This is false. It can take awhile to catch it (as is seen in the AP/UB story), but statistical analysis will always show if weird things are happening. People who play seriously online use tools like Poker Tracker, Hold'em Manager, Poker Office, etc to keep track of their own play, wins/losses and whatnot.
Someone noticed something odd about the win rate of a few players. They mentioned it to someone else; who looked and found the same thing. It kept going until the evidence was so great that it couldn't be a statistical anomaly.
The real difficulty is in getting sites to admit when something shady has been going on. AP and UB denied that anything had happened for ages. Until the bad press started showing up and it became too much for them to ignore.
The fact is that this retired general gets to ignore the no-fly list because he's a retired general. That means his ID has special privileges attached to it. It's not a question of why he has special privileges: whether the person "enforcing" the list is respecting his service, or fears that he's got connections to make trouble for the "enforcer", or the "enforcer" backs down whenever someone denied stands their ground without being rude or obnoxious.
Again, your side of this discussion isn't clear at all. I never said that anyone other than the retired general (and people like him) could ignore the no-fly list. I said that his privilege of showing his military ID gets him past the list, despite his matching the list (by name, which is all the list gives its enforcers). That is an arbitrary privilege, not part of the "security" system. Because he's a (retired) part of the police state, so he gets "trusted" in a way that other people don't.
My statements are very clear. It seems to me that you're just having some reading comprehension problems.
I stated that he in fact can not ignore the no fly list. If he could he would be flying for the airline he works for right now instead of taking the government to court to have his name removed, so that his employer will allow him to do his job as a pilot.
My point is that really, a military ID does not give you any special privilege when it comes to the no-fly list. My original post about my father was a bit misleading, because it was worded in a way that implied that his military ID is what got him his ticket when it's not, even though that was not my intention.
Anyone who happens to have the same name as a person on the no fly list only has to go to the counter and show a government issued ID (state non-drivers ID, DL, military ID, passport) to get their ticket. All that is required is their proving that that are not the John Doe that is on the list. Pretty simple and I stated it rather clearly.
You can state that things are "clear" all you want, but without actually seeing the list and what it's contents actually are you can not with certainty describe what the list does or does not contain. I could claim it contains all sorts of things, but I'm not going to, because I haven't seen it. I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that you haven't either.
If that were true, then serving your country by a lifetime as an academic, a doctor, a political activist or suchlike would also get you on the plane. No, I didn't think so. It's police/military connections that work.
Those will get you on the plane, so will working at a gas station, Walmart, and your local public library. I just gave the example of my father showing his Military ID; perhaps I put too much emphasis on this. Maybe it does help expedite his getting his ticket, but it is not the reason he is allowed to fly and to insinuate this is absurd. He uses it instead of his DL for anything and everything other than things that specifically requite his DL to be presented. My father's name is so common that I am 100% certain other people who aren't the individual identified on the list have gotten stopped and had to show ID to the ticket agent. While some of them may also have a military ID; I'm willing to bet that most do not and they are still able to fly just by showing any government issued photo ID.
The problem isn't that he can show his military ID and get through. The problem is that anyone, possibly including the actual person on the list, can show ID of any sort and get through. The no-fly list for the most part is just like the "increased security" at the metal detectors and x-ray machines at the airport. It's mostly a farce. My mom can't take knitting needles or a metal nail file on the plane, but my ex-sister-in-law was able to fly across the country TWICE with a handful of 5.56mm rounds that accidentally ended up in her purse (no, I don't know how they got there). Keep in mind that these bullets don't look like anything other than a bullet. Makes you feel real safe with the TSA 'watching out for you' doesn't it?
No, actually he can't ignore the no-fly list, and that's the problem stated by the article. He can't fly because the person on the list in this case is him; not someone else that just happens to be the same as his. In the case of my father it's someone else with the same name and my father is able to identify himself and prove that he is not the person on the no-fly list (however the airlines do that:/ ).
And you're right about the hijackings. Perhaps I should have qualified it with, "no US flight," but that's all speculation.
Yes, you're right John Walker Lindh has nothing to do with it; I meant Richard Reid. I don't keep track of every idiot who does something stupid, sorry. I should have verified the name before I hit sumbit.
Well as we can't actually see the no-fly list itself; we can not actually say with certainty what it does or does not contain. The TSA and FBI (who actually compiles the list) claim that it contains information on specific persons; that information being more than just a name. The reason that people get flagged is because you don't provide things like SSN when you book and airline flight, so all they have is name to go by. I do have a feeling that even if the TSA and FBI are being truthful as to what the actual no-fly list contains, that airline staff cannot see anything other than name. Not having seen the list I can't say for certain.
You'll get no argument out of me that the idea and our implementation of it is retarded (in fact, I said as much in my previous post). The only way to make it actually work is to remove even more of our rights, so as far as I'm concerned the idea should have been tossed out from the beginning. The problem is we've known for a long time that the federal government has zero respect for the constitution and the rights of the citizenry.
Sadly I forgot to login before so I posted as an AC:(
Well I guess the assumption is that because he is retired military the likelihood of his being the particular person that isn't supposed to fly isn't very high.
Also, keep in mind that this isn't his DL, so it's not so much that his ID has special privileges attached to it, but that his service to his country has privileges attached to it. Semantics, I know...
That being said, I don't think anyone who's willing to step up and say, "hey wtf?" will be told they can't actually fly. Well if they act like a complete ass, then I guess the airline could be bitches about it.
The (nonsensical) idea is that if someone is the person they don't want flying, then they won't come up and say something (lol, yeah, right).
The odds of there being another 9/11 style hijacking are pretty close to nil, just ask John Walker Lind. The days of passengers being complacent when someone says they're hijacking the plane are gone. The attitude these days seems to be, "well they're going to blow us up anyways, so we may as well try and stop them."
Never mind that the no-fly list is a farce that really doesn't stop anyone from flying if they really want to.
Surprisingly, this really wasn't a problem with the demo unit I saw at GDC. Brightness was about the only thing that wasn't underwhelming about the unit.
I saw one of these in action at GDC in February. While the concept is neat; the implementation is seriously lacking. The distortion of the image is really bad and the resolution was nothing to brag about. Of course the resolution was probably because of their projector, but still. It really wasn't all that great.
I'm not a McCain fan, but the one thing he has been consistent on is torture. He's always been opposed to it. Most likely because he was tortured while he was a POW in Vietnam. In fact he was railing on some of the other GOP candidates at the CNN/Youtube "debate" who were insisting that water boarding was not torture. He essentially made the point that having been through it himself he can without a doubt say it is torture.
This isn't true. He's pro-life across the board, but he thinks that it is a state issue and not a federal issue because the constitution does not give the federal government the power to make laws like one that would ban abortion.
Btw - I'm pro-choice, but I also support Ron Paul. He's the only conservative who is well... conservative. The rest of them are just pro-life (supposedly socially conservative) and fiscally liberal. Which would be fine if they didn't claim to be conservative.
And you're either being sarcastic or the real newb. If you bothered googling this guy you'd know he's done this sort of thing across the US and Europe multiple times in that M5.
I don't think you and other people give teenagers enough credit. I knew well before high school what my interests were and what I would most likely end up doing in college (Electrical Engineering for myself). I'm very much like you, in that I too hated high school and was bored out my skull, dropped out, and got my GED.
The difference was my school only offered "general" education. We had some interesting classes, but nothing gearing you specifically towards any particular goal. A year after I dropped out they started offering such a program (I don't think it was mandatory though). Had that program existed while I was in school I would have most likely taken a lot more interest in it at the time.
I worked full time in retail for a year and a half after dropping out and knew that wasn't what I wanted out of life, so I went back to what I loved: electronics. I started working towards a degree in EE.
Well right after my first semester of classes started I was offered a job that paid very well and had great benefits. I weighed the options of spending another 4-5 years in school or taking the job. I took the job. Seven years later and moving cross country once for that job. I've quit and am back in school. I'm still in engineering, but now it's Mechanical and Aerospace for me. I'd still like to pursue an degree in EE at some point though.
I knew I wanted to do what I'm working towards at a very young age, and I think many kids do have an idea of what they would like to do when they're "grown up".
This can be great for some students. If they're like myself and found the general material offered in high school so incredibly boring that they couldn't be bothered to put forth any effort. I know if there had been some sort of program gearing me towards something I was interested in, say Electrical Engineering, I would have actually put some effort into high school.
That being said as people have pointed out this can be a burden on kids who just don't know or don't have any interests compelling enough to work towards.
I know right after I finished school, New York State started offering a program where you chose a field you were interested in and the program would prepare you better for majoring in that subject when you went to university.
It's definitely a double edged sword. It can be great for kids who are bored and would like something interesting to work on, but terrible for those who are already struggling just to pass the general courses.
Slashdot Mirror
This is false. It can take awhile to catch it (as is seen in the AP/UB story), but statistical analysis will always show if weird things are happening. People who play seriously online use tools like Poker Tracker, Hold'em Manager, Poker Office, etc to keep track of their own play, wins/losses and whatnot.
Someone noticed something odd about the win rate of a few players. They mentioned it to someone else; who looked and found the same thing. It kept going until the evidence was so great that it couldn't be a statistical anomaly.
The real difficulty is in getting sites to admit when something shady has been going on. AP and UB denied that anything had happened for ages. Until the bad press started showing up and it became too much for them to ignore.
Wow, this isn't something new or shocking to anyone who is involved in the online poker world.
Some folks on twoplustwo did all the leg work and uncovered this over a year ago (if not earlier). Keep up the good work in posting old stories!
60 Minutes is supposed to be running a story about this soon. The interviewed some of the people involved in uncovering it earlier this summer.
Hell you could strip 'em down to a central nervous system attached to a brain to save space.
We are talking about WoW players, right? If so, you can hold the brain.
You should get involved in SCCA Road Rally during the winter months. It's a blast.
No, No, No. "My voice is my passport verify me" :D
Keep saying one thing and then claiming you didn't say it, guy. Enjoy yourself, as I am going to "shut it down" now.
The fact is that this retired general gets to ignore the no-fly list because he's a retired general. That means his ID has special privileges attached to it. It's not a question of why he has special privileges: whether the person "enforcing" the list is respecting his service, or fears that he's got connections to make trouble for the "enforcer", or the "enforcer" backs down whenever someone denied stands their ground without being rude or obnoxious.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=652481&cid=24692207
You sir, should read what you wrote.
Go troll somewhere else.
Again, your side of this discussion isn't clear at all. I never said that anyone other than the retired general (and people like him) could ignore the no-fly list. I said that his privilege of showing his military ID gets him past the list, despite his matching the list (by name, which is all the list gives its enforcers). That is an arbitrary privilege, not part of the "security" system. Because he's a (retired) part of the police state, so he gets "trusted" in a way that other people don't.
My statements are very clear. It seems to me that you're just having some reading comprehension problems.
I stated that he in fact can not ignore the no fly list. If he could he would be flying for the airline he works for right now instead of taking the government to court to have his name removed, so that his employer will allow him to do his job as a pilot.
My point is that really, a military ID does not give you any special privilege when it comes to the no-fly list. My original post about my father was a bit misleading, because it was worded in a way that implied that his military ID is what got him his ticket when it's not, even though that was not my intention.
Anyone who happens to have the same name as a person on the no fly list only has to go to the counter and show a government issued ID (state non-drivers ID, DL, military ID, passport) to get their ticket. All that is required is their proving that that are not the John Doe that is on the list. Pretty simple and I stated it rather clearly.
You can state that things are "clear" all you want, but without actually seeing the list and what it's contents actually are you can not with certainty describe what the list does or does not contain. I could claim it contains all sorts of things, but I'm not going to, because I haven't seen it. I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that you haven't either.
If that were true, then serving your country by a lifetime as an academic, a doctor, a political activist or suchlike would also get you on the plane. No, I didn't think so. It's police/military connections that work.
Those will get you on the plane, so will working at a gas station, Walmart, and your local public library. I just gave the example of my father showing his Military ID; perhaps I put too much emphasis on this. Maybe it does help expedite his getting his ticket, but it is not the reason he is allowed to fly and to insinuate this is absurd. He uses it instead of his DL for anything and everything other than things that specifically requite his DL to be presented. My father's name is so common that I am 100% certain other people who aren't the individual identified on the list have gotten stopped and had to show ID to the ticket agent. While some of them may also have a military ID; I'm willing to bet that most do not and they are still able to fly just by showing any government issued photo ID.
The problem isn't that he can show his military ID and get through. The problem is that anyone, possibly including the actual person on the list, can show ID of any sort and get through. The no-fly list for the most part is just like the "increased security" at the metal detectors and x-ray machines at the airport. It's mostly a farce. My mom can't take knitting needles or a metal nail file on the plane, but my ex-sister-in-law was able to fly across the country TWICE with a handful of 5.56mm rounds that accidentally ended up in her purse (no, I don't know how they got there). Keep in mind that these bullets don't look like anything other than a bullet. Makes you feel real safe with the TSA 'watching out for you' doesn't it?
No, actually he can't ignore the no-fly list, and that's the problem stated by the article. He can't fly because the person on the list in this case is him; not someone else that just happens to be the same as his. In the case of my father it's someone else with the same name and my father is able to identify himself and prove that he is not the person on the no-fly list (however the airlines do that :/ ).
And you're right about the hijackings. Perhaps I should have qualified it with, "no US flight," but that's all speculation.
Yes, you're right John Walker Lindh has nothing to do with it; I meant Richard Reid. I don't keep track of every idiot who does something stupid, sorry. I should have verified the name before I hit sumbit.
Well as we can't actually see the no-fly list itself; we can not actually say with certainty what it does or does not contain. The TSA and FBI (who actually compiles the list) claim that it contains information on specific persons; that information being more than just a name. The reason that people get flagged is because you don't provide things like SSN when you book and airline flight, so all they have is name to go by. I do have a feeling that even if the TSA and FBI are being truthful as to what the actual no-fly list contains, that airline staff cannot see anything other than name. Not having seen the list I can't say for certain.
You'll get no argument out of me that the idea and our implementation of it is retarded (in fact, I said as much in my previous post). The only way to make it actually work is to remove even more of our rights, so as far as I'm concerned the idea should have been tossed out from the beginning. The problem is we've known for a long time that the federal government has zero respect for the constitution and the rights of the citizenry.
Sadly I forgot to login before so I posted as an AC :(
Well I guess the assumption is that because he is retired military the likelihood of his being the particular person that isn't supposed to fly isn't very high.
Also, keep in mind that this isn't his DL, so it's not so much that his ID has special privileges attached to it, but that his service to his country has privileges attached to it. Semantics, I know...
That being said, I don't think anyone who's willing to step up and say, "hey wtf?" will be told they can't actually fly. Well if they act like a complete ass, then I guess the airline could be bitches about it.
The (nonsensical) idea is that if someone is the person they don't want flying, then they won't come up and say something (lol, yeah, right).
The odds of there being another 9/11 style hijacking are pretty close to nil, just ask John Walker Lind. The days of passengers being complacent when someone says they're hijacking the plane are gone. The attitude these days seems to be, "well they're going to blow us up anyways, so we may as well try and stop them."
Never mind that the no-fly list is a farce that really doesn't stop anyone from flying if they really want to.
Scratch needing a dark room from that list. They had one on the GDC floor, which was rather brightly lit, and is was perfectly visible.
You are correct on the other points. The picture is horribly distorted and the resolution s craptastic.
Surprisingly, this really wasn't a problem with the demo unit I saw at GDC. Brightness was about the only thing that wasn't underwhelming about the unit.
I saw one of these in action at GDC in February. While the concept is neat; the implementation is seriously lacking. The distortion of the image is really bad and the resolution was nothing to brag about. Of course the resolution was probably because of their projector, but still. It really wasn't all that great.
I still have my Master System. In the original box even.
There are other gems that are much more rare and valuable if she happens to be a gold digger ;)
Probably not as lovely as diamonds, but they're the nicest quartz crystals I've ever seen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herkimer_diamond
Yes, they do exists in some states. Heck I've even seen them while driving through that incredibly rich state called Arkansas.
I'm not a McCain fan, but the one thing he has been consistent on is torture. He's always been opposed to it. Most likely because he was tortured while he was a POW in Vietnam. In fact he was railing on some of the other GOP candidates at the CNN/Youtube "debate" who were insisting that water boarding was not torture. He essentially made the point that having been through it himself he can without a doubt say it is torture.
This isn't true. He's pro-life across the board, but he thinks that it is a state issue and not a federal issue because the constitution does not give the federal government the power to make laws like one that would ban abortion.
Btw - I'm pro-choice, but I also support Ron Paul. He's the only conservative who is well... conservative. The rest of them are just pro-life (supposedly socially conservative) and fiscally liberal. Which would be fine if they didn't claim to be conservative.
And you're either being sarcastic or the real newb. If you bothered googling this guy you'd know he's done this sort of thing across the US and Europe multiple times in that M5.
Other bands play, Manowar fakes extra-terrestrial signals?
I don't think you and other people give teenagers enough credit. I knew well before high school what my interests were and what I would most likely end up doing in college (Electrical Engineering for myself). I'm very much like you, in that I too hated high school and was bored out my skull, dropped out, and got my GED.
The difference was my school only offered "general" education. We had some interesting classes, but nothing gearing you specifically towards any particular goal. A year after I dropped out they started offering such a program (I don't think it was mandatory though). Had that program existed while I was in school I would have most likely taken a lot more interest in it at the time.
I worked full time in retail for a year and a half after dropping out and knew that wasn't what I wanted out of life, so I went back to what I loved: electronics. I started working towards a degree in EE.
Well right after my first semester of classes started I was offered a job that paid very well and had great benefits. I weighed the options of spending another 4-5 years in school or taking the job. I took the job. Seven years later and moving cross country once for that job. I've quit and am back in school. I'm still in engineering, but now it's Mechanical and Aerospace for me. I'd still like to pursue an degree in EE at some point though.
I knew I wanted to do what I'm working towards at a very young age, and I think many kids do have an idea of what they would like to do when they're "grown up".
This can be great for some students. If they're like myself and found the general material offered in high school so incredibly boring that they couldn't be bothered to put forth any effort. I know if there had been some sort of program gearing me towards something I was interested in, say Electrical Engineering, I would have actually put some effort into high school.
That being said as people have pointed out this can be a burden on kids who just don't know or don't have any interests compelling enough to work towards.
I know right after I finished school, New York State started offering a program where you chose a field you were interested in and the program would prepare you better for majoring in that subject when you went to university.
It's definitely a double edged sword. It can be great for kids who are bored and would like something interesting to work on, but terrible for those who are already struggling just to pass the general courses.
I still prefer many MUDs to any MMO *shrug*.