From the song "KODACHROME" Paul Simon Transcribed by Randy Goldberg (original URL)
... Kodachrome, it gives us those nice bright colors Gives us the greens of summers Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah! I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph So momma, don't take my Kodachrome away...
NAT and PAT may be "hackish" but I for one am really glad that they have gotten such widespread use. For the vast majority of non-techie Internet users, a simple D-Link, Linksys, etc... firewall/router with its fairly transparent PATing is a nice bit of security that they have even if they don't understand it.
Also, the ISPs used to be really weird about home networks, but over time, they've changed their attitudes. If they fully implemented IPv6 to the point where every device could have its own publicly routable address, I'd be really worried about the security, PLUS I bet you that Comcast and the like would start CHARGING BY THE IP.
I'll stick to my router and its Port Address Translation even if they switch over to IPv6.
Us self-described techie types aren't afraid of change per-se, it's just that an awful lot of us have been burned by living on the bleeding edge, so when it comes to something that's important (to us) to keep up and running in a stable manner, we tend to fall back to "tried and true".
I bet us IPv6 refuseniks who also happen to be Windows users / admins are also the types to NEVER trust an MS service pack until we've tried it out on one guina pig machine and until its been out in public long enough to see if it's a shitstorm in a service pack's clothing.
Heck, I would PAY EXTRA if my cable company would remove all sports, shopping, and religious channels from my lineup.
yes, yes, I know I can just configure my DVRs to tell them I don't receive a given channel. I'm just saying that I'd pay extra on principle... sort of rewarding Comcast for significantly raising the collective IQ of the television signals coming into my house.:p
During a weather emergency, the TV not the first place I go for relevant information. Noaa.gov, weather.com, and/or a local AM "News and weather station" are my collective first choice.
However, I do know what you mean. If someone really is relying on the TV during really bad weather, analog would probably be more fault-tolerant.
No, it doesn't bother me at all. To each their own.
How about I put it this way:
Even though I've been driving for over 20 years without having an accident, I wear my seat belt whenever I get into a car (as a driver or passenger). I'm quite happy that I've never needed it, but the fact that I've never needed it doesn't mean that I won't on my way home from work on Monday.
I recognize that there is no such thing as a perfectly safe computer, save one that's unplugged, disconnected from all networks, and encased in reinforced concrete in the bottom of a sealed bunker... yada yada (yes, I'm being extreme and/or silly), but such a computer would be rather useless.
It's been my experience that there is a very real trade-off between security and usability. However, I don't really feel that my preferences for web browsing have a major negative impact on my ability to use the Web. I guess this whole tangent is the result of me falling for the flamebait.
Call me Paranoid if you wish, but honestly, there is so much malevolent crap out there in the web that it's fair to say "they" really ARE out to get you. ("They" being the spammers and scareware authors and identity thieves, and all the other baddies breaking into computers and installing god-knows-what)
I'm not so paranoid that I refuse to use IE or ever allow flash, Javascript, PDF, or activex, it's just that I like to make use of such things an explicit, deliberate choice on a site-by-site or even case-by-case basis.
My method of achieving those ends is "FireFox for browsing unknown, untrusted content, and IE (usually via IE Tab) only for trusted sites". It's really not some huge ordeal, and I have a very decent track record in terms of not getting infected with malware. I can not say the same about most of the people in my office.
I very deliberately set up my FireFox to NOT use Flash, Shockwave, Acrobat, etc... and not have any content type plugins. I browse the web with that and with NoScript installed, and ONLY allow trusted sites to run JavaScript on my browser. IF I run into a site that needs more (YouTube for videos, other sites where I HAVE TO have Flash and really need to use the site, etc...), THEN I fire up IE Tab or a copy of IE for it. The idea being that I will control who executes what on my browser as much as it is possible.
This helps keep me virus and malware free. The idea that MS just silently installs something is truly annoying. I DON'T WANT compatibility - I want some measure of security and control. If I want compatibility, I have other options.
The.NET service pack is part of the.NET framework, and there are LOTS of reasons to install it other than for browser-ish things. Try installing AdAware without it nowadays...
I'm personally very disgusted with the whole thing and the fact that they fixed it does NOT excuse the initial behavior.
I'd watch Red Dwarf... Introduce my shipmates to "Tikka to Ride" and "backwards" in order to experiment on the effects of Coca-Cola* blown through the nose at high velocity in micro gravity.
*yes, I'm well aware that carbonated beverages are NOT on the menu due to pressure and micro gravity.
I bought the Region 2 (UK) DVDs from Amazon.co.uk quite some time ago because they hadn't released here in the US yet. They since have released in region 1 and I HIGHLY recommend Spaced... it's full of video game, movie, and comic references, and the music and directorial style are brilliant. Large numbers of "laughed so hard I shot cola through my nose" moments as well.
Simon Pegg (the co-writer and co-star of spaced... the one who gets fired in that clip) and Edgar Wright (director of Spaced) are very obviously true fans of comics, horror, sci-fi,etc, and when they make fun of bits of our subculture, it's done very much from the standpoint of "laughing at ourselves"
In Spaced, at one point, Bisley (Simon Pegg) is talking about "sure things" and says "just as every odd numbered Star Trek movie is shit"... needless to say, the irony of him being in an odd numbered Trek movie isn't lost on him.
I immediately bit into the FUD hook, line, and sinker, assuming that it was another case of "oh, look, they're adding yet more DRM" instead of "they fixed some broken DRM"
My dv9000 overheats so badly it shuts down when doing anything graphically intensive (playing video games and/or using Adobe Lightroom are the biggest causes for me).
I've tried laptop coolers, but their airflow is a joke.
The only method of keeping it from crashing that worked reliably was propping it up at a weird angle with the cooling vents right at the cold air discharge of a hotel room air conditioner. (I was on a week-long photography trip across the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, and the laptop was so crashy, I could barely transfer my day's photos over to it without the A/C trick.)
If the thing wasn't totally out of warranty, I'd ship it right back to HP and insist they fix it. As it is, I just gave up on it and went with a netbook instead. I'll save the heavy editing for when I can get back home to a real computer.
HP used to make THE best scanners and printers. For all I know, they still do, but honestly, between my laptop issues and the fact that both my mom and my sister had HP laptops that went titsup in short order, I'm done with buying their products.
See, the problem there is that a lot of the time, the folks making the hiring decisions are the worst offenders in the "Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard" department.
Only way your plan (with which I wholeheartedly agree) would work is if we somehow made sure that an IT geek was involved in the vetting/interviewing process.
When I went in for my current job, we had a very tech-savvy head of IT, but he still subjected me to the "group interview" where he got a bunch of the folks who would be my peers together and turned em loose on me. In my case, they decided I was geeky enough because of the way my eyes lit up when they asked what kind of setup I had at home.
There have been a few times where I've been asked for my opinion in a hiring decision, and I've taken a queue from all of that. I don't concern myself with heavy work-related geekdom, I ask about their hobbies. If I'm talking to a programmer, I want to see their eyes light up when they talk about some hobby-mode app they're doing at home, or the addon they wrote for their favorite video game.
Oh, and they MUST answer correctly when I ask "Coke or Pepsi?"
Right, back to point... Gotta have a geek somewhere in the process or you'll just get the "any key" folks a breedin'.
I enjoyed Duke Nukem on my Playstation all those years ago. However, I'm not terribly hardcore.
I don't really feel that I missed out on too much because Serious Sam filled much the same niche in my mind... first person shooter with lots of humor and non-stop waves of baddies, an arsenal of weapons, piles of gibbs, and a chain saw for when things go really pear-shaped.
... however, movies are best enjoyed in a moviehouse, not a 17 inch monitor alone by yourself in the basement, so while movie piracy will be an issue (it will kill the dvd aftermarket and blockbuster/ netflix), it won't threaten moviehouses...
DVDs will survive because usually for $20USD or less, you can buy a copy of a movie that looks great on your big TV at home, is easy to store, doesn't degrade over time, you can pause during playback, and you can watch over and over as much as you want.
Whereas I question the long-term survivability of cinemas.
I mean, why would a friend and I pay a combined $10 to $20 (depending on time and location ) for our two tickets and god knows how much more for flat soda and stale popcorn to end up sitting in a room with sticky floors and inevitably obnoxious neighbors when we can just wait for the DVD release and watch it at my house with a moderately big screen, very nice surround sound, and the additional benefits of pauses for bathroom breaks, decent food / snacks / drinks and for those who are so inclined, no smoking ban?
I'm sorely tempted to set up an email address with SRJC in it and then email them asking to be sued.
Mary Kay Rudolph appears (in my own humble opinion) to be an idiot of the first order.
Oh, and Mary? Please cease and desist from using the name Mary Kay as it may be confused with the fine (choke) cosmetics manufacturer/distributor. Thank you very much, have a nice day, and go die in a fire.
Windows has a few of these misguided attempts at being "user friendly".
Whenever I set up a new Windows PC (or whenever I first log on to a Windows PC) the first thing I do is fix certain defaults that I hate.
Here's what I do:
* Show the file extension * Switch all folders to "Details" view * Turn on "always show full menus" (or turn off the "personalize menus") * Go back to Windows classic start menu (I hate what they did to it from XP onward) * In Vista, I disable all the theming stuff to get rid of the GIANT DAMN ICONS that you get when dragging/dropping * Turn off "friendly HTTP errors" * Turn off automatic searching from the address bar in IE * Remove Live as the IE search provider and set it to Google instead * Install Firefox with NoScript and IE Tab and make it the default browser * Set Windows Update to notify but not download or install (I wanna SEE what they're calling "Critical"... NO, IE8 is NOT. Thank you very much)
Right up there along side hiding known file extensions in the "what were they thinking" department was the IE Auto Search option for "just take me to the most likely site". I have to think that a LOT of folks got hit by phishing sites through that wonderful feature.
Slashdot Mirror
From the song "KODACHROME"
Paul Simon
Transcribed by Randy Goldberg
(original URL)
NAT and PAT may be "hackish" but I for one am really glad that they have gotten such widespread use. For the vast majority of non-techie Internet users, a simple D-Link, Linksys, etc... firewall/router with its fairly transparent PATing is a nice bit of security that they have even if they don't understand it.
Also, the ISPs used to be really weird about home networks, but over time, they've changed their attitudes. If they fully implemented IPv6 to the point where every device could have its own publicly routable address, I'd be really worried about the security, PLUS I bet you that Comcast and the like would start CHARGING BY THE IP.
I'll stick to my router and its Port Address Translation even if they switch over to IPv6.
Us self-described techie types aren't afraid of change per-se, it's just that an awful lot of us have been burned by living on the bleeding edge, so when it comes to something that's important (to us) to keep up and running in a stable manner, we tend to fall back to "tried and true".
I bet us IPv6 refuseniks who also happen to be Windows users / admins are also the types to NEVER trust an MS service pack until we've tried it out on one guina pig machine and until its been out in public long enough to see if it's a shitstorm in a service pack's clothing.
Heck, I would PAY EXTRA if my cable company would remove all sports, shopping, and religious channels from my lineup.
yes, yes, I know I can just configure my DVRs to tell them I don't receive a given channel. I'm just saying that I'd pay extra on principle... sort of rewarding Comcast for significantly raising the collective IQ of the television signals coming into my house. :p
I came here for the excellent HHGTTG references. /leaving extremely happy //not a robot
... least you forget that given long enough, those resultant split/merged atoms may go buh-bye due to proton decay
Slow Space
'zactly... The universe is digital, it's just that it's got a REALLY high resolution (1.6*10^35 bits per meter) :p
During a weather emergency, the TV not the first place I go for relevant information. Noaa.gov, weather.com, and/or a local AM "News and weather station" are my collective first choice.
However, I do know what you mean. If someone really is relying on the TV during really bad weather, analog would probably be more fault-tolerant.
No, it doesn't bother me at all. To each their own.
How about I put it this way:
Even though I've been driving for over 20 years without having an accident, I wear my seat belt whenever I get into a car (as a driver or passenger). I'm quite happy that I've never needed it, but the fact that I've never needed it doesn't mean that I won't on my way home from work on Monday.
I recognize that there is no such thing as a perfectly safe computer, save one that's unplugged, disconnected from all networks, and encased in reinforced concrete in the bottom of a sealed bunker... yada yada (yes, I'm being extreme and/or silly), but such a computer would be rather useless.
It's been my experience that there is a very real trade-off between security and usability. However, I don't really feel that my preferences for web browsing have a major negative impact on my ability to use the Web. I guess this whole tangent is the result of me falling for the flamebait.
Call me Paranoid if you wish, but honestly, there is so much malevolent crap out there in the web that it's fair to say "they" really ARE out to get you. ("They" being the spammers and scareware authors and identity thieves, and all the other baddies breaking into computers and installing god-knows-what)
I'm not so paranoid that I refuse to use IE or ever allow flash, Javascript, PDF, or activex, it's just that I like to make use of such things an explicit, deliberate choice on a site-by-site or even case-by-case basis.
My method of achieving those ends is "FireFox for browsing unknown, untrusted content, and IE (usually via IE Tab) only for trusted sites". It's really not some huge ordeal, and I have a very decent track record in terms of not getting infected with malware. I can not say the same about most of the people in my office.
I very deliberately set up my FireFox to NOT use Flash, Shockwave, Acrobat, etc... and not have any content type plugins. I browse the web with that and with NoScript installed, and ONLY allow trusted sites to run JavaScript on my browser. IF I run into a site that needs more (YouTube for videos, other sites where I HAVE TO have Flash and really need to use the site, etc...), THEN I fire up IE Tab or a copy of IE for it. The idea being that I will control who executes what on my browser as much as it is possible.
This helps keep me virus and malware free. The idea that MS just silently installs something is truly annoying. I DON'T WANT compatibility - I want some measure of security and control. If I want compatibility, I have other options.
The .NET service pack is part of the .NET framework, and there are LOTS of reasons to install it other than for browser-ish things. Try installing AdAware without it nowadays...
I'm personally very disgusted with the whole thing and the fact that they fixed it does NOT excuse the initial behavior.
I'd watch Red Dwarf... Introduce my shipmates to "Tikka to Ride" and "backwards" in order to experiment on the effects of Coca-Cola* blown through the nose at high velocity in micro gravity.
*yes, I'm well aware that carbonated beverages are NOT on the menu due to pressure and micro gravity.
I loved Spaced.
I bought the Region 2 (UK) DVDs from Amazon.co.uk quite some time ago because they hadn't released here in the US yet. They since have released in region 1 and I HIGHLY recommend Spaced... it's full of video game, movie, and comic references, and the music and directorial style are brilliant. Large numbers of "laughed so hard I shot cola through my nose" moments as well.
Simon Pegg (the co-writer and co-star of spaced... the one who gets fired in that clip) and Edgar Wright (director of Spaced) are very obviously true fans of comics, horror, sci-fi,etc, and when they make fun of bits of our subculture, it's done very much from the standpoint of "laughing at ourselves"
In Spaced, at one point, Bisley (Simon Pegg) is talking about "sure things" and says "just as every odd numbered Star Trek movie is shit"...
needless to say, the irony of him being in an odd numbered Trek movie isn't lost on him.
Wish I had mod points... great response.
I immediately bit into the FUD hook, line, and sinker, assuming that it was another case of "oh, look, they're adding yet more DRM" instead of "they fixed some broken DRM"
Thank You.
My dv9000 overheats so badly it shuts down when doing anything graphically intensive (playing video games and/or using Adobe Lightroom are the biggest causes for me).
I've tried laptop coolers, but their airflow is a joke.
The only method of keeping it from crashing that worked reliably was propping it up at a weird angle with the cooling vents right at the cold air discharge of a hotel room air conditioner. (I was on a week-long photography trip across the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, and the laptop was so crashy, I could barely transfer my day's photos over to it without the A/C trick.)
If the thing wasn't totally out of warranty, I'd ship it right back to HP and insist they fix it. As it is, I just gave up on it and went with a netbook instead. I'll save the heavy editing for when I can get back home to a real computer.
HP used to make THE best scanners and printers. For all I know, they still do, but honestly, between my laptop issues and the fact that both my mom and my sister had HP laptops that went titsup in short order, I'm done with buying their products.
If you need me, I'll be down at the Winchester.
The Doctor called... He wants to have a word with them about his sonic screwdriver.
See, the problem there is that a lot of the time, the folks making the hiring decisions are the worst offenders in the "Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard" department.
Only way your plan (with which I wholeheartedly agree) would work is if we somehow made sure that an IT geek was involved in the vetting/interviewing process.
When I went in for my current job, we had a very tech-savvy head of IT, but he still subjected me to the "group interview" where he got a bunch of the folks who would be my peers together and turned em loose on me. In my case, they decided I was geeky enough because of the way my eyes lit up when they asked what kind of setup I had at home.
There have been a few times where I've been asked for my opinion in a hiring decision, and I've taken a queue from all of that. I don't concern myself with heavy work-related geekdom, I ask about their hobbies. If I'm talking to a programmer, I want to see their eyes light up when they talk about some hobby-mode app they're doing at home, or the addon they wrote for their favorite video game.
Oh, and they MUST answer correctly when I ask "Coke or Pepsi?"
Right, back to point... Gotta have a geek somewhere in the process or you'll just get the "any key" folks a breedin'.
If Mozilla seriously wants to go this way, I'll be taking the "Firefox classic" fork thank you very much.
Fearlezz, you've single-handedly managed to make me feel much better about the whole thing cuz you're right.
Guess I can just sit back with the popcorn now.
I enjoyed Duke Nukem on my Playstation all those years ago. However, I'm not terribly hardcore.
I don't really feel that I missed out on too much because Serious Sam filled much the same niche in my mind... first person shooter with lots of humor and non-stop waves of baddies, an arsenal of weapons, piles of gibbs, and a chain saw for when things go really pear-shaped.
DVDs will survive because usually for $20USD or less, you can buy a copy of a movie that looks great on your big TV at home, is easy to store, doesn't degrade over time, you can pause during playback, and you can watch over and over as much as you want.
Whereas I question the long-term survivability of cinemas.
I mean, why would a friend and I pay a combined $10 to $20 (depending on time and location ) for our two tickets and god knows how much more for flat soda and stale popcorn to end up sitting in a room with sticky floors and inevitably obnoxious neighbors when we can just wait for the DVD release and watch it at my house with a moderately big screen, very nice surround sound, and the additional benefits of pauses for bathroom breaks, decent food / snacks / drinks and for those who are so inclined, no smoking ban?
The real question is:
"Will System Shock 2 and Eleventh Hour run under it?"
I know those games are old, but I'm coming over all nostalgia-like. :) /Serious question though.
I'm sorely tempted to set up an email address with SRJC in it and then email them asking to be sued.
Mary Kay Rudolph appears (in my own humble opinion) to be an idiot of the first order.
Oh, and Mary? Please cease and desist from using the name Mary Kay as it may be confused with the fine (choke) cosmetics manufacturer/distributor. Thank you very much, have a nice day, and go die in a fire.
Soo wish I had mod points. 6.0 on the hork meter (slight spatter of coffee on keyboard)
Windows has a few of these misguided attempts at being "user friendly".
Whenever I set up a new Windows PC (or whenever I first log on to a Windows PC) the first thing I do is fix certain defaults that I hate.
Here's what I do:
* Show the file extension
* Switch all folders to "Details" view
* Turn on "always show full menus" (or turn off the "personalize menus")
* Go back to Windows classic start menu (I hate what they did to it from XP onward)
* In Vista, I disable all the theming stuff to get rid of the GIANT DAMN ICONS that you get when dragging/dropping
* Turn off "friendly HTTP errors"
* Turn off automatic searching from the address bar in IE
* Remove Live as the IE search provider and set it to Google instead
* Install Firefox with NoScript and IE Tab and make it the default browser
* Set Windows Update to notify but not download or install (I wanna SEE what they're calling "Critical"... NO, IE8 is NOT. Thank you very much)
Right up there along side hiding known file extensions in the "what were they thinking" department was the IE Auto Search option for "just take me to the most likely site". I have to think that a LOT of folks got hit by phishing sites through that wonderful feature.
Feh.
I'm a WoW player - in fact, I'm a triple-boxing, addon-authoring, way-too-much-wow-playing WoW player, and I gotta say, this thing is lame.
Much prefer something practical.