Well, the only way to clarify this argument is to accept that there are two camps of creationists. There's the strict Bible-believers, who ARE threatened by science, because it contradicts their belief that the Bible is 100% word-for-word flawless direct from God, and then there are folks who believe in God, and believe that He is the creator of the universe, and that thought the Bible is His word, that it has to be interpreted, that language, and time have altered many specifics, but the general gist of it is true, and that when a believer reads the Bible, the Holy Spirit guides them in understanding. This allows for rational examination of the universe and it's laws to coexist with belief in a supreme being.
I belong to the second camp, and I must say that the first camp is silly. First of all, Pi is not equal to 3. It just isn't. Therefore the Bible is flawed. Get over it. Imperfect people wrote it in an imperfect language, on imperfect paper with imperfect ink. It may have been the Word of God at some point, but I think God is smart enough to know how things work here in this world, and smart enough to know how His Word is easily perverted for peoples' political purposes. Hence his way of speaking to believers through the Holy Spirit.
Or to put it another way: "I do not feel obliged to believe in the same God who has bestowed upon us reason and understanding, but has intended us to forgo their use." -Galileo
What if the person downloading the pr0n is someone that knows the child - or someone that child may meet at some point in their future? It's a horrible breach of privacy, and every new person that views a picture of an exploited child, exploits them further, and unless every copy of that picture is destroyed, that child, that individual human being, will be haunted by the specter that any person they meet may have seen them naked, performing that act.
And while there are LOTS of pictures of adults like that on the net, and they all face this very same issue, the child was a child when the picture was taken, and by the law's definition, unable to rationally choose the correct moral behavior, probably having been either physically or emotionally coerced in some way.
Were you aware, at the time you sold your soul to the devil, that you would eventually be forced to play shill for the "other side"? Or did you think that the devil would allow you to simply play the "anti-authority" game the rest of your lives?
What was so ingenious of this particular trojan is the social engineering aspect of it.
Malissa got folks to execute the payload by tricking them - curiosity killed the cat. The subject was "here's the document you asked for". Slightly suspicious. But incredibly virulent was "ILOVEYOU", it says something about human nature that this trojan ran amok far more quickly than Malissa. It's funny to think of all the morons who actually opened the message. It's also interesting to discuss the lack of merit to VB and Microsoft mail systems in general. But it's very interesting to see how and why this pathogen spread throughout the meat-part of the net.
Fortunately, I don't think there's a quicker avenue among humans than this one - or variations "let's meet for some no-strings sex" or something like that. We're all already used to "free sex" and "want to get rich quick". The wad has been blown. As a whole, humanity can be thought of as a single entity, and it just learned a painful lesson today. I make the prediction that this kind of trap will never again be this successful. Unless someone can think up better bait than "ILOVEYOU". Maybe I lack imagination. I'm not saying that these things will never work again, I'm just saying that as a whole, the majority of folks who fell for it this time, will probably not fall for it again. Unfortunately, people will just stop opening emails, instead of switching to a safer mail provider.
#1 - mymp3.com's model of authentication was not by any means airtight. There was nothing stopping a person from borrowing their brother's CD and putting it on their playlist - on the other hand, there's nothing stopping that same person from borrowing their brother's CD and ripping it - except CPU bandwidth and storage space.
#2 - scary concept: What if MP3.COM can't pay the fine? Does the RIAA own them? Does this mean that the RIAA then owns the artists signed with MP3.COM?
These laws won't be changed, because the people who make the laws take big fat checks from corporations and bodies like the RIAA.
This could have stopped. There was a good chance for that. You morons out there who did not vote for McCain in the republican primaries are to blame for that situation continuing. Neither Bush nor Gore are going to do a damn thing about Campaign finance reform. And you can be damn sure no other candidate had even a chance at it. At least with McCain there was a chance.
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
Re:Ask yourself this: Where did the MP3 come from?
on
MP3.com Loses In Court
·
· Score: 1
How is this the downfall of MP3.COM? All they need to do is cease the illegal behavior, pay whatever fine is imposed, and if that fine permits financial solvency, then MP3.COM can adopt a more law-abiding business model.
I dont' understand. (I'm not an MP3.COM customer), why the hell didn't the consumers just rip their own MP3 copy off of their own legal CD? The software is free. ..
Five problems with this stupid "splitting" bullshit.
#1 - if you're going to split along OS and APPLICATIONS, I challenge you to define "OS". Are we talking Kernel only? Or do we add Explorer, Notepad, Calculator, and finally Internet Explorer?
#2 - Microsoft's power has stemmed from tying fledgling apps with weak marketshare to apps with dominant marketshare. Yes, this was effective for the Windows/IE combo - but we're also forgetting that it was the bundling of Excel and Word that created the concept of the "Office Suite", which is what pretty much reamed out all the wordprocessor and spreadsheet competitors, and now, Office has 90% marketshare, and the only people who have a hope of competing must produce an "Office Suite", not merely a wordprocessor or spreadsheet, or personal database, or slideshow progie.
#3 - where do we put Visual Studio and the whole Microsoft API dynasty? The development tools are considered by many to be 1st rate, the best, hands down, and they are "bundled" with the crappy-ass Microsoft API, which is what REALLY allows Microsoft to dominate - because they own the API, and they can do the carrot on a stick routine to all the ISVs who rely on the API, because all of the other compiler/API vendors have been marginalized into worthlessness.
#4 - where MS dominates in API, their Office Suite also dominates in File Formats. I don't need to go into details here as to how that works. I don't see a split solving this issue - but others have suggested that perhaps government adherence to open specs for documents, and requirement that the legal profession do the same, the private world would likely follow suit, and as a requirement, ISVs would produce apps that would stick to this open standard, and then we break the chains of proprietary document formats. But the biggest step could be taken as a remedy to this case, and that's to require Microsoft to adhere to these specs. As the dominant vendor, this would put everyone in line, on the same page. However, the WRONG approach would be to make.doc the open standard. The right approach would be to make it some derivative of XML or something like that (actually, I think PDF would be great if Adobe didn't own it), then force MS to write Word to adhere to the spec, and seperately, make all government offices and agents use only software that is native to this spec (not merely able to read and write to it - it must be "native" so the software is still as easily useable when using the open document format exclusively - no clunky "translation" modes, or feature subset garbage).
#5 - How did Microsoft get so dominant in the first place? Smarmy deals with the box vendors. Make MS sell Windows at one set, public price, perhaps a schedule for bulk deals, but no charging Compaq one price, and Gateway a lower price, because Gateway sells only Windows systems. No making IBM pay for 20,000 licenses of Windows because they sold 20,000 CPU's, when 10,000 of those shipped with OS/2. Eliminate the arm-twisting, and that levels the playing field somewhat for other OS vendors.
Only if we address these five areas will the problem be fixed. Otherwise, we'll be fighting the same Saddam Gates again in five years.
a database instead of a hierarchical file system? What a great idea! Solves my problem!
Some files can go into the "blondes" directory, some can go in the "asians" directory, and some can go in the "girl-girl" directory, but what do I do if it's a blonde and an asian? or a blonde asian and a transsexual?
You need to do some market research first. Not as slimy as it sounds. Get a list of every feature and command your program will do. Just make it a flat list. Now go through this list carefully, and try to imagine yourself using the software, what kinds of tasks will the user be trying to accomplish with the software, which commands will they need to use? Which ones will be most common, and which ones honestly will only be used by power users. Then ask other people. Ask beta testers. Ask your sales people, your tech support people, the field engineers who directly work with customers. Use your large accounts. Ask them which features are important, which ones are used to accomplish the main tasks, and how they could be more convenient. Working up a UI that "learns" as you go along and adjusts to power users is nice, but it can lead to bloat, and if your user moves to another machine, or reinstalls, then the software will have to start learning all over - and different work habits might lead to different feature sets, etc.
A better approach (IMNSHO), is to construct your user interface based on your data collected in the surveys I mentioned before. Find ways of grouping the commands together so they're more convenient and easy to use for the most common workflow scenarios - so that the most common tasks are easily done. Also try to keep them logically arranged enough so that they're easy to find (cut, copy, and paste belong in the edit menu, as well as preferences, new, open, save, print, exit belong in the file menu, etc.) For the features that are not as commonly used, but still important, keep them available, but "out of the way", and make the UI configurable so that your power user has easy access to them if they want, and the grannies don't, but can get access.
Get some paper, cut out mock-up windows, buttons, icons, etc. arrange them, find a pleasing look, but keep in mind that form follows function, and remember your survey information. Above all, don't be afraid to be weird. Some people hate Kai's Power Tools and Bryce, but many find their interfaces to be very useable, even though they're inconsistent with the rest of the computer world. They address workflow.
A perfect example of a crappy UI; the windows version of Palindrom Network Archivist (long-dead). You had to open one app to view your tape library, a different to restore files, a different one to configure rotation, and a different one to do scheduling of jobs. From an engineer's perspective, putting all these discrete functions into different applications was very logical, but from a workflow perspective, it was a complete pain in the ass to use.
Is it not also true, that when you filter NOTHING, you still miss out on the vast majority of the web; that is to say, most people use search engines rather than specific URLs, and search engines index what, like 10% of all sites?
OH NO! YOU'RE MISSING SOMETHING! YOUR LIFE IS INCOMPLETE! EVERYONE ELSE IS TALKING ABOUT THAT ONE SITE YOU CAN'T FIND! YOU'RE A SOCIAL OUTCAST!
(sorry - I need to try the decaf Jolt. . . )
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Another good reason why we have just witnessed the irredeemable FUCKING of a good platform. They even had CLONES, with all the innovation and competition that implies, and now the cloners are fucked.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
This is exactly why it's so MORONIC to go to ARM when they should be going to Crusoe. They could then at least still take advantage of DBZ binaries through emulation a-la Moto 68k/PPC.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you have just witnessed the irredeemable FUCKING of a good platform by marketroids.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Actually, what is SORELY needed, but nobody's doing, is a website that tracks ALL product announcements, and watches the dates, and keeps a running total of how many days each product is overdue, and compiles a list of which industry players are the biggest fucking liars.
A site like that would get a lot of hits. And maybe people would stop believing the same bullshit from the same liars day in and day out, business as usual.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Re:Not So Overwhelming, After All...
on
ATI Radeon 256
·
· Score: 1
moderate +1 informative, +1 insightful.
Yes, as a long-time ATI person, I agree, their drivers exhibit much suckage. Which is why ATI will always suck no matter what they do with hardware.
Thanks for the tip on Rage Underground. I didn't know about that.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Slashdot Mirror
Well, the only way to clarify this argument is to accept that there are two camps of creationists. There's the strict Bible-believers, who ARE threatened by science, because it contradicts their belief that the Bible is 100% word-for-word flawless direct from God, and then there are folks who believe in God, and believe that He is the creator of the universe, and that thought the Bible is His word, that it has to be interpreted, that language, and time have altered many specifics, but the general gist of it is true, and that when a believer reads the Bible, the Holy Spirit guides them in understanding. This allows for rational examination of the universe and it's laws to coexist with belief in a supreme being.
I belong to the second camp, and I must say that the first camp is silly. First of all, Pi is not equal to 3. It just isn't. Therefore the Bible is flawed. Get over it. Imperfect people wrote it in an imperfect language, on imperfect paper with imperfect ink. It may have been the Word of God at some point, but I think God is smart enough to know how things work here in this world, and smart enough to know how His Word is easily perverted for peoples' political purposes. Hence his way of speaking to believers through the Holy Spirit.
Or to put it another way:
"I do not feel obliged to believe in the same God who has bestowed upon us reason and understanding, but has intended us to forgo their use." -Galileo
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
heh. I was 19 and I did some SERIOUS screwing up.
Partly because - probably I didn't get laid enough at age 16.
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
The child IS TOO still exploited!
What if the person downloading the pr0n is someone that knows the child - or someone that child may meet at some point in their future? It's a horrible breach of privacy, and every new person that views a picture of an exploited child, exploits them further, and unless every copy of that picture is destroyed, that child, that individual human being, will be haunted by the specter that any person they meet may have seen them naked, performing that act.
And while there are LOTS of pictures of adults like that on the net, and they all face this very same issue, the child was a child when the picture was taken, and by the law's definition, unable to rationally choose the correct moral behavior, probably having been either physically or emotionally coerced in some way.
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
Were you aware, at the time you sold your soul to the devil, that you would eventually be forced to play shill for the "other side"? Or did you think that the devil would allow you to simply play the "anti-authority" game the rest of your lives?
Get a haircut!
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
What was so ingenious of this particular trojan is the social engineering aspect of it.
Malissa got folks to execute the payload by tricking them - curiosity killed the cat. The subject was "here's the document you asked for". Slightly suspicious. But incredibly virulent was "ILOVEYOU", it says something about human nature that this trojan ran amok far more quickly than Malissa.
It's funny to think of all the morons who actually opened the message. It's also interesting to discuss the lack of merit to VB and Microsoft mail systems in general. But it's very interesting to see how and why this pathogen spread throughout the meat-part of the net.
Fortunately, I don't think there's a quicker avenue among humans than this one - or variations "let's meet for some no-strings sex" or something like that. We're all already used to "free sex" and "want to get rich quick". The wad has been blown.
As a whole, humanity can be thought of as a single entity, and it just learned a painful lesson today. I make the prediction that this kind of trap will never again be this successful. Unless someone can think up better bait than "ILOVEYOU". Maybe I lack imagination.
I'm not saying that these things will never work again, I'm just saying that as a whole, the majority of folks who fell for it this time, will probably not fall for it again. Unfortunately, people will just stop opening emails, instead of switching to a safer mail provider.
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
Heh, I tried to bribe McCain by donating $1k to his campaign, but it was shut down before they billed my cc#.
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
#1 - mymp3.com's model of authentication was not by any means airtight. There was nothing stopping a person from borrowing their brother's CD and putting it on their playlist - on the other hand, there's nothing stopping that same person from borrowing their brother's CD and ripping it - except CPU bandwidth and storage space.
#2 - scary concept: What if MP3.COM can't pay the fine? Does the RIAA own them? Does this mean that the RIAA then owns the artists signed with MP3.COM?
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
These laws won't be changed, because the people who make the laws take big fat checks from corporations and bodies like the RIAA.
This could have stopped. There was a good chance for that.
You morons out there who did not vote for McCain in the republican primaries are to blame for that situation continuing. Neither Bush nor Gore are going to do a damn thing about Campaign finance reform. And you can be damn sure no other candidate had even a chance at it. At least with McCain there was a chance.
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
How is this the downfall of MP3.COM? All they need to do is cease the illegal behavior, pay whatever fine is imposed, and if that fine permits financial solvency, then MP3.COM can adopt a more law-abiding business model.
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
I dont' understand. (I'm not an MP3.COM customer), why the hell didn't the consumers just rip their own MP3 copy off of their own legal CD? The software is free. . .
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
I guess the RIAA is going to *get* that nickel after all.
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
just like the trade federation viceroy said in TPM;
"this is getting out of hand. now there are two of them."
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
Five problems with this stupid "splitting" bullshit.
.doc the open standard. The right approach would be to make it some derivative of XML or something like that (actually, I think PDF would be great if Adobe didn't own it), then force MS to write Word to adhere to the spec, and seperately, make all government offices and agents use only software that is native to this spec (not merely able to read and write to it - it must be "native" so the software is still as easily useable when using the open document format exclusively - no clunky "translation" modes, or feature subset garbage).
#1 - if you're going to split along OS and APPLICATIONS, I challenge you to define "OS". Are we talking Kernel only? Or do we add Explorer, Notepad, Calculator, and finally Internet Explorer?
#2 - Microsoft's power has stemmed from tying fledgling apps with weak marketshare to apps with dominant marketshare. Yes, this was effective for the Windows/IE combo - but we're also forgetting that it was the bundling of Excel and Word that created the concept of the "Office Suite", which is what pretty much reamed out all the wordprocessor and spreadsheet competitors, and now, Office has 90% marketshare, and the only people who have a hope of competing must produce an "Office Suite", not merely a wordprocessor or spreadsheet, or personal database, or slideshow progie.
#3 - where do we put Visual Studio and the whole Microsoft API dynasty? The development tools are considered by many to be 1st rate, the best, hands down, and they are "bundled" with the crappy-ass Microsoft API, which is what REALLY allows Microsoft to dominate - because they own the API, and they can do the carrot on a stick routine to all the ISVs who rely on the API, because all of the other compiler/API vendors have been marginalized into worthlessness.
#4 - where MS dominates in API, their Office Suite also dominates in File Formats. I don't need to go into details here as to how that works. I don't see a split solving this issue - but others have suggested that perhaps government adherence to open specs for documents, and requirement that the legal profession do the same, the private world would likely follow suit, and as a requirement, ISVs would produce apps that would stick to this open standard, and then we break the chains of proprietary document formats. But the biggest step could be taken as a remedy to this case, and that's to require Microsoft to adhere to these specs. As the dominant vendor, this would put everyone in line, on the same page. However, the WRONG approach would be to make
#5 - How did Microsoft get so dominant in the first place? Smarmy deals with the box vendors. Make MS sell Windows at one set, public price, perhaps a schedule for bulk deals, but no charging Compaq one price, and Gateway a lower price, because Gateway sells only Windows systems. No making IBM pay for 20,000 licenses of Windows because they sold 20,000 CPU's, when 10,000 of those shipped with OS/2. Eliminate the arm-twisting, and that levels the playing field somewhat for other OS vendors.
Only if we address these five areas will the problem be fixed. Otherwise, we'll be fighting the same Saddam Gates again in five years.
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
a database instead of a hierarchical file system? What a great idea! Solves my problem!
Some files can go into the "blondes" directory, some can go in the "asians" directory, and some can go in the "girl-girl" directory, but what do I do if it's a blonde and an asian? or a blonde asian and a transsexual?
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
it's the difference between using a box wrench to turn a nut, and a ratchet wrench with extension levers and flexible shafts or other goodies.
. . . Or just drilling the fucker out and re-tapping the hole.
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
IMNSHO, here's how I think it *should* be done.
You need to do some market research first. Not as slimy as it sounds. Get a list of every feature and command your program will do. Just make it a flat list. Now go through this list carefully, and try to imagine yourself using the software, what kinds of tasks will the user be trying to accomplish with the software, which commands will they need to use? Which ones will be most common, and which ones honestly will only be used by power users.
Then ask other people. Ask beta testers. Ask your sales people, your tech support people, the field engineers who directly work with customers. Use your large accounts. Ask them which features are important, which ones are used to accomplish the main tasks, and how they could be more convenient.
Working up a UI that "learns" as you go along and adjusts to power users is nice, but it can lead to bloat, and if your user moves to another machine, or reinstalls, then the software will have to start learning all over - and different work habits might lead to different feature sets, etc.
A better approach (IMNSHO), is to construct your user interface based on your data collected in the surveys I mentioned before. Find ways of grouping the commands together so they're more convenient and easy to use for the most common workflow scenarios - so that the most common tasks are easily done. Also try to keep them logically arranged enough so that they're easy to find (cut, copy, and paste belong in the edit menu, as well as preferences, new, open, save, print, exit belong in the file menu, etc.)
For the features that are not as commonly used, but still important, keep them available, but "out of the way", and make the UI configurable so that your power user has easy access to them if they want, and the grannies don't, but can get access.
Get some paper, cut out mock-up windows, buttons, icons, etc. arrange them, find a pleasing look, but keep in mind that form follows function, and remember your survey information.
Above all, don't be afraid to be weird. Some people hate Kai's Power Tools and Bryce, but many find their interfaces to be very useable, even though they're inconsistent with the rest of the computer world. They address workflow.
A perfect example of a crappy UI; the windows version of Palindrom Network Archivist (long-dead). You had to open one app to view your tape library, a different to restore files, a different one to configure rotation, and a different one to do scheduling of jobs. From an engineer's perspective, putting all these discrete functions into different applications was very logical, but from a workflow perspective, it was a complete pain in the ass to use.
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
Is it not also true, that when you filter NOTHING, you still miss out on the vast majority of the web; that is to say, most people use search engines rather than specific URLs, and search engines index what, like 10% of all sites?
OH NO! YOU'RE MISSING SOMETHING! YOUR LIFE IS INCOMPLETE! EVERYONE ELSE IS TALKING ABOUT THAT ONE SITE YOU CAN'T FIND! YOU'RE A SOCIAL OUTCAST!
(sorry - I need to try the decaf Jolt. . . )
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
You'll laugh your ass off, but the funniest thing is, go to www.vapor.com, and it's an Amiga software company called VaporWare. No shit.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Another good reason why we have just witnessed the irredeemable FUCKING of a good platform. They even had CLONES, with all the innovation and competition that implies, and now the cloners are fucked.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
This is exactly why it's so MORONIC to go to ARM when they should be going to Crusoe. They could then at least still take advantage of DBZ binaries through emulation a-la Moto 68k/PPC.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you have just witnessed the irredeemable FUCKING of a good platform by marketroids.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
YEs, but when that small area wears, you still have to pay %&*#($%&#( Palm Inc $100 to replace it.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
True, but what can wrappers fix that grep could not, in this instance?
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Actually, what is SORELY needed, but nobody's doing, is a website that tracks ALL product announcements, and watches the dates, and keeps a running total of how many days each product is overdue, and compiles a list of which industry players are the biggest fucking liars.
A site like that would get a lot of hits. And maybe people would stop believing the same bullshit from the same liars day in and day out, business as usual.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
moderate +1 informative, +1 insightful.
Yes, as a long-time ATI person, I agree, their drivers exhibit much suckage. Which is why ATI will always suck no matter what they do with hardware.
Thanks for the tip on Rage Underground. I didn't know about that.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Or Scooby-Doo soundtrack effects.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".