us against them" attitude between people and the government in Britain like in the US. Just as with CCTV cameras, most people want more, not less. Isn't implementing public desire what being a "democracy" is all about?
Just because it doesn't happen to be the choice you would make doesn't mean others shouldn't be allowed to make it if they so choose!
I think it's Slashdot's reader base which has changed rather than Mandriva.
Back when a Mandriva (Mandrake) release would have been big news it was amongst news of hardware evaluations, the latest kernel update and talk on coding standards.
These days Slashdot has a far more mainstream focus and the stories getting all the comments and attention tend to be about: a) US politics, b) Privacy or c) RIAA/MPAA
None of which are really "news for nerds" but rather "news for nerds who don't really care about technical stuff".
These media companies force me to listen to the shameful excuses for music which are R&B and Hip-Hop all day on radio stations.
You might say it's the radio stations' fault but everyone knows they are brainless idiots who just play whatever tapes they are sent by the big 4 record companies. So sorry, but I have no pity for them. On the rare occasion they release and promote decent rock and dance music I pay for it even if I do also download it off of TPB.
The cask type can have a big effect on the Scotch Whisky and many distilleries prefers different types. Old Bourbon casks are used by many although Canadian Whiskey casks are more popular these days. Madeira casks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira_wine are particularly prized by many scotch makers.
"You apparently know nothing of the legal system."
If you think someone presenting a fake ID to the police and pretending it to be of a deceased person isn't in for serious charges, then you sir, must know nothing of the legal system.
"There is no fraud." Fake driving licenses do tend to be looked upon by most police forces as fraud.
Yes, but this is Apple we're talking about whose PR machine is in constant hyperdrive mode.
The fact they've "not denied" the allegations makes it even more obvious that they really know there's a problem. We've "found no evidence" is one of those terms that can be easily reversed once the problem's proved beyond doubt without as much legal and bad PR ramifications of a full denial.
"I'd hate to see another disappointment at the hands of EA's cutthroat deadlines (Renegade was, afterall, Westwood's second lowest grossing title, after Sole Survivor)."
Maybe I'm wrong, but I've come to the painful conclusion that a game's number of sales has very little to do with the quality of the game.
Many of the most revolutionary games around achieved very little sales despite defining genres which later spawned high selling games which have essentially just been copies of the original, low-selling game. Aspects such as marketing, timing of release and initial press reviews seem to me to have far bigger impact on game sales then actual game quality.
Or sadly these days, trust the accuracy of many Slashdot summaries.
The summary makes it sound like his house was raided, which hardly seems to be the case (especially since they compensated him for the equipment they took).
I remember a day when every second article wasn't wildly exaggerated to make them sound more newsworthy.
You are mistaking passports with visas (and from the article, specifically long-term visas). For decades all developed countries have kept visa information on centralized databases, thats the whole point of issuing visas!
It's pretty certain they won't be replacing passports with ID cards. The two serve completely different functions. An ID card is designed for internal identification within the state wheras passports are for external identification by other states (i.e. allowing you to "pass their port").
I think the problem is that a lot of people not interested in computer science or cryptography view Bletchly Park as just another one of the thousands of military installations Britain utilised during World War 2.
The estate itself is relatively unremarkable compared to many in the area and has always had structural problems (it was actually soon to be demolished before war broke out and the code-breakers were stationed there).
I have been to Bletchly Park and it is a great place, I've heard they even have a full reconstruction of the Colossus computer there now.
Whilst WiMax offers some great oppurtunities, wired solutions offer several inherent advantages over wireless solutions, including:
1) Data privacy & security can be better ensured using wired connections.
2) Wired bandwidth can always be scaled up massively by laying more/bigger cables. Available bandwidth for WiMax has limitations (unless we can utilize "subspace" of course!).
3) Wired connections have better ping times, quite important for many of the things requiring super-fast broadband (e.g. online software & distributed computing). As optical routing & computing develops, fibre optic networks will incur even less latency; down to levels simply wireless will never be able to acheive (again, neglecting "subspace" connections).
The BBC iPlayer already offers TV shows in HD and my "measily" 4mb ADSL connection handles it absolutely fine, even when others in the house are also browsing the web etc.
I'd love to brag about having a 100mb connection as much as anyone else who reads slashdot, but I can't really say my life suffers much from not having one.
There would simply be no point in selling laptops with more than 2 days battery life anymore, in 2 days time we'll all be dead anyway (or sucked into a parrallel universe to experience a fate even worse than death!)
Parts of the Apollo projects were put back several time, not to mention ending up costing around double the original estimate despite consisting of less missions than originally planned (cost overruns are almost always closely related to time overruns).
That's just the nature of big projects (of all types). Nothing specific to do with publicly funded ones, all really big projects commonly take longer than expected. The difference with publicly funded ones is that we all tend to have access to those estimates; whereas private companies tend to just say "it will be done when it's ready" (whilst internally, the estimates are getting put back further and further).
We live in an age where EVERYBODY is an expert on EVERYTHING. All you have to do is watch a 20 minute news program once a night and *bam* your an expert on global warming, politics, macro-economic theory, criminology, Pathology & healthcare, the lot.
Don't bother leaving it to the expert who have spent years researching the field, they might not agree with you.
There are many other examples of companies doing "evil". Right now our economy is going down the hole largely because the gas companies hold us to ransom everytime we fill up. Supply & Demand has nothing to do with it, they do it "because they can".
A few years ago, ford decided not to recall their faulty Explorer's and instead face lawsuits from the families of dead victims because it was cheaper then ordering a recall, how is that not "evil"?
Microsoft charge massive fee's for faulty software "because they can". Even google's sheet isn't completely clean, as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Google shows. They may have started blurring people's faces, but ask to have your house and backyard taken off google earth and they'll tell you to get stuffed.
Google is now a publicly listed company, meaning anyone with even the most malign motives can purchase a say in the company.
Both government and companies can be equally "evil". It's extremely foolish to assume otherwise.
And if you think google are just using the information "to allow you to customise things and target ads towards you" then you're having a laugh.
At least government is bound by freedom-of-information acts, elections etc. so we can actually find out about things like RFID tags. There's absolutely no way to tell what Google are up to with the data.
I can never understand why so many people are paranoid about giving even the smallest scraps of information to the government yet will happily let companies like Google (world leaders in data-mining and info extraction) have unrestricted access to all their most private data.
Whilst I join most people in laughing at those who foresee government putting barcodes on our foreheads etc., I really doubt it's long before we start seeing a 'Gcode' on people.
Wake up everyone, this is where the real frightening privacy infringements are taking place!
Slashdot Mirror
It's what the British people want. There simply isn't the "us against them" attitude between people and the government in Britain like in the US. Just as with CCTV cameras, most people want more, not less. Isn't implementing public desire what being a "democracy" is all about?
Just because it doesn't happen to be the choice you would make doesn't mean others shouldn't be allowed to make it if they so choose!
I think it's Slashdot's reader base which has changed rather than Mandriva.
Back when a Mandriva (Mandrake) release would have been big news it was amongst news of hardware evaluations, the latest kernel update and talk on coding standards.
These days Slashdot has a far more mainstream focus and the stories getting all the comments and attention tend to be about: a) US politics, b) Privacy or c) RIAA/MPAA
None of which are really "news for nerds" but rather "news for nerds who don't really care about technical stuff".
I'd second that!
Apart from the general dumbing down, the other thing which partly ruint the sequal for me was the way it was built for consoles.
Deus Ex 1 had vast open spaces which made the epic nature of the game feel even grander, whereas Deus Ex 2 felt far too boxed in and Quake-like.
It was a pity as the basic story-line and concept of the sequal was amazing. Anything featuring arcologies is a winner in my book!
These media companies force me to listen to the shameful excuses for music which are R&B and Hip-Hop all day on radio stations.
You might say it's the radio stations' fault but everyone knows they are brainless idiots who just play whatever tapes they are sent by the big 4 record companies. So sorry, but I have no pity for them. On the rare occasion they release and promote decent rock and dance music I pay for it even if I do also download it off of TPB.
The cask type can have a big effect on the Scotch Whisky and many distilleries prefers different types. Old Bourbon casks are used by many although Canadian Whiskey casks are more popular these days. Madeira casks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira_wine are particularly prized by many scotch makers.
IANAL, but yes, that would seem right.
"You apparently know nothing of the legal system."
If you think someone presenting a fake ID to the police and pretending it to be of a deceased person isn't in for serious charges, then you sir, must know nothing of the legal system.
"There is no fraud."
Fake driving licenses do tend to be looked upon by most police forces as fraud.
Yikes, the Apple fanboys are out in force today!
Yes, but this is Apple we're talking about whose PR machine is in constant hyperdrive mode.
The fact they've "not denied" the allegations makes it even more obvious that they really know there's a problem. We've "found no evidence" is one of those terms that can be easily reversed once the problem's proved beyond doubt without as much legal and bad PR ramifications of a full denial.
Yea but planting a few billion tree's and letting them grow themselves is a heck of a lot easier than building hundreds of millions of these towers.
"I'd hate to see another disappointment at the hands of EA's cutthroat deadlines (Renegade was, afterall, Westwood's second lowest grossing title, after Sole Survivor)."
Maybe I'm wrong, but I've come to the painful conclusion that a game's number of sales has very little to do with the quality of the game.
Many of the most revolutionary games around achieved very little sales despite defining genres which later spawned high selling games which have essentially just been copies of the original, low-selling game. Aspects such as marketing, timing of release and initial press reviews seem to me to have far bigger impact on game sales then actual game quality.
"This is why you never talk to the police."
Or sadly these days, trust the accuracy of many Slashdot summaries.
The summary makes it sound like his house was raided, which hardly seems to be the case (especially since they compensated him for the equipment they took).
I remember a day when every second article wasn't wildly exaggerated to make them sound more newsworthy.
"If someone gets hold of my finger prints, what do I do then?"
Um, anyone who follows you round for a few minutes could probably get hold of your finger prints, without need for an ID card.
That's why police love them so much, it's not like criminals deliberatly leave theirs at crime scenes!
You are mistaking passports with visas (and from the article, specifically long-term visas). For decades all developed countries have kept visa information on centralized databases, thats the whole point of issuing visas!
It's pretty certain they won't be replacing passports with ID cards. The two serve completely different functions. An ID card is designed for internal identification within the state wheras passports are for external identification by other states (i.e. allowing you to "pass their port").
I think the problem is that a lot of people not interested in computer science or cryptography view Bletchly Park as just another one of the thousands of military installations Britain utilised during World War 2.
The estate itself is relatively unremarkable compared to many in the area and has always had structural problems (it was actually soon to be demolished before war broke out and the code-breakers were stationed there).
I have been to Bletchly Park and it is a great place, I've heard they even have a full reconstruction of the Colossus computer there now.
"the last throes of "old" technology?"
Whilst WiMax offers some great oppurtunities, wired solutions offer several inherent advantages over wireless solutions, including:
1) Data privacy & security can be better ensured using wired connections.
2) Wired bandwidth can always be scaled up massively by laying more/bigger cables. Available bandwidth for WiMax has limitations (unless we can utilize "subspace" of course!).
3) Wired connections have better ping times, quite important for many of the things requiring super-fast broadband (e.g. online software & distributed computing). As optical routing & computing develops, fibre optic networks will incur even less latency; down to levels simply wireless will never be able to acheive (again, neglecting "subspace" connections).
The BBC iPlayer already offers TV shows in HD and my "measily" 4mb ADSL connection handles it absolutely fine, even when others in the house are also browsing the web etc.
I'd love to brag about having a 100mb connection as much as anyone else who reads slashdot, but I can't really say my life suffers much from not having one.
There would simply be no point in selling laptops with more than 2 days battery life anymore, in 2 days time we'll all be dead anyway (or sucked into a parrallel universe to experience a fate even worse than death!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider
"with the exception of the Apollo Project"
Parts of the Apollo projects were put back several time, not to mention ending up costing around double the original estimate despite consisting of less missions than originally planned (cost overruns are almost always closely related to time overruns).
That's just the nature of big projects (of all types). Nothing specific to do with publicly funded ones, all really big projects commonly take longer than expected. The difference with publicly funded ones is that we all tend to have access to those estimates; whereas private companies tend to just say "it will be done when it's ready" (whilst internally, the estimates are getting put back further and further).
Countdown to the end of the world:
6 days and counting....
At this point I would like to say I've enjoyed reading Slashdot for the past few years.
We live in an age where EVERYBODY is an expert on EVERYTHING. All you have to do is watch a 20 minute news program once a night and *bam* your an expert on global warming, politics, macro-economic theory, criminology, Pathology & healthcare, the lot.
Don't bother leaving it to the expert who have spent years researching the field, they might not agree with you.
Your using selective examples.
There are many other examples of companies doing "evil". Right now our economy is going down the hole largely because the gas companies hold us to ransom everytime we fill up. Supply & Demand has nothing to do with it, they do it "because they can".
A few years ago, ford decided not to recall their faulty Explorer's and instead face lawsuits from the families of dead victims because it was cheaper then ordering a recall, how is that not "evil"?
Microsoft charge massive fee's for faulty software "because they can". Even google's sheet isn't completely clean, as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Google shows. They may have started blurring people's faces, but ask to have your house and backyard taken off google earth and they'll tell you to get stuffed.
Google is now a publicly listed company, meaning anyone with even the most malign motives can purchase a say in the company.
Both government and companies can be equally "evil". It's extremely foolish to assume otherwise.
Um, which western government exactly doesn't hold elections anymore?
And if you think google are just using the information "to allow you to customise things and target ads towards you" then you're having a laugh.
At least government is bound by freedom-of-information acts, elections etc. so we can actually find out about things like RFID tags. There's absolutely no way to tell what Google are up to with the data.
Yikes, that is one scary EULA.
I can never understand why so many people are paranoid about giving even the smallest scraps of information to the government yet will happily let companies like Google (world leaders in data-mining and info extraction) have unrestricted access to all their most private data.
Whilst I join most people in laughing at those who foresee government putting barcodes on our foreheads etc., I really doubt it's long before we start seeing a 'Gcode' on people.
Wake up everyone, this is where the real frightening privacy infringements are taking place!