I don't get cautious around most white people. Being a US academic I'm surrounded by them. They are my friends and colleagues. However, in every city I've lived in except Los Angeles, I have had whites yell "nigger" at me as they drive by in cars. In three places spanning a dozen years, drunken young white male students have challenged me to fight (tried to provoke an excuse to beat me); so far, I open my mouth, they see I'm intelligent, and they go away.
These white men look like any thousands of white men I've seen all my life. Appearances count, in my case, for absolutely nothing.
I wonder, how may times have you been accosted by a black, gangbanger lookalike or otherwise?
Your logic proves the point of the need for standards which are not suggestions, as you construe them, but recommendations. The point of standards is not to document the state of the art but to provide a common reference point for everyone to use.
Following your logic, "standards" is synonymous with "observed behavior" which would mean that the behavior of the most-used rendering protocol would be the "standard." Can you see the problem? That would mean some flavor of IE would be the standard by the fact of being the most prevalent.
Standards don't describe the vernacular. Standards establish guidelines.
The GP has it right. Storage in this context refers to the usage of Comcast's lines. If you download files from houseofnasty.com you are retrieving them. They are stored on your local server which from Comcast's perspective is not storage. From Comcast's perspective, it becomes "stored" the moment it is "retrieved" across their lines, but not a second before.
Disclaimer: Though I have no affiliation with Comcast and do not use their services, I hope they get a stick in their eye real soon.
Clearly, you're quite knowledgeable regarding the complexity of making a bomb. But that complexity, from what I can gather, is precisely the point (according to the TSA blog post) of restricting the liquids in secure areas of airport terminals.
From the post in question:
The preparation of these bombs is very much more complex than tossing together several bottles-worth of formula and lighting it up. In fact, in recent tests, a National Lab was asked to formulate a test mixture and it took several tries using the best equipment and best scientists for it to even ignite. That was with a bomb prepared in advance in a lab setting. A less skilled person attempting to put it together inside a secure area or a plane is not a good bet. You have to have significant uninterrupted time with space and other requirements that are not easily available in a secured area of an airport. It adds complexity to their preferred model and reduces our risk, having the expert make the bomb and give it to someone else to carry aboard. They are well aware of the Richard Reid factor where he could not even ignite a completed bomb. Simple is truly better for them. Also, bomb-makers are easier for us to identify than so-called clean 'mules.'
It's quite plain to see that the lab researchers and the TSA officials are quite aware that making a TATP bomb requires a precipitate. According to the TSA's logic, which from my lay perspective seems pretty right on, by making it difficult to bring substantial amounts of the liquids required to make the precipitate, a layer of complexity is added to bomb plots involving the mixing of liquids. Complexifying an already complex procedure makes chances of success all the more unlikely.
Now, before my fellow/.'ers charge me with being a TSA cheerleader, I am not a fan of the liquids ban. I like my joe made my own espresso machine and in a sealed thermos. I used to enjoy bringing good-tasting water on board. I wear contacts and because I refuse to check baggage in, I have to find a drugstore within a day or two of landing. The liquids ban inconveniences me, but that's all it does. From the point of view of the government, that inconvenience is offset by the reduced threat of explosives on commercial aircraft.
This overlooks the very real possibility that all of this, however, is governmental hand-waving to distract us from the fact that we may be no more secure in commercialized domestic airspace than in 1970. But my best guess is that some people working for the government and the TSA actually believe what their doing has some measure of effectiveness.
You're missing the point, which is that Padilla was illegally jailed for over two years and his rightful request for habeas corpus was denied. SCOTUS refused to clarify whether holding Padilla was legal, thus making his case a clear cut example of the illegal detainment and torture of an American citizen. Furthermore, what you're saying is that because Padilla was suspected of terrorism, jailing him illegally was OK.
My point is not that Padilla was innocent. My point is that terrorism is carte blanche for the executive to illegally detain Americans, to fabricate charges against them, and to increase penalties upon conviction. In the meantime, people like you will look at Padilla and see someone they don't quite like and decide that it's all OK.
In my opinion, it will only be a matter of time before someone finds themselves on the wrong end of what you call "normal, peaceful political channels," as did many in their peaceful protest of the 2004 Republican National Convention. Your thinking implies that rule of law is a privilege to be extended only to American citizens who behave in the proper manner, people who look a particular way and who have a particular kind of past.
I believe that rule of law should apply not only to all American citizens, but that it should also be extended to all people detained by the United States.
To be clear, "pirogi" was only an example. The translated word was a different type of food.
But as long as we're on the topic, my dead tree copy of Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary specifies (not sure of Slashcode will take care of the entity references properly)
pirogi \p-'r-g\ n, pl-gi or -gies [Pol] (1927): PIROSHIKI
Now, if it's not to much trouble, please allow me to say, GET OFF MY LAWN!
Along with many others, I deplored Network Solutions' preemptive domain registration which took advantage of domain tasting. However as a former beneficiary of the present domain tasting policy, I can see at least one benefit to consumers (and businesses) that gets overlooked because of the audacity of Network Solutions' behavior.
About a year ago I registered a domain that had a transliteration of a foreign word. I discovered, within a few hours, that my transliteration was not the preferred spelling (for example, "perogi" as opposed to the preferred "pirogi"). I asked my registrar to refund my money for the first domain and registered the domain with the preferred spelling.
Honest mistake and no one was harmed in the process of deleting the undesired domain. Sure, I could have researched that transliterated word before registration but it simply did not occur to me that a spelling which in my day (yeah, I'm over 40) was correct would have been superseded. (Sort of like finding out BBQ is actually spelled "barbecue".)
You're right on about this. Besides not seeing a connection between unwitting users and his behavior as malicious, he probably doesn't realize that doing what he is doing very likely runs afoul of several states' and many municipalities laws against abuse of computer resources.
He acts like a shitcock and figures he's doing people a favor. Fantastic.
Since we're already here, I hope mods will forgive the OT.
The problem with calling people out on their unconscious racism is that they often react defensively (and sometimes violently). You, SmallFurryCreature, imply there's something wrong with kamanpuaa--"Get your knickers out of a twist you pansie", blatant ad hominem attack--for even speculating on the possibility. And you're modded up for it.
I'm wiling to bet you are not Chinese, SmallFurryCreature. I'm also willing to bet many Chinese would be somewhat offended both by the insinuation that a company could get rich by selling a "pair of sandals to every China man" and by your disproportionate anger towr4d kamanpuaa's very reasonable question. As an Asian, I am not surprised by racist/racial remarks by a Euro-American CEO and I am annoyed by your attack against the *possibility* such a remark might be motivated and licensed by racial ignorance.
When I said EDGE use is rare, I meant that there are few occasions that users want to use the web while on-the-go. Having travelled up and down California, spent time in Chicago, and roamed all over Eastern Ohio, I have only lost EDGE connectivity when I could not get any signal at all. The extent of the EDGE network seems pretty good in my experience.
Still, I do look forward to an even faster network than EDGE when (not if) I can get it.
A friend of mine with a 3G-capable blackberry-like phone in the US (West Coast) said he ran races with his iPhone-using friend. According to him, her iPhone loaded many pages (over EDGE) more quickly than his 3G-capable phone. The explanation was that the chipset in the iPhone (among other things) was much faster than what was on his phone. (Wish I knew what kind of phone he was using, sorry.)
Anyhow, all this hand-wringing over the best features, like criticisms of 1st gen iPods, misses the point that what works in practice can't be compared to theoretical bests. The iPhone is amazing primarily because of its OS and the fact that web use of EDGE is rare.
When the telcos offer better networks (speed and coverage) hopefully successors to the iPhone 1.0 (including non-Apple competitors) will improve on what the iPhone has to offer. For now, people like you are considered "insightful" for what amounts to a wish list.
Whatever the origin of the technology demonstrated in the link you post, that is one of the most amazing demonstrations I've seen of semantic relationships gleaned from metadata. Blaise Aguera y Arcas implies Photosynth constructs these relationships through automation though there are likely dozens of humans who tweaked and corrected the information for his presentation.
Even so, the demo is mind-blowing.
Screw the mod who marked you troll.
I take it you've never observed or owned a cat. They often play with animals just to kill them. One time, I saw a single cat play "pickle" with a squirrel, running in front of it just to watch it run the other direction and then run in front of it again.
The pleasure of killing for many cats often has little to do with whether the cat is interested in eating the animal. Sometimes, sure, but cats also like to chase things just for the pleasure of chasing.
Your statement, while humorous, in some way hits the nail on the head. What I find "pretty" about iPhone is Mobile Safari which rocks in its web-presentation capabilities. It can read PDFs, QuickTime-wrapped video (and YouTube Flash files rhough not Flash anywhere else), and many other web-accessible files. Without question, MobileSafari does have its shortcomings.
But think about this: I'm posting this from my iPhone because it's been a really long day and browsing/. On a device that I *can* curl up in bed with and which doesn't give off any (perceptible) heat and which is totally silent. . . Man, I just wish I had a larger version for home use.
I know I'm verging on fanboy, but the device is pretty spectacular and pretty to boot, especially on terms of the software Apple has put on it, though I will be among the first to say that there is a lot more that can be done with iPhone.
In some ways that's the whole point. The iPhone makes everyone realize what a stupid idea WAP was and that what folks were trying to do in 1997 wouldn't take off for another ten years. From where stand (actually, that should be "lie" because that's what I'm doing as I type this from my bed), the iPhone is a fairly slick device, sure, but more important is that it points the way to truly mobile and ubiquitous computing.
What will come inside the next three years--from many more vendors than just Apple--is going to blow all of us away.
A serious attack by a technically savvy attacker with significant resources and a good plan can very likely do most of those things and a great many more.
William Gibson called and he's asking for Wintermute back.
First, every state has an attorney general. Check for yourself. (That is, there are Attorneys General.)
Second, though empowered by the Executive, the US AG, and I quote myself, "is charged with serving the interests of the Judicial branch of the US government, not the Executive branch." To be honest, the relationship is somewhat murky to me and I think this conflict of interest is precisely what has lead to the current situation.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't get cautious around most white people. Being a US academic I'm surrounded by them. They are my friends and colleagues. However, in every city I've lived in except Los Angeles, I have had whites yell "nigger" at me as they drive by in cars. In three places spanning a dozen years, drunken young white male students have challenged me to fight (tried to provoke an excuse to beat me); so far, I open my mouth, they see I'm intelligent, and they go away.
These white men look like any thousands of white men I've seen all my life. Appearances count, in my case, for absolutely nothing.
I wonder, how may times have you been accosted by a black, gangbanger lookalike or otherwise?
Your logic proves the point of the need for standards which are not suggestions, as you construe them, but recommendations. The point of standards is not to document the state of the art but to provide a common reference point for everyone to use.
Following your logic, "standards" is synonymous with "observed behavior" which would mean that the behavior of the most-used rendering protocol would be the "standard." Can you see the problem? That would mean some flavor of IE would be the standard by the fact of being the most prevalent.
Standards don't describe the vernacular. Standards establish guidelines.
That's what I get for playing with Crayolas.
Green is green and yellow is green plus red.
Green, my friend, is not green; green is yellow and blue. I'm not even going to touch "green plus red," though I suspect it might be Christmas.
The GP has it right. Storage in this context refers to the usage of Comcast's lines. If you download files from houseofnasty.com you are retrieving them. They are stored on your local server which from Comcast's perspective is not storage. From Comcast's perspective, it becomes "stored" the moment it is "retrieved" across their lines, but not a second before.
Disclaimer: Though I have no affiliation with Comcast and do not use their services, I hope they get a stick in their eye real soon.
Clearly, you're quite knowledgeable regarding the complexity of making a bomb. But that complexity, from what I can gather, is precisely the point (according to the TSA blog post) of restricting the liquids in secure areas of airport terminals.
From the post in question:
It's quite plain to see that the lab researchers and the TSA officials are quite aware that making a TATP bomb requires a precipitate. According to the TSA's logic, which from my lay perspective seems pretty right on, by making it difficult to bring substantial amounts of the liquids required to make the precipitate, a layer of complexity is added to bomb plots involving the mixing of liquids. Complexifying an already complex procedure makes chances of success all the more unlikely.
Now, before my fellow /.'ers charge me with being a TSA cheerleader, I am not a fan of the liquids ban. I like my joe made my own espresso machine and in a sealed thermos. I used to enjoy bringing good-tasting water on board. I wear contacts and because I refuse to check baggage in, I have to find a drugstore within a day or two of landing. The liquids ban inconveniences me, but that's all it does. From the point of view of the government, that inconvenience is offset by the reduced threat of explosives on commercial aircraft.
This overlooks the very real possibility that all of this, however, is governmental hand-waving to distract us from the fact that we may be no more secure in commercialized domestic airspace than in 1970. But my best guess is that some people working for the government and the TSA actually believe what their doing has some measure of effectiveness.
You're missing the point, which is that Padilla was illegally jailed for over two years and his rightful request for habeas corpus was denied. SCOTUS refused to clarify whether holding Padilla was legal, thus making his case a clear cut example of the illegal detainment and torture of an American citizen. Furthermore, what you're saying is that because Padilla was suspected of terrorism, jailing him illegally was OK.
My point is not that Padilla was innocent. My point is that terrorism is carte blanche for the executive to illegally detain Americans, to fabricate charges against them, and to increase penalties upon conviction. In the meantime, people like you will look at Padilla and see someone they don't quite like and decide that it's all OK.
In my opinion, it will only be a matter of time before someone finds themselves on the wrong end of what you call "normal, peaceful political channels," as did many in their peaceful protest of the 2004 Republican National Convention. Your thinking implies that rule of law is a privilege to be extended only to American citizens who behave in the proper manner, people who look a particular way and who have a particular kind of past.
I believe that rule of law should apply not only to all American citizens, but that it should also be extended to all people detained by the United States.
Get back to me when we start using extraordinary rendition against domestic political opponents.
How quickly you forget. And he wasn't even a political opponent, just someone who fit the bill.
"Mission accomplished."
If this deal goes through, expect to hear a gigantic sucking sound coming from the direction of Flickr.
To be clear, "pirogi" was only an example. The translated word was a different type of food.
But as long as we're on the topic, my dead tree copy of Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary specifies (not sure of Slashcode will take care of the entity references properly)
Now, if it's not to much trouble, please allow me to say, GET OFF MY LAWN!
darn whippersnappers . . .
Along with many others, I deplored Network Solutions' preemptive domain registration which took advantage of domain tasting. However as a former beneficiary of the present domain tasting policy, I can see at least one benefit to consumers (and businesses) that gets overlooked because of the audacity of Network Solutions' behavior.
About a year ago I registered a domain that had a transliteration of a foreign word. I discovered, within a few hours, that my transliteration was not the preferred spelling (for example, "perogi" as opposed to the preferred "pirogi"). I asked my registrar to refund my money for the first domain and registered the domain with the preferred spelling.
Honest mistake and no one was harmed in the process of deleting the undesired domain. Sure, I could have researched that transliterated word before registration but it simply did not occur to me that a spelling which in my day (yeah, I'm over 40) was correct would have been superseded. (Sort of like finding out BBQ is actually spelled "barbecue".)
You don't get it because the grandparent is not so much a joke as an allusion.
You're right on about this. Besides not seeing a connection between unwitting users and his behavior as malicious, he probably doesn't realize that doing what he is doing very likely runs afoul of several states' and many municipalities laws against abuse of computer resources.
He acts like a shitcock and figures he's doing people a favor. Fantastic.
Since we're already here, I hope mods will forgive the OT. The problem with calling people out on their unconscious racism is that they often react defensively (and sometimes violently). You, SmallFurryCreature, imply there's something wrong with kamanpuaa--"Get your knickers out of a twist you pansie", blatant ad hominem attack--for even speculating on the possibility. And you're modded up for it. I'm wiling to bet you are not Chinese, SmallFurryCreature. I'm also willing to bet many Chinese would be somewhat offended both by the insinuation that a company could get rich by selling a "pair of sandals to every China man" and by your disproportionate anger towr4d kamanpuaa's very reasonable question. As an Asian, I am not surprised by racist/racial remarks by a Euro-American CEO and I am annoyed by your attack against the *possibility* such a remark might be motivated and licensed by racial ignorance.
When I said EDGE use is rare, I meant that there are few occasions that users want to use the web while on-the-go. Having travelled up and down California, spent time in Chicago, and roamed all over Eastern Ohio, I have only lost EDGE connectivity when I could not get any signal at all. The extent of the EDGE network seems pretty good in my experience.
Still, I do look forward to an even faster network than EDGE when (not if) I can get it.
A friend of mine with a 3G-capable blackberry-like phone in the US (West Coast) said he ran races with his iPhone-using friend. According to him, her iPhone loaded many pages (over EDGE) more quickly than his 3G-capable phone. The explanation was that the chipset in the iPhone (among other things) was much faster than what was on his phone. (Wish I knew what kind of phone he was using, sorry.)
Anyhow, all this hand-wringing over the best features, like criticisms of 1st gen iPods, misses the point that what works in practice can't be compared to theoretical bests. The iPhone is amazing primarily because of its OS and the fact that web use of EDGE is rare.
When the telcos offer better networks (speed and coverage) hopefully successors to the iPhone 1.0 (including non-Apple competitors) will improve on what the iPhone has to offer. For now, people like you are considered "insightful" for what amounts to a wish list.
Whatever the origin of the technology demonstrated in the link you post, that is one of the most amazing demonstrations I've seen of semantic relationships gleaned from metadata. Blaise Aguera y Arcas implies Photosynth constructs these relationships through automation though there are likely dozens of humans who tweaked and corrected the information for his presentation. Even so, the demo is mind-blowing. Screw the mod who marked you troll.
I take it you've never observed or owned a cat. They often play with animals just to kill them. One time, I saw a single cat play "pickle" with a squirrel, running in front of it just to watch it run the other direction and then run in front of it again. The pleasure of killing for many cats often has little to do with whether the cat is interested in eating the animal. Sometimes, sure, but cats also like to chase things just for the pleasure of chasing.
It's all fun and games until someone gets a chair through the eye.
Your statement, while humorous, in some way hits the nail on the head. What I find "pretty" about iPhone is Mobile Safari which rocks in its web-presentation capabilities. It can read PDFs, QuickTime-wrapped video (and YouTube Flash files rhough not Flash anywhere else), and many other web-accessible files. Without question, MobileSafari does have its shortcomings.
/. On a device that I *can* curl up in bed with and which doesn't give off any (perceptible) heat and which is totally silent. . . Man, I just wish I had a larger version for home use.
But think about this: I'm posting this from my iPhone because it's been a really long day and browsing
I know I'm verging on fanboy, but the device is pretty spectacular and pretty to boot, especially on terms of the software Apple has put on it, though I will be among the first to say that there is a lot more that can be done with iPhone.
In some ways that's the whole point. The iPhone makes everyone realize what a stupid idea WAP was and that what folks were trying to do in 1997 wouldn't take off for another ten years. From where stand (actually, that should be "lie" because that's what I'm doing as I type this from my bed), the iPhone is a fairly slick device, sure, but more important is that it points the way to truly mobile and ubiquitous computing.
What will come inside the next three years--from many more vendors than just Apple--is going to blow all of us away.
William Gibson called and he's asking for Wintermute back.
And asking Slashdot for clarification.
First, every state has an attorney general. Check for yourself. (That is, there are Attorneys General.)
Second, though empowered by the Executive, the US AG, and I quote myself, "is charged with serving the interests of the Judicial branch of the US government, not the Executive branch." To be honest, the relationship is somewhat murky to me and I think this conflict of interest is precisely what has lead to the current situation.