Lately, I have been increasingly (and pleasantly) surprised by the number of people here (in the US) that are finally taking it upon themselves to become more informed and by the number of people who have stopped believing everything that is spoonfed to them by the corporate media.
If you were less keen on wiping people out who disagree with you, there might be less people who disagreed with you.
Please don't generalize so broadly. Not all of the American people support this administration (or previous ones, for that matter). Most people I know here in the US are strongly opposed to the policies of this administration, and feel that they (Bush & Co.) in no way represent them (the peeps). If, in your statement, you were to replace the word "you" with "the US administration," then I would agree with you completely.
I have been considering setting up VPNs with my friends internationally, then putting an asterisk box on everybody's local network. Then, we can just call each other's extensions nad not have to pay for the international calls. That's similar to what the major corporations do, so us "little people" should too. Just bypass the telcos altogether.:)
I just like taking the credit card applications and stuffing in random garbage (like other empty envelopes or coupons to Dennys) and sending it back to them, on their dime.
Hehehe... I never thought of that - brilliant! I have a huge pile (probably ~300) of CC offers waiting to be shredded. I know what I'll be doing this weekend. Seems like great fun!
If the Japanese-old-companion-bot is a clever disguise for these guardbots... If so, I wonder if the pensioners would really be controlling them and would become the new Shopping Center Overlords...
I'll either walk out of the door or just browse to another site
The problem with this is that the popups are not being generated by the site that you are visiting; they are generated by Adware's servers and triggered by the Adware spyware (that is installed on your computer) which detects what URL you are going to.
Therefore, if you go to a competitor's site, you are still taking business away from the company with which you originally wanted to do business.
How many times are companies going to start from scratch creating FPS and RTS engines when they could just make the same engines evolve?
Excellent question. I would probably guess that this will go on indefinitely, for these reasons: a) The executives of these companies have no real clue, b) These companies probably have quite a high attrition rate for developers, due to developer abuse (at lease EA), and c) Because of b, above, the developers working on new projects probably think it's easier to start from scratch rather than attempt to build upon millions of lines of somebody else's code - please note that this part (c) is pure speculation.
OT from your reply, but regarding movies, how often have you seen a movie in the last several years that was truly original, and not a remake of a previous movie, or based on an existing comic book|novel|classic literature?
I think the cost of creation/production for movies/games is increasing due to a lack of real creativity in these industries (as well as the music industry). They have to increasingly rely on special effects, while using the same storylines over and over again (or making the same games over and over again with better|different graphics and sound). I'm not saying that there aren't creative people, just that most of them have been marginalized because they know they produce a quality product and do not want to be ripped off by the big boys.
The more support that independent artists get, the better, including OSS.
As someone who is not in the UK, I can tell you that (for me anyway) I would be happy to pay for a subscription to the BBC (both for television and web, but not BBC America since it's watered/dumbed down). I think that modifying your statement to say "Perhaps the BBC should implement a subscription model for those outside the UK and the non-lincense fee payers" would be a bit more appealing to me. I would gladly pay for quality programming from them, since most of the programming in the US is crap.
While that may be true about the naming conventions (DNS) it is certainly not true that 13 computers "control" the internet.
While it is technically accurate to say that these 13 servers don't really control the internet, it may still be perceived as such from the perspective of the average home user while he/she is using all of their favorite web sites. Most home users don't know what an IP address is, much less what the IP addresses are for all of the sites they use on a regular basis. We're not really using hosts files anymore (thank goodnes for that), so what happens when their cache expires? The "Internet" is broken.
IMHO, with these people (Bush [lack-of] administration), it's all about greed and control. Any way to make money, or to keep it out of the hands of "those terrorists," where terrorist may be defined as anybody who even remotely disagrees with them or opposes their actions. Anything to maintain their fragile egos, to make sure that the rest of the world knows - in no uncertain terms - that THEY are in control. After all, you're either with us or against us, remember?
Sorry for the rant, I seem to be losing more control over this urge on a daily basis.
I'm not really sure what to make of this. I definitely do not think that having the root domains under control by the US government is a good idea, and I also do not think that ICAAN is really up to the task either. I wonder if it might be better to have the root domain servers be distributed throughout the world (run as non-profit organizations, with only minimal fees required to maintain the servers, and executive salaries at these orgs capped).
And of course the coolness factor, that always works for those that want to differentiate themselves from the mainstream, boring people.
Perhaps it's a sign of getting old (since I fit into the 30 - 40 year old demographic), but personally I see the pop culture of today very much lacking in culture, and I usually do not have a problem understanding the language of younger people. I do find that those who make such a massive effort to differentiate themselves from the mainstream, boring people are usually those who end up being the most mainstream, boring people. Maybe this is a function of the pervasive marketing in our society.
This is the most insightful post I've read on/. in a long time. This also applies to the workplace. I've always found that the folks who know the least about something are usually the ones who claim they know the most (and who screw it up so the rest of us have to clean up after them). And, of course, those same people usually end up being promoted to management because they are more vocal than those who just do their job. This is where they do even more damage.
In complete contrast to this, the people who ask a lot of questions, admit when they don't know something (after all, it's impossible to know everything), and have a real interest in technology (as opposed to money, corporate politics, BMWs, etc...), are the most technically competent that I have worked woth.
Disclaimer: this is based on experience at the last place I worked - my current employer seems to have much more logical hiring practices that filter out the clueless.
an infrared vein scanner that works entirely by imaging the heat given off by your circulating blood
Infrared uses a different part of the spectrum; you're thinking of thermal imaging. Taken from this article, this is how the Contactless Palm Vein Authentication System works: "It works using infrared light to scan for hemoglobin, which provides oxygen to cells in the body, the company said. Reduced hemoglobin absorbs near-infrared rays, so on the image it shows up as black, with the rest of the hand colored white."
There is a pretty interesting sample image in the article too.
Slashdot Mirror
It looks like this could be competition for Ruckus Network, which provides a file-sharing service to [some] universities and colleges.
Lately, I have been increasingly (and pleasantly) surprised by the number of people here (in the US) that are finally taking it upon themselves to become more informed and by the number of people who have stopped believing everything that is spoonfed to them by the corporate media.
Please don't generalize so broadly. Not all of the American people support this administration (or previous ones, for that matter). Most people I know here in the US are strongly opposed to the policies of this administration, and feel that they (Bush & Co.) in no way represent them (the peeps). If, in your statement, you were to replace the word "you" with "the US administration," then I would agree with you completely.
I have been considering setting up VPNs with my friends internationally, then putting an asterisk box on everybody's local network. Then, we can just call each other's extensions nad not have to pay for the international calls. That's similar to what the major corporations do, so us "little people" should too. Just bypass the telcos altogether. :)
Hehehe... I never thought of that - brilliant! I have a huge pile (probably ~300) of CC offers waiting to be shredded. I know what I'll be doing this weekend. Seems like great fun!
Hmmmm... Brain... Gone...
In my post, above: s/Adware/WhenU/g
The problem with this is that the popups are not being generated by the site that you are visiting; they are generated by Adware's servers and triggered by the Adware spyware (that is installed on your computer) which detects what URL you are going to.
Therefore, if you go to a competitor's site, you are still taking business away from the company with which you originally wanted to do business.
Excellent question. I would probably guess that this will go on indefinitely, for these reasons: a) The executives of these companies have no real clue, b) These companies probably have quite a high attrition rate for developers, due to developer abuse (at lease EA), and c) Because of b, above, the developers working on new projects probably think it's easier to start from scratch rather than attempt to build upon millions of lines of somebody else's code - please note that this part (c) is pure speculation.
OT from your reply, but regarding movies, how often have you seen a movie in the last several years that was truly original, and not a remake of a previous movie, or based on an existing comic book|novel|classic literature?
The more support that independent artists get, the better, including OSS.
You obviously don't live in the US. Nobody I know here would ever say that about most programs. :-)
No, no, no, no, NO!
As someone who is not in the UK, I can tell you that (for me anyway) I would be happy to pay for a subscription to the BBC (both for television and web, but not BBC America since it's watered/dumbed down). I think that modifying your statement to say "Perhaps the BBC should implement a subscription model for those outside the UK and the non-lincense fee payers" would be a bit more appealing to me. I would gladly pay for quality programming from them, since most of the programming in the US is crap.
Thank you for that information. I didn't know about it. I, for one, will be configuring all of my systems to use this, as well as my own DNS server.
While it is technically accurate to say that these 13 servers don't really control the internet, it may still be perceived as such from the perspective of the average home user while he/she is using all of their favorite web sites. Most home users don't know what an IP address is, much less what the IP addresses are for all of the sites they use on a regular basis. We're not really using hosts files anymore (thank goodnes for that), so what happens when their cache expires? The "Internet" is broken.
Sorry for the rant, I seem to be losing more control over this urge on a daily basis.
I'm not really sure what to make of this. I definitely do not think that having the root domains under control by the US government is a good idea, and I also do not think that ICAAN is really up to the task either. I wonder if it might be better to have the root domain servers be distributed throughout the world (run as non-profit organizations, with only minimal fees required to maintain the servers, and executive salaries at these orgs capped).
Perhaps it's a sign of getting old (since I fit into the 30 - 40 year old demographic), but personally I see the pop culture of today very much lacking in culture, and I usually do not have a problem understanding the language of younger people. I do find that those who make such a massive effort to differentiate themselves from the mainstream, boring people are usually those who end up being the most mainstream, boring people. Maybe this is a function of the pervasive marketing in our society.
D'oh! Watson's Law is already taken!
Oh well...
In the words of Mussolini:
Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.
Here is an interesting little page that diagrams the links between all of these people.
This technology is quite interesting to me. I'll have to learn a bit more about it.
Nice reference. It made me fall out of my chair and have a floor-gasm :)
In complete contrast to this, the people who ask a lot of questions, admit when they don't know something (after all, it's impossible to know everything), and have a real interest in technology (as opposed to money, corporate politics, BMWs, etc...), are the most technically competent that I have worked woth.
Disclaimer: this is based on experience at the last place I worked - my current employer seems to have much more logical hiring practices that filter out the clueless.
Infrared uses a different part of the spectrum; you're thinking of thermal imaging. Taken from this article, this is how the Contactless Palm Vein Authentication System works:
"It works using infrared light to scan for hemoglobin, which provides oxygen to cells in the body, the company said. Reduced hemoglobin absorbs near-infrared rays, so on the image it shows up as black, with the rest of the hand colored white."
There is a pretty interesting sample image in the article too.
Out of curiosity, how do you determine the facts? Do you rely only on one source, or let someone else determine the facts for you?
Being an optimist, I like to think that most people can discern between fact, fiction and opinion, but I may be wrong.
Hey... somebody mod parent up to nobody bypasses him ;)