Why not simply use a weighted combination of rating and age (well, youth) for the ordering algorithm? Turn the knob for rating down to nearly zero and you get nearly the same behavior as Twitter has today. Then you can slowly turn it up if you want a slightly different kind of community. This is basically the approach taken by Reddit, Hacker News, and many other aggregation sites -- they may differ on the exact formula, but it's always some weighted combination of age and rating.
> Does anyone have replacement recommendations for people who used these services?
For those from outside the US, your best bet is probably to use small, local players who might not yet have had pressure applied to them. For those inside the US, I have one recommendation: run for Congress.
If your bank is adjusting your balance downward without explanation, there are several places you can report it and get action. The local police are not one of them.
It could be a case of someone inside the bank committing fraud, in which case the management of the bank would LOVE to know about it and have the chance to act (I know... I work for a bank). It is even possible (although unlikely) that the bank officers are in on it and are attempting to defraud consumers. In the first case, reporting it to management will resolve the problem, and probably VERY quickly and politely. Search your bank's website or other documents for the name of the bank's COO or CEO and send a letter to that person. If you truly believe that the bank's management is "in on it" then you can report them to the banking regulators (http://www.sec.gov/answers/bankreg.htm gives contact info in the USA). They will certainly follow up (and afterward I can assure you that your bank will hate you... but they'll also treat you fairly since they know the regulators are watching).
Of course, it is also possible that the bank was right and your own records were wrong. Be prepared to discover that you were wrong and apologize if that turned out to be the case. Don't let fear of this prevent you from following up if you feel cheated, just keep an open mind.
Yeah, I know... I've been trying. Ever since 2 years into Bush's term, I've been contributing money AND TIME to national campaigns. But so far it isn't working... well, at least Obama's election was better than Bush so maybe it is STARTING to work? I hope?
I realize that you have already had to deal with an invasion of Iraq to eliminate imaginary "weapons of mass destruction" and a world-wide financial collapse (although, to be fair, you bear some of the responsibility for that one... after all YOU believed our our uncritical rating agencies). And we're still stumbling around on that ruining-the-planetary-climate issue. So I know it's a big favor to ask, but would you please, PLEASE restrain my country's insane leaders?
The point is not what YOU think of the quality of the apps. It's not what PALM thinks of the quality of the apps. The point is that the author of the software must jump through ridiculous hoops and beg permission of someone before they can give their app to people who want it. And if the someone says "No", then no one can have it.
So Palm decided that they wanted to imitate Apple? After all, "no press is bad press", and Apple sure has been getting a lot of press for the way it runs the AppStore. Locking down the device... it may not be useful to the *customers*, but it couldn't harm the company at all, could it?
Well, not unless they abandon your platform (or never flock to it in the first place) in favor of Android or even Nokia's Maemo -- platforms that allow the USER to control what they run on their devices.
I think I've learned my lesson. I am not buying an iPhone, Kindle, or (after reading this) Palm -- no devices from a company that intends to control what I can run on my device. Offering a store: GREAT idea. Carefully controlling what goes in this store and prohibiting any other means of getting apps onto the device: that makes it THEIR device, not mine, and I don't want to play that game.
I don't know about you, but I would RATHER be tested during an interview. It would increase the chance that I would wind up working with competent co-workers.
Would you be willing to say what ISP you work for?
Or, alternatively, I'm looking for an ISP. After reading your post, I have significant respect for your opinion on the matter. Is there any particular ISP you would like to recommend?
I seriously want to know this, howexactly is Bush conservative? Big spender, lax immigration, "diversity", federalized health care, education, and now emergency management. if he wasn't Christian, the liberals would not have a problem with the guy.
Actually, speaking as a liberal I do have a number of very strong objections. Let's start with the fact that he's running the biggest deficit since... well, since EVER. Let's move on to the fact that he education plan "No child left behind" seems focused on introducing more tests, "fixing" failing public schools by giving the kids money to go elsewhere, does little to improve education, and isn't even paid for. We could talk about the erosion of civil liberties -- I am astonsished to hear government lawyers argue before the court that the President can say someone is an "Enemy Combatant" and on those grounds alone they can be jailed indefinitely without a right to confront their accusers, dispute the claim, or even see a court or a lawyer! Or "making America safe from terrorism" by invading an unrelated country and thus igniting new fires of hatred throughout the muslem world and even parts of Europe.
What I don't understand is why conservatives support this guy. Is it because he promises to keep the gays in their place by preventing them from getting married? Is it in hopes that he'll appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade? Do some people think that attending the right church is all that matters? Or is it that this country has become so partisan that an incompetent with money and connections will win out over someone like John McCain just so conservatives can "support our guy".
I thought as much (despite the fact that the other is the more standard interpretation). In that case I suspect you're probably right. There are probably fewer than 10^100 bits available in the universe [http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0530.html%5 D, so we'd *better* be able to do with less than your number.
I understand the Halting Problem fairly well. I also went and read the wikipedia entry you reference (which is quite well written, as usual). But I simply do not understand how this enables a virus to determine whether it is running inside a virtual environment/sandbox.
Is it possible that you are confused? The Halting Problem DOES guarantee that no virtual sandbox can be created which will review any program and verify that it never engages in virus-like behavior. But I fail to see how it proves anything about the virus's ability to determine whether it is in a virtual environment or not. And it seems obvious to me (although I'm certainly not claiming to possess a proof) that the opposite is true: for a good-enough sandbox a program can NEVER determine whether it is running in a sandbox or in the "real world".
[Insert clever Matrix quip here, but I'm too bored to come up with one.]
You posted AC, but if the previous poster (or anyone else) knows the answer, please let me know (email jekk@mcherm.com) or post it here.
Google will hide the old usenet postings if you (the original author) ask them to (see http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/posting_faq. html#remove). But please don't unless it's particularly important or particularly offensive / hurtful to someone. It is nice to keep the old archives intact.
I really feel for the plight of the Chinese people, and I believe that the ability to speak anonymously and read freely would go a long way toward enabling them to improve their government. But is there anything that I, as an internet-savy geek, can do to help?
For example, I would gladly cooperate in a massive DOS attack on the great firewall servers... but it wouldn't work (firstly because they'd just block it, and secondly because taking them down would only isolate China, it wouldn't let info in and out).
I would run a freenet server, except that (please correct me if I'm wrong here) my understanding is that with today's design the authorities can tell that freenet is being used... which is enough to silence people even if the authorities can't tell WHAT it was used for. My understanding is that freenet is being altered to meet this challenge, but that it's not there yet.
So is there anyone out there in China.... no, make that anyone with a FRIEND in China who has suggestions of how I can help?
Um... no. Your step 2 ("You spend one minute out of your busy day viewing the web page and you suspect that it may indeed be kiddie porn.") is invalid and illegal. Illegal because if it _IS_ kiddie porn, it's illegal to view such a thing even for "good" reasons. Dumb law, but there it is. Secondly, even if the site in question happens to be "http://www.google.com" and you're highly confident that the images there do not constitute kiddie porn, aren't you still required to report it?
In the united states, it's illegal to make a statement without including a disclaimer the speaker is not a lawyer. This is because "giving advice" (legal advice) is illegal except for those who have passed a bar exam.
The ubiquitous presence and use of SSN's for such purposes are one of the main reasons identity theft is going rampant these days.
No it isn't. I know someone who suffered "identity theft" by someone who used their name, but with a wrong ssn and the wrong address. No, the reason that identity theft is going rampant is that a crime which exists between the credit reporting agency, the company issuing credit, and the criminal, is being paid for by a completely uninvolved party... the person whose name is used. It doesn't matter how much that person learns their lesson, they don't set the credit reporting policy or credit issuance policy, so they can't fix the problem!
Now, if you made credit reporting agencies responsible for the validity of their results (make them liable for the effort and damage involved due to errors on their part), then the system would get fixed quite quickly.
You realize that doesn't work. Suppose I just go in and doctor the contract to say "All disputes regarding this contract are subject to arbitration of the AAA". My marking up my copy of the contract with a pen doesn't oblige you to abandon the court system... not if what you plan to argue is that the CONTRACT ITSELF is invalid (because my marking up the signed copy doesn't bind you to anything).
The court system is special, everyone is always subject to the court system, whether they want to be or not. The use of arbitration only applies if both parties agree (or laws specify otherwise). So if the agreement is in dispute, then THAT gets disputed in the courts.
Slashdot Mirror
Why not simply use a weighted combination of rating and age (well, youth) for the ordering algorithm? Turn the knob for rating down to nearly zero and you get nearly the same behavior as Twitter has today. Then you can slowly turn it up if you want a slightly different kind of community. This is basically the approach taken by Reddit, Hacker News, and many other aggregation sites -- they may differ on the exact formula, but it's always some weighted combination of age and rating.
> Does anyone have replacement recommendations for people who used these services?
For those from outside the US, your best bet is probably to use small, local players who might not yet have had pressure applied to them. For those inside the US, I have one recommendation: run for Congress.
If your bank is adjusting your balance downward without explanation, there are several places you can report it and get action. The local police are not one of them.
It could be a case of someone inside the bank committing fraud, in which case the management of the bank would LOVE to know about it and have the chance to act (I know... I work for a bank). It is even possible (although unlikely) that the bank officers are in on it and are attempting to defraud consumers. In the first case, reporting it to management will resolve the problem, and probably VERY quickly and politely. Search your bank's website or other documents for the name of the bank's COO or CEO and send a letter to that person. If you truly believe that the bank's management is "in on it" then you can report them to the banking regulators (http://www.sec.gov/answers/bankreg.htm gives contact info in the USA). They will certainly follow up (and afterward I can assure you that your bank will hate you... but they'll also treat you fairly since they know the regulators are watching).
Of course, it is also possible that the bank was right and your own records were wrong. Be prepared to discover that you were wrong and apologize if that turned out to be the case. Don't let fear of this prevent you from following up if you feel cheated, just keep an open mind.
Yeah, I know... I've been trying. Ever since 2 years into Bush's term, I've been contributing money AND TIME to national campaigns. But so far it isn't working... well, at least Obama's election was better than Bush so maybe it is STARTING to work? I hope?
Dear Rest-of-the-World:
I realize that you have already had to deal with an invasion of Iraq to eliminate imaginary "weapons of mass destruction" and a world-wide financial collapse (although, to be fair, you bear some of the responsibility for that one... after all YOU believed our our uncritical rating agencies). And we're still stumbling around on that ruining-the-planetary-climate issue. So I know it's a big favor to ask, but would you please, PLEASE restrain my country's insane leaders?
Thanks...
-- A Sane American.
The point is not what YOU think of the quality of the apps. It's not what PALM thinks of the quality of the apps. The point is that the author of the software must jump through ridiculous hoops and beg permission of someone before they can give their app to people who want it. And if the someone says "No", then no one can have it.
So Palm decided that they wanted to imitate Apple? After all, "no press is bad press", and Apple sure has been getting a lot of press for the way it runs the AppStore. Locking down the device... it may not be useful to the *customers*, but it couldn't harm the company at all, could it?
Well, not unless they abandon your platform (or never flock to it in the first place) in favor of Android or even Nokia's Maemo -- platforms that allow the USER to control what they run on their devices.
I think I've learned my lesson. I am not buying an iPhone, Kindle, or (after reading this) Palm -- no devices from a company that intends to control what I can run on my device. Offering a store: GREAT idea. Carefully controlling what goes in this store and prohibiting any other means of getting apps onto the device: that makes it THEIR device, not mine, and I don't want to play that game.
I don't know about you, but I would RATHER be tested during an interview. It would increase the chance that I would wind up working with competent co-workers.
Michael Chermside
http://mcherm.com/
Would you be willing to say what ISP you work for?
Or, alternatively, I'm looking for an ISP. After reading your post, I have significant respect for your opinion on the matter. Is there any particular ISP you would like to recommend?
Very few posts deserve a +6, Funny, but the parent may be one of them.
What I don't understand is why conservatives support this guy. Is it because he promises to keep the gays in their place by preventing them from getting married? Is it in hopes that he'll appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade? Do some people think that attending the right church is all that matters? Or is it that this country has become so partisan that an incompetent with money and connections will win out over someone like John McCain just so conservatives can "support our guy".
I really don't get it.
I thought as much (despite the fact that the other is the more standard interpretation). In that case I suspect you're probably right. There are probably fewer than 10^100 bits available in the universe [http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0530.html%5 D, so we'd *better* be able to do with less than your number.
I understand the Halting Problem fairly well. I also went and read the wikipedia entry you reference (which is quite well written, as usual). But I simply do not understand how this enables a virus to determine whether it is running inside a virtual environment/sandbox.
Is it possible that you are confused? The Halting Problem DOES guarantee that no virtual sandbox can be created which will review any program and verify that it never engages in virus-like behavior. But I fail to see how it proves anything about the virus's ability to determine whether it is in a virtual environment or not. And it seems obvious to me (although I'm certainly not claiming to possess a proof) that the opposite is true: for a good-enough sandbox a program can NEVER determine whether it is running in a sandbox or in the "real world".
[Insert clever Matrix quip here, but I'm too bored to come up with one.]
You posted AC, but if the previous poster (or anyone else) knows the answer, please let me know (email jekk@mcherm.com) or post it here.
-- Michael Chermside
How are you grouping that?
(10^10)^10
or
10^(10^10)
?
You can't get much more reliable than the contractually binding published privacy policy:
http://desktop.google.com/privacypolicy.html
To quote: "Your computer's content is not made accessible through Google Desktop to Google without your explicit permission."
-- Michael Chermside
Google will hide the old usenet postings if you (the original author) ask them to (see http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/posting_faq. html#remove). But please don't unless it's particularly important or particularly offensive / hurtful to someone. It is nice to keep the old archives intact.
Yes, I have heard first-hand from Google employees that they really do spent 1 day per week on personal projects.
I really feel for the plight of the Chinese people, and I believe that the ability to speak anonymously and read freely would go a long way toward enabling them to improve their government. But is there anything that I, as an internet-savy geek, can do to help?
For example, I would gladly cooperate in a massive DOS attack on the great firewall servers... but it wouldn't work (firstly because they'd just block it, and secondly because taking them down would only isolate China, it wouldn't let info in and out).
I would run a freenet server, except that (please correct me if I'm wrong here) my understanding is that with today's design the authorities can tell that freenet is being used... which is enough to silence people even if the authorities can't tell WHAT it was used for. My understanding is that freenet is being altered to meet this challenge, but that it's not there yet.
So is there anyone out there in China.... no, make that anyone with a FRIEND in China who has suggestions of how I can help?
They've got Waspi Square, so there's no doubt in MY mind that they've got at LEAST one excellent comic.
There are very few slashdot postings that I think deserve a "6". This is one.
Um... no. Your step 2 ("You spend one minute out of your busy day viewing the web page and you suspect that it may indeed be kiddie porn.") is invalid and illegal. Illegal because if it _IS_ kiddie porn, it's illegal to view such a thing even for "good" reasons. Dumb law, but there it is. Secondly, even if the site in question happens to be "http://www.google.com" and you're highly confident that the images there do not constitute kiddie porn, aren't you still required to report it?
PS: Of course, IANAL, so I could be wrong.
No it isn't. I know someone who suffered "identity theft" by someone who used their name, but with a wrong ssn and the wrong address. No, the reason that identity theft is going rampant is that a crime which exists between the credit reporting agency, the company issuing credit, and the criminal, is being paid for by a completely uninvolved party... the person whose name is used. It doesn't matter how much that person learns their lesson, they don't set the credit reporting policy or credit issuance policy, so they can't fix the problem!
Now, if you made credit reporting agencies responsible for the validity of their results (make them liable for the effort and damage involved due to errors on their part), then the system would get fixed quite quickly.
You realize that doesn't work. Suppose I just go in and doctor the contract to say "All disputes regarding this contract are subject to arbitration of the AAA". My marking up my copy of the contract with a pen doesn't oblige you to abandon the court system... not if what you plan to argue is that the CONTRACT ITSELF is invalid (because my marking up the signed copy doesn't bind you to anything).
The court system is special, everyone is always subject to the court system, whether they want to be or not. The use of arbitration only applies if both parties agree (or laws specify otherwise). So if the agreement is in dispute, then THAT gets disputed in the courts.