I wrote to the TSA several years ago about discrepancies involving shoe removal (this was before it was made mandatory at all airports).
I flew quite a bit back then, and on one trip went through security at at least three airports. Each of them had different "shoe rules", and at one I was pulled aside for additional screening because I did not remove my shoes. I argued with the supervisor, but of course nothing came of it. Two weeks later I flew again and actually had the TSA printout with me when I went through the same airport. Did not matter. Argued again with the supervisor.
So I emailed the TSA about my encounters and they sent me back a generic email saying that each airport had the ability to pretty much do whatever in the world they felt like doing.
Part of the response:
Security requirements issued by the TSA establish a security minimum for adoption by air carriers and airports. Air carriers and airports may exceed those minimum standards by implementing more stringent security requirements. This prevents potential terrorists from "beating the system" by learning how it operates. Leaving out any one group, such as senior citizens or the clergy, undermine security. We simply cannot assume that all future terrorists will fit any particular profile.
I am always amazed where the cut-off for "low UID" conversations move.
I chime in on them every few years. One of the first ones I felt like my UID (2031) was *too high* to be considered an old-timer.
Now I see people on this thread chiming in with five digit UIDs.
And I have posted this a couple of times elsewhere, but my confirmation email has me creating an account on 3 September 2007, a few weeks after I started reading Slashdot.
Well, I have my confirmation email from Slashdot when I created my user account. It is dated 3 September 1998. I think you probably joined sometime in 1999, or your UID would be a lot lower.
obTopic: And what is up with no 10th. Anniversary parties in Atlanta or Athens, GA?
I just looked up the email Slashdot sent when I joined (yes, I tend to archive *all* mail. Make fun of me, but it comes in handy during situations like this!)
3 September 1998.
I think I had read a while before that, but only signed up for an ID a little while later. I was not, and am still not, a fan of having to sign up for web pages. Slashdot proved itself over that month or two, so they got my information.
So in about eleven months, Slashdot only had a little over 2000 registered users. I am sure the growth was exponential after that.
I sent in a bug report about two months after that, talking about the new thresholds (I think signed-in users started at 1, and AC comments were 0).
Another bug was reported on 17 March 1999, talking about the new dynamic index.
I am not sure when I ordered my Slashdot t-shirt, but I think it was the first that was offered.
I have been a happy NetBank customer for over five years now. Really good customer support, no fees on basically anything. I only did checking and savings account, and it is a shame that a bad housing market brought all of it down, but that is the way it goes.
I move around a lot, and with direct deposit I never felt the need for a brick-and-morter bank to ever go to. It never made sense for me to pay for the buildings that I was never using. NetBank also had some innovative features to make things easier like free overnight check deposits through any UPS store. I will definitely miss it.
It was really strange logging onto Slashdot this morning and learning that my bank had closed. I supposed I get to spend today researching online banks. I might end up sticking with my new ING account.
Remember a libertarian would not harp on Microsoft, would not have guns laws restricting the use of bazookas, and would not restrict people from following creationism. Libertarian means to live and let live, and most importantly it means for people to be idiots!
Yes, and every Republican is anti-abortion. Every Democrat is pro-choice.
Well, not exactly.
Suppose you agree with every part of the Libertarian party platform except for one part? You are suggesting that person is not a libertarian? What, exactly, are they?
(for the purpose of this argument we are going to ignore the differences between "libertarianism" and "the Libertarian Party", since your argument does not really cover the differences)
One only needs glance at the differing platforms of Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton to realize there are always differences of opinions in a political party.
I consider myself a libertarian. I have minor issues with the capital-L Libertarian Party, but not enough that I do not support them fully. I do believe in some gun-control, however. I believe it is best done (and correctly done) through a Constitutional amendment.
As far as Microsoft goes - I feel one of the responsibilities of the federal government is to prevent monopolies from abusing the market. The government should stay out of capitalism until there is a failure of capitalism (i.e. a monopoly). As a good libertarian, I feel that the government SHOULD investigate Microsoft, and take actions to prevent them from using their monopoly to unfairly control the market.
I also have never seen any Libertarian saying that people should be prevented from following Creationism, but that it should not be taught in schools as "science". A libertarian is going to see that the Constitution provides for a separation of Church and State, and therefore a government entity (public schools) should not be teaching faith in a specific Christian ideology. Followers of Creationism are free to continue to believe what they want, are free to gather outside of schools.
Oh, and the quiz you link to? Here is one of the questions: The only social responsibility of a company should be to deliver a profit to its shareholders.
This is a horribly worded question. Apple's stock dipped a bit due to Greenpeace's (poorly done) criticism of Apple's environmental policy. I would say that this is an economic factor that a corporation should pay attention to. The company also needs to pay attention to the fact that more consumers are buying based on environmentally friendlier products. This drives profits. But the question is worded such that this should be ignored.
As others have mentioned in response, the questions are sometimes poorly worded, and there is not a "Do not care" answer, which seems almost critical to a Libertarian at times. What do I care about nationalistic movements, for example?
Another question: The rich are too highly taxed. This question gives no perspective or comparison. Too highly taxed compared to poor people? Compared to middle-income? Or just in general do I think that the rich should not be taxed at all?
I think Apple would say that your "non-computer-literate wife" should not feel the need to right-click in OS X. The point of shipping one-button mice (with support for 2+ button mice) is that developers can never rely on users being able to right-click, meaning any functionality of the program *must* be accessible using only a primary mouse click.
This leaves right-clicking on OS X as a shortcut for more knowledgeable users.
One big complaint I have heard from Windows users is the "hidden nature" of a lot of functionality when using Windows and Windows programs. "So if I want to do something, I can search the application's windows. If I do not find it there, I might start clicking on random objects in the program. If that does not work I can start right-clicking on random objects in the program, some of which bring up more tabbed windows for me to search through..."
(Alright, they do not sound so technical about it, but that is the issue they are facing.)
I am also trying to figure out what computer your wife is using that requires her use of the Control key to right-click. Every desktop Mac in the last 3 years or so has shipped with a Mighty Mouse. Every laptop shipped in the same time period has support for two-finger clicking using the trackpad. Or you could always just purchase a two-button USB mouse and plug that in.
While everyone is mentioning how MythTV is going to ahve issues with this, I would remind everyone that MythTV is not the only program out there relying on the Zap2It data.
I have a program on my Mac (MacProgramGuide) that uses the data, and up until today I was developing my own product using the Zap2it data (for anyone interested - adding a "Season Pass" ability on to the eyeTV software)
Now I am going to have to either give up the project or find another source.
I think the "groupthink" argument might have some validity to it, but I think that anyone who thinks that Slashdot readers are going to have a completely normal distribution is just asking to be proven incorrectly.
Slashdot has its very roots in the Linux/OSS community, combined with the tech/IT community. Frequently this community will have wide-ranging hobbies and interests, but in general will have that common background. At times it can be a little difficult for a "You know, I do think this is one place where Windows does it better than OS X and Linux" comment to get filtered to the top, but it does happen. As a regular reader I just take the bias with a grain of salt and realize it is not too bad of a bias.
I am with you - I started reading Slashdot for the comments, and that is why I am still here. When I have mod-ops I take the responsibility seriously, and I frequently meta-moderate to make sure I can continue to enjoy the informative discussion.
The culture has definitely moved forward, but it is still very similar to how it has been the past 1000 years.
And language?
In terms of etymology, the Icelandic language is the closest to Old Norse, the language of the Vikings. Experts claim them to be virtually identical even though the Viking civilization disappeared about 800 years ago.
This is one of the funniest threads I have read in a while, partly because I turned to a friend while reading the Slashdot write-up and said "Wow, they still give Internet access? My machine is secure enough, I would use that instead of paying the $7.95/day they want in some airports!"
Then I read this thread.
And pointed out my UserID to the same friend.
Too bad - I have actually seen that "Free Wi-Fi" ad-hoc network in a few airports in the last month or so (I think in Midway airport in Chicago). I did not join it, since I knew the SSID of the official wireless service (and knew that it was paid access)
In interesting thing to do is to join the network, fire up a Bonjour Browser (or your other favorite ZeroConf browser) and see available services. If people are sharing their iTunes libraries, if they have a ZerConf chat program, and so on...
While several large parts were pre-built, I did the design and building for a 75 gallon saltwater aquarium with 20 gallon sump.
Cool parts? Moonlighting, from a cold cathode tube designed for computer cases, and the complete sump for filtration.
Most things were automated (lighting was on timers, water loss due to evaporation was replaced by an automated switch), so the final result was self-sustaining for the most part.
In all I estimated that I did about 200-300 hours of research and designing, and about 200 hours worth of construction and set-up on the tank before I ever added a fish.
A few years ago I found a device at Best Buy that plugs into the wall and gives you a standard car cigarette lighter socket. It is rated for very low amps (designed to charge cell phones), but since I am mainly charging cell phones, iPods, and other low-draw devices, it works well. I just buy car charging cables for each device (which are significantly smaller and less bulky than their A/C counterparts) and carry them.
In a car? No problem, just use the car charger straight. Inside with an outlet? Just plug in the inverter and then the car charger cable.
It means I can only one device at a time, but as long as I time things well, this is not a bad problem with most devices having Li-Ion batteries with the fairly quick 80% charge.
I also have a generic cigarette lighter -> USB adaptor which also makes for a nice generic piece to charge from. As others have said, standardizing on USB to charge from makes things nice.
Cookies should only be able to store data you give a company. A cookie is not going through your computer and associate your cookie with your name, email address, credit card number, sexual proclivity, and so on.
Now you can say that prevalent advertisers like doubleclick can make inferences based on what sites you go to that they serve ads for. This is one reason that I block anything to/from doubleclick. The fact that this also has the advantage of eliminating several ads as I browse the web? Outstanding. I fail to see how this should suddenly become illegal for doubleclick to do.
So then you can argue "Yeah, but if you sign up with the website, or make a purchase, they can associate a cookie with all the information they gave you!" Yes, and so can any brick-and-morter who wants to track purchases made with the same credit card. Or grocery stores that give you "Discount Cards" that require a name, address, and phone number. Use that discount card once with a credit card and they have even more information on you.
So I fail to see how data acquired through cookies is so bad we need laws "protecting" us. Any privacy nut is going to be willing to either block cookies from certain sites or just make them session-long. Anyone else is running with about the same loss of privacy that comes with using a credit card anyway.
If you do not want online companies to know who you are (and therefore track you), then do not give out information.
We also have no idea what that guy did before the video starts. He might have just shot a little girl, spit in the cop's face, or jay walked. We have no idea what the context was, so it's hard to pass judgement.
No, it makes no difference what happened before the video started. For one thing, everyone is assumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Every single person arrested is assured that right.
Second, every police officer should be expected to treat every single suspect with the same rights. Saying "it is alright for the police to beat someone up because the suspect just shot a little girl" is simply inexcusable. It does not matter the crime, the police are not around to dole out punishments. We have an entire branch of the government set aside to determine guilt or innocence, and then to give appropriate punishment for crimes.
But do the machines tally and report the votes correctly? And do they protect against tracing back the votes to specific voters?
Well, you can always randomly audit the machines, since there is a perfectly good paper trail (the original card).
As far as tracing back, whenever I used optical card voting in Kentucky, the staff would simply pull off a voting ballot off the top of the stack and give it to you. The cards are numbered, but they never write down your number with your name.
Optical cards are probably the best way to vote that I have seen. Tabulation is easy, and there is a clearly defined paper trail.
I am all in favor of freedom of the press, and stand by journalists who are willing to even be jailed to protect their rights.
The grey area for me, at least, is when they are informed of something that is illegal to be told to anyone. Something classified, for example. The law says "this cannot be told to anyone", someone tells a journalist, and suddenly there are two classes of "anyone" - a journalist, and everyone else in the country. Suddenly it is alright to tell the journalist (since he/she has freedom of the press, and should not be compelled to reveal their source), but not anyone else (since they do not enjoy the same "freedoms").
Suddenly we are equating "freedom of the press" with freedoms above and beyond what normal citizens get.
I am not saying I agree or disagree with that statement, but then let me ask one more thing.
Where does "being a journalist" start? Surely someone writing a column for the New York Times is a journalist. Someone writing for The Greenville (Ky.) Ledger is, as well. Surely Drudge could be considered a journalist. What about someone who keeps a political blog? What about someone who writes about politics in their LiveJournal on occasion? Someone that posts to Slashdot?
Where does that line begin and end? If we are going to guarantee additional freedoms for "the press", we have to have a clear definition of what constitutes "the press", and I do not currently see that definition anywhere.
I do believe that we need to get to the heart of some of the problems we have had recently - this Presidential Administration needs to be a lot more forthcoming in its actions, even if it just informs the Legislative Branch more fully. It seems that, to this Administration, "oversight" is evil, and should be avoided at all costs.
Anyone who buys DRM'd music is either an idiot or ignorant, and it's a shame so few of them have learned their lesson yet.
Thanks for the blatant insult.
So I want a song. One song. Not an album. One song. So I fire up iTunes and purchase the song for 99 cents. I play it on both my computers, and my iPod. Chances are that I do not burn it to CD since I have just listed the way I listen to 99% of my music.
Two points: 1) I have songs that I bought a couple of years ago. I believe that I have gotten my "99 cents worth." If somehow the song was not able to be played anymore, I have to think that it was worth it in the end. I am not expecting that to happen, but if it did, Apple and the RIAA are not going to somehow "take away" that time that I was able to enjoy the song in question.
2) About the only way I can see Apple changing their iTunes Store policies to completely cut me off from my previously purchased music is to say "The song is only valid on the computer it is purchased on, and cannot be transferred to a new computer." At that point I think that Apple (and the RIAA) suddenly have millions of pissed-off customers willing to file a class action suit to take back "ownership" of their previously purchased music, and (even as someone who is not at all a fan of class action lawsuits), I think that the customers would have a very good point.
Do you have some legal standing that says they do not?
Besides, at that point I have up until the time that my computer fails to enjoy the music I have previously purchased.
you're paying for a vague not-a-promise that you can probably listen to the music now
I do not understand this at all. "Probably listen to the music now"? What, is iTunes going to fail suddenly during the download? If you are able to purchase a song from the iTunes Store, you have iTunes installed on a computer, and have registered that computer as one of your "Five devices". Barring some technical malfunction, the song WILL PLAY.
Definitely! These computer scientists, electrical engineers, and information technologies guys should be designing better crops so that the third world can produce more and better crops. Or coming up with economic packages that help develop their infrastructures to better distribute the crops and foodstuffs to the people that need it. Or do medical research to help design cheaper medicines to help with common diseases in developing countries.
Oh...
Wait...
They are not specialists in genetic engineering. Oh, and they are not economists, and do not have a lot of political affairs experience. Come to think of it, they also do not have the skills needed to do pharmaceutical research either.
Well, then, what are they good for? I suppose they should just sign over a portion of their paycheck to a non-profit group that might one day help. That is the American way, right? Donating money to resolve guilt about all of the world's problems?
Or maybe... Just maybe... They could volunteer their own time and expertise to do something in their own field to help, and then ignore anonymous people who criticize them for no other reason than the fact that the genetic engineers, the economists, the pharmaceutical companies and, most of all, the politicians are not doing anything in the meantime in their own respective fields.
I agree. In general, I tend to read at 2, Threaded, Highest Scores First, which generally shows me older, higher moderated comments (and any decently moderated comment made in response to it).
I find that most of the top four or five parent posts on an average Slashdot story have 2-3 moderated replies on them, at least.
When I have moderator points, I read at my normal 2/thread/highest, but never moderate anything I see. I then go back, change the story to 0/flat/Newest (ignore threads). Reading like this is fairly difficult, but I can generally keep track of what is being talked about from my original read. I then tend to moderate only comments scored as 0 to me (10% of new users, any AC comments), trying especially hard to get Anonymous Coward comments.
When I have moderator points, I generally moderate about one out of every three stories I read, and only about one or two messages per story.
My point? It is not the easiest thing in the world to do. I know that when I have moderator points I am going to to spend significantly more time on each story I read. In the end, though, I do not mind - I know that I am making Slashdot a better read for the people reading the story after me.
One additional comment: The same "early bird gets the worm" works in reverse on actual stories. A story at the very top of the homepage is probably going to get a lot more moderations than an older story sitting at the very bottom of the homepage, even though some very insightful comments might still be being posted.
I suppose on a small scale you could do moderations like Slashdot does metamoderation: Just choose some posts at random and have users moderate them up or down on a regular basis.
obUseful: Anyone wishing to reconnect with BBS pals from "back in the day" should check out BBSmates.com. Not a lot of users in my old area code, but worth checking out.
I got my first computer in 1986, an Apple//c.
Upgraded to an Apple//gs in about 1989 or so. In 1991 (I think that was the year), I got a 2400 baud modem for my birthday. Most people were upgrading to 2400 around this time, but there were still several 1200 (and even 300's) out there still.
The Louisville, Kentucky BBS scene was fairly active. The BBSs became "homes away from home". As a geek in high school, it was a wonderful opportunity to find people like me, especially when they were all collected together in one place, and there were no embarrassing introductions needed.
The fact that you had a computer, a modem, and had found the BBS was proof you were worthy enough to be treated, at minimum, as "one of us."
I had my normal four or five that I would call every evening (and more often if I could). Watching discussions, checking my personal messages...
it was a whole other life. People were not judged on looks, on fashion, on anything like that. It was your typed word as who you were.
Louisville also had monthly gatherings, referred to as "The Meat". It was held the first Saturday of each month in the now defunct Galleria downtown. The first couple of times I went, I believe I had to have my parents drive me and pick me up. I have no idea what I told them I was going to be doing down there.
I slowly met some of the people I knew on the boards. Looking back now, I realize I was closer to those people in high school than my actual classmates. I even dated a girl for over a year that I met on a board.
In the fall of 1993 I started college, and got access to the Internet. As quickly as the BBS scene changed my life, it disappeared from my life. By the time I got nostalgic for those days, the boards I remembered were all gone.
-singularity (a.k.a. "Merlyn" around the Louisville scene back in the day)
The survey apparently compared (iTunes purchased songs) and (every other possible way of getting a song onto your iPod)
My entire music collection is legal, but I can tell you one of the major way my friends get music - from their friends, through sharing their music collections.
Everyone here on SlashDot seems to be saying "This survey shows that people would rather buy CDs than music online! This probably says they do not want DRM!"
I think the article is saying "People will take *free* music their friends recommend over paying for music online."
This is not at all surprising, and really does not speak to people's views on DRM.
"Rolling Stone" magazine had an article a couple of months ago that talked about the songs and technology that soldiers are taking into battle in Afghanistan and Iraq.
With most of the "attacks" in these two countries being random ambushes, there is a lot of "drive around, doing nothing" time. Imagine if you are helping protect a convoy on a five hour drive. Sitting in a Humvee in the dessert for that lone, crammed in with several other soldiers?
You need music.
There is a small industry of soldiers who are hacking auxiliary inputs into the comm systems of Humvees.
Sure, your comm system might be playing Brittney Spears when you get ambushed, but... As the article put it, shooting at insurgents to "Hit Me Baby One More Time" is a bit surreal.
I read a lot of replies saying "Professors give out lecture notes, so they should give the recordings away for free, as well."
Maybe things have changed since I was in college ten years ago, but it used to be that *some* of my professors gave away lecture notes, or put them online, and some did not. Some only put up problem set solutions, and some had every paper given in class away online. Some refused to put anything online, except the syllabus./. readers seem to be saying that lecture notes are a right they are due as a student. It seems to me that they are making a jump, from some professors being nice and doing this, to being ENTITLED to this.
They then make the jump that if they are ENTITLED to lecture notes, they are ENTITLED to free recordings of the lectures.
You completely lose me on either one of those jumps.
I do not look at the $2.50 as a racket to make money, but rather an incentive to make sure that students continue to come to class, and not just skip "since the lecture and lecture notes are available online."
Sure, he could try giving away a free download to every student who showed up, but are you going to say that no student will give his/her free pass to his roommate who slept through the class?
Slashdot Mirror
I flew quite a bit back then, and on one trip went through security at at least three airports. Each of them had different "shoe rules", and at one I was pulled aside for additional screening because I did not remove my shoes. I argued with the supervisor, but of course nothing came of it. Two weeks later I flew again and actually had the TSA printout with me when I went through the same airport. Did not matter. Argued again with the supervisor.
So I emailed the TSA about my encounters and they sent me back a generic email saying that each airport had the ability to pretty much do whatever in the world they felt like doing.
Part of the response:
I am always amazed where the cut-off for "low UID" conversations move.
I chime in on them every few years. One of the first ones I felt like my UID (2031) was *too high* to be considered an old-timer.
Now I see people on this thread chiming in with five digit UIDs.
And I have posted this a couple of times elsewhere, but my confirmation email has me creating an account on 3 September 2007, a few weeks after I started reading Slashdot.
Well, I have my confirmation email from Slashdot when I created my user account. It is dated 3 September 1998. I think you probably joined sometime in 1999, or your UID would be a lot lower.
obTopic: And what is up with no 10th. Anniversary parties in Atlanta or Athens, GA?
User #2031 here.
I just looked up the email Slashdot sent when I joined (yes, I tend to archive *all* mail. Make fun of me, but it comes in handy during situations like this!)
3 September 1998.
I think I had read a while before that, but only signed up for an ID a little while later. I was not, and am still not, a fan of having to sign up for web pages. Slashdot proved itself over that month or two, so they got my information.
So in about eleven months, Slashdot only had a little over 2000 registered users. I am sure the growth was exponential after that.
I sent in a bug report about two months after that, talking about the new thresholds (I think signed-in users started at 1, and AC comments were 0).
Another bug was reported on 17 March 1999, talking about the new dynamic index.
I am not sure when I ordered my Slashdot t-shirt, but I think it was the first that was offered.
-User 2031, reporting in.
I have been a happy NetBank customer for over five years now. Really good customer support, no fees on basically anything. I only did checking and savings account, and it is a shame that a bad housing market brought all of it down, but that is the way it goes.
I move around a lot, and with direct deposit I never felt the need for a brick-and-morter bank to ever go to. It never made sense for me to pay for the buildings that I was never using. NetBank also had some innovative features to make things easier like free overnight check deposits through any UPS store. I will definitely miss it.
It was really strange logging onto Slashdot this morning and learning that my bank had closed. I supposed I get to spend today researching online banks. I might end up sticking with my new ING account.
Remember a libertarian would not harp on Microsoft, would not have guns laws restricting the use of bazookas, and would not restrict people from following creationism. Libertarian means to live and let live, and most importantly it means for people to be idiots!
Yes, and every Republican is anti-abortion. Every Democrat is pro-choice.
Well, not exactly.
Suppose you agree with every part of the Libertarian party platform except for one part? You are suggesting that person is not a libertarian? What, exactly, are they?
(for the purpose of this argument we are going to ignore the differences between "libertarianism" and "the Libertarian Party", since your argument does not really cover the differences)
One only needs glance at the differing platforms of Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton to realize there are always differences of opinions in a political party.
I consider myself a libertarian. I have minor issues with the capital-L Libertarian Party, but not enough that I do not support them fully. I do believe in some gun-control, however. I believe it is best done (and correctly done) through a Constitutional amendment.
As far as Microsoft goes - I feel one of the responsibilities of the federal government is to prevent monopolies from abusing the market. The government should stay out of capitalism until there is a failure of capitalism (i.e. a monopoly). As a good libertarian, I feel that the government SHOULD investigate Microsoft, and take actions to prevent them from using their monopoly to unfairly control the market.
I also have never seen any Libertarian saying that people should be prevented from following Creationism, but that it should not be taught in schools as "science". A libertarian is going to see that the Constitution provides for a separation of Church and State, and therefore a government entity (public schools) should not be teaching faith in a specific Christian ideology. Followers of Creationism are free to continue to believe what they want, are free to gather outside of schools.
Oh, and the quiz you link to? Here is one of the questions:
The only social responsibility of a company should be to deliver a profit to its shareholders.
This is a horribly worded question. Apple's stock dipped a bit due to Greenpeace's (poorly done) criticism of Apple's environmental policy. I would say that this is an economic factor that a corporation should pay attention to. The company also needs to pay attention to the fact that more consumers are buying based on environmentally friendlier products. This drives profits. But the question is worded such that this should be ignored.
As others have mentioned in response, the questions are sometimes poorly worded, and there is not a "Do not care" answer, which seems almost critical to a Libertarian at times. What do I care about nationalistic movements, for example?
Another question: The rich are too highly taxed.
This question gives no perspective or comparison. Too highly taxed compared to poor people? Compared to middle-income? Or just in general do I think that the rich should not be taxed at all?
I think Apple would say that your "non-computer-literate wife" should not feel the need to right-click in OS X. The point of shipping one-button mice (with support for 2+ button mice) is that developers can never rely on users being able to right-click, meaning any functionality of the program *must* be accessible using only a primary mouse click.
This leaves right-clicking on OS X as a shortcut for more knowledgeable users.
One big complaint I have heard from Windows users is the "hidden nature" of a lot of functionality when using Windows and Windows programs. "So if I want to do something, I can search the application's windows. If I do not find it there, I might start clicking on random objects in the program. If that does not work I can start right-clicking on random objects in the program, some of which bring up more tabbed windows for me to search through..."
(Alright, they do not sound so technical about it, but that is the issue they are facing.)
I am also trying to figure out what computer your wife is using that requires her use of the Control key to right-click. Every desktop Mac in the last 3 years or so has shipped with a Mighty Mouse. Every laptop shipped in the same time period has support for two-finger clicking using the trackpad. Or you could always just purchase a two-button USB mouse and plug that in.
While everyone is mentioning how MythTV is going to ahve issues with this, I would remind everyone that MythTV is not the only program out there relying on the Zap2It data.
I have a program on my Mac (MacProgramGuide) that uses the data, and up until today I was developing my own product using the Zap2it data (for anyone interested - adding a "Season Pass" ability on to the eyeTV software)
Now I am going to have to either give up the project or find another source.
I think the "groupthink" argument might have some validity to it, but I think that anyone who thinks that Slashdot readers are going to have a completely normal distribution is just asking to be proven incorrectly.
Slashdot has its very roots in the Linux/OSS community, combined with the tech/IT community. Frequently this community will have wide-ranging hobbies and interests, but in general will have that common background. At times it can be a little difficult for a "You know, I do think this is one place where Windows does it better than OS X and Linux" comment to get filtered to the top, but it does happen. As a regular reader I just take the bias with a grain of salt and realize it is not too bad of a bias.
I am with you - I started reading Slashdot for the comments, and that is why I am still here. When I have mod-ops I take the responsibility seriously, and I frequently meta-moderate to make sure I can continue to enjoy the informative discussion.
Oh, and my UID? Less than half of yours? What?
How did that go again? Oh, thhhhppppt!
You might try contacting Apple Enterprise Sales at (877) 412-7753.
I would suggest any company looking into OS X solutions contact them. I believe they even have a separate support line you can reach.
In addition, as other have mentioned, look at Apple Authorized Service Providers who can provide more personalized service.
Also look at the Self-Servicing Account Program.
There are definitely resources out there for businesses to use. Going through the consumer support system obviously can be frustrating.
You should study up on Iceland.
The culture has definitely moved forward, but it is still very similar to how it has been the past 1000 years.
And language?
In terms of etymology, the Icelandic language is the closest to Old Norse, the language of the Vikings. Experts claim them to be virtually identical even though the Viking civilization disappeared about 800 years ago.
This is one of the funniest threads I have read in a while, partly because I turned to a friend while reading the Slashdot write-up and said "Wow, they still give Internet access? My machine is secure enough, I would use that instead of paying the $7.95/day they want in some airports!"
Then I read this thread.
And pointed out my UserID to the same friend.
Too bad - I have actually seen that "Free Wi-Fi" ad-hoc network in a few airports in the last month or so (I think in Midway airport in Chicago). I did not join it, since I knew the SSID of the official wireless service (and knew that it was paid access)
In interesting thing to do is to join the network, fire up a Bonjour Browser (or your other favorite ZeroConf browser) and see available services. If people are sharing their iTunes libraries, if they have a ZerConf chat program, and so on...
While several large parts were pre-built, I did the design and building for a 75 gallon saltwater aquarium with 20 gallon sump.
Cool parts? Moonlighting, from a cold cathode tube designed for computer cases, and the complete sump for filtration.
Most things were automated (lighting was on timers, water loss due to evaporation was replaced by an automated switch), so the final result was self-sustaining for the most part.
The "this is completely mine" was the external Durso.
In all I estimated that I did about 200-300 hours of research and designing, and about 200 hours worth of construction and set-up on the tank before I ever added a fish.
A few years ago I found a device at Best Buy that plugs into the wall and gives you a standard car cigarette lighter socket. It is rated for very low amps (designed to charge cell phones), but since I am mainly charging cell phones, iPods, and other low-draw devices, it works well. I just buy car charging cables for each device (which are significantly smaller and less bulky than their A/C counterparts) and carry them.
In a car? No problem, just use the car charger straight. Inside with an outlet? Just plug in the inverter and then the car charger cable.
It means I can only one device at a time, but as long as I time things well, this is not a bad problem with most devices having Li-Ion batteries with the fairly quick 80% charge.
I also have a generic cigarette lighter -> USB adaptor which also makes for a nice generic piece to charge from. As others have said, standardizing on USB to charge from makes things nice.
Cookies should only be able to store data you give a company. A cookie is not going through your computer and associate your cookie with your name, email address, credit card number, sexual proclivity, and so on.
Now you can say that prevalent advertisers like doubleclick can make inferences based on what sites you go to that they serve ads for. This is one reason that I block anything to/from doubleclick. The fact that this also has the advantage of eliminating several ads as I browse the web? Outstanding. I fail to see how this should suddenly become illegal for doubleclick to do.
So then you can argue "Yeah, but if you sign up with the website, or make a purchase, they can associate a cookie with all the information they gave you!" Yes, and so can any brick-and-morter who wants to track purchases made with the same credit card. Or grocery stores that give you "Discount Cards" that require a name, address, and phone number. Use that discount card once with a credit card and they have even more information on you.
So I fail to see how data acquired through cookies is so bad we need laws "protecting" us. Any privacy nut is going to be willing to either block cookies from certain sites or just make them session-long. Anyone else is running with about the same loss of privacy that comes with using a credit card anyway.
If you do not want online companies to know who you are (and therefore track you), then do not give out information.
We also have no idea what that guy did before the video starts. He might have just shot a little girl, spit in the cop's face, or jay walked. We have no idea what the context was, so it's hard to pass judgement.
No, it makes no difference what happened before the video started. For one thing, everyone is assumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Every single person arrested is assured that right.
Second, every police officer should be expected to treat every single suspect with the same rights. Saying "it is alright for the police to beat someone up because the suspect just shot a little girl" is simply inexcusable. It does not matter the crime, the police are not around to dole out punishments. We have an entire branch of the government set aside to determine guilt or innocence, and then to give appropriate punishment for crimes.
But do the machines tally and report the votes correctly? And do they protect against tracing back the votes to specific voters?
Well, you can always randomly audit the machines, since there is a perfectly good paper trail (the original card).
As far as tracing back, whenever I used optical card voting in Kentucky, the staff would simply pull off a voting ballot off the top of the stack and give it to you. The cards are numbered, but they never write down your number with your name.
Optical cards are probably the best way to vote that I have seen. Tabulation is easy, and there is a clearly defined paper trail.
I am all in favor of freedom of the press, and stand by journalists who are willing to even be jailed to protect their rights.
The grey area for me, at least, is when they are informed of something that is illegal to be told to anyone. Something classified, for example. The law says "this cannot be told to anyone", someone tells a journalist, and suddenly there are two classes of "anyone" - a journalist, and everyone else in the country. Suddenly it is alright to tell the journalist (since he/she has freedom of the press, and should not be compelled to reveal their source), but not anyone else (since they do not enjoy the same "freedoms").
Suddenly we are equating "freedom of the press" with freedoms above and beyond what normal citizens get.
I am not saying I agree or disagree with that statement, but then let me ask one more thing.
Where does "being a journalist" start? Surely someone writing a column for the New York Times is a journalist. Someone writing for The Greenville (Ky.) Ledger is, as well. Surely Drudge could be considered a journalist. What about someone who keeps a political blog? What about someone who writes about politics in their LiveJournal on occasion? Someone that posts to Slashdot?
Where does that line begin and end? If we are going to guarantee additional freedoms for "the press", we have to have a clear definition of what constitutes "the press", and I do not currently see that definition anywhere.
I do believe that we need to get to the heart of some of the problems we have had recently - this Presidential Administration needs to be a lot more forthcoming in its actions, even if it just informs the Legislative Branch more fully. It seems that, to this Administration, "oversight" is evil, and should be avoided at all costs.
Anyone who buys DRM'd music is either an idiot or ignorant, and it's a shame so few of them have learned their lesson yet.
Thanks for the blatant insult.
So I want a song. One song. Not an album. One song. So I fire up iTunes and purchase the song for 99 cents. I play it on both my computers, and my iPod. Chances are that I do not burn it to CD since I have just listed the way I listen to 99% of my music.
Two points:
1) I have songs that I bought a couple of years ago. I believe that I have gotten my "99 cents worth." If somehow the song was not able to be played anymore, I have to think that it was worth it in the end. I am not expecting that to happen, but if it did, Apple and the RIAA are not going to somehow "take away" that time that I was able to enjoy the song in question.
2) About the only way I can see Apple changing their iTunes Store policies to completely cut me off from my previously purchased music is to say "The song is only valid on the computer it is purchased on, and cannot be transferred to a new computer." At that point I think that Apple (and the RIAA) suddenly have millions of pissed-off customers willing to file a class action suit to take back "ownership" of their previously purchased music, and (even as someone who is not at all a fan of class action lawsuits), I think that the customers would have a very good point.
Do you have some legal standing that says they do not?
Besides, at that point I have up until the time that my computer fails to enjoy the music I have previously purchased.
you're paying for a vague not-a-promise that you can probably listen to the music now
I do not understand this at all. "Probably listen to the music now"? What, is iTunes going to fail suddenly during the download? If you are able to purchase a song from the iTunes Store, you have iTunes installed on a computer, and have registered that computer as one of your "Five devices". Barring some technical malfunction, the song WILL PLAY.
Definitely! These computer scientists, electrical engineers, and information technologies guys should be designing better crops so that the third world can produce more and better crops. Or coming up with economic packages that help develop their infrastructures to better distribute the crops and foodstuffs to the people that need it. Or do medical research to help design cheaper medicines to help with common diseases in developing countries.
Oh...
Wait...
They are not specialists in genetic engineering.
Oh, and they are not economists, and do not have a lot of political affairs experience.
Come to think of it, they also do not have the skills needed to do pharmaceutical research either.
Well, then, what are they good for? I suppose they should just sign over a portion of their paycheck to a non-profit group that might one day help. That is the American way, right? Donating money to resolve guilt about all of the world's problems?
Or maybe... Just maybe... They could volunteer their own time and expertise to do something in their own field to help, and then ignore anonymous people who criticize them for no other reason than the fact that the genetic engineers, the economists, the pharmaceutical companies and, most of all, the politicians are not doing anything in the meantime in their own respective fields.
Ehh, that would never work...
I agree. In general, I tend to read at 2, Threaded, Highest Scores First, which generally shows me older, higher moderated comments (and any decently moderated comment made in response to it).
I find that most of the top four or five parent posts on an average Slashdot story have 2-3 moderated replies on them, at least.
When I have moderator points, I read at my normal 2/thread/highest, but never moderate anything I see. I then go back, change the story to 0/flat/Newest (ignore threads). Reading like this is fairly difficult, but I can generally keep track of what is being talked about from my original read. I then tend to moderate only comments scored as 0 to me (10% of new users, any AC comments), trying especially hard to get Anonymous Coward comments.
When I have moderator points, I generally moderate about one out of every three stories I read, and only about one or two messages per story.
My point? It is not the easiest thing in the world to do. I know that when I have moderator points I am going to to spend significantly more time on each story I read. In the end, though, I do not mind - I know that I am making Slashdot a better read for the people reading the story after me.
One additional comment: The same "early bird gets the worm" works in reverse on actual stories. A story at the very top of the homepage is probably going to get a lot more moderations than an older story sitting at the very bottom of the homepage, even though some very insightful comments might still be being posted.
I suppose on a small scale you could do moderations like Slashdot does metamoderation: Just choose some posts at random and have users moderate them up or down on a regular basis.
obUseful: Anyone wishing to reconnect with BBS pals from "back in the day" should check out BBSmates.com. Not a lot of users in my old area code, but worth checking out.
//c.
//gs in about 1989 or so. In 1991 (I think that was the year), I got a 2400 baud modem for my birthday. Most people were upgrading to 2400 around this time, but there were still several 1200 (and even 300's) out there still.
I got my first computer in 1986, an Apple
Upgraded to an Apple
The Louisville, Kentucky BBS scene was fairly active. The BBSs became "homes away from home". As a geek in high school, it was a wonderful opportunity to find people like me, especially when they were all collected together in one place, and there were no embarrassing introductions needed.
The fact that you had a computer, a modem, and had found the BBS was proof you were worthy enough to be treated, at minimum, as "one of us."
I had my normal four or five that I would call every evening (and more often if I could). Watching discussions, checking my personal messages...
it was a whole other life. People were not judged on looks, on fashion, on anything like that. It was your typed word as who you were.
Louisville also had monthly gatherings, referred to as "The Meat". It was held the first Saturday of each month in the now defunct Galleria downtown. The first couple of times I went, I believe I had to have my parents drive me and pick me up. I have no idea what I told them I was going to be doing down there.
I slowly met some of the people I knew on the boards. Looking back now, I realize I was closer to those people in high school than my actual classmates. I even dated a girl for over a year that I met on a board.
In the fall of 1993 I started college, and got access to the Internet. As quickly as the BBS scene changed my life, it disappeared from my life. By the time I got nostalgic for those days, the boards I remembered were all gone.
-singularity (a.k.a. "Merlyn" around the Louisville scene back in the day)
The survey apparently compared (iTunes purchased songs) and (every other possible way of getting a song onto your iPod)
My entire music collection is legal, but I can tell you one of the major way my friends get music - from their friends, through sharing their music collections.
Everyone here on SlashDot seems to be saying "This survey shows that people would rather buy CDs than music online! This probably says they do not want DRM!"
I think the article is saying "People will take *free* music their friends recommend over paying for music online."
This is not at all surprising, and really does not speak to people's views on DRM.
"Rolling Stone" magazine had an article a couple of months ago that talked about the songs and technology that soldiers are taking into battle in Afghanistan and Iraq.
With most of the "attacks" in these two countries being random ambushes, there is a lot of "drive around, doing nothing" time. Imagine if you are helping protect a convoy on a five hour drive. Sitting in a Humvee in the dessert for that lone, crammed in with several other soldiers?
You need music.
There is a small industry of soldiers who are hacking auxiliary inputs into the comm systems of Humvees.
Sure, your comm system might be playing Brittney Spears when you get ambushed, but... As the article put it, shooting at insurgents to "Hit Me Baby One More Time" is a bit surreal.
I read a lot of replies saying "Professors give out lecture notes, so they should give the recordings away for free, as well."
/. readers seem to be saying that lecture notes are a right they are due as a student. It seems to me that they are making a jump, from some professors being nice and doing this, to being ENTITLED to this.
Maybe things have changed since I was in college ten years ago, but it used to be that *some* of my professors gave away lecture notes, or put them online, and some did not. Some only put up problem set solutions, and some had every paper given in class away online. Some refused to put anything online, except the syllabus.
They then make the jump that if they are ENTITLED to lecture notes, they are ENTITLED to free recordings of the lectures.
You completely lose me on either one of those jumps.
I do not look at the $2.50 as a racket to make money, but rather an incentive to make sure that students continue to come to class, and not just skip "since the lecture and lecture notes are available online."
Sure, he could try giving away a free download to every student who showed up, but are you going to say that no student will give his/her free pass to his roommate who slept through the class?