Traffic fines are lesser because everyone NEEDS to drive to work
I was just catching up on my early morning reading... I certainly wasn't going to respond to any of the comments in the article...
But, in case you never thought of this: Not everyone needs to drive to work! This may come as a shock to some. I mean, people use their cars for "trips" that are a couple of blocks round-trip. People build entire communities around their cars. Americans are also, by the way, over 61% obese and growing (pardon the pun). The two might just be related. Who knows...
What I do know is that attitudes such as "everyone NEEDS to drive to work or wherever" become a self-fulfilling prophecy and lead to more suburbs, increased air pollution, less respect from drivers towards those of us who choose alternatives and greater dependence on oil (which can lead to fattening the checking accounts of people who want to kill us)
I think there is life there and the U.S. government thinks we can't handle the truth, so hence we don't go.
I suspect there is life, too. Of course I'm just an armchair scientist and this is just my humble opinion based on what I've read. Further, I suspect that "the government" (people, mostly) reads the same articles as you and is privy to the same data as you. That is what is great about living in an open society. I don't think there is any conspiracy keeping us from "handling" the truth. Why, you ask? Clinton couldn't keep things mum about getting blow jobs on the floor of the oval office. Nixon couldn't keep things mum about having broken into his political opponents' headquarters. Reagan couldn't keep things mum about having sold weapons to the Iranians to fund a terrorist army in Central America. Bush is having a problem keeping a lid on using forged documentation as a pretext for war (and WHO, pray tell, would forge such a thing anyway?) THESE are secrets that people would certainly have given anything to keep. And still they got out. Because "the government" isn't "the government" -- it is a bunch of people, all with agendas, all using what they know to their advantage when they can. Welcome to the wonderfully messy world of democracy.
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself, the above wasn't my point -- but I had to debunk the tinfoil hat wearers in this crowd at least a little...
I live in Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes. Most of those lakes are becoming unswimmable because of something called Eurasian Milfoil. Milfoil is a weed grows in lakes. It grows fast. Several feet a day. It was accidentally introduced to America in the early 1900s. It wasn't native but there isn't anything in the lakes on THIS side of the pond that like to eat it so it quickly clogs the entire lake.
And it spreads. From lake-to-lake. Boaters. Fish. Whatever. It finds a way to find a new lake that it can call home and it does. And once it does: Game over everyone else. Not instantly. And there is still a lake there. There is still water. And fish. But now there is a stinky gross weed clogging the entire lake for most of the summer, too. Not really enjoyable. A lot of nose holding and "I remember when we could swim in the lakes without all these weeds here" going on.
Hold on... I'm still building here. And I'm almost to the good stuff. (wait for it...)
My point is this: Let's say there is life on Mars. There won't be cows or zebra or fish or anything like that. No, there will be microbes. Tiny little red life forms that live with almost no oxygen and no water in the freezing cold, bombarded by radiation. Hmmmm... I'm not sure about the rest of you, but the prospect of bringing something that battle-hardened back to Earth to study does not inspire confidence in me. Chernobyl, Enron, Challenger, Columbia, Africanized Killer Bees, cross-pollinated genetically engineered corn... bad things happen unexpectedly. Stuff LEAKS. Again, no conspiracy needed, just the good old second law of thermodynamics coupled with that one law discovered by Murphy making a real world demonstration.
As I said in the subject of my post: I, for one, am glad we aren't going to Mars. We don't need any more milfoil, at least for now. Frankly, I'd be happy to see us wait a few thousand years. For real. Red mold everywhere? Yuck.
My pleasure. This is supposed to be a community, after all, right? Sort of boggles the mind when you think about what things would be like if just a few thousand of us really started to see it that way and actually help each other out. A few thousand is just a few percent of the userbase. We could become a massively-multiple online user community of intelligent geeks, nerds and followers, dedicated to changing the world and helping each other... Rather than just reading about things and posting clever responses...
My fault for mixing up two issues there. Obviously the thrust of my post was about the sorry state of spelling/grammar here on Slashdot -- one which I will gladly defend to the end.
In the midst of my rant, however, I took a cheap shot about the poster not wishing to make himself or herself known. I'll debate this point, too, but I'll also concede right here that there is a strong case to be made for both sides.
Bottom line: I decided some time ago that if I had something of worth to say to thousands and thousands of people, I would stand behind it and sign my name to it.
It seems a symptom of an unhealthy democracy that people are growing more and more concerned with hiding who they are. Obviously there are larger forces at work here than just you and your posting and I am not faulting either you or the earlier ("excellent at spelling and grammer") anonymous poster for giving in to the fear that can come from living in frightening times -- but I will point out that contentious things have more weight when said as a PERSON. Writing anonymously makes you sound like a pamphlet or a slogan. Can you imagine the impact the Declaration of Independence would have had if everyone had merely signed an "X"? It was the fact that prominent community members stood behind what they wrote and signed (John Hackcock coming to mind, anyone?) that gave it the moral authority it enjoys to this day.
Now, if I were a troll, I'd say something like "KKK" members hid behind cloaks because they wanted to say "contentious" things but don't have the guts to back them up...Or, again troll-like, I could have pointed out that being anonymous allowed them to terrorize their victims without having to take any responsibility for their actions, which meant they didn't have to think through things... but, of course, I am not a troll and I will refrain from pointing out the obvious connection.
I didn't always feel this way. For a year or two, I would post my "insightful" and "thoughtful" posts under UptownGuy and leave my "what-ifs" and zingers and all the rest to the anonymous coward... But eventually I came to see that I wasn't painting an accurate portrait of myself for anyone who was reading unless I included the entire picture. Now, I am 100% me. Even when I know I will get modded DOWN for something. I guess it has to do with taking pride in what I have to say and being willing to stand behind it.
I value my privacy, too, but I don't think this has anything do with with it. I wouldn't take away the "right" to be anonymous from anyone. But I do feel that it shows a lack of confidence in one's ideas or often an unacknowledged understanding that what one is writing is irresponsible.
I'm not really sure what to make of this... You are posting to a website that has hundreds of thousands of visits each day but somehow you can't be bothered to employ your "excellent" spelling and "grammer" for a one minute post? sighs to self
It goes back to taking pride in what you do, I suppose. Some people just can't be bothered with details. Why for instance, fluhhkubrush frsughs qwsruosgf gioep[hguiopb? See, I didn't think so. Trust me -- spelling and "grammer" are more than mere pedantic criticisms... Ultimately they lie at the heart of communication.
But at least, dear anonymous coward (won't you even take pride enough to stand behind what you have to say?), we can both agree on the fact that the undergraduate educational system is a racket.
Well, I was going to let YOU know what I thought about your website but I guess not...
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if you live in a dorm, you have no rights. The aggreement that i remember signing (boston university) made it clear that the only privacy your entitled to is a bang on the door before you hear that master key sliding on in.
Um, that was just the first paragraph. We let these kids get into college with spelling and grammar like this but I still can't find a job? *sighs*
I was getting ready to write up a response to the original post and you saved me the effort. That was quite insightful and I hope you get modded up accordingly.
Just because the average Slashdot poster has a server closet with wires running everywhere and makes a point of downloading the latest patches and sees that the sky is falling when it comes to "casual users' attitudes towards security" -- doesn't mean anything will or can be done from this direction.
Do you have the latest console import before everyone else? Do you have the latest (insert obscure band name here) import? Can you modify the fuel injector in your car? Do you know all the lines in each episode of Friends? Do you know everything there is to know about wine? What about the NBA?
This attitude that the elimination of lusers is a shining grail for us all reminds me that Slashdot isn't really a collection of smart people connected with technology; it is a niche group, just like NBA junkies, wine snobs, Friends fanatics, motorheads, groupies or video game junkies. There is nothing wrong with being a member of these groups. You just need to rememeber that you are part of a niche and the world will never come around to seeing things your way. The self-righteous attitude that comes from members of a clique when things aren't going their way leads to hackneyed movie plots ("Revenge of the Nerds") or tragedy. But it doesn't usually make for good policy.
There are more than a few smart people in this niche group that is Slashdot. Some of them, like darthtuttle (excellent post, again!), appear to understand that we need to make technology usable for the masses. If that means that there are gaping holes in security, perhaps it is up to us to fix it? (Of course that would mean doing things "Correct and Proper" not "Quick 'n Dirty"... and after reading yesterday's comments I guess I don't have a lot of faith that this will happen any time soon...)
I pray/hope getting in with a fake ID at an major consumer airport would be much more difficult than, say, getting in at your local bar with a fake id.
We heard for a while about how over 50% of planted weapons to test the system made it through. Now we aren't hearing anything. But I just had a friend come back from a trip cross-country last week -- she had a pair of sharp scissors in her overnight bag and that made it through. She didn't even realize it until she got home. I'm sure the woman running the X-Ray machine, looking at thousands of bags for $8/hour didn't realize it at all.
Since bouncers make more money and have to screen less people/shift, you can guess what I come down on your question.
That being said, handguns killed 11,000+ people in the U.S. last year. Automobile accidents killed upwards of 40,000 people in the US alone. Don't even get me started about cigarette smoking or obesity related deaths. Just to give some random numbers for perspective.
I decided long ago it was important to remember that journalism is not historical research. It is not really concerned with accuracy of quotes or with getting the story right. Perhaps only in rare instances will you have a Jayson Blair actually making things up. But perhaps not... I know for a fact that every single time I have ever been quoted in a newspaper article, the quote has contained substantial errors of the, "That's not what I said" and my face turning red sort. I also know that almost any mainstream news report about any project/technology/hobby of mine that I am know a lot about gets it wrong every time.
I guess I am willing to conclude that if:
I have been misquoted 100% of the time
Every story on something I KNOW something about gets it wrong
...then it is fair to assume that MOST stories get it wrong MOST of the time. It isn't that I am cynical. I just don't think the media/journalists are in the business of telling the truth. They want to entertain. They want to sell. OK, well, noted. But if you want facts, you are aren't going to get them from a newspaper or channel 9.
(PS: You are in charge of visi.com?! Wow... Personal aside to Saxton(34078)... I've been with visi since 1996 and I've never had anything but exceptional service, prompt and accurate, with warm fuzzy feelings thrown in. Well, except for two weeks ago when they turned off the mail forwarding to two of the shell account servers without notifying anyone and I had like 50 friends/family/colleagues getting unable to send me email for 2 weeks... but other than that hiccup, it has been GREAT!!!)
Part of the ethics instilled in us (along with federal regulations governing the position) is the broad understanding that we are here to protect the security of the network. We are not the porn police or any other type of legal official.
You (1) are a liar (2) are overmoderated and (3) have absolutely zero credibility as a poster on this subject -- look at what you have listed as your "homepage" -- sighs... the mods really aren't doing their jobs around here to have given you points.
Sorry this sounds like a flame but I can't believe this guy slipped by...
...but somehow, forgetmetnot, I think you intentionally chose to overlook the above poster's point: If an artifical restriction (i.e. "law") is put into place making it illegal to sell "below cost" then you better believe that a company with enough incentive will find a way to make it product "cost" as little as possible. Why couldn't a company like Microsoft claim that it costs 25 cents a copy? According to the letter of the law, that'd be true. Does this seem unfair or something? What about silly laws by overly regulatory lawmakers or judicial activists who won't let market forces do their thing? Some people might find that unfair.
I'm guessing from the posts I've been reading that quite a lot of people here on Slashdot have never actually worked in a large organization. Fair enough. But let me tell you: Company-wide memos sent out by senior sales staff (think: "used car salesman with a better sportcoat") urging other salespeople to offer steep discounts isn't really anything unusual.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't. If they do, then you'll have posters like forgetmenot claiming that Microsoft is a monopoly illegally flexing its muscle. If they don't you'll have some competitor (yes, even Linux) undercutting Microsoft's price(remember, Linux is FREE...)
Free enterprise is messy. (I was going to write "It sure doesn't look like a bunch of geeks studying for C-Sci finals are really qualified to talk econ 101, but what do I know..." but then I figured I'd get modded a troll for sure...)
...man, I loved that game. I even wrote a fairly passable version of it for the C-64 one summer in the 80s when I was stuck taking care of a relative with a broken leg.
If you really want a trip down memory lane, grab a Palm (or a Palm OS emulator) and download this freeware version. It doesn't quite FEEL the same, but it comes close enough to get the nostalgia going.
Humans have a certain tolerance for taking shit from these groups, but once it is reached and exceeded, inevitably, glass breaks, buildings burn, and certain accused parties get dragged into the streets. Hilarity ensues.
...Keep in mind that when that happens this round, people won't just be blaming corporations... they will be blaming the computers, too. As a geek, perhaps you (reading this, RIGHT NOW) should be more concerned about what would happen in a luddite revolution...
Will do games/graphics/animation programming for food. [markwang.com]
FYI: your sig intrigued me but the website was down. You might want to update either your sig or your website. People really do click on those links, you know...
Buck up there, RealMike. There might be a lot of people scoffing at your post, but I've found that a gaggle of engineers isn't always the best place to find people willing to ask deeper questions. "Proof proof proof, now now now, diagram diagram diagram" they mutter.
Now, there is a LOT of BS "science" out there... a lot... and I certainly don't want to cast my lot with those faking liars. BUT: The original point that we don't know what happens in the brain, we don't really understand consciousness -- that is certainly isn't getting a fair shake around here. We ARE self-aware. At a different level than the other animals we know of in THIS universe. We do MATH. We observe QUANTUM LEVEL EFFECTS. (I'm guessing we are the first animal on this planet to do that.) We spend 6-8 hours a night DREAMING. We can get measurably better taking PLACEBOS. There are certainly a lot of things about mind/brain/consciousness that we don't know. I don't think spoon benders or psychic hotlines or the like have anything to them at all. But the fact is that YOU exist, you have a brain which shapes your moods, shapes your perception, shapes your store of information... but it isn't YOU. That goes deeper than brain.
But the very nature of Slashdot lends itself to (1) most readers clicking on the linked article (something you'll never see (sadly) with CNN) and (2) People visiting multiple times in a day to read new articles/visit newly linked sites. This means that all of the visits to the links mentioned in (1) happen in a very short period.
I think you are underestimating the power that is Slashdot...
Nawwwww! Let 'em fry! It's a great exercise in crisis response...
Well, I suspect that you were just trolling but I am going to respond all the same...
Isn't there something to be said for not wanting to have to exercise crisis response? Couldn't one be content to have a server that has been designed to handle typical or even heavy loads but one which was obviously never designed for the onslaught of Slashdotters hitting like a tsunami against the beach...
One could even argue that in this case it isn't an exercise, it is a full blown disaster of a magnitude that most web sites have never seen before! Or do you think lumbering dinosaurs like Slashdot are a dime a dozen? No...I personally think "let 'em fry" isn't the sort of ethical answer I was hoping for...
Hahaha! It is amazing, when you think about it... What other force on the Internet is as powerful as/.? Within 60 seconds of the original article appearing on the front page of Slashdot, the linked site was already taken down.
Ethical question: Do we owe our linked site owners some advance warning before our herd of tribbles swarms onto their bridge? Bonus Question: Is it possible to be karma whoring AND trolling at the same time?
bedouin said:and spend an extra 30-seconds proofreading before I hit the submit button.
This is a bad idea? Seriously... if you are willing to post a comment that might be read by tens of thousands of people, why wouldn't you take an extra thirty seconds to proof it? Are you in such a hurry to get back to your bookmarked porn?
Side note: Do you scoff at people who are "so anal" about their resumes, too? Just wondering...
(I know, I know, you should never feed the trolls, it just means they'll come back for more. But STILL...)
if a client is paying cheaply...they deserve the minimum information and just get what they ask for...If a client pays well or tips well or has been a long time repeat client, they deserve that extra time taken to show which judgement would be best and why
Nice work ethic there, Sparky! Nothing like doing a good job for the sake of doing a good job. No sir-e! Show me the money!
Tip: You should go into medicine. There's tons of money to be made off of pesky poor people and, hell, since they aren't paying well you can just throw a bottle of asprin at them and save your best work for people who are worthy (rich).
Please. You are hired to do a job. When you were brought on, if you had a problem with the rate, you could have said something. Hell, you could still say something. That's called negotiation. But it isn't blackmail. "Oh, I'll only work hard if you keep meeting my demands." Show some class. Show some self-respect. Demonstrate you have a moral sense of right and wrong and you aren't just a high tech whore...
But wait until the public starts using this for say, protests, aiming say, anti-war messages at public officials while they are trying to give a speech.
Or your local police force for dispersing, say, an anti-war protest that just won't disperse on its own.
Slashdot Mirror
Traffic fines are lesser because everyone NEEDS to drive to work
I was just catching up on my early morning reading... I certainly wasn't going to respond to any of the comments in the article...
But, in case you never thought of this: Not everyone needs to drive to work! This may come as a shock to some. I mean, people use their cars for "trips" that are a couple of blocks round-trip. People build entire communities around their cars. Americans are also, by the way, over 61% obese and growing (pardon the pun). The two might just be related. Who knows...
What I do know is that attitudes such as "everyone NEEDS to drive to work or wherever" become a self-fulfilling prophecy and lead to more suburbs, increased air pollution, less respect from drivers towards those of us who choose alternatives and greater dependence on oil (which can lead to fattening the checking accounts of people who want to kill us)
Mod me off topic. But I had to reply.
I think there is life there and the U.S. government thinks we can't handle the truth, so hence we don't go.
I suspect there is life, too. Of course I'm just an armchair scientist and this is just my humble opinion based on what I've read. Further, I suspect that "the government" (people, mostly) reads the same articles as you and is privy to the same data as you. That is what is great about living in an open society.
I don't think there is any conspiracy keeping us from "handling" the truth. Why, you ask? Clinton couldn't keep things mum about getting blow jobs on the floor of the oval office. Nixon couldn't keep things mum about having broken into his political opponents' headquarters. Reagan couldn't keep things mum about having sold weapons to the Iranians to fund a terrorist army in Central America. Bush is having a problem keeping a lid on using forged documentation as a pretext for war (and WHO, pray tell, would forge such a thing anyway?) THESE are secrets that people would certainly have given anything to keep. And still they got out. Because "the government" isn't "the government" -- it is a bunch of people, all with agendas, all using what they know to their advantage when they can. Welcome to the wonderfully messy world of democracy.
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself, the above wasn't my point -- but I had to debunk the tinfoil hat wearers in this crowd at least a little...
I live in Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes. Most of those lakes are becoming unswimmable because of something called Eurasian Milfoil. Milfoil is a weed grows in lakes. It grows fast. Several feet a day. It was accidentally introduced to America in the early 1900s. It wasn't native but there isn't anything in the lakes on THIS side of the pond that like to eat it so it quickly clogs the entire lake.
And it spreads. From lake-to-lake. Boaters. Fish. Whatever. It finds a way to find a new lake that it can call home and it does. And once it does: Game over everyone else. Not instantly. And there is still a lake there. There is still water. And fish. But now there is a stinky gross weed clogging the entire lake for most of the summer, too. Not really enjoyable. A lot of nose holding and "I remember when we could swim in the lakes without all these weeds here" going on.
Hold on... I'm still building here. And I'm almost to the good stuff. (wait for it...)
My point is this: Let's say there is life on Mars. There won't be cows or zebra or fish or anything like that. No, there will be microbes. Tiny little red life forms that live with almost no oxygen and no water in the freezing cold, bombarded by radiation. Hmmmm... I'm not sure about the rest of you, but the prospect of bringing something that battle-hardened back to Earth to study does not inspire confidence in me. Chernobyl, Enron, Challenger, Columbia, Africanized Killer Bees, cross-pollinated genetically engineered corn... bad things happen unexpectedly. Stuff LEAKS. Again, no conspiracy needed, just the good old second law of thermodynamics coupled with that one law discovered by Murphy making a real world demonstration.
As I said in the subject of my post: I, for one, am glad we aren't going to Mars. We don't need any more milfoil, at least for now. Frankly, I'd be happy to see us wait a few thousand years. For real. Red mold everywhere? Yuck.
Thanks for the bug report.
My pleasure. This is supposed to be a community, after all, right? Sort of boggles the mind when you think about what things would be like if just a few thousand of us really started to see it that way and actually help each other out. A few thousand is just a few percent of the userbase. We could become a massively-multiple online user community of intelligent geeks, nerds and followers, dedicated to changing the world and helping each other... Rather than just reading about things and posting clever responses...
Ah, a boy can dream...
My fault for mixing up two issues there. Obviously the thrust of my post was about the sorry state of spelling/grammar here on Slashdot -- one which I will gladly defend to the end.
In the midst of my rant, however, I took a cheap shot about the poster not wishing to make himself or herself known. I'll debate this point, too, but I'll also concede right here that there is a strong case to be made for both sides.
Bottom line: I decided some time ago that if I had something of worth to say to thousands and thousands of people, I would stand behind it and sign my name to it.
It seems a symptom of an unhealthy democracy that people are growing more and more concerned with hiding who they are. Obviously there are larger forces at work here than just you and your posting and I am not faulting either you or the earlier ("excellent at spelling and grammer") anonymous poster for giving in to the fear that can come from living in frightening times -- but I will point out that contentious things have more weight when said as a PERSON. Writing anonymously makes you sound like a pamphlet or a slogan. Can you imagine the impact the Declaration of Independence would have had if everyone had merely signed an "X"? It was the fact that prominent community members stood behind what they wrote and signed (John Hackcock coming to mind, anyone?) that gave it the moral authority it enjoys to this day.
Now, if I were a troll, I'd say something like "KKK" members hid behind cloaks because they wanted to say "contentious" things but don't have the guts to back them up...Or, again troll-like, I could have pointed out that being anonymous allowed them to terrorize their victims without having to take any responsibility for their actions, which meant they didn't have to think through things... but, of course, I am not a troll and I will refrain from pointing out the obvious connection.
I didn't always feel this way. For a year or two, I would post my "insightful" and "thoughtful" posts under UptownGuy and leave my "what-ifs" and zingers and all the rest to the anonymous coward... But eventually I came to see that I wasn't painting an accurate portrait of myself for anyone who was reading unless I included the entire picture. Now, I am 100% me. Even when I know I will get modded DOWN for something. I guess it has to do with taking pride in what I have to say and being willing to stand behind it.
I value my privacy, too, but I don't think this has anything do with with it. I wouldn't take away the "right" to be anonymous from anyone. But I do feel that it shows a lack of confidence in one's ideas or often an unacknowledged understanding that what one is writing is irresponsible.
Just my two cents.
I'm not really sure what to make of this... You are posting to a website that has hundreds of thousands of visits each day but somehow you can't be bothered to employ your "excellent" spelling and "grammer" for a one minute post? sighs to self
It goes back to taking pride in what you do, I suppose. Some people just can't be bothered with details. Why for instance, fluhhkubrush frsughs qwsruosgf gioep[hguiopb? See, I didn't think so. Trust me -- spelling and "grammer" are more than mere pedantic criticisms... Ultimately they lie at the heart of communication.
But at least, dear anonymous coward (won't you even take pride enough to stand behind what you have to say?), we can both agree on the fact that the undergraduate educational system is a racket.
Let me tell you about my day [evilempire.ath.cx]
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Well, I was going to let YOU know what I thought about your website but I guess not...
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Ah well...
if you live in a dorm, you have no rights. The aggreement that i remember signing (boston university) made it clear that the only privacy your entitled to is a bang on the door before you hear that master key sliding on in.
Um, that was just the first paragraph. We let these kids get into college with spelling and grammar like this but I still can't find a job? *sighs*
I was getting ready to write up a response to the original post and you saved me the effort. That was quite insightful and I hope you get modded up accordingly.
... and after reading yesterday's comments I guess I don't have a lot of faith that this will happen any time soon...)
Just because the average Slashdot poster has a server closet with wires running everywhere and makes a point of downloading the latest patches and sees that the sky is falling when it comes to "casual users' attitudes towards security" -- doesn't mean anything will or can be done from this direction.
Do you have the latest console import before everyone else? Do you have the latest (insert obscure band name here) import? Can you modify the fuel injector in your car? Do you know all the lines in each episode of Friends? Do you know everything there is to know about wine? What about the NBA?
This attitude that the elimination of lusers is a shining grail for us all reminds me that Slashdot isn't really a collection of smart people connected with technology; it is a niche group, just like NBA junkies, wine snobs, Friends fanatics, motorheads, groupies or video game junkies. There is nothing wrong with being a member of these groups. You just need to rememeber that you are part of a niche and the world will never come around to seeing things your way. The self-righteous attitude that comes from members of a clique when things aren't going their way leads to hackneyed movie plots ("Revenge of the Nerds") or tragedy. But it doesn't usually make for good policy.
There are more than a few smart people in this niche group that is Slashdot. Some of them, like darthtuttle (excellent post, again!), appear to understand that we need to make technology usable for the masses. If that means that there are gaping holes in security, perhaps it is up to us to fix it? (Of course that would mean doing things "Correct and Proper" not "Quick 'n Dirty"
I pray/hope getting in with a fake ID at an major consumer airport would be much more difficult than, say, getting in at your local bar with a fake id.
We heard for a while about how over 50% of planted weapons to test the system made it through. Now we aren't hearing anything. But I just had a friend come back from a trip cross-country last week -- she had a pair of sharp scissors in her overnight bag and that made it through. She didn't even realize it until she got home. I'm sure the woman running the X-Ray machine, looking at thousands of bags for $8/hour didn't realize it at all.
Since bouncers make more money and have to screen less people/shift, you can guess what I come down on your question.
That being said, handguns killed 11,000+ people in the U.S. last year. Automobile accidents killed upwards of 40,000 people in the US alone. Don't even get me started about cigarette smoking or obesity related deaths. Just to give some random numbers for perspective.
So either he is a liar or the (local) press is very, very sloppy.
Not to nitpick, but I am just wondering why you are limiting this to the local press?
Again -- the newspaper of record in the US had two people fired last month for making up stories.
I guess I am willing to conclude that if:
Every story on something I KNOW something about gets it wrong
...then it is fair to assume that MOST stories get it wrong MOST of the time. It isn't that I am cynical. I just don't think the media/journalists are in the business of telling the truth. They want to entertain. They want to sell. OK, well, noted. But if you want facts, you are aren't going to get them from a newspaper or channel 9.
(PS: You are in charge of visi.com?! Wow... Personal aside to Saxton(34078)
Part of the ethics instilled in us (along with federal regulations governing the position) is the broad understanding that we are here to protect the security of the network. We are not the porn police or any other type of legal official.
You (1) are a liar (2) are overmoderated and (3) have absolutely zero credibility as a poster on this subject -- look at what you have listed as your "homepage" -- sighs... the mods really aren't doing their jobs around here to have given you points.
Sorry this sounds like a flame but I can't believe this guy slipped by...
...but somehow, forgetmetnot, I think you intentionally chose to overlook the above poster's point: If an artifical restriction (i.e. "law") is put into place making it illegal to sell "below cost" then you better believe that a company with enough incentive will find a way to make it product "cost" as little as possible. Why couldn't a company like Microsoft claim that it costs 25 cents a copy? According to the letter of the law, that'd be true. Does this seem unfair or something? What about silly laws by overly regulatory lawmakers or judicial activists who won't let market forces do their thing? Some people might find that unfair.
I'm guessing from the posts I've been reading that quite a lot of people here on Slashdot have never actually worked in a large organization. Fair enough. But let me tell you: Company-wide memos sent out by senior sales staff (think: "used car salesman with a better sportcoat") urging other salespeople to offer steep discounts isn't really anything unusual.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't. If they do, then you'll have posters like forgetmenot claiming that Microsoft is a monopoly illegally flexing its muscle. If they don't you'll have some competitor (yes, even Linux) undercutting Microsoft's price(remember, Linux is FREE...)
Free enterprise is messy. (I was going to write "It sure doesn't look like a bunch of geeks studying for C-Sci finals are really qualified to talk econ 101, but what do I know..." but then I figured I'd get modded a troll for sure...)
...man, I loved that game. I even wrote a fairly passable version of it for the C-64 one summer in the 80s when I was stuck taking care of a relative with a broken leg.
If you really want a trip down memory lane, grab a Palm (or a Palm OS emulator) and download this freeware version. It doesn't quite FEEL the same, but it comes close enough to get the nostalgia going.
Humans have a certain tolerance for taking shit from these groups, but once it is reached and exceeded, inevitably, glass breaks, buildings burn, and certain accused parties get dragged into the streets. Hilarity ensues.
...Keep in mind that when that happens this round, people won't just be blaming corporations... they will be blaming the computers, too. As a geek, perhaps you (reading this, RIGHT NOW) should be more concerned about what would happen in a luddite revolution...
Will do games/graphics/animation programming for food. [markwang.com]
FYI: your sig intrigued me but the website was down. You might want to update either your sig or your website. People really do click on those links, you know...
Buck up there, RealMike. There might be a lot of people scoffing at your post, but I've found that a gaggle of engineers isn't always the best place to find people willing to ask deeper questions. "Proof proof proof, now now now, diagram diagram diagram" they mutter.
... but it isn't YOU. That goes deeper than brain.
Now, there is a LOT of BS "science" out there... a lot... and I certainly don't want to cast my lot with those faking liars. BUT: The original point that we don't know what happens in the brain, we don't really understand consciousness -- that is certainly isn't getting a fair shake around here. We ARE self-aware. At a different level than the other animals we know of in THIS universe. We do MATH. We observe QUANTUM LEVEL EFFECTS. (I'm guessing we are the first animal on this planet to do that.) We spend 6-8 hours a night DREAMING. We can get measurably better taking PLACEBOS. There are certainly a lot of things about mind/brain/consciousness that we don't know. I don't think spoon benders or psychic hotlines or the like have anything to them at all. But the fact is that YOU exist, you have a brain which shapes your moods, shapes your perception, shapes your store of information
(waits for the flames)
But the very nature of Slashdot lends itself to (1) most readers clicking on the linked article (something you'll never see (sadly) with CNN) and (2) People visiting multiple times in a day to read new articles/visit newly linked sites. This means that all of the visits to the links mentioned in (1) happen in a very short period.
I think you are underestimating the power that is Slashdot...
Nawwwww! Let 'em fry! It's a great exercise in crisis response...
Well, I suspect that you were just trolling but I am going to respond all the same...
Isn't there something to be said for not wanting to have to exercise crisis response? Couldn't one be content to have a server that has been designed to handle typical or even heavy loads but one which was obviously never designed for the onslaught of Slashdotters hitting like a tsunami against the beach...
One could even argue that in this case it isn't an exercise, it is a full blown disaster of a magnitude that most web sites have never seen before! Or do you think lumbering dinosaurs like Slashdot are a dime a dozen? No...I personally think "let 'em fry" isn't the sort of ethical answer I was hoping for...
Hahaha! It is amazing, when you think about it... What other force on the Internet is as powerful as /.? Within 60 seconds of the original article appearing on the front page of Slashdot, the linked site was already taken down.
Ethical question: Do we owe our linked site owners some advance warning before our herd of tribbles swarms onto their bridge?
Bonus Question: Is it possible to be karma whoring AND trolling at the same time?
bedouin said:and spend an extra 30-seconds proofreading before I hit the submit button.
This is a bad idea? Seriously... if you are willing to post a comment that might be read by tens of thousands of people, why wouldn't you take an extra thirty seconds to proof it? Are you in such a hurry to get back to your bookmarked porn?
Side note: Do you scoff at people who are "so anal" about their resumes, too? Just wondering...
(I know, I know, you should never feed the trolls, it just means they'll come back for more. But STILL...)
if a client is paying cheaply...they deserve the minimum information and just get what they ask for...If a client pays well or tips well or has been a long time repeat client, they deserve that extra time taken to show which judgement would be best and why
Nice work ethic there, Sparky! Nothing like doing a good job for the sake of doing a good job. No sir-e! Show me the money!
Tip: You should go into medicine. There's tons of money to be made off of pesky poor people and, hell, since they aren't paying well you can just throw a bottle of asprin at them and save your best work for people who are worthy (rich).
Please. You are hired to do a job. When you were brought on, if you had a problem with the rate, you could have said something. Hell, you could still say something. That's called negotiation. But it isn't blackmail. "Oh, I'll only work hard if you keep meeting my demands." Show some class. Show some self-respect. Demonstrate you have a moral sense of right and wrong and you aren't just a high tech whore...
He's one of those examples of someone who is far too 'smart' for his common sense...he's one of the great linguists
Am I to take it, Anonymous Coward, that you are opposed to cunning linguists?
But wait until the public starts using this for say, protests, aiming say, anti-war messages at public officials while they are trying to give a speech.
Or your local police force for dispersing, say, an anti-war protest that just won't disperse on its own.
I would have to say explosives are the most abused technology is all of history
Sorry! If I had any points, I'd mod you up. But instead I'll correct your typo...
I would have to say that explosives are the most abused technology in all of history.
...and use it as my new sig. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery...Wonder if anyone else will do the same?