They're switching to IR speed detectors to better catch speeders. (Radar detectors don't work on laser). As for radar, "instant on" helps catch speeders and reduce health risks. Think most cops today are broadcasting radar 100% of the time? Probably not.
spying on children too... risky indeed
on
Mattel Spyware
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· Score: 4
If what the article claims is true, they could be looking at $11,000 fines for each violation of the Childrens' Online Privacy Protection Act. That would be cool.
They'd be on the bad (defendant) side of the legal system for a change.
Look up "Felony Disenfranchisement" on a search engine and you'll (hopefully) stuble upon a report which lists which states ban felons from voting. Almost all do while the person is in prison, many while on parole and/or probation, but only 14 (including my state, Nevada) are backward and fascistic enough to ban felons from voting for life. In Nevada if you possess ANY marijuana you are a felon and are forever denied the right to vote in any election (this is actually written into our State Constitution!), but if you beat up 100 people, that's 100 misdemeanors and you can still vote. Go figure.
It probably almost made some sort of sense back in the day when a felony usually meant you did something really evil, like treason, murder, arson or rape, not the stupid stuff that are felonies now... In any event, the power to take away the vote is the power to manipulate the vote. Excluding felons from voting changes the overall bias of the electorate to favor current laws. Plus they make certain things felonies to try to exclude certain segments of the population from voting.
Most studies do NOT show any causal relationships, just a statistical correlation. Which does not differentiate between A causing B, B causing A, A and B both being caused by C, A causing B indirectly through some other factor D, B causing A through some other factor E, or A and B occuring together more often due to chance.
You need to think critically.
Here is an example, people with cell phones may be under more stress, and that can cause cancer.
... people who have paid off their mortage are unlikely to move.
Which is a good thing. Our society is becoming too mobile, too fragmented, too unstable and too disjointed. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say I want the right to have a productive and fulfilling life without having to move around the country constantly, switch jobs constantly, always follow the latest trend, etc. Part of the sickness in our society is from people not putting down roots so to speak.
We, as the technical class, should steer technology towards improving stability in our lives, not undermining it.
Cool. People like you are sucking down so much bandwidth they need to get a OC-12 and a couple of OC-3's! Guess it isn't porn that is driving the infrastructure improvements on the Internet nowadays...
Interfering with a computer, system, or network or giving out a password or other confidential information about a system is a misdemeanor of the first degree, with a maximum penalty of five years and $10,000 fine. "
A misdemeanor with a possible 5 year sentence?!? Excuse me, but I consider that a felony. You lose the right to ever own a gun not for a felony, but for any crime with a term exceeding one year. (That is the language the federal law uses). A crime with more than a one year sentence is essentially a felony, even if it isn't called that.
So if I'm a darkside hacker and I want to prevent you from talking to Yahoo, I could just spoof Yahoo's IP and send port scan packets. I don't get to see the replies, but that's not the point, I get you to cut yourself off from Yahoo. Or any other sites. I could have you cut yourself off from anybody I know or suspect you want to communicate with.
The license gives one additional rights to do things not otherwise allowed under trademark law. Despite what it says, it can not make it illegal for you to do things that would otherwise NOT be a violation of trademark law. E.G. if trademark law allows you to use a trademark for identification purposes, a license can not take that away. Licenses can only give, not take. Contracts (that is what UCITA has to do with) can take away, but there are limits on what they can do, how they can be agreed to, etc. I am not a lawyer, any care to comment?
And don't forget - somebody actually has to entice Apogee into sueing them as well..
Or you can get a declaratory judgement. Or get an injuction against enforcement of their trademark in cases where such enforcement would be against public policy (I do think one can get an injuction against enforcement of a law, e.g. the CDA, but whether one could use that here is debatable.) I am not a lawyer, any here care to comment?
If that is the case then X must die. I hate to say it, but its true.
I did some X programming, simple Xlib stuff. It is perverse how much the app has to do just to open up a window and draw pixels in it. You have to worry about what visual you get and what byte order and do all hte conversions yourself. Or use some high-level library which also has a disgusting interface and is way slow. Since I was playing around with 3D rendering, that just wouldn't do.
Anyway, back to alpha rendering. If X has reached the point where it can't or won't be extended as needed, when needed, then it is time for something new. It is as simple as that.
If you have a normal DVD player, go out and rent the movie "The Sixth Sense". Slap it in the player. Watch as previews for other movies come up on the screen. Reach for your remote and push the "DVD Menu" button. Watch as your DVD player says "no".
And for that I'm glad.
Why?!?
Because they (MPAA and DVDCCA) gave us a real good argument we can use with "normal" (non-geek) people about why the DVD restrictions are bad. They might think any protection system is good and we are pirates for trying to bypass it. They probably don't know or care about Linux or, worse, think it is a hacker (as in criminal) tool.
But if we hammer home that a lot of the protection system is so they are forced to watch ads, that will (seriously) get them pissed. Thanks MPAA! Most people don't care about regions (if it ain't in Blockbuster, it doesn't exist), but don't like when they can't use their technology in the way they want to. Which isn't watching DVD on Linux or making a VCD or whatnot.
But, imagine how annoyed the average person would be if they couldn't use the MUTE button on TV when an ad came on.
The MPAA, over this seemingly minor detail in their control scheme, has generously given us something we can argue our case with when it comes to convincing "average people". Such as those who can support our cause, or who serve on juries.
And technically illegal (? not sure about this - I do think they can ask you to stop if you cause too much interference) to use in a residential neighborhood. Only FCC Class A approval. Class A=commercial only (too much interference for residential). B=residential allowed (of course you can use a Class B in a commercial area too).
With all the geeks running really ridiculous stuff in their residences, I think everything should be engineered to Class B standards (i.e. low interference).
Here is something to disprove that piracy is cutting sales:
Stores near universities: sales down 4% in 2 years. Stores near universities that banned Napster: sales down 7% in 2 years.
If Napster was the culprit, things would be the other way around. If Napster was the culprit, those without it would be more likely to buy CDs. Look at the above statistics (directly from the article).
Also, most of the decline was from before Napster was even available.
And this tudy was commissioned by a rights management group to support the pro-industry position.
Linux is not a low performance system. Please people, don't believe the Microsoft lies. If you use Linux correctly, performance is good. Even stupid things (like lots of very small writes) perform as well as can be considering given conditions.
Someone give me an example of a situation where well written code on Linux will run significantly slower than on Windows.
I disagree strongly that Linux needs to allow more direct access to hardware. Especially for sound, where there just isn't that much bandwidth needed. Let's face it, the human ear is only 2 channels 20 KHz resolution, maybe 80 db usable dynamic range (for the purposes of computer gems, etc. Don't want or need 100 db sound effects!). Even with multichannel sound though, it isn't a lot of data.
Most importantly, breaking the abstraction layer provided by the OS makes games and other applications dependant on actual hardware details. This is bad, this is going back to the bad old DOS days.
Secondly Linux is well written. Using its abstractions exacts at worst a near negligable speed penalty (unless your app is coded in a brain-dead manner, such as calling write() with one byte every time). Doing thing the right time is not going to slow things down enough to take away from the enjoyment of a game. Unless you really can tell the difference between 100 FPS and 99 FPS.
No, the cave man with the biggest club and the most lackeys existed before government. What he wanted he took. After government, we'll revert to that state.
We (in the USA) are in that state now. The cave man with the biggest club and the most lackeys has a name: The United States Federal Government.
What about the -2 posts? The ones that do not show up at all unless you hack URLs because there isn't any option to read at lower than -1. P.S. My karma dropped in the last few days and I wasn't even modded down. What the heck?
Chuck D. of Public Enemy has an MP3 out called "Swinder's Lust". It's about the record industry ripping off artists, not what you are talking about, but still relevent.
However, I think that if you have the right to speech, the person who you are speaking against has a right to know who you are.
Even if they'll fire you. Even if they'll kill you. Even if they'll get government thugs (operating under the "authority" of a court) to take all your assets and sell them off or even put you in prison and revoke your civil rights (forget about changing the system when your right to vote is revoked because you committed something that just became a felony - forget becoming a politician or even convincing the gov't or anyone to listen to (or hire) you then even after you spent 5 years in a hell hole with murderers and rapists).
If your speech will cause you to get unjustifiable hurt by those your offend or annoy, then you should have the right to be anonymous. We wouldn't need anonymity if the world was fair. But it is not fair now. Bad things happen to people that aren't doing anything wrong. Anonymity can help.
Don't like anonymity? Fight the things that cause it to be needed. Such as censorship and the like. People will be more likely to speak out non-anonymously if harm won't come to them. You want accountability for those who speak? How about accountability for those who censor?
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They're switching to IR speed detectors to better catch speeders. (Radar detectors don't work on laser). As for radar, "instant on" helps catch speeders and reduce health risks. Think most cops today are broadcasting radar 100% of the time? Probably not.
They'd be on the bad (defendant) side of the legal system for a change.
It probably almost made some sort of sense back in the day when a felony usually meant you did something really evil, like treason, murder, arson or rape, not the stupid stuff that are felonies now... In any event, the power to take away the vote is the power to manipulate the vote. Excluding felons from voting changes the overall bias of the electorate to favor current laws. Plus they make certain things felonies to try to exclude certain segments of the population from voting.
You need to think critically.
Here is an example, people with cell phones may be under more stress, and that can cause cancer.
I think you mean part 15.
How about Winsoft and Appsoft?
No way! When it comes to screwed up legislation, boneheaded politicians and corrupt government, America is still number one.
Which is a good thing. Our society is becoming too mobile, too fragmented, too unstable and too disjointed. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say I want the right to have a productive and fulfilling life without having to move around the country constantly, switch jobs constantly, always follow the latest trend, etc. Part of the sickness in our society is from people not putting down roots so to speak.
We, as the technical class, should steer technology towards improving stability in our lives, not undermining it.
Cool. People like you are sucking down so much bandwidth they need to get a OC-12 and a couple of OC-3's! Guess it isn't porn that is driving the infrastructure improvements on the Internet nowadays...
Wrong. MP3 beat it out as a search term a while ago. Scary in a way...
A misdemeanor with a possible 5 year sentence?!? Excuse me, but I consider that a felony. You lose the right to ever own a gun not for a felony, but for any crime with a term exceeding one year. (That is the language the federal law uses). A crime with more than a one year sentence is essentially a felony, even if it isn't called that.
So if I'm a darkside hacker and I want to prevent you from talking to Yahoo, I could just spoof Yahoo's IP and send port scan packets. I don't get to see the replies, but that's not the point, I get you to cut yourself off from Yahoo. Or any other sites. I could have you cut yourself off from anybody I know or suspect you want to communicate with.
The United States Department of Justice. That's who.
The license gives one additional rights to do things not otherwise allowed under trademark law. Despite what it says, it can not make it illegal for you to do things that would otherwise NOT be a violation of trademark law. E.G. if trademark law allows you to use a trademark for identification purposes, a license can not take that away. Licenses can only give, not take. Contracts (that is what UCITA has to do with) can take away, but there are limits on what they can do, how they can be agreed to, etc. I am not a lawyer, any care to comment?
Or you can get a declaratory judgement. Or get an injuction against enforcement of their trademark in cases where such enforcement would be against public policy (I do think one can get an injuction against enforcement of a law, e.g. the CDA, but whether one could use that here is debatable.) I am not a lawyer, any here care to comment?
I did some X programming, simple Xlib stuff. It is perverse how much the app has to do just to open up a window and draw pixels in it. You have to worry about what visual you get and what byte order and do all hte conversions yourself. Or use some high-level library which also has a disgusting interface and is way slow. Since I was playing around with 3D rendering, that just wouldn't do.
Anyway, back to alpha rendering. If X has reached the point where it can't or won't be extended as needed, when needed, then it is time for something new. It is as simple as that.
Innovate or die.
And for that I'm glad.
Why?!?
Because they (MPAA and DVDCCA) gave us a real good argument we can use with "normal" (non-geek) people about why the DVD restrictions are bad. They might think any protection system is good and we are pirates for trying to bypass it. They probably don't know or care about Linux or, worse, think it is a hacker (as in criminal) tool.
But if we hammer home that a lot of the protection system is so they are forced to watch ads, that will (seriously) get them pissed. Thanks MPAA! Most people don't care about regions (if it ain't in Blockbuster, it doesn't exist), but don't like when they can't use their technology in the way they want to. Which isn't watching DVD on Linux or making a VCD or whatnot.
But, imagine how annoyed the average person would be if they couldn't use the MUTE button on TV when an ad came on.
The MPAA, over this seemingly minor detail in their control scheme, has generously given us something we can argue our case with when it comes to convincing "average people". Such as those who can support our cause, or who serve on juries.
With all the geeks running really ridiculous stuff in their residences, I think everything should be engineered to Class B standards (i.e. low interference).
Here is something to disprove that piracy is cutting sales:
Stores near universities: sales down 4% in 2 years.
Stores near universities that banned Napster: sales down 7% in 2 years.
If Napster was the culprit, things would be the other way around. If Napster was the culprit, those without it would be more likely to buy CDs. Look at the above statistics (directly from the article).
Also, most of the decline was from before Napster was even available.
And this tudy was commissioned by a rights management group to support the pro-industry position.
How ironic.
Someone give me an example of a situation where well written code on Linux will run significantly slower than on Windows.
Most importantly, breaking the abstraction layer provided by the OS makes games and other applications dependant on actual hardware details. This is bad, this is going back to the bad old DOS days.
Secondly Linux is well written. Using its abstractions exacts at worst a near negligable speed penalty (unless your app is coded in a brain-dead manner, such as calling write() with one byte every time). Doing thing the right time is not going to slow things down enough to take away from the enjoyment of a game. Unless you really can tell the difference between 100 FPS and 99 FPS.
We (in the USA) are in that state now. The cave man with the biggest club and the most lackeys has a name: The United States Federal Government.
What about the -2 posts? The ones that do not show up at all unless you hack URLs because there isn't any option to read at lower than -1. P.S. My karma dropped in the last few days and I wasn't even modded down. What the heck?
Chuck D. of Public Enemy has an MP3 out called "Swinder's Lust". It's about the record industry ripping off artists, not what you are talking about, but still relevent.
Even if they'll fire you. Even if they'll kill you. Even if they'll get government thugs (operating under the "authority" of a court) to take all your assets and sell them off or even put you in prison and revoke your civil rights (forget about changing the system when your right to vote is revoked because you committed something that just became a felony - forget becoming a politician or even convincing the gov't or anyone to listen to (or hire) you then even after you spent 5 years in a hell hole with murderers and rapists).
If your speech will cause you to get unjustifiable hurt by those your offend or annoy, then you should have the right to be anonymous. We wouldn't need anonymity if the world was fair. But it is not fair now. Bad things happen to people that aren't doing anything wrong. Anonymity can help.
Don't like anonymity? Fight the things that cause it to be needed. Such as censorship and the like. People will be more likely to speak out non-anonymously if harm won't come to them. You want accountability for those who speak? How about accountability for those who censor?