Strange...I'm browsing slashdot right now on a direct connection, without any proxy.
If I were you, I wouldn't particularly trust anything that comes out of Harvard University without verifiying it first. Truth is not their first objective.
More important to realize is that this list shows slashdot.org being blocked three years ago and that actually doing a little reading on the page there clearly states that that's not intended to be a definitive list and that many sites were to be unblocked. The list is simply outdated, not an attempt to mislead. Honestly, referencing a two year old dataset like that was shoddy work on the part of the original poster, not Harvard.
Would someone like to explain to me why the systems (assumingly CRITICAL systems) at a NUCLEAR POWER PLANT are connected to the Internet
They aren't. Just like the critical systems for life support aren't. Just like the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System isn't. There are, however, obviously people at the DOD, hospitals, and even nuclear power plants who do the same kind of tedious work done in other places (spreadsheets, memos, powerpoint presentations) and THEIR computers are often connected to the internet. Honestly, I understand why the media likes to make it sound liike the power plant control system crashed because of a virus, but I don't understand why so many people swallow the intimations of the inflamatory headlines.
Oh, boy. Let's see here. We have some idiot on Slashdot saying that Freeciv has a crappy interface. Did this person:
* Explain WHY it is freeciv has a crappy interface?
* Explain how the interface can be changed so as not to be so crappy?
* Said anything that can even be construed to be constructive cricicism? (Clue: Constructive cricicism is cricicism that people can use to constructively improve things)
Have you played FreeCiv? It's like playing "Civilization 2 for Excel" or something. Everything is crammed into that same old stupid grey-box-with-scrollbar Windows interface design. Part of what's nice about Civ 3 is that it's an escape from the "normal" world of using a computer. Sure, it's got lots of features not available in Civ 3, but the graphics are still low-quality and it still feels like I'm working in a freakin' FileMaker database.
And before you spout off the typical "If you don't like it, fix it yourself or shut up" FOSS-nazi ultimatum, realize that I don't give a crap if FreeCiv is ever as good as Civ 3, and I don't claim that it should be. The GP poster you flamed was merely responding to the GGP post that said "the upcoming release 2.0.0 will blow your minds" by saying he hoped that it was a significant improvement over 1.14, the current release.
And, what do the free software devlopers get for all of their work? Some asshole on Slashdot who tells them, without going to any effort to support their argument, that the interface is somehow "crappy". Yeah, these people worked their butts off, didn't get paid, and all they get on Slashdot is a stupid flame. And them some moderators take this stupid flame and mod it up to 5. WTF??
1) The interface for 1.14 IS crappy, and anyone who simply loads it up and then loads Civ 3 can see why. His assertion doesn't need explaination. The things that make it suck are like a shovel blow to the face.
2) It's not a flame, it's a simple observation-- an observation that is perfectly accurate and INFORMATIVE, thus the up-mod.
I'm sure the parent can help FreeCIV become a better program by explaining why it is FreeCIV has such a crappy interface; I am sure the devlopers will be very responsive to his feedback, and I am sure he can do a lot to improve FreeCIV.
What makes you think he cares? Honestly, you complain endlessly about the asshole attitude on slashdot and the complaints seem to apply more to YOU than HIM! Did you even LTFS (Load The Freakin' Software) to maybe see if what he was talking about was obvious? Or did you assume that the FreeCiv team doesn't know that certain aspects of their v1.14 shit stinks, or that it doesn't and this guy is a whiner? Looks to me like you assumed he was an asshole and then went ahead to make an asshole of yourself instead.
I used to be an open-source developer, but have by and large given up on it because I got sick and tired of getting flamed by anonymous assholes on Slashdot.
Not surprising. Blowhards like you who like to dish out criticism often can't take it themselves.
Uh, what part of:
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., today announced that it has purchased certain rights to the multi-million unit selling Civilization franchise
indicates to you that they didn't purchase the rights to the Civ franchise?
He didn't say that they didn't purchase the franchise, only that they don't own the game. The definition of franchise (in this case) is "Authorization granted to someone to sell or distribute a company's goods or services". Take-Two purchased the right to sell the Civilization series of games from Atari. Actual ownership of the game itself remains unchanged.
Whatever dude. I find that shopping around for cut-rate registrars in order to save maybe twenty bucks a year is hardly worth the effort, particularly when I already know I can trust my current registrar. I but you're one of those dumbasses that drives five miles out of your way in heavy traffic in order to buy gas for a penny less a gallon. Good job! Save 18 cents a week!
This is the problem with Apple's habit of slapping a Happy Fun Name on everything -- in computer hardware, the long chains of numbers in a product specification often MATTER.
Bah! Isn't it obvious what standard they built to with the Airport Penultimate Bleeding Edge Extreme?
Jobs and Woz built the first Apple computer in their garage.
I'd say a more accurate way to say it is "Woz built the first Apple computer in his garage and his pal Jobs, the eternal slick salesfiend, brought it to market." Jobs didn't know squat about electronics design.
See. This is why we should demand e-mail address portability. Your e-mail address should follow you, not have to stay tied to one isp. We already have it for phone numbers, so it shouldn't be too hard for e-mail right? I mean, why should you have to give up your "identity" just because your ISP has decided to charge more for less?
It's not your identity! The domain belongs to the ISP and you only have email services there (under your email name) because you pay them for it. If you want something that is actually yours register your own domain name. For $25 a year you can get your own domain and email forwarding for as many email addresses as you care to enter. For a little more you can even get your registrar to act as your email service.
Hot damn! I'm going to start a row with my neighbour, then invite him to my place and dictate what he can, and cannot say!
Actually, you can't dictate what he can and cannot say, but if he says something you don't like you can throw him out of your house. (Substitute ISNA for neighbor and ISP for house)
One of the biggest problems with the current AT-keyboard layout is the ordering
of digits on the numeric keypad.
I mean, damn near every other keypad in existance begins with 1 at the top left and works its way down to 9 at the bottom right (think telephone, ATM, eftpos terminal, security keypad).
What it comes down to is that there are two original progenitors of keypad layouts. The ones you list all go back to Bell Labs design for the Touch-Tone(tm) phone keypad. They even spent a fairly good chunk of change testing for which was more efficient. The results were that for dialing phone numbers, the "123" pad was faster, even for people who were experienced 10-key ("789" keypad) users. The reason is actually quite simple. 10-key is generally used for financial data entry, so the most commonly entered digits (0 and 1) are placed close together where they are easier to hit without looking (some proprioception issue there-- the exact explaination why eludes me). As the 0 is under the thumb, that means the 1 has to be in the bottom row to be close to it. Thus the bottom-up layout.
Dialing telephone numbers, however, isn't something that's done repeatedly. Almost nobody dials a phone by touch*; rather, they look at the dial pad to guide their fingers. The "123" layout is better suited to visual navigation because we're already trained to read from left to right, top to bottom.
Computer keyboards still use the 10-key style layout because the primary use for the keypad is still the same as its ancestors, the calculator and adding machine. Changing it to the telephone-style layout makes no sense as there's already an even easier to use "visual navigation" set of number keys above the letters.
* after 10 years of programming names and numbers into phone systems via the keypad, I actually no longer look at the phone keypad as I use it; but I've only ever noticed that skill in phone techs who install systems.
None of those meet the definition of "child molestation".
Main Entry: molest
2 : to make annoying sexual advances to; especially : to force physical and usually sexual contact on
Point taken. His assertion, then, is true in a literal sense. Of course, the main point I was trying to make was that the particular form of child molestion people object to most (actual physical sexual abuse) isn't possible over TCP/IP.
You might be a really smart person and an expert on things other than the environment, but people like you, who refuse to see the obvious, are really screwing up our grandchildren's chances of survival.
You'll note that I was merely pointing out a flaw in the OP's debate position-- taking as given the very item in dispute-- not actually opposing it. Your post illustrates another common problem: combative, emotional outbursts at the slightest suspicion that someone is not in perfect harmony with the party line. Such outbursts are often perceived as sanctimonious lecturing. As it happens, I am actually on your side. I just happen to believe that rationality is more effective than hysterical fear-mongering. This shouldn't be treated as a religious crusade.
Given that the earth is warming, and that this warming will cause catastrophes in excess of anything we've seen, shouldn't we be trying to do something about it?
Well the obvious answer to such a hypothetical situation is "yes", but it's a classic case of begging the question. Your statement of "Given...that this warming will cause catastrophes in excess of anything we've seen" flies in the face of the main point of argument. You're basically saying "let's assume I'm right, so we have to do things MY way, right?" That's hardly an effective debating position.
Dr. Fred Berlin, associate professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, considers the Internet to be a new vehicle for child molestation: 'There are three areas of concern. First, the illusion of anonymity -- an illusion because Internet use can be easily tracked -- leads to disinhibition. Second, there's a blurring of fantasy and reality. There's someone at the other end of the Internet conversation, but it's not quite a real person; there's a feeling of playing a game that can lead to actually doing what one otherwise wouldn't. Third, the easy accessibility can facilitate moving over boundaries.'"
Errr....what protocol, exactly, does one use to employ the internet as a "vehicle for child molestation"? Is it a new plugin for IE? Is Macromedia including a new Child Buggery module in Flash? Does the latest spyware trojan grab your child and whisk them away to some paedophile's house when they foolishly click the YES button on the install dialog?
I once found a TWO sheet screed in San Angelo, TX on how various corporate logos SECRET CONTAIN THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST, but that was a rare find.
I'm from San Angelo, and don't remember seeing this sort of thing stapled to telephone poles, let alone a 2-sheeter. (Contrast Austin.) Where was this find? I'm curious about what "culture of randomness" I've been missing.
I wish I could tell you, but frankly, I never knew where ANYTHING was. I was only at Goodfellow Air Force Base for about three months in 1988 for training as an intelligence analyst in the army. I walked from the base to the mall on a few occasions (5 or 6 miles) and I saw it on some back street along the way.
I give you my solomn promise that it most certainly is secure, and that it is definitely NOT a sham program that simply XOR's each 8 bytes of the plaintext with DEADBEEF, 8BADF00D, or any other silly hexadecimal constant before then encrypting/compressing it via a hacked copy of pkzip.exe from 1994. I'll have that source ready for you all to see as soon as I get it reviewed by experts.
the Rules of Robotics that some readers have linked to don't really apply to remote-controlled drones, which is what these are.
More importantly, Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics were never intended to be taken seriously. Anyone who has actually read the "I, Robot" collection of stories should have figured out what Asimov was getting at. Each story was an example of how these three precious laws some of you people venerate so greatly led to hazardous or even deadly situations. Asimov's point was that dictating rules of behavior and forcing slavish obedience to them is not a substitute for decisions made of free will by informed, ethical, and reasonable individuals.
So all you dopes who say "well, so much for the three laws" every time the military buys somthing that has "robot" in the name, why don't you try reading "I, Robot" and understanding Asimov's point.
If we had the adequate resources, wouldn't we choose NOT to work at all, or just work a little bit?
Um... just who would be actually producing all of those adequate resources if everyone was choosing not to work?
Don't be intentionally dense. It's a hypothetical situation. When someone uses the example of "turning on a car's headlights when it's moving at the speed of light" to explain relativity, are you dumb enough to point out that there's no way a car could move at light speed?
You are sure well programmed to work hard so you can buy as much store-bought crap as possible. You are a good little mercantilist sheeple!
But my stuff! All my beautiful stuff! It validates my worth as a person![/sheeple]
Whenever I have the choice between working to make more money or going home early, I choose the latter. Like they say, no one ever lies on their death bed and says "I wish I'd spent more time at work".
"Doing something constructive is better than sitting on your ass all day."
I disagree! There is NOTHING better than "sitting on your ass all day." Period.
Nothing like busting my back every day for a 30K/year salary without a degree compared to sitting in a nice office making 70k/year with a degree.
Hell, I'd rather sit in a nice office making 30k a year than busting my back for the same amount.
I've done both, and while the desk job seems better, that's only our inherent human [laziness|efficiency] talking. I never felt crappier than when I spent 8 hours a day languishing under fluorescent lights, squinting at a flickering CRT, sitting in a back-ruining "ergonomic" chair. Now I spend 5-7 hours a day installing communication and data wiring and I've never felt better. I'm not making a LOT of money now, but I'm sure making more than I was at my desk job, plus it's a lot easier.
Slashdot Mirror
More important to realize is that this list shows slashdot.org being blocked three years ago and that actually doing a little reading on the page there clearly states that that's not intended to be a definitive list and that many sites were to be unblocked. The list is simply outdated, not an attempt to mislead. Honestly, referencing a two year old dataset like that was shoddy work on the part of the original poster, not Harvard.
They aren't. Just like the critical systems for life support aren't. Just like the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System isn't. There are, however, obviously people at the DOD, hospitals, and even nuclear power plants who do the same kind of tedious work done in other places (spreadsheets, memos, powerpoint presentations) and THEIR computers are often connected to the internet. Honestly, I understand why the media likes to make it sound liike the power plant control system crashed because of a virus, but I don't understand why so many people swallow the intimations of the inflamatory headlines.
Have you played FreeCiv? It's like playing "Civilization 2 for Excel" or something. Everything is crammed into that same old stupid grey-box-with-scrollbar Windows interface design. Part of what's nice about Civ 3 is that it's an escape from the "normal" world of using a computer. Sure, it's got lots of features not available in Civ 3, but the graphics are still low-quality and it still feels like I'm working in a freakin' FileMaker database.
And before you spout off the typical "If you don't like it, fix it yourself or shut up" FOSS-nazi ultimatum, realize that I don't give a crap if FreeCiv is ever as good as Civ 3, and I don't claim that it should be. The GP poster you flamed was merely responding to the GGP post that said "the upcoming release 2.0.0 will blow your minds" by saying he hoped that it was a significant improvement over 1.14, the current release.
And, what do the free software devlopers get for all of their work? Some asshole on Slashdot who tells them, without going to any effort to support their argument, that the interface is somehow "crappy". Yeah, these people worked their butts off, didn't get paid, and all they get on Slashdot is a stupid flame. And them some moderators take this stupid flame and mod it up to 5. WTF??
1) The interface for 1.14 IS crappy, and anyone who simply loads it up and then loads Civ 3 can see why. His assertion doesn't need explaination. The things that make it suck are like a shovel blow to the face.
2) It's not a flame, it's a simple observation-- an observation that is perfectly accurate and INFORMATIVE, thus the up-mod.
I'm sure the parent can help FreeCIV become a better program by explaining why it is FreeCIV has such a crappy interface; I am sure the devlopers will be very responsive to his feedback, and I am sure he can do a lot to improve FreeCIV.
What makes you think he cares? Honestly, you complain endlessly about the asshole attitude on slashdot and the complaints seem to apply more to YOU than HIM! Did you even LTFS (Load The Freakin' Software) to maybe see if what he was talking about was obvious? Or did you assume that the FreeCiv team doesn't know that certain aspects of their v1.14 shit stinks, or that it doesn't and this guy is a whiner? Looks to me like you assumed he was an asshole and then went ahead to make an asshole of yourself instead.
I used to be an open-source developer, but have by and large given up on it because I got sick and tired of getting flamed by anonymous assholes on Slashdot.
Not surprising. Blowhards like you who like to dish out criticism often can't take it themselves.
He didn't say that they didn't purchase the franchise, only that they don't own the game. The definition of franchise (in this case) is "Authorization granted to someone to sell or distribute a company's goods or services". Take-Two purchased the right to sell the Civilization series of games from Atari. Actual ownership of the game itself remains unchanged.
Whatever dude. I find that shopping around for cut-rate registrars in order to save maybe twenty bucks a year is hardly worth the effort, particularly when I already know I can trust my current registrar. I but you're one of those dumbasses that drives five miles out of your way in heavy traffic in order to buy gas for a penny less a gallon. Good job! Save 18 cents a week!
Bah! Isn't it obvious what standard they built to with the Airport Penultimate Bleeding Edge Extreme?
I think you're confusing "halogen" with "fluorescent". Fluorescent lamps are usually under 20W. Halogen lamps tend to start around 100W and go up.
I'd say a more accurate way to say it is "Woz built the first Apple computer in his garage and his pal Jobs, the eternal slick salesfiend, brought it to market." Jobs didn't know squat about electronics design.
It's not your identity! The domain belongs to the ISP and you only have email services there (under your email name) because you pay them for it. If you want something that is actually yours register your own domain name. For $25 a year you can get your own domain and email forwarding for as many email addresses as you care to enter. For a little more you can even get your registrar to act as your email service.
Actually, you can't dictate what he can and cannot say, but if he says something you don't like you can throw him out of your house. (Substitute ISNA for neighbor and ISP for house)
As another poster noted, this is the German variation of QWERTY. In German, the letter Z is quite common, while the letter Y is exceedingly rare.
I mean, damn near every other keypad in existance begins with 1 at the top left and works its way down to 9 at the bottom right (think telephone, ATM, eftpos terminal, security keypad).
What it comes down to is that there are two original progenitors of keypad layouts. The ones you list all go back to Bell Labs design for the Touch-Tone(tm) phone keypad. They even spent a fairly good chunk of change testing for which was more efficient. The results were that for dialing phone numbers, the "123" pad was faster, even for people who were experienced 10-key ("789" keypad) users. The reason is actually quite simple. 10-key is generally used for financial data entry, so the most commonly entered digits (0 and 1) are placed close together where they are easier to hit without looking (some proprioception issue there-- the exact explaination why eludes me). As the 0 is under the thumb, that means the 1 has to be in the bottom row to be close to it. Thus the bottom-up layout.
Dialing telephone numbers, however, isn't something that's done repeatedly. Almost nobody dials a phone by touch*; rather, they look at the dial pad to guide their fingers. The "123" layout is better suited to visual navigation because we're already trained to read from left to right, top to bottom.
Computer keyboards still use the 10-key style layout because the primary use for the keypad is still the same as its ancestors, the calculator and adding machine. Changing it to the telephone-style layout makes no sense as there's already an even easier to use "visual navigation" set of number keys above the letters.
* after 10 years of programming names and numbers into phone systems via the keypad, I actually no longer look at the phone keypad as I use it; but I've only ever noticed that skill in phone techs who install systems.
Main Entry: molest
2 : to make annoying sexual advances to; especially : to force physical and usually sexual contact on
Point taken. His assertion, then, is true in a literal sense. Of course, the main point I was trying to make was that the particular form of child molestion people object to most (actual physical sexual abuse) isn't possible over TCP/IP.
You'll note that I was merely pointing out a flaw in the OP's debate position-- taking as given the very item in dispute-- not actually opposing it. Your post illustrates another common problem: combative, emotional outbursts at the slightest suspicion that someone is not in perfect harmony with the party line. Such outbursts are often perceived as sanctimonious lecturing. As it happens, I am actually on your side. I just happen to believe that rationality is more effective than hysterical fear-mongering. This shouldn't be treated as a religious crusade.
Well the obvious answer to such a hypothetical situation is "yes", but it's a classic case of begging the question. Your statement of "Given...that this warming will cause catastrophes in excess of anything we've seen" flies in the face of the main point of argument. You're basically saying "let's assume I'm right, so we have to do things MY way, right?" That's hardly an effective debating position.
You really think capitalism is the dominant school of thought on slashdot?
Verbal abuse.
"Suck my dick, Vicky", and so on and so forth. Showing them porn pictures, spying on them like that guy in the article, etc.
None of those meet the definition of "child molestation".
Oh, so you just check the free weather report and it tells you there's a wind shear at 5,000m altitude? Doubtful.
Errr....what protocol, exactly, does one use to employ the internet as a "vehicle for child molestation"? Is it a new plugin for IE? Is Macromedia including a new Child Buggery module in Flash? Does the latest spyware trojan grab your child and whisk them away to some paedophile's house when they foolishly click the YES button on the install dialog?
I'm from San Angelo, and don't remember seeing this sort of thing stapled to telephone poles, let alone a 2-sheeter. (Contrast Austin.) Where was this find? I'm curious about what "culture of randomness" I've been missing.
I wish I could tell you, but frankly, I never knew where ANYTHING was. I was only at Goodfellow Air Force Base for about three months in 1988 for training as an intelligence analyst in the army. I walked from the base to the mall on a few occasions (5 or 6 miles) and I saw it on some back street along the way.
I give you my solomn promise that it most certainly is secure, and that it is definitely NOT a sham program that simply XOR's each 8 bytes of the plaintext with DEADBEEF, 8BADF00D, or any other silly hexadecimal constant before then encrypting/compressing it via a hacked copy of pkzip.exe from 1994. I'll have that source ready for you all to see as soon as I get it reviewed by experts.
More importantly, Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics were never intended to be taken seriously. Anyone who has actually read the "I, Robot" collection of stories should have figured out what Asimov was getting at. Each story was an example of how these three precious laws some of you people venerate so greatly led to hazardous or even deadly situations. Asimov's point was that dictating rules of behavior and forcing slavish obedience to them is not a substitute for decisions made of free will by informed, ethical, and reasonable individuals.
So all you dopes who say "well, so much for the three laws" every time the military buys somthing that has "robot" in the name, why don't you try reading "I, Robot" and understanding Asimov's point.
Um... just who would be actually producing all of those adequate resources if everyone was choosing not to work?
Don't be intentionally dense. It's a hypothetical situation. When someone uses the example of "turning on a car's headlights when it's moving at the speed of light" to explain relativity, are you dumb enough to point out that there's no way a car could move at light speed?
But my stuff! All my beautiful stuff! It validates my worth as a person![/sheeple]
Whenever I have the choice between working to make more money or going home early, I choose the latter. Like they say, no one ever lies on their death bed and says "I wish I'd spent more time at work".
"Doing something constructive is better than sitting on your ass all day."
I disagree! There is NOTHING better than "sitting on your ass all day." Period.
Absolutely goddamn right!
Hell, I'd rather sit in a nice office making 30k a year than busting my back for the same amount.
I've done both, and while the desk job seems better, that's only our inherent human [laziness|efficiency] talking. I never felt crappier than when I spent 8 hours a day languishing under fluorescent lights, squinting at a flickering CRT, sitting in a back-ruining "ergonomic" chair. Now I spend 5-7 hours a day installing communication and data wiring and I've never felt better. I'm not making a LOT of money now, but I'm sure making more than I was at my desk job, plus it's a lot easier.