No one ever actually agrees to any EULA or TOS. I used to read those things just so I would know what I'm not allowed to do - then start doing those things immediately. Just because some bunch of fools puts a disclaimer and some rules at the bottom of a sign up page doesn't mean anyone has read them, or that anyone agrees to them. And, I'll wager that a half decent lawyer can bet any and all terms thrown out if it ever goes to court.
It's the internet, FFS. People are supposed to have free access to data. Screw censorship, and screw censors. If Mom and Dad don't care that Junior might see a picture of Aunt Betty in the raw, why should Facebook?
This is simply shocking. 13 year old kids lie to get on Facebook? Why - back in my day, they hadn't invented LYING yet! The younger generations are going to hell, I tell you. Lying. My generation would never have though of telling a lie to anyone. Well, maybe to get out of a horse-whipping or something like that. Even then, we'd have crossed our fingers behind our backs!
As rwa2 says - something of a chore. There have been times when I had to choose between moderating or commenting. I used up 15 points just Saturday, and here it is Tuesday, with 5 more points waiting to be used. They show up frequently, and sometimes I just let them go unused. Don't ask me how to get mod points! Mostly, I just blather away with my personal opinion, and rarely back it up with any kind of reference or citation. Phht.
It's often been said that the mod system is broken. I can't argue that!
I guess you could follow my example. Cutting comments about Microsoft, flippant comments about Apple, and derogatory comments about almost everything else except Linux, baseball, hotdogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet. (Someone will be along shortly to point out that neither Linux nor Linus is American, LOL!) And, you could adopt my politics. I hate 'em all. Doing so may or may not get you some moderator points, who knows?
I was looking for the right place to insert my own comment. You're on target - the ONLY people who would benefit from such a mandate would be the encrypted transmitter manufacturers. It would cost a wheelbarrow of money from every passenger, along with two or three wheelbarrow loads of from taxpayers. In the process, any number of smaller businesses would go bankrupt, and be gobbled up by the sharks at the top.
In short, it would be a disaster for all but a very select few.
I agree with your post - but I'll point out that any active radar would immediately be targeted. You can't light up the sky without drawing attention to yourself. It's the job of those airborne command craft to ensure that when a light comes on, the proper command is notified, and that the most effective weapons system is deployed to put that light out, ASAP No Libyan with a shred of self preservation is going to light a torch in ANY spectrum!
Whole different ballgame. In fact, you're talking about two different ballgames, while trying to infer something into yet another ballgame.
1. Manning is a US citizen, who was sworn to secrecy, and sworn to obey various and sundry orders, general orders, rules, regulations, etc ad nauseum.
2. Assange is a foreign national, who is not in any way subject to US military law, and should not be subject to the various laws that our politicos are trying to subject him to. The man released classified information - but he didn't steal it, intercept it, or anything of that nature. The information was given to him, for the purpose of wide dissemination. In short, he is a new type of reporter who was doing his job.
3. Our Dutch geek freind, on the other hand, is yet another foreign national who is intercepting military radio messages, and seems to be seeking to aid the allies.
So you see, none of the three have very much in common with the others.
My problem isn't that Indians (or anyone else) are improving their lives. My problem is, our own government and our own fellow citizens (those who are wealthy enough to have employees) are robbing US so that THEY can get ahead.
I'll tell you where the shortsightedness is. While industry and government are driving wages down, they are also driving down the purchasing power and the tax paying ability of the American public. Both government and industry will one day regret the loss of the relatively "wealthy" American "consumer".
But, I don't know what I'm worried about. I'm still making about the same wages that I made in 1980. Which is a little less than I made in 1990 through 2000. I should be good for the rest of my life - except that I work for a well known international company that is working real hard to outsource MY job, right now. 4 more years, and my job will be gone. 4 more years, and the wife's job will be gone. I suppose we can sell our home and property to an Indian immigrant then, and get enough money to survive on for awhile.
Do you really think so? Why don't you take a look at the Bible then. One story after another, in which some "mature" man arranges for a marriage to a young pubescent girl. Then, take a look at modern Islam. You can find images on the internet of well known Moslem figures who are pretty advanced in years, with their young wives who don't look old enough to get a driver's license.
Whacko cults? It appears to me that almost all polygamists belong to one cult or another - including the offshoots of the Mormon church.
Whacko cults, the man says.
Tell me something, just for my own information. What kind of a man really wants a house full of women? Oh, it's a nice fantasy. Almost all men like to dream about having dozens of women at his beck and call. But, put the fantasy aside. What kind of man really wants to be involved in all the tiny intimacies of several women, women's health issues, women's hygiene issues, childbearing, etc etc etc. Not me, that's for certain. The one wife I have is plenty for me!
As for being at my beck and call - as often as not, that works out the other way around. Imagine have six wives, none of whom can keep an automobile running. The wife called me to rescue her only 3 weeks ago. Got in to town, and sure enough, the key wouldn't turn in the ignition. Luckily, I brought the son with me, and he was the one to figure out that she was using the wrong key. All of our Nissan keys look alike, and she pulled the wrong key out of her purse. That was aggravating - just try multiplying that by however many wives you wish you had!!
Ho-hum. I could go on a rant here. Let me just state that gay marriage is a farce. So, no one who is gay is "married" to a person of the same sex. Full faith and credit? Sounds to me like all the OTHER states that are going queer should have recognized the problems when they first started authorizing gay "marriage". It was all a bullshit campaign to undermine the laws of those states which refuse to allow gay "marriage".
And, you, Snowgirl, along with most of the younger generations, have been brainwashed into believing the Democratic position on gay marriage.
And, please, don't accuse me of being Republican. My attitude regarding homosexuality didn't come from any party position. The Republicans seem to be a bunch of hypocrites when it comes to homosexuality. "Do as I say, not as I do!"
Well - most polygamists seem to have a Good Old Boy network, in which one guy turns his daughter over to his old drinking buddy, and the favor is passed along until it comes back to him. All those 30 to 80 year old men telling their 13 to 15 year old daughters who they have to "marry" is pretty damned disgusting to me. While technically not pedophilia, it sure comes close!
Given a case where two or more grown women KNOWINGLY marry the same guy - well, I couldn't care much less. Stupid broads will get pretty much what they deserve. Two guys marrying the same woman? Ditto.
If we haven't figured out time travel by that time, along with interdimensional travel, then we deserve to be extincted, right along with our universe.
Not worried about a nova. I'm more worried about some stupid rock blundering into us. The real worry seems to be that we might just kill ourselves here without any intervention. The greenies think we're killing ourselves with CO2, lots of people think we'll kill ourselves with radiation, and lots more people think we'll just go out in an orgy of violence. Then, there is the possiblity of some new (or ancient and forgotten) disease wiping us out.
I'd kinda like to see colonies established before all that.
"back in the day when DOS/Windows routinely ran on non-networked systems"
That's a bit disingenous, don't you think? Which versions of DOS were written with the intention that it would only run on non-networked machines? That is, which versions of DOS didn't listen to ports, anticipating some sort of traffic? I know for certain that MSDOS 5 onward monitored a myriad of ports - probably all of the ~56,000 that exist today.
By the time that the various companies were writing DOS 3.1, people were routinely accessing bulletin boards. I'm not going to go searching for dates and references - you can if you're really interested. But, where on earth do you think all those baud modems came from? They certainly weren't invented after the advent of Windows! Win95 installs expecting to find a modem! Win3.11 expected to find a modem. Win3.1, not so much - but the capability was certainly there!
"However, right now, Windows is the only OS that has rampant malware problems."
That is the bottom line. People will make excuses, explanations, rationalizations, etc ad nauseum - but that bottom line says it all.
Hypothetical conversation from ~1980:
"Willy, what if we made these computers so simple that any idiot can use one?"
"Bad idea, Gomer. If any idiot can use one, then all the idiots will want one. If only half the idiots manage to get one, that's more than enough to ruin computing for everyone."
"But, Willy, what could go wrong? We'll just write a fool-proof system, and provide fool-proof software for the system!"
"Gomer - you are living proof that you can't fool-proof ANYTHING! That pistol that you used to shoot your big toe off with had FOUR safeties that you had to defeat before you could shoot yourself. There's no such thing as fool-proof, Gomer."
Who really gives a small rat's ass how many people are pissed off? Think a moment. The people who will be most pissed, are the very people who click through all the warnings they are getting now. People who actually read and think about the warnings, not so much. So - the very same people who are the biggest cause of things like botnets are going to be pissed off. Whoopty-do. Here - have a rat's ass.
I dunno about that. Seriously, I do my best to ignore alarmist headlines and stories. But, the fact is, "it ain't over til the fat lady sings". There are so many possibilities, and things COULD get a whole lot worse before they start to get better. That damned spent-fuel cooling pond that is low on water is troubling, for one thing. The other ponds that are overheated are less troubling, but they merit serious consideration.
The last news story I read quoted some official, who suggested that some of the engineers and workers at the plant may have to make "heroic efforts" to save the situation.
And, I can't help thinking of the workers at Chernobyl who gave their lives to keep things there from getting worse.
This. GP showed far to much tolerance to a (apparent) idiot little girl. Definite ban, probably k-line here as well, after only three or four exchanges. No way would I engage in conversation for more than just a few minutes.
The United States already incarcerates a higher percentage of it's population than some "evil" countries do. Somehow, I don't think that allowing kids to drop out of school would have as much impact as you think.
It might be tough to define "good" and "evil" when it comes to corporations. And, I'll point out that even evil people do some good now and then - and good people do some evil now and then. I'll grudgingly admit that MS does something nice, now and then, just as I'll admit the dickhead nephew does good now and then.
But, the dickhead nephew is still a dickhead, and he'd cut my throat in a heartbeat if he thought he could profit from it and get away with it.
Microsoft is no different. Sure, they've given away a few things in recent memory. Today, they have money to burn, so they can afford to give away something now and then. It's good public relations, after all. But, given the opportunity, they would put every single competitor out of business tomorrow. Linux, Apple, BSD, Oracle, IBM - name anyone who competes against Microsoft. Firefox, Opera, and any other browser you care to name.
As you pointed out, the only reason Microsoft has been acting nice in recent years, is that they got their asses whipped a couple of times, and they had a really close call with the US government investigating them for unethical business practices. To bad George W. Bush was so willing to have all that trifling antitrust nonsense flushed down the toilet. Microsoft really should have been broken up into about 5 or 6 independent companies, and all those exclusivity agreements with computer manufacturers should have been declared illegal.
You would still have your Zune, your Xbox, Win7 and C# today. They may have cost a bit more than you paid - or maybe a bit less. You would still have them - but Microsoft would have sold Win7, MicroGAMES woudl have sold your Xbox, and MicroTUNES would have sold your Zune to you. C# I can't say. That may have come from MicroRESEARCH. All separate and distinct, and preferably competing against each other, as well as against the rest of the world.
I try to be fair - but you'll never hear me praising Microsoft. They were just to damned evil in their early days.
I don't see it having much if any impact on an Android device. In fact, relatively few desktop users will actually see any improvement. I'm not smart enough to get technical - but everything I've read seems to say that unless you are a multitasker who works his desktop pretty hard, the improvements will mean little to you.
One of the little tests that was offered to prove the usefulness of the wonder patch, was to do some routine things on your desktop, loading the CPU up near capacity. Once all your stuff was running, then start compiling something. The responsiveness of your desktop apps was not impacted by the background work, even though your CPU(s) was working hard.
So, unless you use your Android for some pretty intensive multi-tasking, no, you won't see any real difference in real use.
Slashdot Mirror
No one ever actually agrees to any EULA or TOS. I used to read those things just so I would know what I'm not allowed to do - then start doing those things immediately. Just because some bunch of fools puts a disclaimer and some rules at the bottom of a sign up page doesn't mean anyone has read them, or that anyone agrees to them. And, I'll wager that a half decent lawyer can bet any and all terms thrown out if it ever goes to court.
It's the internet, FFS. People are supposed to have free access to data. Screw censorship, and screw censors. If Mom and Dad don't care that Junior might see a picture of Aunt Betty in the raw, why should Facebook?
This is simply shocking. 13 year old kids lie to get on Facebook? Why - back in my day, they hadn't invented LYING yet! The younger generations are going to hell, I tell you. Lying. My generation would never have though of telling a lie to anyone. Well, maybe to get out of a horse-whipping or something like that. Even then, we'd have crossed our fingers behind our backs!
As rwa2 says - something of a chore. There have been times when I had to choose between moderating or commenting. I used up 15 points just Saturday, and here it is Tuesday, with 5 more points waiting to be used. They show up frequently, and sometimes I just let them go unused. Don't ask me how to get mod points! Mostly, I just blather away with my personal opinion, and rarely back it up with any kind of reference or citation. Phht.
It's often been said that the mod system is broken. I can't argue that!
I guess you could follow my example. Cutting comments about Microsoft, flippant comments about Apple, and derogatory comments about almost everything else except Linux, baseball, hotdogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet. (Someone will be along shortly to point out that neither Linux nor Linus is American, LOL!) And, you could adopt my politics. I hate 'em all. Doing so may or may not get you some moderator points, who knows?
I was looking for the right place to insert my own comment. You're on target - the ONLY people who would benefit from such a mandate would be the encrypted transmitter manufacturers. It would cost a wheelbarrow of money from every passenger, along with two or three wheelbarrow loads of from taxpayers. In the process, any number of smaller businesses would go bankrupt, and be gobbled up by the sharks at the top.
In short, it would be a disaster for all but a very select few.
I agree with your post - but I'll point out that any active radar would immediately be targeted. You can't light up the sky without drawing attention to yourself. It's the job of those airborne command craft to ensure that when a light comes on, the proper command is notified, and that the most effective weapons system is deployed to put that light out, ASAP No Libyan with a shred of self preservation is going to light a torch in ANY spectrum!
Whole different ballgame. In fact, you're talking about two different ballgames, while trying to infer something into yet another ballgame.
1. Manning is a US citizen, who was sworn to secrecy, and sworn to obey various and sundry orders, general orders, rules, regulations, etc ad nauseum.
2. Assange is a foreign national, who is not in any way subject to US military law, and should not be subject to the various laws that our politicos are trying to subject him to. The man released classified information - but he didn't steal it, intercept it, or anything of that nature. The information was given to him, for the purpose of wide dissemination. In short, he is a new type of reporter who was doing his job.
3. Our Dutch geek freind, on the other hand, is yet another foreign national who is intercepting military radio messages, and seems to be seeking to aid the allies.
So you see, none of the three have very much in common with the others.
My problem isn't that Indians (or anyone else) are improving their lives. My problem is, our own government and our own fellow citizens (those who are wealthy enough to have employees) are robbing US so that THEY can get ahead.
I'll tell you where the shortsightedness is. While industry and government are driving wages down, they are also driving down the purchasing power and the tax paying ability of the American public. Both government and industry will one day regret the loss of the relatively "wealthy" American "consumer".
But, I don't know what I'm worried about. I'm still making about the same wages that I made in 1980. Which is a little less than I made in 1990 through 2000. I should be good for the rest of my life - except that I work for a well known international company that is working real hard to outsource MY job, right now. 4 more years, and my job will be gone. 4 more years, and the wife's job will be gone. I suppose we can sell our home and property to an Indian immigrant then, and get enough money to survive on for awhile.
Do you really think so? Why don't you take a look at the Bible then. One story after another, in which some "mature" man arranges for a marriage to a young pubescent girl. Then, take a look at modern Islam. You can find images on the internet of well known Moslem figures who are pretty advanced in years, with their young wives who don't look old enough to get a driver's license.
Whacko cults? It appears to me that almost all polygamists belong to one cult or another - including the offshoots of the Mormon church.
Whacko cults, the man says.
Tell me something, just for my own information. What kind of a man really wants a house full of women? Oh, it's a nice fantasy. Almost all men like to dream about having dozens of women at his beck and call. But, put the fantasy aside. What kind of man really wants to be involved in all the tiny intimacies of several women, women's health issues, women's hygiene issues, childbearing, etc etc etc. Not me, that's for certain. The one wife I have is plenty for me!
As for being at my beck and call - as often as not, that works out the other way around. Imagine have six wives, none of whom can keep an automobile running. The wife called me to rescue her only 3 weeks ago. Got in to town, and sure enough, the key wouldn't turn in the ignition. Luckily, I brought the son with me, and he was the one to figure out that she was using the wrong key. All of our Nissan keys look alike, and she pulled the wrong key out of her purse. That was aggravating - just try multiplying that by however many wives you wish you had!!
How does that song go? What's hate got to do with it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu8KFlfzk3Y
Ho-hum. I could go on a rant here. Let me just state that gay marriage is a farce. So, no one who is gay is "married" to a person of the same sex. Full faith and credit? Sounds to me like all the OTHER states that are going queer should have recognized the problems when they first started authorizing gay "marriage". It was all a bullshit campaign to undermine the laws of those states which refuse to allow gay "marriage".
And, you, Snowgirl, along with most of the younger generations, have been brainwashed into believing the Democratic position on gay marriage.
And, please, don't accuse me of being Republican. My attitude regarding homosexuality didn't come from any party position. The Republicans seem to be a bunch of hypocrites when it comes to homosexuality. "Do as I say, not as I do!"
Well - most polygamists seem to have a Good Old Boy network, in which one guy turns his daughter over to his old drinking buddy, and the favor is passed along until it comes back to him. All those 30 to 80 year old men telling their 13 to 15 year old daughters who they have to "marry" is pretty damned disgusting to me. While technically not pedophilia, it sure comes close!
Given a case where two or more grown women KNOWINGLY marry the same guy - well, I couldn't care much less. Stupid broads will get pretty much what they deserve. Two guys marrying the same woman? Ditto.
There are times when this looks more like the Enquirer than the US Weekly. Today happens to be one of those times. http://www.nationalenquirer.com/
If we haven't figured out time travel by that time, along with interdimensional travel, then we deserve to be extincted, right along with our universe.
Not worried about a nova. I'm more worried about some stupid rock blundering into us. The real worry seems to be that we might just kill ourselves here without any intervention. The greenies think we're killing ourselves with CO2, lots of people think we'll kill ourselves with radiation, and lots more people think we'll just go out in an orgy of violence. Then, there is the possiblity of some new (or ancient and forgotten) disease wiping us out.
I'd kinda like to see colonies established before all that.
Been doing that since I bought my very first car - oh, wait. Slashdot. Car analogies. Crap. Here come the mods from hell . . . .
"back in the day when DOS/Windows routinely ran on non-networked systems"
That's a bit disingenous, don't you think? Which versions of DOS were written with the intention that it would only run on non-networked machines? That is, which versions of DOS didn't listen to ports, anticipating some sort of traffic? I know for certain that MSDOS 5 onward monitored a myriad of ports - probably all of the ~56,000 that exist today.
By the time that the various companies were writing DOS 3.1, people were routinely accessing bulletin boards. I'm not going to go searching for dates and references - you can if you're really interested. But, where on earth do you think all those baud modems came from? They certainly weren't invented after the advent of Windows! Win95 installs expecting to find a modem! Win3.11 expected to find a modem. Win3.1, not so much - but the capability was certainly there!
"However, right now, Windows is the only OS that has rampant malware problems."
That is the bottom line. People will make excuses, explanations, rationalizations, etc ad nauseum - but that bottom line says it all.
Hypothetical conversation from ~1980:
"Willy, what if we made these computers so simple that any idiot can use one?"
"Bad idea, Gomer. If any idiot can use one, then all the idiots will want one. If only half the idiots manage to get one, that's more than enough to ruin computing for everyone."
"But, Willy, what could go wrong? We'll just write a fool-proof system, and provide fool-proof software for the system!"
"Gomer - you are living proof that you can't fool-proof ANYTHING! That pistol that you used to shoot your big toe off with had FOUR safeties that you had to defeat before you could shoot yourself. There's no such thing as fool-proof, Gomer."
Who really gives a small rat's ass how many people are pissed off? Think a moment. The people who will be most pissed, are the very people who click through all the warnings they are getting now. People who actually read and think about the warnings, not so much. So - the very same people who are the biggest cause of things like botnets are going to be pissed off. Whoopty-do. Here - have a rat's ass.
Isn't "datapro" and "4GB" an oxymoron?
I dunno about that. Seriously, I do my best to ignore alarmist headlines and stories. But, the fact is, "it ain't over til the fat lady sings". There are so many possibilities, and things COULD get a whole lot worse before they start to get better. That damned spent-fuel cooling pond that is low on water is troubling, for one thing. The other ponds that are overheated are less troubling, but they merit serious consideration.
The last news story I read quoted some official, who suggested that some of the engineers and workers at the plant may have to make "heroic efforts" to save the situation.
And, I can't help thinking of the workers at Chernobyl who gave their lives to keep things there from getting worse.
This. GP showed far to much tolerance to a (apparent) idiot little girl. Definite ban, probably k-line here as well, after only three or four exchanges. No way would I engage in conversation for more than just a few minutes.
*cough*
The United States already incarcerates a higher percentage of it's population than some "evil" countries do. Somehow, I don't think that allowing kids to drop out of school would have as much impact as you think.
It might be tough to define "good" and "evil" when it comes to corporations. And, I'll point out that even evil people do some good now and then - and good people do some evil now and then. I'll grudgingly admit that MS does something nice, now and then, just as I'll admit the dickhead nephew does good now and then.
But, the dickhead nephew is still a dickhead, and he'd cut my throat in a heartbeat if he thought he could profit from it and get away with it.
Microsoft is no different. Sure, they've given away a few things in recent memory. Today, they have money to burn, so they can afford to give away something now and then. It's good public relations, after all. But, given the opportunity, they would put every single competitor out of business tomorrow. Linux, Apple, BSD, Oracle, IBM - name anyone who competes against Microsoft. Firefox, Opera, and any other browser you care to name.
As you pointed out, the only reason Microsoft has been acting nice in recent years, is that they got their asses whipped a couple of times, and they had a really close call with the US government investigating them for unethical business practices. To bad George W. Bush was so willing to have all that trifling antitrust nonsense flushed down the toilet. Microsoft really should have been broken up into about 5 or 6 independent companies, and all those exclusivity agreements with computer manufacturers should have been declared illegal.
You would still have your Zune, your Xbox, Win7 and C# today. They may have cost a bit more than you paid - or maybe a bit less. You would still have them - but Microsoft would have sold Win7, MicroGAMES woudl have sold your Xbox, and MicroTUNES would have sold your Zune to you. C# I can't say. That may have come from MicroRESEARCH. All separate and distinct, and preferably competing against each other, as well as against the rest of the world.
I try to be fair - but you'll never hear me praising Microsoft. They were just to damned evil in their early days.
Exactly. I was on Adak Island back in 1976, and we had no access to Youtube, Facebook, or any of that stuff. Oh - wait. Nevermind . . . .
I don't see it having much if any impact on an Android device. In fact, relatively few desktop users will actually see any improvement. I'm not smart enough to get technical - but everything I've read seems to say that unless you are a multitasker who works his desktop pretty hard, the improvements will mean little to you.
One of the little tests that was offered to prove the usefulness of the wonder patch, was to do some routine things on your desktop, loading the CPU up near capacity. Once all your stuff was running, then start compiling something. The responsiveness of your desktop apps was not impacted by the background work, even though your CPU(s) was working hard.
So, unless you use your Android for some pretty intensive multi-tasking, no, you won't see any real difference in real use.