My 5 year old Sony Ericsson ATT phone played the same games. There was a big "Charge Me" button on the face.
I always dig into phone settings, find wherever the data stuff is configured, and #*@(! mangle it so even if I push the wrong button the phone won't go online.
Mobile internet and even SMS just isn't worth what all the telcos want to charge me.
Thousands of years from now, an advanced, starfaring race may stumble across the dusty remnants of our civilization. With intelligence of any sort being a rare commodity among the stars, some alien Poindexter will convince the commander to stop and take a look around instead of continuing on to Barnard's Star or wherever they are headed to
As they dig around among our discarded Big Gulp cups and dowsing rods they will wonder why we never simply used fgnorg-point energy like everyone else.
Slashdot user D: Humanity isn't worth saving. Exploring space just means we will ruin more of the natural world. Better that the rocks spin endlessly through the void unsullied by our touch.
(I can't stand that guy.)
Oh, I will take the role of user E: GREAT. More committees. That'll help.
Early interstellar ramships employed fusion-powered photon drives. The ships were launched by photon sails and the laser cannon batteries on the asteroids. The cannons were fired into the sails, providing the ramships with initial motive power before their huge scoops could pick up enough interstellar hydrogen to begin the fusion process. When the Kzinti ships moved within range of the cannons, the human crews fired and tore the enemy apart.
The Kzinti lesson is, "a reaction drive's efficiency as a weapon is in direct proportion to its efficiency as a drive."
After the anthrax deal I was sure that the idea of no more anonymous mail would at least be discussed. But I guess the mail system is too big a target.
I'll bet a dollar though that the end of the anonymous internet lies within the next couple of decades--at least within meddling, overbearing first-world nations with control issues.
A friend of mine is a tech support engineer. He helps big client companies babysit racks full of the million-dollar hardware that his employer sells. These devices have giant red lights on the front to tell you when something is wrong. They also send the sysadmin email if they detect a fault. Daily.
Between the big red flashing lights and the automated email warnings sent to the guy who is paid six figures to watch for the red lights, you would think that problems would be noticed before they went catastrophic. But all too often, the warnings are ignored, no matter how dire they sound.
Because of the clients' willingness to ignore the warnings, these expensive machines also send the manufacturer email when there is a fault. That way an engineer can call the sysadmin and warn him that things are about to explode.
I am glad Comcast is trying something but I am skeptical about its effectiveness. People ignore even the most carefully dispatched messages. If Comcast wants to get a user's attention, they should move up to making phone calls when the computer messages get ignored. Or maybe throwing bricks through windows.
I think that they said that wouldn't work. They braced the door open so someone could push the button and leave, but as soon as they left the compartment the ship opened the door again. It needed to detect a living thing inside the shuttle.
The Ancient engineers blew it, the writers were just accomplices.:)
I remember that too, but I also remember them getting sued. I can't recall if they fought it or settled. I've been unable to find a reference though so I may be misremembering that there was a lawsuit at all.
(I should probably install SideWiki and go to the SideWiki site and see if anyone there has put a reference in the comments.)
All respect to WeirdKid and his hot wife (above), but I think tools like this and their down sides are part of the free nature of the web. Your content is not being altered; your visitors are voluntarily using a service that changes their web browsing experience. It would be nice if there was an opt-out but I don't think it should be a matter for the courts if it is lacking.
I have never heard a story like that. Even if the stops were legit, reminding you to pay your taxes is... pretty cheeky. Very interesting, thanks for the reply.
Washington keeps an eye on its borders because neither Oregon nor Montana have sales taxes. I've seen roving police patrols stopping motorists coming in who have what looks to be a vehicle full of new consumer goodies.
Wait, what? You have seen Washington cops stopping people because they bought stuff out of state? It sounds outrageous and illegal. What are the cops doing, reminding you to pay the use tax on the goods you bought? Because by driving home with your loot, you aren't actually doing anything wrong.
Can you create Kindle files and put them on your web site? Is it possible for a Kindle user to grab a file and just copy it to their device?
If so then being kicked out of the Amazon store sucks but it isn't a mortal blow. Someone who googles for "Jesus H. Christ on a Kindle!" will get to your site sooner or later.
If the ONLY way you can get books on your Kindle is through Amazon, then, well, I'm glad I never got one. Even the "F You, We're Sony" reader lets you put your own text on the device.
But I have it better than minorities in the US or Canada or wherever.
You are the first person I have ever seen defending Japan on the racism issue, though I understand you are not saying that it is not a problem. Obviously you have a lot of experience having lived there for so long. But the US is a big country and I think it is unfair to say that race relations are the same across every part of it.
Maybe I am fooling myself, but I have a hard time believing that overall, racism is less severe in Japan than the US. Would the Japanese elect a citizen to be President if they were of, say, Chinese descent? Maybe they would. It's been a long time since I was a practicing Japanophile.
ou can rule as much as you want that this hurricane can't go through your home town, if you put it to the test you'll notice that your law is ignored with impunity and ther's jack you can do about it.
If there is any civilization that can find a way to put a force of nature into a prison, it's the US.
If that hurricane blows in some bootleg CDs, it is SCREWED, even if it is not redistributing them for profit.
"We have not succeeded in solving all of your problems. The solutions we have found only serve to raise a whole new set of problems. We are as confused as ever, but we believe we are confused on a higher level and about more important things."
I cannot find a source for this quote, but I dig it.
Sitting in the audience I couldn't help but think that someone involved in this glossy, shiny turd would have pointed out that their core audience is going to be made up of people who would be on the first plane to Johannesburg to see an alien.
The events in the movie take place twenty years after the aliens showed up. I thought they made that pretty clear.
Twenty years is a long time... long enough for the most amazing event in human history to become mundane? I think so.
Slashdot Mirror
My 5 year old Sony Ericsson ATT phone played the same games. There was a big "Charge Me" button on the face.
I always dig into phone settings, find wherever the data stuff is configured, and #*@(! mangle it so even if I push the wrong button the phone won't go online.
Mobile internet and even SMS just isn't worth what all the telcos want to charge me.
But like the American million dollar space pen/Russian pencil story, it will live on forever.
Thousands of years from now, an advanced, starfaring race may stumble across the dusty remnants of our civilization. With intelligence of any sort being a rare commodity among the stars, some alien Poindexter will convince the commander to stop and take a look around instead of continuing on to Barnard's Star or wherever they are headed to
As they dig around among our discarded Big Gulp cups and dowsing rods they will wonder why we never simply used fgnorg-point energy like everyone else.
I think we can all see the message here.
Now only if something could slow down the over-fishing done by the rest of the world. This includes the US, of which I'm a citizen.
I agree.
Interesting related article:
http://www.tnr.com/article/environment-energy/aquacalypse-now
Slashdot user D: Humanity isn't worth saving. Exploring space just means we will ruin more of the natural world. Better that the rocks spin endlessly through the void unsullied by our touch.
(I can't stand that guy.)
Oh, I will take the role of user E: GREAT. More committees. That'll help.
Good to know. I like options.
I don't even care if the Nook bookstore is burdened with DRM.
Can I put my own txt, rtf, html, pdf files on the thing and read them with a minimum of farting around?
That's the "Kzinti Lesson."
http://www.larryniven.org/kzin/worlds.shtml
Early interstellar ramships employed fusion-powered photon drives. The ships were launched by photon sails and the laser cannon batteries on the asteroids. The cannons were fired into the sails, providing the ramships with initial motive power before their huge scoops could pick up enough interstellar hydrogen to begin the fusion process. When the Kzinti ships moved within range of the cannons, the human crews fired and tore the enemy apart.
The Kzinti lesson is, "a reaction drive's efficiency as a weapon is in direct proportion to its efficiency as a drive."
After the anthrax deal I was sure that the idea of no more anonymous mail would at least be discussed. But I guess the mail system is too big a target.
I'll bet a dollar though that the end of the anonymous internet lies within the next couple of decades--at least within meddling, overbearing first-world nations with control issues.
A friend of mine is a tech support engineer. He helps big client companies babysit racks full of the million-dollar hardware that his employer sells. These devices have giant red lights on the front to tell you when something is wrong. They also send the sysadmin email if they detect a fault. Daily.
Between the big red flashing lights and the automated email warnings sent to the guy who is paid six figures to watch for the red lights, you would think that problems would be noticed before they went catastrophic. But all too often, the warnings are ignored, no matter how dire they sound.
Because of the clients' willingness to ignore the warnings, these expensive machines also send the manufacturer email when there is a fault. That way an engineer can call the sysadmin and warn him that things are about to explode.
I am glad Comcast is trying something but I am skeptical about its effectiveness. People ignore even the most carefully dispatched messages. If Comcast wants to get a user's attention, they should move up to making phone calls when the computer messages get ignored. Or maybe throwing bricks through windows.
I think that they said that wouldn't work. They braced the door open so someone could push the button and leave, but as soon as they left the compartment the ship opened the door again. It needed to detect a living thing inside the shuttle.
The Ancient engineers blew it, the writers were just accomplices. :)
Weakest plot point of the whole premiere, IMHO.
I would rather see people educated instead of regulated.
Fine here t$)!D)A@)003292@ @($&#*%&DYRW*@HD(!HF(#y freakin' sweet.
Imagine you have a family site with pictures of your kids on it and some jerk writes, "man, you have ugly kids" on the sidewiki.
You mean a jerky message like this?
OOMPA LOOMPA DOOMPADEE DOO
GOD'S GOT AN UGLY BABY FOR YOU!
I remember that too, but I also remember them getting sued. I can't recall if they fought it or settled. I've been unable to find a reference though so I may be misremembering that there was a lawsuit at all.
(I should probably install SideWiki and go to the SideWiki site and see if anyone there has put a reference in the comments.)
All respect to WeirdKid and his hot wife (above), but I think tools like this and their down sides are part of the free nature of the web. Your content is not being altered; your visitors are voluntarily using a service that changes their web browsing experience. It would be nice if there was an opt-out but I don't think it should be a matter for the courts if it is lacking.
I have never heard a story like that. Even if the stops were legit, reminding you to pay your taxes is... pretty cheeky. Very interesting, thanks for the reply.
Washington keeps an eye on its borders because neither Oregon nor Montana have sales taxes. I've seen roving police patrols stopping motorists coming in who have what looks to be a vehicle full of new consumer goodies.
Wait, what? You have seen Washington cops stopping people because they bought stuff out of state? It sounds outrageous and illegal. What are the cops doing, reminding you to pay the use tax on the goods you bought? Because by driving home with your loot, you aren't actually doing anything wrong.
Citation needed!
I want to GET a developer fired. Any tips?
Can you create Kindle files and put them on your web site? Is it possible for a Kindle user to grab a file and just copy it to their device?
If so then being kicked out of the Amazon store sucks but it isn't a mortal blow. Someone who googles for "Jesus H. Christ on a Kindle!" will get to your site sooner or later.
If the ONLY way you can get books on your Kindle is through Amazon, then, well, I'm glad I never got one. Even the "F You, We're Sony" reader lets you put your own text on the device.
Ditto. Welcome to the show, guys.
But I have it better than minorities in the US or Canada or wherever.
You are the first person I have ever seen defending Japan on the racism issue, though I understand you are not saying that it is not a problem. Obviously you have a lot of experience having lived there for so long. But the US is a big country and I think it is unfair to say that race relations are the same across every part of it.
Maybe I am fooling myself, but I have a hard time believing that overall, racism is less severe in Japan than the US. Would the Japanese elect a citizen to be President if they were of, say, Chinese descent? Maybe they would. It's been a long time since I was a practicing Japanophile.
ou can rule as much as you want that this hurricane can't go through your home town, if you put it to the test you'll notice that your law is ignored with impunity and ther's jack you can do about it.
If there is any civilization that can find a way to put a force of nature into a prison, it's the US.
If that hurricane blows in some bootleg CDs, it is SCREWED, even if it is not redistributing them for profit.
Correct. A related concept that works well for me is:
Two wrongs don't make a right. It usually takes three or four.
"We have not succeeded in solving all of your problems. The solutions we have found only serve to raise a whole new set of problems. We are as confused as ever, but we believe we are confused on a higher level and about more important things."
I cannot find a source for this quote, but I dig it.
Sitting in the audience I couldn't help but think that someone involved in this glossy, shiny turd would have pointed out that their core audience is going to be made up of people who would be on the first plane to Johannesburg to see an alien.
The events in the movie take place twenty years after the aliens showed up. I thought they made that pretty clear.
Twenty years is a long time... long enough for the most amazing event in human history to become mundane? I think so.