the grandparent poster's parody script (which was quite funny IMO)
Actually it was meant to explore the issue and it has fostered a debate of sorts. The problem, from where I live, is a community crammed with children where social programs have been slashed, education is underfunded and the cost of living is very high. People who do insist upon populating the earth and saving every embryo need to do more than just adopt, they need to do ensure society has a place for them and has the necessary services in place, otherwise they will be debating where the build the next prison to house them as adults.
I'm not sure that 're-invented' is how I'd describe windows, or their efforts at security.
In the past Microsoft have commented that they have completely ditched the code Windows was written with and re-written from ground up, to try to address myriad flaws. That's pretty drastic. I've done it with small projects which simply grew too large and unwieldy because they were never expected to scale to newer demands* Microsoft is effectively doing this with Vista and yet... there still appear to be security flaws. Something wrong with that picture. Could be they're just a victim of their success and such a massive undertaking of code is approaching the event horizon just before the black hole.
*You know the type.. you develop some nifty little tool to summarise information for your own use and someone sees it and says, "Hey! That thing does in seconds what I spend a week doing! I need it, set me up with it!" Next thing you know your little tool has to be user friendly, go to printers, be in colour, etc. Continually piling in changes makes it fragile so you step back, figure what it all needs to do and how to achieve the goals and then recode, with an eye toward more scalibility and unforeseen features later.
I'm totally excited to hear that Settlers of Catan (along with Carcassonne and Alhambra) is coming to Xbox Live Arcade! I absolutely love the board game, and if the XBLA version is decent, this is going to be a big, big time sink for me.
Have you seen the Microsoft implementation of Settlers of Cataan? I gave it a try, but thought it sucked bad. If you want to play a decent online version, get this. It requires Java, so you may not be able to play on your XBox, unless the MS game dev kit for XBOX lets you sneak Java in. It's pretty decent game play and a simple, easy to read and use interface.
I don't know if I'd go that far. OSX isn't 100% immune - it just has more common sense.
In a nutshell, OS-X is built upon a known animal, whereas Windows is an animal which continues to be re-invented, like a leopard changing its spots to stripes, then plaid, then paisley, then something else. With such moving targets all the time it's small wonder they've got security issues. Some begin to be addressed with good programming practices (which Apple could certainly lapse at at any moment, and may well have and we haven't heard about) Another is to require tight control over interfaces between code from different departments. Microsoft going back to scratch time and again doesn't necessarily mean anything is getting better.
Geez, everyone's telling the same lame "ISS" = "International Space Station" joke.
Shows that Slashdot is going to the dogs, Goofy, Pluto or other. Yeah, Ha Ha Ha, big yuks all around. It's probably a bit like hell, being told the same dumb joke over and over and over.
So the reality is, with Microsoft getting into the security biz, so is IBM. Looks like security companies are the new Hot Property.
How many websites you use have a "log me in automatically" checkbox, ticked by default?
What gets me is sitting down to a mocha double soy and finding all these post it notes under the table with elegantly written little bits like 'bad1983girl', 'iluvpuppies' and 'password'...
Yes, indeed, run along now, I'm busy snarfing your transmisson...
Yes, and I'm snarfing your snarfing his transmission. Dull, isn't it?
suddenly things liven up as zonk begins bidding on inflatable dolls on ebay, only to be outbid at each turn by the mysterious Bidder-X(notcowboynealreallyiswearit)
Pulling some underhanded almost unethical manuver like this really shows that SCO is coming undone at the seams.
"Captain's Log, 2368.7: Alien's posing as castaways on Anilorac 5 have turned out to be "attorneys" from a planet Cheron and claim to be have been in pursuit of another alien in sickbay found aboard a lost shuttle for the past 50,000 years. They have taken control of the Enterprise with something they called "Writs" and have used "Powers of Attorneys" to disable the Enterprise's self-destruct mechanism. We are currently unable to pursuade them or regain any control over the ship. I may have to ask Mr. Spock to kick them in the crotches if no other option presents itself."
SCO Attorney: "Let the record show that Mr. Wilson likes chocolate ice cream, baseball and buys his underwear at J.C. Penney. Which I think speaks for itself in regards to the nefarious activities of IBM!!!"
Judge: "I'd say it speaks volumes what a loonie lot you are. I find for IBM"
This movie debut - 10 years ago = Complete and utter bust. The money it made was due to the Internet and very little else. If anything it was a wakeup call to Hollywood in how much money can be made by "marketing" to the appropriate audience (although of course with SoaP it was mostly accidental;)
I dunno. About 10 years ago there was Anaconda. Relatively unheralded, but with a deliciously villainous Jon Voight. Did rather well I think.
Yes, but this is a hole created by a patch to fix a hole. On the whole, different and somewhat amusing. Or it would be amusing if I didn't have to administer Windows systems.:P
Actually this really isn't unique. There have been a few of these in the past. And only after some noticed this was happening, who knows how often it happened before people took notice of the fix busting other code than that fixed.
I used to admin a mainframe and keep up on patches rigorously, as we had any number of weasels in the labs waiting for us to leave our guard down for 'arf a mo' One patch back then did indeed open a hole, but the vendor (DEC) was on top of it within days and overnighted a patch tape to fix it. Even then they advised us how to block any attempts while we waited for the patch tape.
That is, that this movie could have quite possibly ended dead last without the Internet hype. I think the only reason they made anything at all was because of the hype.
Quite a possibility. Keep in mind that late July and August are usually extremely slow months for films, which is why you don't see hopeful blockbusters come out at this time.
These are the slow, lazy summer days for a casual film you may or may not care to see, which may or may not do anything for you. This, IMHO is the perfect time for theatres to host classic films or marathons of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc.
There's also the pretense of "snakes" on "a plane" which sounds just stupid enough to maybe be off-beat funny.
Years ago there was the viral marketing about The Blair Witch Project. I wondered what all the buzz was about and saw it. To me it was money down the drain.
I didn't care for it and became a bit cynical about film pushed this way. Now if someone I knew who had similar tastes and saw a film and liked it, which I used to do, I'd give it
a try.
Years ago I used to read the Detroit Free Press, which had a little grid in the back, which summarised what various critics thought of films. I learned which
leaned most often my way and followed their advice. Most often we were in sync. Now I just chance it, mostly on trailers, of indie fliks. Hollywood
stuff you usually get all the good bits and the whole plot in trailers.
Upon Scott Kurtz' endorsement I saw Little Miss Sunshine, which is quite the little gem.
I have several hundred sales and purchases on eBay, and I have NEVER, let me repeat that, NEVER had that experience. There are sellers with thousands of sales 99.9% positive response. I smell a rat somewhere.
I have a few thousand. Let me know when you get there if your experience has changed.
A couple years ago a bidder, who had paid on prior auctions, no problems whatsoever, didn't respond to auction invoices just sent. After ten days I wrote a follow-up, including the invoice. Nothing. After 21 days I started the non-paying bidder thing. Still nothing, but got refund on my fees. I left a negative feedback for each item, 'Non-paying bidder, no reply to emails' Suddenly I get some insulting email and negative feedback, including 'didn't cash checks, doesn't reply to email, seller is an idiot', which was all bogus. A follow-up feedback on one item says 'hey, lighten up, have some fun don't take it so seriously' Clearly the bidder thought they were a real card.
Another was this complete nut. Bids on an item in the dying seconds, a snipe, wins the item. I'm home when the auction ends and fire off an invoice. Next morning, while at work the bidder leaves a voicemail on phone. wtf? He wants to talk to me personally about special shipping of the item. I send an email that per terms of the auction these should have been arranged before bidding, but whatever he needs can be discussed just fine via email. Another day and another voicemail, he won't discuss it via email, insists upon talking to seller personally, I should set aside some time to be home to talk to him. I smell something fishy and look at his feedback. Oh, no. He's a real loop. Lots of red flags all over the place. I send an email that I will be available on a Saturday morning from 8 AM to 10 AM, after that have errands to run. No phone call, no reply. I fire off another email and say this needs to be discussed via email as I can't keep sitting around waiting for phone calls as I have a job and other things to do and no cell phone. Bam! Neg. feedback, seller is uncooperative, etc. Even after I pointed out anything special needed to be cleared before bidding, which is also implied in eBay's rules (you bid, you agree to sellers terms, etc.) Doesn't matter to this character. He wanted me to send item C.O.D. which I can't do with my schedule (lucky to even get to the post office during normal hours once a month.)
Sadly there's no way to filter bidders, though that could prove problematic. About 997 out of 1000 are decent people. The rest are impatient, unreasonable, pranksters or irresponsible. You find them or they find you eventually.
Slashdot Mirror
8 Planets and 8 Dwarfs? Sounds simple enough...
That's Size Challenged Planets
Thank you very much...
re: my take on it: many very educated men just screwed up nine planets...
They're diplomatic. Plutonian Objects gets the Geologists off their backs.
You have to go to here and click on the link. Otherwise you get a WMD parody.
I've been twiddling my thumbs waiting for these, from this article to come out in colour. I thought that was supposed to be RSN or ADN.
a diesel computer designed car going 328 MPH filled with hard drives.
An information super highway, here?
broken the diesel speed record of 236MPH at a speed of 328MPH.
But they could probably top 350 MPH if they'd ditch the CB antenna and Yosemite Sam "Back Off" mudflaps.
this thing gets some real looks at the Sapp Bros.
the grandparent poster's parody script (which was quite funny IMO)
Actually it was meant to explore the issue and it has fostered a debate of sorts. The problem, from where I live, is a community crammed with children where social programs have been slashed, education is underfunded and the cost of living is very high. People who do insist upon populating the earth and saving every embryo need to do more than just adopt, they need to do ensure society has a place for them and has the necessary services in place, otherwise they will be debating where the build the next prison to house them as adults.
Lab Tech 1: "Ok, we're going in, to harvest a few stem cells."
Right Wing Right-to-Life Zealot: "Oh no you aren't! You're going to kill an unborn life! That's murder!"
Lab Tech 2: "No, we've got a process now where we can safely remove a few stem cells and the embryo will be unharmed and develop normally."
Right Wing Right-to-Life Zealot: "What? Really?"
Lab Tech 1: "Yep, 100% safe from killing unborn babies."
Right Wing Right-to-Life Zealot: "I don't believe you!"
Lab Tech 2: "Watch." *poit* "There we go, got a stem cell out and the embryo is totally unharmed."
Right Wing Right-to-Life Zealot: "Gosh! What do you do with the embryo's when you're done?"
Lab Tech 1: "We plant them in women who wish to have a child but can't concieve or volunteers who wish to give them a chance at life."
Lab Tech 2: "Would you like to adopt one?"
Right Wing Right-to-Life Zealot: "Absolutely not!!! I insist they not be murdered, but I'm no charity, go find someone else to raise it!"
I'm not sure that 're-invented' is how I'd describe windows, or their efforts at security.
In the past Microsoft have commented that they have completely ditched the code Windows was written with and re-written from ground up, to try to address myriad flaws. That's pretty drastic. I've done it with small projects which simply grew too large and unwieldy because they were never expected to scale to newer demands* Microsoft is effectively doing this with Vista and yet... there still appear to be security flaws. Something wrong with that picture. Could be they're just a victim of their success and such a massive undertaking of code is approaching the event horizon just before the black hole.
*You know the type.. you develop some nifty little tool to summarise information for your own use and someone sees it and says, "Hey! That thing does in seconds what I spend a week doing! I need it, set me up with it!" Next thing you know your little tool has to be user friendly, go to printers, be in colour, etc. Continually piling in changes makes it fragile so you step back, figure what it all needs to do and how to achieve the goals and then recode, with an eye toward more scalibility and unforeseen features later.
I'm totally excited to hear that Settlers of Catan (along with Carcassonne and Alhambra) is coming to Xbox Live Arcade! I absolutely love the board game, and if the XBLA version is decent, this is going to be a big, big time sink for me.
Have you seen the Microsoft implementation of Settlers of Cataan? I gave it a try, but thought it sucked bad. If you want to play a decent online version, get this. It requires Java, so you may not be able to play on your XBox, unless the MS game dev kit for XBOX lets you sneak Java in. It's pretty decent game play and a simple, easy to read and use interface.
I don't know if I'd go that far. OSX isn't 100% immune - it just has more common sense.
In a nutshell, OS-X is built upon a known animal, whereas Windows is an animal which continues to be re-invented, like a leopard changing its spots to stripes, then plaid, then paisley, then something else. With such moving targets all the time it's small wonder they've got security issues. Some begin to be addressed with good programming practices (which Apple could certainly lapse at at any moment, and may well have and we haven't heard about) Another is to require tight control over interfaces between code from different departments. Microsoft going back to scratch time and again doesn't necessarily mean anything is getting better.
Geez, everyone's telling the same lame "ISS" = "International Space Station" joke.
Shows that Slashdot is going to the dogs, Goofy, Pluto or other. Yeah, Ha Ha Ha, big yuks all around. It's probably a bit like hell, being told the same dumb joke over and over and over.
So the reality is, with Microsoft getting into the security biz, so is IBM. Looks like security companies are the new Hot Property.
I laughed. I cried. I read TFA.
It's a Zune killer! 8^)
How many websites you use have a "log me in automatically" checkbox, ticked by default?
What gets me is sitting down to a mocha double soy and finding all these post it notes under the table with elegantly written little bits like 'bad1983girl', 'iluvpuppies' and 'password'...
Yes, indeed, run along now, I'm busy snarfing your transmisson...
Yes, and I'm snarfing your snarfing his transmission. Dull, isn't it?
suddenly things liven up as zonk begins bidding on inflatable dolls on ebay, only to be outbid at each turn by the mysterious Bidder-X(notcowboynealreallyiswearit)
Binkley STILL hasn't returned that dang book?
Apparently not.
What's in YOUR anxiety closet?
CmdrTaco's search results for 'BEAT BEDWETTING THROUGH SELF HYPNOSIS' found 0 matches, try again?
Pulling some underhanded almost unethical manuver like this really shows that SCO is coming undone at the seams.
"Captain's Log, 2368.7: Alien's posing as castaways on Anilorac 5 have turned out to be "attorneys" from a planet Cheron and claim to be have been in pursuit of another alien in sickbay found aboard a lost shuttle for the past 50,000 years. They have taken control of the Enterprise with something they called "Writs" and have used "Powers of Attorneys" to disable the Enterprise's self-destruct mechanism. We are currently unable to pursuade them or regain any control over the ship. I may have to ask Mr. Spock to kick them in the crotches if no other option presents itself."
SCO Attorney: "Let the record show that Mr. Wilson likes chocolate ice cream, baseball and buys his underwear at J.C. Penney. Which I think speaks for itself in regards to the nefarious activities of IBM!!!"
Judge: "I'd say it speaks volumes what a loonie lot you are. I find for IBM"
This movie debut - 10 years ago = Complete and utter bust. The money it made was due to the Internet and very little else. If anything it was a wakeup call to Hollywood in how much money can be made by "marketing" to the appropriate audience (although of course with SoaP it was mostly accidental ;)
I dunno. About 10 years ago there was Anaconda. Relatively unheralded, but with a deliciously villainous Jon Voight. Did rather well I think.
Yes, but this is a hole created by a patch to fix a hole. On the whole, different and somewhat amusing. Or it would be amusing if I didn't have to administer Windows systems. :P
Actually this really isn't unique. There have been a few of these in the past. And only after some noticed this was happening, who knows how often it happened before people took notice of the fix busting other code than that fixed.
I used to admin a mainframe and keep up on patches rigorously, as we had any number of weasels in the labs waiting for us to leave our guard down for 'arf a mo' One patch back then did indeed open a hole, but the vendor (DEC) was on top of it within days and overnighted a patch tape to fix it. Even then they advised us how to block any attempts while we waited for the patch tape.
That is, that this movie could have quite possibly ended dead last without the Internet hype. I think the only reason they made anything at all was because of the hype.
Quite a possibility. Keep in mind that late July and August are usually extremely slow months for films, which is why you don't see hopeful blockbusters come out at this time.
These are the slow, lazy summer days for a casual film you may or may not care to see, which may or may not do anything for you. This, IMHO is the perfect time for theatres to host classic films or marathons of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc.
There's also the pretense of "snakes" on "a plane" which sounds just stupid enough to maybe be off-beat funny.
Years ago there was the viral marketing about The Blair Witch Project. I wondered what all the buzz was about and saw it. To me it was money down the drain. I didn't care for it and became a bit cynical about film pushed this way. Now if someone I knew who had similar tastes and saw a film and liked it, which I used to do, I'd give it a try.
Years ago I used to read the Detroit Free Press, which had a little grid in the back, which summarised what various critics thought of films. I learned which leaned most often my way and followed their advice. Most often we were in sync. Now I just chance it, mostly on trailers, of indie fliks. Hollywood stuff you usually get all the good bits and the whole plot in trailers.
Upon Scott Kurtz' endorsement I saw Little Miss Sunshine, which is quite the little gem.
I have several hundred sales and purchases on eBay, and I have NEVER, let me repeat that, NEVER had that experience. There are sellers with thousands of sales 99.9% positive response. I smell a rat somewhere.
I have a few thousand. Let me know when you get there if your experience has changed.
A couple years ago a bidder, who had paid on prior auctions, no problems whatsoever, didn't respond to auction invoices just sent. After ten days I wrote a follow-up, including the invoice. Nothing. After 21 days I started the non-paying bidder thing. Still nothing, but got refund on my fees. I left a negative feedback for each item, 'Non-paying bidder, no reply to emails' Suddenly I get some insulting email and negative feedback, including 'didn't cash checks, doesn't reply to email, seller is an idiot', which was all bogus. A follow-up feedback on one item says 'hey, lighten up, have some fun don't take it so seriously' Clearly the bidder thought they were a real card.
Another was this complete nut. Bids on an item in the dying seconds, a snipe, wins the item. I'm home when the auction ends and fire off an invoice. Next morning, while at work the bidder leaves a voicemail on phone. wtf? He wants to talk to me personally about special shipping of the item. I send an email that per terms of the auction these should have been arranged before bidding, but whatever he needs can be discussed just fine via email. Another day and another voicemail, he won't discuss it via email, insists upon talking to seller personally, I should set aside some time to be home to talk to him. I smell something fishy and look at his feedback. Oh, no. He's a real loop. Lots of red flags all over the place. I send an email that I will be available on a Saturday morning from 8 AM to 10 AM, after that have errands to run. No phone call, no reply. I fire off another email and say this needs to be discussed via email as I can't keep sitting around waiting for phone calls as I have a job and other things to do and no cell phone. Bam! Neg. feedback, seller is uncooperative, etc. Even after I pointed out anything special needed to be cleared before bidding, which is also implied in eBay's rules (you bid, you agree to sellers terms, etc.) Doesn't matter to this character. He wanted me to send item C.O.D. which I can't do with my schedule (lucky to even get to the post office during normal hours once a month.)
Sadly there's no way to filter bidders, though that could prove problematic. About 997 out of 1000 are decent people. The rest are impatient, unreasonable, pranksters or irresponsible. You find them or they find you eventually.