Very good point. And without the human element to judge the context of a maneuver, you could end up penalizing people for proper defensive driving. Eg. swerving to avoid an accident pushes you a few inches into the "bus lane" or whatever, and you get fine, whereas if you hadn't reacted you'd get no fine but a totalled car.
McBride is a troll, plain and simple. Responses will only encourage him; personal responses even more so.
Re:Use Compact Flourescents for Lighting!
on
Light Bulb Replacements
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· Score: 2, Interesting
IIRC, those piercing blue headlights use some new kind of halogen bulb, not LEDs.
Also, I like the LED stoplights. What I hate are those weird fresnel-lens type stoplights that you can't see clearly from certain angles (anyone else know what I'm talking about?).
I'm assuming for the moment that this software only reports back when it sees a problem? (the alternative is too sleazy to merit consideration.)
If so, it sounds like they've created a "honeypot" copy-protect function for copy-crackers, with a second (real) copy-protect function that's more thoroughly obscured. This is actually a clever idea, and it depends on the cracker not knowing about the backup system. If the backup copy-protection shut down the program, then the crackers would know that they had missed something, and eventually they'd find it. This way, the war3z d00ds think they have a successful crack, until the they C&D'd, and even then they may not figure out how they were busted.
Of course, the possibility of false positives makes this more troubling (honeypots have to be sought out by the bad guys). But if the original copy-protection system is well designed and sufficiently non-intrusive, then most of the valid reasons for cracking legal copies go away. The only other break in the analogy is that honeypots are physically part of the company's servers, not the user's PC. Is this enough to make honeypots ok, but this practice unethical?
Err, doesn't the DMCA require ISPs to shut down infringers immediately? If they don't, they lose their exemption from liability or something. This only applies in the US, of course (for now...)
But of course! It's an attack on our crucial IP infrastructure, clearly meant to destabilize the world economy! Time for Isreal to put the smack-down on these AlQaeda-commie-liberal-b#st#rds!;-)
This latter group seems like the ideal set of people to get automatic protection.
They're also the people most likely to be using cruddy dialup connections. As mentioned in previous posts, forcing updates over 56K (or worse) is a VeryBadIdea(tm).
Err, try 3D gaming sometime. Granted, it's not photorealistic just yet, but it's certainly immersive. And the only reason it's not *truly* 3D is because nobody wants to mess with the goggles --it's a supply and demand thing.
Of course, if you're talking about Matrix-level VR, that's another matter. Unfortunately, that's a bit of a hard problem, just like AI; in both cases, it turned out that outdoing the human brain is harder than it looks...
I signed up for a tour online once, through a "secure" web-form. When they emailed me the confirmation, they included all the original form data, including my full credit card number and exp. date! All this in unencrypted email.
Re:Compare this to the "mystery ape" in Nortwest U
on
New Great Ape Discovered?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
If it was anyone other than ape researchers, they would have been laughed at. Given the fact that they have access to real apes, I don't think their evidence is any more solid than the various bigfoot/yeti/etc. sightings around the world. Eg. instead of a guy in an ape suit, you take a picture of a gorilla from a weird angle; same with the skulls, dung, etc.
On the other hand, if they do find something real, it will be used to support the claims of crackpot bigfoot-hunters everywhere. If they could miss an entire species in africa for so long, why not elsewhere? Either way, get ready for ape-hoax field day in the near future...
True, the normal (YPbPr) "component video" inputs need a transcoder.However, some TV sets come with RBGHV inputs, which only require a cable adapter to sync to VGA.
Err, do DSL users pay twice, once for the DSL and once for the telephone service (usually bundled with the DSL)? That's what will happen to most cable-modem users, who have completely separate telephone service.
Just changing the pattern of 1s and 0s on a hard disk is an odd way to make a living.
Flashback 2000 BC: Yinterceptus quoth: "Just changing the pigment on a dried papyrus leaf is an odd way to make a living..."
Seriously, all writing --heck, all language --is psychological, a product of human culture. If the bits on a harddrive can represent and store the information as well as a fragile, flammable sheet of wood pulp, what's the problem?
Felton is right about the way the *AA use these two threat models; however, I believe that this is at least partly intentional. I think they talk up the Napster threat to gain sympathy for their cause, when in reality they're more interested in killing casual copying. They're using the "perfect digital copying" menace and "sky is falling" P2P scenarios as a smokescreen to take away existing consumer usage rights. Content publishers have resented the fair-use and first-sale doctrines ever since they came along, and now they're grabbing a unique opportunity to turn back the clock and regain complete control over the consumer. A prime example is HDCP, which will destroy the ability to make simple analog copies of video, which was specifically allowed under VCR rulings of the 80's. The ironic thing is that they're using a digital scheme to do it.
The forgotten lines tidbit sounds too good to be true, but the stage acting origin doesn't surprise me. Often what's considered good acting on stage turns into overacting in the more intimate medium of television. This especially true of traditional Shakespearean acting styles. That's why Kenneth Branugh is a genius; he knows how to play Shakespeare for the screen instead of the stage.
I'm from the US but I still had no idea what this meant. Of course, I don't work in retail, but to me black friday sounds like one of those stock market crashes or something.
I switched over to Linux while I was in college. Technically it was dual boot, but I did most of my work as well as internet stuff in Linux. It worked best for my situation (ethernet to the campus LAN, senior projects on shared unix servers, etc.), and it also acted as a hobby (read: procrastination aide;)
I tried using Linux after I got out, but there were two problems: 1) It no longer fit my needs as well (mostly games and dialup internet, two things it didn't do well at the time) 2) Now that I sit in front of a computer for 40 hours a week, I'm much less inclined to spend time fiddling with one at home. Linux is easier to configure now, but it still needs some tinkering to get the most out of it.
Currently my home system runs Win98se, with no plans to change. All I really do with it is surf and play games, so it doesn't matter how crappy the OS is. Fortunately, our eng. dept. at work has recently gotten out from under the IT-based M$ mandate, so we've all got RedHat running on our workstations. Now I'm trying to relearn all those Uber-c00l unix commands...
I use Enlightenment. I have no icons. I have a menu that comes up on the left mouse click w/my favorite programs.
Heh, I used to have much the same thing on my windows 3.1(!) box. I had a replacement 'shell' which used the right mouse button (virtually unused by apps in those days) to display a program menu; I got it down to where I literally had nothing on the screen at startup, other than my wallpaper. This was especially useful for keeping nosy college roomates from messing with my computer!
Sounds like you need a new job; barring that, maybe you need to change your outlook. If the guys who are working normal hours aren't getting fired left and right, then maybe you should ask yourself why you're working all those extra hours. For that matter, if the schedules are so screwed up, what's wrong with whining to get them fixed? If you actually like working longer hours, that's fine, but why let yourself be bullied when your coworkers aren't?
Slashdot Mirror
Very good point. And without the human element to judge the context of a maneuver, you could end up penalizing people for proper defensive driving. Eg. swerving to avoid an accident pushes you a few inches into the "bus lane" or whatever, and you get fine, whereas if you hadn't reacted you'd get no fine but a totalled car.
McBride is a troll, plain and simple. Responses will only encourage him; personal responses even more so.
IIRC, those piercing blue headlights use some new kind of halogen bulb, not LEDs.
Also, I like the LED stoplights. What I hate are those weird fresnel-lens type stoplights that you can't see clearly from certain angles (anyone else know what I'm talking about?).
I'm assuming for the moment that this software only reports back when it sees a problem? (the alternative is too sleazy to merit consideration.)
If so, it sounds like they've created a "honeypot" copy-protect function for copy-crackers, with a second (real) copy-protect function that's more thoroughly obscured. This is actually a clever idea, and it depends on the cracker not knowing about the backup system. If the backup copy-protection shut down the program, then the crackers would know that they had missed something, and eventually they'd find it. This way, the war3z d00ds think they have a successful crack, until the they C&D'd, and even then they may not figure out how they were busted.
Of course, the possibility of false positives makes this more troubling (honeypots have to be sought out by the bad guys). But if the original copy-protection system is well designed and sufficiently non-intrusive, then most of the valid reasons for cracking legal copies go away.
The only other break in the analogy is that honeypots are physically part of the company's servers, not the user's PC. Is this enough to make honeypots ok, but this practice unethical?
Err, doesn't the DMCA require ISPs to shut down infringers immediately? If they don't, they lose their exemption from liability or something. This only applies in the US, of course (for now...)
But of course! It's an attack on our crucial IP infrastructure, clearly meant to destabilize the world economy! Time for Isreal to put the smack-down on these AlQaeda-commie-liberal-b#st#rds! ;-)
They're also the people most likely to be using cruddy dialup connections. As mentioned in previous posts, forcing updates over 56K (or worse) is a VeryBadIdea(tm).
Resistence is futile, you will be patched...
Err, try 3D gaming sometime. Granted, it's not photorealistic just yet, but it's certainly immersive. And the only reason it's not *truly* 3D is because nobody wants to mess with the goggles --it's a supply and demand thing.
Of course, if you're talking about Matrix-level VR, that's another matter. Unfortunately, that's a bit of a hard problem, just like AI; in both cases, it turned out that outdoing the human brain is harder than it looks...
Companies do this kind of stuff all the time.
I signed up for a tour online once, through a "secure" web-form. When they emailed me the confirmation, they included all the original form data, including my full credit card number and exp. date! All this in unencrypted email.
If it was anyone other than ape researchers, they would have been laughed at. Given the fact that they have access to real apes, I don't think their evidence is any more solid than the various bigfoot/yeti/etc. sightings around the world. Eg. instead of a guy in an ape suit, you take a picture of a gorilla from a weird angle; same with the skulls, dung, etc.
On the other hand, if they do find something real, it will be used to support the claims of crackpot bigfoot-hunters everywhere. If they could miss an entire species in africa for so long, why not elsewhere? Either way, get ready for ape-hoax field day in the near future...
True, the normal (YPbPr) "component video" inputs need a transcoder.However, some TV sets come with RBGHV inputs, which only require a cable adapter to sync to VGA.
Err, do DSL users pay twice, once for the DSL and once for the telephone service (usually bundled with the DSL)? That's what will happen to most cable-modem users, who have completely separate telephone service.
Flashback 2000 BC: Yinterceptus quoth:
"Just changing the pigment on a dried papyrus leaf is an odd way to make a living..."
Seriously, all writing --heck, all language --is psychological, a product of human culture. If the bits on a harddrive can represent and store the information as well as a fragile, flammable sheet of wood pulp, what's the problem?
Felton is right about the way the *AA use these two threat models; however, I believe that this is at least partly intentional. I think they talk up the Napster threat to gain sympathy for their cause, when in reality they're more interested in killing casual copying. They're using the "perfect digital copying" menace and "sky is falling" P2P scenarios as a smokescreen to take away existing consumer usage rights. Content publishers have resented the fair-use and first-sale doctrines ever since they came along, and now they're grabbing a unique opportunity to turn back the clock and regain complete control over the consumer. A prime example is HDCP, which will destroy the ability to make simple analog copies of video, which was specifically allowed under VCR rulings of the 80's. The ironic thing is that they're using a digital scheme to do it.
Yes! The perfect case badge light! It even comes in one-inch squares! (or close enough.) Ah, the wonders of modern technology :-)
The forgotten lines tidbit sounds too good to be true, but the stage acting origin doesn't surprise me. Often what's considered good acting on stage turns into overacting in the more intimate medium of television. This especially true of traditional Shakespearean acting styles. That's why Kenneth Branugh is a genius; he knows how to play Shakespeare for the screen instead of the stage.
Mmmm, ZikZak burger....
So how does this relate to the DMCA specifically? It sounds more like a trade secrets issue to me.
I'm from the US but I still had no idea what this meant. Of course, I don't work in retail, but to me black friday sounds like one of those stock market crashes or something.
I switched over to Linux while I was in college. Technically it was dual boot, but I did most of my work as well as internet stuff in Linux. It worked best for my situation (ethernet to the campus LAN, senior projects on shared unix servers, etc.), and it also acted as a hobby (read: procrastination aide ;)
I tried using Linux after I got out, but there were two problems:
1) It no longer fit my needs as well (mostly games and dialup internet, two things it didn't do well at the time)
2) Now that I sit in front of a computer for 40 hours a week, I'm much less inclined to spend time fiddling with one at home. Linux is easier to configure now, but it still needs some tinkering to get the most out of it.
Currently my home system runs Win98se, with no plans to change. All I really do with it is surf and play games, so it doesn't matter how crappy the OS is. Fortunately, our eng. dept. at work has recently gotten out from under the IT-based M$ mandate, so we've all got RedHat running on our workstations. Now I'm trying to relearn all those Uber-c00l unix commands...
Heh, I used to have much the same thing on my windows 3.1(!) box. I had a replacement 'shell' which used the right mouse button (virtually unused by apps in those days) to display a program menu; I got it down to where I literally had nothing on the screen at startup, other than my wallpaper. This was especially useful for keeping nosy college roomates from messing with my computer!
Sounds like you need a new job; barring that, maybe you need to change your outlook. If the guys who are working normal hours aren't getting fired left and right, then maybe you should ask yourself why you're working all those extra hours. For that matter, if the schedules are so screwed up, what's wrong with whining to get them fixed? If you actually like working longer hours, that's fine, but why let yourself be bullied when your coworkers aren't?
Heh, my company network is still being swamped by NIMDA activity!
I can't let you do that. My self-healing security circuit says you're an intruder. You shouldn't have made him angry like that.
Moral: Do not taunt Happy-Fun Security AI.