I don't care about slavery. . . I have suffered, you have suffered, slaves suffered, who gives a shit?
I'm not sure whether the poster is joking or serious. He has no idea what is suffering and sounds like an idiot for his callous attitude. Have you no compassion, Sir? Comparing inflated CD prices to the life-long suffering of slaves is an injustice. True that both are forms of suffering. The magnitude of one is much greater. I hope the poster never has to face real tragedy or be treated unjustly.
o this day, that $5, the letter, and the amazing customer service has done more for their business for me than anything else. I continue to shop there to this day and extol their virtues to others.
A customer on either end of the spectrum will talk about your store with dozens of friends and coworkers. On which end of the spectrum would you like to place that customer? This is exactly why Nordstrom has such a fine reputation among department stores. Years ago my father pointed out one of the reasons he prefers Nordstrom: they have plenty of seating. Husbands often wait a long time while their wives find clothing. I challenge you to find any major national retailer other than Nordstrom that provides plentiful and seating for their customers. He also was cheerfully treated when returning a pair of shoes some three years after purchase (hardly worn but poor fit). In response to that urban legend about someone returning 4 used tires for a refund at Nordstrom, their president said in an interview that he'd rather win a customer than save a few bucks from being right. That customer is likely to turn around and spend that refund in the store. He/she will also extol the virtues of the store.
As for my Best Buy nightmare, I'm not really as livid as others. However, because of the way they treated me, I won't shop BB again. The 32" TV they delivered to my home worked fine upon arrival, and then the picture went black an hour after they left. BB frustrated me to no end in trying to get it replaced. For starters, their phone system has a voice menu system that is difficult to navigate (no way to back up after a wrong choice) and nearly impossible to reach a live person. Because all their employees use cordless phones, calls are consistently (intentionally?) dropped. They have no telephone number for their national office, neither toll-free or otherwise. After a dozen calls I was able to reach corporate office from a "hidden" option in one of the menus.
As in the case of Nordstrom, if they simply responded to me up front instead of sending me through voice mail hell, I would remain a customer. Their terrible reponse and lack of interest from the store manager pushed me to the far end of that customer spectrum. The end where I will bad mouth them. Totally their fault for poor customer relations and loss of this customer who could have spent several thousand dollars over the next few years. Oh well, I guess they'll make it up on the next customer.
Some people are truly alergic to EDTA, a preservative found in most cosmetics and cleaning products. I cannot use antibacterial soap because it's too caustic for my skin.
Most soaps contain cow urine. If you truly knew what went into making these producs, you might feel very ill. Just becuase you don't have a problem with a chemical does not mean that everyone is okay with it. The parent poster sounds very insensitive to other people. How appalling that he ignores the pleas of his relatives.
Before we go blaming the victim it would be much more helpful to listen rather than jumping to conclusions.
He claims two rare diseases and there's nothing odd about that. I have two rare medical problems. At age 6 I was diagnosed with NF1 (1 in 3000) and had a pheochromocytomoa (unknown incidence but possibly 1 in 5000) diagnosed at age 40. The latter would never have been detected had I not developed a case of pancreatitis that was NOT brought on by alcohol consumption. Lucky me, I got it twice. Thankfully, a CAT scan and chest X-rays helped locate the pheo. Who would ever tell their doctor they get headaches when defecating?
You want to talk about how the medical profession misses a lot of diseases and conditions because routine blood tests are not so routine anymore or that HMOs have reduced the blood panel 40 to a blood panel with fewer than 30 items
The medical world works miracles everyday and I am grateful to my doctors. Doctors are not infallible and miss things. Sometimes they make patients feel guilty for coming to the office too often. We often label these people hypochondriacs when some of us are responding as we were taught by all those 1960s health films we had to watch. The ones that insisted we get an annual physical and see the doctor immidiately for any small problem.
Actually, Jerry Falwell blamed the 9/11 attacks on homosexuals. On September 13, 2001, Falwell appeared on Pat Robertson's "news" segment of the "700 Club" and said:
"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."
From the appearance of the Google cache others have linked to, I don't see any attempt to deceive the public. The former fallwell.com provides a very clear disclaimer and link to Jerry's real website.
As another poster noted, if we start restricting domain names to those with previous widespread identity or companies with big bucks, you restrict access to smaller voices who can't afford lawyers. The whole idea of this thingy called the World-Wide Web is that it was the great equalizer. Everyone whether large or small had an equal voice. Suppose a gay advocate, possible world-renown or not, whose last name is Fallwell operated that website. Would you feel the decision was proper?
I already type over 50wpm on a QWERTY keyboard. Why would I want to switch? My desk is already equipped with an under-surface keyboard try to prevent RSI problems. For/. readers and techies, the best keyboard change would be returning the CONTROL key where it belongs: next to the A key. How many people use the CAPS LOCK key more than the CONTROL key? At least DEC got that right with the VT-100. I'm still using an old Keytronic keyboard because nobody manufactures keyboards with a DIP switch to swap the CAPS and CONTROL keys. It still drives people nuts when they use my keyboard.
One of the earliest critics of DES (FIPS-46) was Whitfield Diffie, a maverick of his time. The government, industry, and press all hailed the 56-bit DES as a milestone breakthrough. At that time, ITAR regulations limited encryption algorithms to 28 or 40 bits, a serious restriciton for international corporations. IBM was prohibited from using Lucifer with its offshore subsidiaries because the Feds equated it with nuclear weaponry.
Diffie is probably best renowned for his methodology known as knapsack encryption. This was alternative to RSA which was computationally prohibitive in the early 1980s.
I remember my having difficulty in my old college days in obtaining a copy of RSA. My school had to obtain a copy of their paper from MIT through inter-library loan. I had not realized that RSA would gain such widespread adoption because ITAR would prevent international implementation for any US-based company.
I scored 100% (10 out of 10). This is an excellent was to test your wits. Any nerd can check the e-mail headers or HTML links. This test isn't about that skill. It's all about whether you can read between the lines and feret out the legitimate messages from the scams based on the body text. Anyone can avoid being scammed by not going on-line, not answering the telephone, not talking to another person. The real skill lies in reading someone face to face or the story the tell/write.
My favorite game of all time hands down is Dungeon a.k.a. Zork, the great underground adventure (the DECUS shareware version, not the one marketed by Infocom). It presented dozens of challengins puzzles that took a very long time to solve unless someone gave you their map or solutions.
I also recall a VT100 game for VMS where you explored islands to establish new bases. Sure those games were primitive compared to the current stuff. But the shoot 'em up MUD games where you win by memorizing the nuances of some 3-D map. That's not fun--it's obsession.
I guess it comes down to whether you prefer games that require thoughtful problem solving (e.g., Zork or Indiana Jones) or precise manual dexterity and knowing the exact moment to perform an action gained only through repeated playing. I preferred pinball to video games because you got more value for your dime (or quarter).
Did anyone else catch the cover photo to the Business Section of this July 12 article [no photo on website] in the Los Angeles Times? It looks as though part of Keira Knightly's breast nipple is showing through her rediculous costume.
Those gay people are so intelligent because they know how to upsell. Reminds me of an old Yiddish joke about how one of Hitler's aides demonstrated how incredibly smart the Jews are because they cuold sell a left-handed beer stein (see Every Goy's Guide to Common Yiddish Expressions).
I agree with the other poster that you must still be in high school with homophone errors like "I upsold her from a 10x10 album to an 11x14 buy [sic] moving it in front of the 10x10. It worked, but I felt so dirty." I wonder why you felt so dirty; did you cream your pants from the upsale?
Aha, so taxpayers should only pay for occupying countries like Iraq and Afghanistan which may hurt American security but not for protection from people trying to steal property from my home? Or should police only protect property of private homes but not business? What about Bill Gates' home? He's very wealthy and could afford his own army.
There's a strong case for protecting property and it seems Slashdot readers believe intellectual property should be free as it is in places like Thailand or China where enforcement is lax or nonexistent.
There's no instrinsic right to steal the property of others whether it be tangible like grandma's life savings or the intellectual property of powerful media conglomerates. A free market allows selllers to set the price of their merchandise or services. As movies are not a life necessity like food, housing, medicine, or housing, I don't see that media companies can be accused of overcharging for entertainment. This issue has nothing to do with the home taping act or unreasonably long copyright protections. This is plain theft.
A problem with this line of reasoning is that assumes the free market should determine all outcomes. Corporoate wealth at the expense of social cause. Unfortunately, this is often a poor way to determine policy because only those with resources will benefit. The airwaves are a public resource, not the private property of Clear Channel or Viacom, et. al. As such, the airwaves should reflect minority opinions and give airtime for those without the resources to buy all the airtime.
SPF is flawed because computer users can't always specify their SMTP gateway when using a closed application (e.g., BlackBoard group learning systems).
An environmental group already built a database of houses along the California coastline to prove that homeowners were building without permits or blocking public access to beaches, a mjor political issue. It annoyed Barbara Streisand so much that she
sued, but lost.
It's called the "Golden Rectangle." Ask anyone who has seen the Disney educational feature Donald [Duck] in Mathematic Land and they can tell you, it is indeed a very special shape with lots of interesting properties.
We need the system like they have (I believe) in the UK where if you're sued by someone and you win, they have to pay your legal bills. At least then it would incent companies to get their $hit straight straight.
So I attempt to sue a large company like Microsoft for some egregious act. I hire the best attorney
I can afford on a 5-figure salary. Microsoft
sends in their big guns and wins. I have to pay
their legal fees.
Your proposed solution means that individuals
will not be able to bring suit for fear of paying
a large company's legal fees. Ever hear of SLAPP
suits?
Is that why I have two loyalty cards on my keyring and three more in my wallet?
Nobody forces you to to use those loyalty cards. Try shopping somewhere else that doesn't penalize you for not using the cards, like my favorite supermarket. I gave up the big supermarkets over 5 years ago and have never gone back. The smaller stores are cheaper.
Has anyone proven that the RFID tags inside your home can be read by a truck outside? Does it really matter when you've already admitted privacy isn't very important by carrying those loyalty cards or using a credit card for electronics purchases?
Other groups have decided they want their own TLDs, so they set up their own name servers (which resolve host names into actual computer IP addresses) with the addition of databases for, e.g., *.web, *.sex, etc. This is unnofficial but technically extremely easy.
THANK YOU for emphasizing this point. Those that choose to use unapproved root servers shall suffer the consequences. If you don't like the politics of TLD assignments, get off the Internet or get used to authority asserting itself.
. ..reporting that the latest versions of the Beagle/Bagle virus can infect users' computers whether or not they open an attachment.
Aparently they've never heard of e-mail software other than Outlook. Many e-mail programs do not execute the VBS code or other attachments of a message simply by selecting it from the Inbox.
Charlie complained that he didn't want to carry yet another cartoon channel because Dish already has four or five. Heck, I wouldn't mind if they got rid of all their shopping channels: two home shopping networks, GEMology channel, health&beauty, men's, coin vault, spanish language home shopping, and my favorite--the cappiodimante channel. You can never have too much faux porcelain (cast resin) Saturday Evening Post figurines. I dumped my cable for Dish because they replaced CSPAN-2 with a spanish language infomerical. I missed CBS because they had a special on Gavin Newsom, but would give a damn if they dropped ABC permanently forever and never to be seen again.
It's interesting that many people (including Slashdot readers) make unproven claims with such passion. Case in point:
Every year local TV news broadcasts remind parents to be vigilant and check their children's candy. Some hospitals offer to X-ray kids candy for free. Parents inspect their children's Halloween candy to make sure it wasn't tampered with. To date, there have been ZERO documented cases of people handing out poisoned candy or apples with razor blades. All of the tampering cases turned out to be caused by family members or friends of the family, not the people handing out the treats.
Before you go making claims about lawsuits being harmful, go beyond the rhetoric and see what the real cost is. Don't quote a newspaper article or Time magazine report. Do some real research through peer-reviewed journals.
My sister in-law is a nurse anesthesist and claims that 70% of the nation's medical budget is spent on keeping people alive for the last three weeks of their lives. The remaining 30% goes to keeping the rest of us healthy. Are we Americans ready for a debate on where to spend our money? Do we want to pit the young against the old?
Other reports indicate that Viagra availability costs HMO insurance plans almost $20 per month per member (not patient having a prescription). So we're all paying $20 a month because Johnny can't get an erection.
Absent from the/. discussion and the petition website is a clear explanation of what's different between the original theatrical release and the director's cut. Before you moderate me as a troll, understand I prefer the original versions and hate to colorized versions of It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 32nd Street. I hate what the studio did to Eyes Wide Shut. If you wanna win converts, you gotta convince them with a better argument--heck, any argument--than just crying, "It's not the theatrical release!" Also absent from the discussion is whether the DVD will have a non-default option of viewing the theatrical release.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm not sure whether the poster is joking or serious. He has no idea what is suffering and sounds like an idiot for his callous attitude. Have you no compassion, Sir? Comparing inflated CD prices to the life-long suffering of slaves is an injustice. True that both are forms of suffering. The magnitude of one is much greater. I hope the poster never has to face real tragedy or be treated unjustly.
A customer on either end of the spectrum will talk about your store with dozens of friends and coworkers. On which end of the spectrum would you like to place that customer? This is exactly why Nordstrom has such a fine reputation among department stores. Years ago my father pointed out one of the reasons he prefers Nordstrom: they have plenty of seating. Husbands often wait a long time while their wives find clothing. I challenge you to find any major national retailer other than Nordstrom that provides plentiful and seating for their customers. He also was cheerfully treated when returning a pair of shoes some three years after purchase (hardly worn but poor fit). In response to that urban legend about someone returning 4 used tires for a refund at Nordstrom, their president said in an interview that he'd rather win a customer than save a few bucks from being right. That customer is likely to turn around and spend that refund in the store. He/she will also extol the virtues of the store.
As for my Best Buy nightmare, I'm not really as livid as others. However, because of the way they treated me, I won't shop BB again. The 32" TV they delivered to my home worked fine upon arrival, and then the picture went black an hour after they left. BB frustrated me to no end in trying to get it replaced. For starters, their phone system has a voice menu system that is difficult to navigate (no way to back up after a wrong choice) and nearly impossible to reach a live person. Because all their employees use cordless phones, calls are consistently (intentionally?) dropped. They have no telephone number for their national office, neither toll-free or otherwise. After a dozen calls I was able to reach corporate office from a "hidden" option in one of the menus.
As in the case of Nordstrom, if they simply responded to me up front instead of sending me through voice mail hell, I would remain a customer. Their terrible reponse and lack of interest from the store manager pushed me to the far end of that customer spectrum. The end where I will bad mouth them. Totally their fault for poor customer relations and loss of this customer who could have spent several thousand dollars over the next few years. Oh well, I guess they'll make it up on the next customer.
Some people are truly alergic to EDTA, a preservative found in most cosmetics and cleaning products. I cannot use antibacterial soap because it's too caustic for my skin.
Most soaps contain cow urine. If you truly knew what went into making these producs, you might feel very ill. Just becuase you don't have a problem with a chemical does not mean that everyone is okay with it. The parent poster sounds very insensitive to other people. How appalling that he ignores the pleas of his relatives.
Before we go blaming the victim it would be much more helpful to listen rather than jumping to conclusions.
He claims two rare diseases and there's nothing odd about that. I have two rare medical problems. At age 6 I was diagnosed with NF1 (1 in 3000) and had a pheochromocytomoa (unknown incidence but possibly 1 in 5000) diagnosed at age 40. The latter would never have been detected had I not developed a case of pancreatitis that was NOT brought on by alcohol consumption. Lucky me, I got it twice. Thankfully, a CAT scan and chest X-rays helped locate the pheo. Who would ever tell their doctor they get headaches when defecating?
You want to talk about how the medical profession misses a lot of diseases and conditions because routine blood tests are not so routine anymore or that HMOs have reduced the blood panel 40 to a blood panel with fewer than 30 items
The medical world works miracles everyday and I am grateful to my doctors. Doctors are not infallible and miss things. Sometimes they make patients feel guilty for coming to the office too often. We often label these people hypochondriacs when some of us are responding as we were taught by all those 1960s health films we had to watch. The ones that insisted we get an annual physical and see the doctor immidiately for any small problem.
- "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."
From the appearance of the Google cache others have linked to, I don't see any attempt to deceive the public. The former fallwell.com provides a very clear disclaimer and link to Jerry's real website.As another poster noted, if we start restricting domain names to those with previous widespread identity or companies with big bucks, you restrict access to smaller voices who can't afford lawyers. The whole idea of this thingy called the World-Wide Web is that it was the great equalizer. Everyone whether large or small had an equal voice. Suppose a gay advocate, possible world-renown or not, whose last name is Fallwell operated that website. Would you feel the decision was proper?
I already type over 50wpm on a QWERTY keyboard. Why would I want to switch? My desk is already equipped with an under-surface keyboard try to prevent RSI problems. For /. readers and techies, the best keyboard change would be returning the CONTROL key where it belongs: next to the A key. How many people use the CAPS LOCK key more than the CONTROL key? At least DEC got that right with the VT-100. I'm still using an old Keytronic keyboard because nobody manufactures keyboards with a DIP switch to swap the CAPS and CONTROL keys. It still drives people nuts when they use my keyboard.
One of the earliest critics of DES (FIPS-46) was Whitfield Diffie, a maverick of his time. The government, industry, and press all hailed the 56-bit DES as a milestone breakthrough. At that time, ITAR regulations limited encryption algorithms to 28 or 40 bits, a serious restriciton for international corporations. IBM was prohibited from using Lucifer with its offshore subsidiaries because the Feds equated it with nuclear weaponry.
Diffie is probably best renowned for his methodology known as knapsack encryption. This was alternative to RSA which was computationally prohibitive in the early 1980s.
I remember my having difficulty in my old college days in obtaining a copy of RSA. My school had to obtain a copy of their paper from MIT through inter-library loan. I had not realized that RSA would gain such widespread adoption because ITAR would prevent international implementation for any US-based company.
I scored 100% (10 out of 10). This is an excellent was to test your wits. Any nerd can check the e-mail headers or HTML links. This test isn't about that skill. It's all about whether you can read between the lines and feret out the legitimate messages from the scams based on the body text. Anyone can avoid being scammed by not going on-line, not answering the telephone, not talking to another person. The real skill lies in reading someone face to face or the story the tell/write.
My favorite game of all time hands down is Dungeon a.k.a. Zork, the great underground adventure (the DECUS shareware version, not the one marketed by Infocom). It presented dozens of challengins puzzles that took a very long time to solve unless someone gave you their map or solutions.
I also recall a VT100 game for VMS where you explored islands to establish new bases. Sure those games were primitive compared to the current stuff. But the shoot 'em up MUD games where you win by memorizing the nuances of some 3-D map. That's not fun--it's obsession.
I guess it comes down to whether you prefer games that require thoughtful problem solving (e.g., Zork or Indiana Jones) or precise manual dexterity and knowing the exact moment to perform an action gained only through repeated playing. I preferred pinball to video games because you got more value for your dime (or quarter).
Did anyone else catch the cover photo to the Business Section of this July 12 article [no photo on website] in the Los Angeles Times? It looks as though part of Keira Knightly's breast nipple is showing through her rediculous costume.
I agree with the other poster that you must still be in high school with homophone errors like "I upsold her from a 10x10 album to an 11x14 buy [sic] moving it in front of the 10x10. It worked, but I felt so dirty." I wonder why you felt so dirty; did you cream your pants from the upsale?
There's a strong case for protecting property and it seems Slashdot readers believe intellectual property should be free as it is in places like Thailand or China where enforcement is lax or nonexistent.
There's no instrinsic right to steal the property of others whether it be tangible like grandma's life savings or the intellectual property of powerful media conglomerates. A free market allows selllers to set the price of their merchandise or services. As movies are not a life necessity like food, housing, medicine, or housing, I don't see that media companies can be accused of overcharging for entertainment. This issue has nothing to do with the home taping act or unreasonably long copyright protections. This is plain theft.
A problem with this line of reasoning is that assumes the free market should determine all outcomes. Corporoate wealth at the expense of social cause. Unfortunately, this is often a poor way to determine policy because only those with resources will benefit. The airwaves are a public resource, not the private property of Clear Channel or Viacom, et. al. As such, the airwaves should reflect minority opinions and give airtime for those without the resources to buy all the airtime.
SPF is flawed because computer users can't always specify their SMTP gateway when using a closed application (e.g., BlackBoard group learning systems).
An environmental group already built a database of houses along the California coastline to prove that homeowners were building without permits or blocking public access to beaches, a mjor political issue. It annoyed Barbara Streisand so much that she sued, but lost.
It's called the "Golden Rectangle." Ask anyone who has seen the Disney educational feature Donald [Duck] in Mathematic Land and they can tell you, it is indeed a very special shape with lots of interesting properties.
So I attempt to sue a large company like Microsoft for some egregious act. I hire the best attorney I can afford on a 5-figure salary. Microsoft sends in their big guns and wins. I have to pay their legal fees.
Your proposed solution means that individuals will not be able to bring suit for fear of paying a large company's legal fees. Ever hear of SLAPP suits?
matthew
Nobody forces you to to use those loyalty cards. Try shopping somewhere else that doesn't penalize you for not using the cards, like my favorite supermarket. I gave up the big supermarkets over 5 years ago and have never gone back. The smaller stores are cheaper.
Has anyone proven that the RFID tags inside your home can be read by a truck outside? Does it really matter when you've already admitted privacy isn't very important by carrying those loyalty cards or using a credit card for electronics purchases?
THANK YOU for emphasizing this point. Those that choose to use unapproved root servers shall suffer the consequences. If you don't like the politics of TLD assignments, get off the Internet or get used to authority asserting itself.
Aparently they've never heard of e-mail software other than Outlook. Many e-mail programs do not execute the VBS code or other attachments of a message simply by selecting it from the Inbox.
Charlie complained that he didn't want to carry yet another cartoon channel because Dish already has four or five. Heck, I wouldn't mind if they got rid of all their shopping channels: two home shopping networks, GEMology channel, health&beauty, men's, coin vault, spanish language home shopping, and my favorite--the cappiodimante channel. You can never have too much faux porcelain (cast resin) Saturday Evening Post figurines. I dumped my cable for Dish because they replaced CSPAN-2 with a spanish language infomerical. I missed CBS because they had a special on Gavin Newsom, but would give a damn if they dropped ABC permanently forever and never to be seen again.
Paypal annual transaction volume: $12.2 billion.
Paypal fraud rate: 0.2% = 0.002.
Paypal fraud volume: $24,000,000 per year. That's no small potatoes.
Every year local TV news broadcasts remind parents to be vigilant and check their children's candy. Some hospitals offer to X-ray kids candy for free. Parents inspect their children's Halloween candy to make sure it wasn't tampered with. To date, there have been ZERO documented cases of people handing out poisoned candy or apples with razor blades. All of the tampering cases turned out to be caused by family members or friends of the family, not the people handing out the treats.
Before you go making claims about lawsuits being harmful, go beyond the rhetoric and see what the real cost is. Don't quote a newspaper article or Time magazine report. Do some real research through peer-reviewed journals.
Other reports indicate that Viagra availability costs HMO insurance plans almost $20 per month per member (not patient having a prescription). So we're all paying $20 a month because Johnny can't get an erection.
Absent from the /. discussion and the petition website is a clear explanation of what's different between the original theatrical release and the director's cut. Before you moderate me as a troll, understand I prefer the original versions and hate to colorized versions of It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 32nd Street. I hate what the studio did to Eyes Wide Shut. If you wanna win converts, you gotta convince them with a better argument--heck, any argument--than just crying, "It's not the theatrical release!" Also absent from the discussion is whether the DVD will have a non-default option of viewing the theatrical release.