I think anybody on Slashdot who refers to Saddam as the martyred hero of space travel is not being serious.
If Saddam had taken half the resources he put into exotic weapons and invested in his conventional forces, he'd be alive today — and probably the most powerful man in the Middle East. But training and equipping armed forces is hard work. A lot of dictators just can't be bothered. Instead they model themselves on the villains in James Bond movies: lots of parties, gloating, glitter, and top secret projects, but none of the dreary stuff that has to do with actual governing.
Anyone with a clue hears that crap will turn away in disgust.
Rush Limbaugh has a lot of influence. Clueless or not, his followers have a big say in conservative politics. Republican pols criticize him at their peril.
I don't think a responsible citizen can just dismiss such a large group of people as "clueless".
The only thing it breaks is that little app on the main page that lets you access and manipulate your message queue. Hard to understand why. All my current issues with noscript have to do with this type of dynamic content, and they happen even if I grant full permission for the site.
Actually 640K was a reasonable limit, if you assumed that MS-DOS was just a stop gap until OS/2, and the hardware to run it became available. And that was the assumption IBM and Microsoft made originally.
By the same token, your "good enough" argument might or might not be correct, depending on which assumptions you make. I tend to think you're right.
You've just documented the link between TV news and cynicism. It's not really news, it's video bites taken out of context and chosen to push your emotional buttons so you'll keep tuning in.
If you want to have an informed opinion, turn off the idiot box and pick up a book or a newspaper. Or go online — the amount of real information you can get that way is mind-boggling.
Infrastructure will too help. The better off people are, the fewer children they have. Did you know that fertility rate is actually below replacement level in most developed countries? If it weren't for immigration, our population would be shrinking.
But it's always easier to blame people for their own problems. Caring is such a hassle!
So, you demand that we not be indifferent to one evil, but insist that we ignore another. Not only is that inconsistent, but it ignores the fact that bigotry and hate-mongering have everything to do with conditions in Haiti.
I take back my previous post. Just disabled noscript. It was breaking several sites I use that rely on dynamic HTML. (Including Slashdot, though the lost functionality was minor.) Simply could not find a set of options that would work.
Noscript is less obnoxious than it used to be, but it is still is more trouble than it's worth.
But the topic at hand is mostly information infrastructure. That's always needed. Ever notice how amateur radio operators end up playing a big role in many U. S. disasters? They provide a comm network that stays up when everything else is broken.
Well, they already made the decision to drop out of the graphics arms race, and instead concentrate an features that made the system more usable. That strategy has paid off handsomely. Why go back on it now?
I wonder if consumers are beginning to get tired of all that expensive tech that ends up being obsolete in a year or two. The recession is a factor, but even before, we saw people asking themselves if they really wanted Blu-Ray, HD, or whatever. The fact that cheap-but-fun Nintendo products are outselling the fancier competition is consistent with that.
Never mind. My knowledge of noscript was dated. It used to be a lot more obnoxious than it is now. The version I just installed is actually usable, once you've turned off the more paranoid features.
I have a big problem with noscript. It assumes that all scripts are evil, and makes you go through a big routine every time you want to give one permission to run. That makes a lot of sites painful to use. Unless you're a lot more paranoid than I am, it's just not worth it.
And isn't the whole point of Outlook that it has a built in calendar and meeting request system and network folders? They're not even using those more advanced parts of it, they just need email.
Dude, without the calendar feature, how are they going to know when to land?
You mean, you can still buy 32-bit servers? Who from?
Encryption cracking algorithms do not scale as easily as encryption algorithms. Vulnerabilities come from undiscovered loopholes in the math, or from software security bugs.
If you did so, you'd know that the issue here is not the Kindle versus books, but the fact that the Kindle design ignores the needs of vision impaired users. Yes, there's a fancy text-to-speech feature — but it only works with the content. In order to get at the content, you have to navigate the Kindle's menus, which are totally inaccessible to blind users.
It wouldn't have been that hard for Amazon to have a voice prompt feature; they probably just didn't see it as a priority. Now they have to make it a priority, and risk losing their lead in the academic market to eBook readers that are more farsighted. (No pun intended.) And that is the whole point of the litigation.
Online discussions seem to always assume that if a story doesn't make sense, the people in the story are stupid. It never seems to occur to anybody that they don't have all the facts. And that is stupid.
Yeah, GMail is pretty good — now. Do you recall that it was in beta mode for 3 years? Any other software company would have hired some QA people and gone final in 6 months. But QA is boring, and beneath the dignity of the geniuses they insist on hiring.
I have a Google Voice account. If it were a mature product, I'd switch over in a heartbeat — it's got tons of free features that I'm currently paying PhoneTag and Skype to receive. But the UI is cranky and tends to freeze, and there are a few other issues that make me refuse to trust it. For the next couple of years, Google Voice users will be tearing out their hair, while people who actually need reliable service will go elsewhere. Then when all the bugs are swatted you'll be saying "show me another free voice mail system that...."
Sigh. I never said "open protocol". I said "open connection". I believe the word "open" can have more than one meaning, depending on context. If not, I suggest you avoid expressions such as "open door", "Broadway opening", "don't open your damn piehole", etc.
I'm glad you feel good about yourself. But if you think that "being a jerk" and "giving attitude" are two different things, then there's something wrong with your brain.
I work Google just fine. (I can no longer read a book without a computer handy, in case I need to look up something.) I also try to express myself clearly, a skill you seem to need work on, since I have no idea what you're trying to say.
"Google is your friend" is usually a sarcastic reminder to people that they can look stuff up for themselves. If you're not being sarcastic, you should avoid the expression.
Civility is your friend. Sorry, not trying to be sarcastic, just illustrating how sarcasm can be more obvious to the sarcasee.
I didn't say that you shouldn't use SMTP. I said you shouldn't send a password over an open SMTP connection. There are ways to encrypt the login transaction, and even the contents of your messages. Alas, too many SMTP providers don't support this.
Encryption has some overhead, but so what? It's not like modern hardware isn't up to it.
Anybody who cares about security has stopped using open protocols to send sensitive data. FTP is out, SFTP is in. Goodbye Telnet, hello SSH. And anybody who sends passwords over an open HTTP, SMTP, or IMAP connection is begging to be hacked. (POP? You're still using POP?) The issue is not security versus performance, it's the usual case of people not going to the trouble of upgrading their technology until they can't ignore the problem any more.
As usual, Google leads the pack in creating groundbreaking technology, and comes in dead last in dealing with the boring stuff, like dealing with security issues, or making sure you the resources to properly support your latest product. They need to hire fewer geniuses and start hiring more ordinary drudges with the patience to make things work in the real world.
Slashdot Mirror
I think anybody on Slashdot who refers to Saddam as the martyred hero of space travel is not being serious.
If Saddam had taken half the resources he put into exotic weapons and invested in his conventional forces, he'd be alive today — and probably the most powerful man in the Middle East. But training and equipping armed forces is hard work. A lot of dictators just can't be bothered. Instead they model themselves on the villains in James Bond movies: lots of parties, gloating, glitter, and top secret projects, but none of the dreary stuff that has to do with actual governing.
Anyone with a clue hears that crap will turn away in disgust.
Rush Limbaugh has a lot of influence. Clueless or not, his followers have a big say in conservative politics. Republican pols criticize him at their peril.
I don't think a responsible citizen can just dismiss such a large group of people as "clueless".
The only thing it breaks is that little app on the main page that lets you access and manipulate your message queue. Hard to understand why. All my current issues with noscript have to do with this type of dynamic content, and they happen even if I grant full permission for the site.
Actually 640K was a reasonable limit, if you assumed that MS-DOS was just a stop gap until OS/2, and the hardware to run it became available. And that was the assumption IBM and Microsoft made originally.
By the same token, your "good enough" argument might or might not be correct, depending on which assumptions you make. I tend to think you're right.
You've just documented the link between TV news and cynicism. It's not really news, it's video bites taken out of context and chosen to push your emotional buttons so you'll keep tuning in.
If you want to have an informed opinion, turn off the idiot box and pick up a book or a newspaper. Or go online — the amount of real information you can get that way is mind-boggling.
Infrastructure will too help. The better off people are, the fewer children they have. Did you know that fertility rate is actually below replacement level in most developed countries? If it weren't for immigration, our population would be shrinking.
But it's always easier to blame people for their own problems. Caring is such a hassle!
So, you demand that we not be indifferent to one evil, but insist that we ignore another. Not only is that inconsistent, but it ignores the fact that bigotry and hate-mongering have everything to do with conditions in Haiti.
I take back my previous post. Just disabled noscript. It was breaking several sites I use that rely on dynamic HTML. (Including Slashdot, though the lost functionality was minor.) Simply could not find a set of options that would work.
Noscript is less obnoxious than it used to be, but it is still is more trouble than it's worth.
The USCG you are great,
I read somewhere that USCG saves somebody's life every 20 minutes. A bit of mundane heroism.
GET OVER IT the arguing and give a few dollars.
Thanks for an excuse to trash my least favorite pundit.
http://bit.ly/8jSlnX
And you credit card companies. If you don't want to be damned for all time. . .
Too late!
But the topic at hand is mostly information infrastructure. That's always needed. Ever notice how amateur radio operators end up playing a big role in many U. S. disasters? They provide a comm network that stays up when everything else is broken.
Well, they already made the decision to drop out of the graphics arms race, and instead concentrate an features that made the system more usable. That strategy has paid off handsomely. Why go back on it now?
I wonder if consumers are beginning to get tired of all that expensive tech that ends up being obsolete in a year or two. The recession is a factor, but even before, we saw people asking themselves if they really wanted Blu-Ray, HD, or whatever. The fact that cheap-but-fun Nintendo products are outselling the fancier competition is consistent with that.
Never mind. My knowledge of noscript was dated. It used to be a lot more obnoxious than it is now. The version I just installed is actually usable, once you've turned off the more paranoid features.
I have a big problem with noscript. It assumes that all scripts are evil, and makes you go through a big routine every time you want to give one permission to run. That makes a lot of sites painful to use. Unless you're a lot more paranoid than I am, it's just not worth it.
The Open Source community has a thousand hidden gems that a person might not have heard about.
True. But no "software gem" can do the human-level problem solving their guy needs.
I think you meant to say, "Well a monster that gigantic could only be defeated by an even equally gigantic monster!"
And isn't the whole point of Outlook that it has a built in calendar and meeting request system and network folders? They're not even using those more advanced parts of it, they just need email.
Dude, without the calendar feature, how are they going to know when to land?
You mean, you can still buy 32-bit servers? Who from?
Encryption cracking algorithms do not scale as easily as encryption algorithms. Vulnerabilities come from undiscovered loopholes in the math, or from software security bugs.
RRRRRRRRRR
TTTTTTTTTT
FFFFFFFFFF
AAAAAAAAAA
If you did so, you'd know that the issue here is not the Kindle versus books, but the fact that the Kindle design ignores the needs of vision impaired users. Yes, there's a fancy text-to-speech feature — but it only works with the content. In order to get at the content, you have to navigate the Kindle's menus, which are totally inaccessible to blind users.
It wouldn't have been that hard for Amazon to have a voice prompt feature; they probably just didn't see it as a priority. Now they have to make it a priority, and risk losing their lead in the academic market to eBook readers that are more farsighted. (No pun intended.) And that is the whole point of the litigation.
Online discussions seem to always assume that if a story doesn't make sense, the people in the story are stupid. It never seems to occur to anybody that they don't have all the facts. And that is stupid.
Yeah, GMail is pretty good — now. Do you recall that it was in beta mode for 3 years? Any other software company would have hired some QA people and gone final in 6 months. But QA is boring, and beneath the dignity of the geniuses they insist on hiring.
I have a Google Voice account. If it were a mature product, I'd switch over in a heartbeat — it's got tons of free features that I'm currently paying PhoneTag and Skype to receive. But the UI is cranky and tends to freeze, and there are a few other issues that make me refuse to trust it. For the next couple of years, Google Voice users will be tearing out their hair, while people who actually need reliable service will go elsewhere. Then when all the bugs are swatted you'll be saying "show me another free voice mail system that...."
Sigh. I never said "open protocol". I said "open connection". I believe the word "open" can have more than one meaning, depending on context. If not, I suggest you avoid expressions such as "open door", "Broadway opening", "don't open your damn piehole", etc.
I'm glad you feel good about yourself. But if you think that "being a jerk" and "giving attitude" are two different things, then there's something wrong with your brain.
I work Google just fine. (I can no longer read a book without a computer handy, in case I need to look up something.) I also try to express myself clearly, a skill you seem to need work on, since I have no idea what you're trying to say.
I didn't give you attitude.
"Google is your friend" is usually a sarcastic reminder to people that they can look stuff up for themselves. If you're not being sarcastic, you should avoid the expression.
Civility is your friend. Sorry, not trying to be sarcastic, just illustrating how sarcasm can be more obvious to the sarcasee.
I didn't say that you shouldn't use SMTP. I said you shouldn't send a password over an open SMTP connection. There are ways to encrypt the login transaction, and even the contents of your messages. Alas, too many SMTP providers don't support this.
Encryption has some overhead, but so what? It's not like modern hardware isn't up to it.
Anybody who cares about security has stopped using open protocols to send sensitive data. FTP is out, SFTP is in. Goodbye Telnet, hello SSH. And anybody who sends passwords over an open HTTP, SMTP, or IMAP connection is begging to be hacked. (POP? You're still using POP?) The issue is not security versus performance, it's the usual case of people not going to the trouble of upgrading their technology until they can't ignore the problem any more.
As usual, Google leads the pack in creating groundbreaking technology, and comes in dead last in dealing with the boring stuff, like dealing with security issues, or making sure you the resources to properly support your latest product. They need to hire fewer geniuses and start hiring more ordinary drudges with the patience to make things work in the real world.