SETI galaxy gazing Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence BITCOIN MINING navel-gazing search for Earthbound stupidity I remember when cryptography was fun and had a noble purpose
Now even strong cryptography can be snake oil when it is being sold Enron-style by increasingly 'wealthy' middlemen as a replacement for money. Who knew?
The cold war's unreachable countries list was just a dialing restriction placed on Americans really. You could seize an overseas trunk, MF into Paris, grab an outgoing trunk there and tone straight into Moscow.
I did it once to a random number and had a hilarious 10 minute 'conversation' with a confused Muscovite who knew only a few English words. He figured out that I was repeating some of his words, understood the English word 'American' and laughed, we parroted each other for awhile in good humor. I'll bet the KGB has a whole dossier on THAT conversation.
So what we have here is a general failure to take responsibility. And you can't blame it all on the NSA. Not by a long shot.
[respectfully] sure I can... on the NSA. All of it. Sure shot.
In fact this might be the first directly accountable and provable example of a particular virus-something 'created' in a laboratory that escaped from the laboratory and triggered a general epidemic... cybernetic OR biological. I can blame NSA because on the day it was discovered, it would have required a criminal amount of arrogance (to be fair, or stupidity) to assume that other malevolent actors would not independently discover Eternalblue. And let's toss in the fact that most of affected systems in the world were and still are, within the USA.
So their oath is to protect and defend the Constitution and close second, uphold the National Security interests of the United States. What part of those oaths were upheld? Just going on affected system stats, I'll argue that by absence of any disclosure policy for this certain case of national vulnerability -- and their observed failure to do so -- plus the significant chance it would be independently discovered... that NSA was either deliberately targeting Americans... or they have irresponsibly bad aim.
Forward all the 'oh dear I feel so triggered' complaints to a queue accessible to the individual advertisers whose ads showed up on the page. With text of the complaint. Give complainers a blank space and force them to type something rather than select from a list. If the advertisers really care they will have someone monitor the queue, can read the complaints and decide. If they flag it will keep that advertiser off of that channel or that video.
- Advertisers do have a right to decide where their money goes.
(by channel or in rare cases by specific video, if it's a viral they don't approve of) - Demonetizing channels outright puts YouTube in an untenable position.
(against their original business model of minimal interference) - YouTube should not offer net-nanny-for-money services. Just give advertisers good tools.
(and most advertisers won't put in the effort to do it. Whatever floats their boat) - Complainers should be given no crutches, no pulldown lists. Force them to use their words.
(and in the process humans reviewing complaints can easier spot bot patterns)
Of course you say, this is a lot of work! YouTube has no right to make advertisers do so much work! Damned right, censorship should be expensive to maintain. And it should take a concerted effort to do it effectively. When censors lose interest and wander off the job the world will become a more provocative (but better) place.
People who post 'questionable' content of POOR quality have every right to learn the heard way that they cannot make a decent living because no one gives a shit about them, even advertisers too lazy to check complaint queues. Channel demonietizing just elevates them to faux-victim-celeb status.
People who post 'questionable' content of HIGH quality are the most promising bards and jesters of humankind. They should be cherished and rewarded. The next George Carlin is out there.
Thanks Not Security Agency for hoarding 'sploits instead of responsibly publicizing them (Eternalblue) and destroying the safety and security of those you are sworn to protect. You should be broken into pieces and scattered to the winds.
The Good News: only affected Guardasil, the shittiest little vaccine out there.
For Entertainment Purposes Only... Ahh... the bane of the 21st century, where Internet connectivity permits corporate and entrepreneurial developers to forget that
They are 'building' things that can only exist while the electricity is on, stock market is up, the project is in that cherished 'Google Beta' phase where infinite wonders are available as an API (for free!) and monetization is a distant worry. Some day predatory monetization (or project abandonment and shutdown) will appear and we will pretend it is a 'new crisis', something no one could have possibly foreseen. And unlike the shrink-wrapped self-contained software of yesterday, when the music stops you will NOT be left with a product that is functional to any extent, no installed customer bases to maintain... you can just flee.
No, cloud API snake oil is not a firm foundation to build a civilization upon. With it you can only build disasters waiting to happen. How we laughed as the centralized service bureaus of yesterday (ahem, IBM) tried to convince us that computing power on the desktop was irrelevant, that application software should be in the hands of trained professionals who maintain and evolve it in an undisclosed central location... how we rebelled to the necessity to batch traditional processes like payroll (that had been meticulously maintained in paper ledgers), crank up the modem to perform cycles 'of data entry' and 'centralized processing' and finally 'report generation'.
But now the centralized Service Bureau is baaaack! And it's propped up by illusions of solvency and foundation. If you don't need to log in every time it's not a Service Bureau. If you don't need to pay (today) it's free. If the wire was already there (Internet) it needs no wires. If the provider's logo need not appear on the screen it's entirely ours. If they're still in Beta they can handle an infinite amount of transactions. No worries! Even after monetization it's a manageable business expense, no worries!
I can imagine Dilbert's Boss poking his head in and asking, "Where is this Google API we are paying dearly for. I want to see it." When shown a slick web app he blusters, "That is just what it looks like to the customer. Do you think I'm stupid? I want to see the thing itself." And the next few frames has Wally and other employees tapping at their workstations a moment and replying, "Not here. Must be in [other department] today, try there." Everyone is passing the ball to the next, until the Boss shows up at Dilbert's desk. Dilbert, sizing up the situation and knowing that he cannot show the Boss the actual thing he has purchased, points to a paperweight on the desk. "It's there." He says. The Boss picks it up and examines it. "It's beautiful. But it's not connected to anything." "Of course." Dilbert says not missing a beat. "It's wireless."
These neural net apps fail on privacy too, which is a big who'da thunk it. Voice assistants transmitting room conversation, smart TV's bugging your house, APIs to evaluate comment text (the current topic) transmitted en masse to central Service Bureaus for 'proprietary analysis'. Whether you balk on privacy alone or the ludicrously unsustainable idea that if it catches on you'll be pipelining zigabytes of content their way on a regular basis... what's missing is the developer who says, "You know, sooner or later in some way or another this will become a bad idea."
And finally we have a Service Bureau neural-net-for-rent that claims to some day understand humans. Even when if is trained to detect sarcasm (the greatest literary spice) it will be the simplest kind of gainsaying sarcasm and humans will delight in deceiving it. Of course you'll draw lines (with set parameters) for gatekeeping, and humans will delight in misspelling words or using MEME-speak or embedding things in images to say what they intended to say, anyway. And in place of an all-human discussion with the occasional troll or bully, there will be this massive
Friend... either you're closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated the suggestion of 'solar 'n storage'! Well, ya got trouble, my friend! Right here in Puerto Rico! Why sure I'm a solar fan, certainly mighty proud I say.... I'm always mighty proud to say... I consider that the hours I spend cultivatin' the little solar patch on my roof golden.
Helps you cultivate self-sufficiency it does, and a keen eye for conservation. It takes judgment, brains, and gumption money to score in the personal energy game, but any boob kin shove a tiny bit 'o power onto the grid when the conditions are right. But the power companies call that sloth. They call it 'negative load'. The first big step on the road to the depths of deg-ra-Day-- I say! First, subsynchronous resonance from a passing cloud, then a phase whammy, then stressin' Northbound South and Eastbound West, slap-a-doodle backflash jigglety pop. An' the next thing ya know, your local energy co-op is doing a no-op and the money's flowing backwards too, some big out-a-town Jasper is undercuttin' the power plant that serves your bread an' butter, but only when it suits 'im. He's gonna suck yer plants dry puttin' folks out 'o work, then swallow you whole!
'Cause energy's not a trottin' race, see? Not this great industrial country! Ne'er has been! Where a little from here and a bit from there lights up everywhere, you take care! It ain't a race when they call the shots and some stuck-up slickers get in your knickers 'an plant Enron stickers on your electric bills to make your blood boil? Well that's night soil, I should say!
Now, friends, lemme tell you what I mean. Ya may have one, two, three, four, five, six plants in your state. Gigawatt plants that mark the difference between a gentlemen and a bum, 'cause they bring jobs with a capital 'J' from bonds with a 'B' that rhymes with 'P' that stands for PAY! And pay they will unless they're fritter'n away their time spinnin' at idle 'cuz solar is waxing at noontime, waning at suppertime, dropping out in the rain and ice storms too! Wind is worse! The grid is cursed! Between time, disaster time, who's left holding the ball? That my friend is YOU 'cuz your power plants are sufferin' as subsidies are flowin' and solar fat cats are strummin' the grid like a money makin' banjo in its time of need. And the microgrid folks demandin' retail from power companies that could get it wholesale... what greed!
Now you can't fault the Sun, folks, for not shinin' at night, growin' dandelions in Winter. But it can't cook your electric dinner or pump yer city water or treat yer waste with haste! Show me a man who flushes into the City, thinks he's sittin' pretty with his solar lights ain't hardly bright enough to read by! How did we come by, forgive me, such fools? They're tools! Wearin' fancy duds may as well been knit from coal, countless other things massive energy brings. And that's trouble, Oh, yes we got lots and lots a' trouble. I'm thinkin' of the kids in the schools warm through the Winter, big buildings here and there, night lights everywhere, 'cause we've got energy to spare and haven't a care! But now Puerto Rico's laid bare!
Wires and poles on the ground all around! Not a pretty sight, you should cross yourself 'an hope it will never happen to you, but what to do? Gotta put 'em up agin, no doubt about it. But here comes trouble, folks, trouble's come to Puerto Rico. Trouble with a capital "T" And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for Powerwall!
Now I know all you folks like the scent of Musk, but I'm gonna be perfectly frank, his ideas stink. He may have the future in a bottle but that future looks like snake oil. Would ya like to know what kinda co
How many Freudians does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the light bulb really has to want to change.
PHASE ONE: PRESENTING OBJECTS FOR RIDICULE SELLS. Negroes, Arabs, Jews, fat people, women [the pathetic helpless ones that need to be saved every time], whomever. Anything that visually identifies is fair game. You can even re-use the plots. Despite presence of a counterculture or social change in progress Hollywood will always hang on to the most directly disparaging treatment for as long as possible, because Box Office. In addition to those who knee-slap and guffaw, some people will actually put down money to be offended. A phenomenon science will never explain.
PHASE TWO: REFLECTION WITH OVER-COMPENSATION SELLS, for awhile. It begins poignantly and earnestly, such as Shelley Winters' role as savior in The Poseidon Adventure. But simple blindness is never enough. Script writers develop stereotypes of people who RIDICULE and those 'anti-stereotypes' are used to spice up scripts, and persist on the screen even as change is occurring in the real world and former KKK grand dragons are the butt of jokes by their own grandchildren. Larger than life cartooney bigots sell. Because again, Box Office. People like to be reminded of moral progress in the movies. Unfortunately history is not well served by these portrayals and a tiny dumb minority takes this propaganda to heart, which extends these tired memes for generations more.
PHASE THREE: BLIND EQUALITY DOESN'T SELL. I'd like to say this represents a theoretical time when simple hate-memes have disappeared, but sadly they seem to be replaced with new ones. In a time when people are staging impossible boss fights that would reduce their bones to bonemeal with computer animation tricks that could create fighting anyone or anything (such as Kung Fu Panda or Kung Fu Lightbulb)... we're still locked in phases ONE and TWO. Only heroes and anti-heroes of certain gender, race and stature need apply. The common people, the ones who live out their lives simply not pre-judging other people, the real heroes, are too boring to ever hit the silver screen.
And we typically think of Ancient Greeks as a people obsessed with legend. Oh, the irony!
Did Bach die before completing his self-referential piece, or did it kill him? Was he drawn into it? Is he still in there? A far better fate than a misplaced accidental, being run over by a Ricecar, impaled by a contrapuntal counterpoint or a baroquen heart. When great composers decompose to compositions of rich melodious compost, the wit oft exceeds the whiff.
Beyonce Grave Acute E Accent Restorer Pro Easy Broken Promise Video Downloader 2.0 HTML5 Video Helper Not Helping Wizard 1.5 Google Blocker Breaks Everything 1.0 Google Restorer For Google Blocker Breaks Everything Google Restorer Blocker For Google Restorer For Google Blocker Breaks Everything, beta Status 4-Fucking-Ever Status 5-Fucking-Ever Status 6-Fucking-Ever Favicon HD Video Slideshow 1.0 NSAKEY API Developer Network
it's the screenshot button that's really important.
I thought I '1-click' ordered a T-shirt from the Internet but all I got was this lousy screen shot.
With one button screenshots Mozilla is trying to tap the lucrative 4chan market. In the next release each additional push of the screenshot button will make the crappy colors crappier and decrease font size until the information disappears altogether. And to think in the 90s we used to make fun of people who posted images of plain body text and unclickable links.
I'm aghast at some of the stuff I'm reading in this thread... people saying "I'm mad as hell and I won't take it anymore! I'm keeping 55!" and meanwhile I'm holding at 49. We're approaching the day you'll have to disconnect from the Internet permanently to keep your browser from being lobotomized by committees. Dotzler, 2011 on hiding version numbers] "We're moving to a more Web-like convention where it's simply not important what version you're using as long as it's the latest version.... The most important thing is confidence that they're on the latest release. That's what the About dialog will give them."
One person's "user friendly" is another's "arrogant contempt". Mozilla seems to be ramping up the contempt, such as the contemptuous act of disabling the ESC key's immediate abort of all network communications.
Take the most ignorant user and give them an application that 'confuses' them with real time technical progress/status messages... and they will learn to recognize what is normal... and if there is a problem they can intelligently describe what's happening differently even if they do not understand it all. Replace actual status information with balls juggling and images of stupid LEGO robots and people who start stupid stay stupid.
I think I will be switching from Firefox to ProgressQuest because it provides better feedback.
Dare you title it 'Logic'? From the actual UMich press release, that links to the study not the article in the Slashdot summary that links to the wrong Reuters article,
In an unexpected finding, wealthier respondents were less likely to purchase a vehicle than those whose household income is below $100,000 a year. The researchers speculate that this is because those in a higher income bracket likely already had a vehicle at their disposal.
There's a clue. Or MAD MONEY at their disposal. Perhaps the researchers' ability to speculate stops short of imagining that ride sharing as it stands and those trip fares are a luxury item... and it does not provide a reliable or economical means to meet daily commitments. Today it does not even provide survival income for most that offer the service. A Ponzi scheme that draws from both ends to enhance the corporate middle. New Yorkers go to great lengths not to rely exclusively on taxicabs to commute (as little as 6%) in a city that was constructed around them. How has this all changed?
It does not help that press releases touting the latest cloud-centric 'ride sharing' schemes glibly traverse between the realms of scheduled carpooling and the idea of random car-for-hire when it suits them. Carpooling was always a great idea. The idea that there is a Uber-slave parked and waiting (on the edge of a 'surge' area, a shifting blob on their smartphone screen) a few blocks away is poised to serve a personal need, is not.
Time and again I have observed milestones of technological progress being bargained away lightly, such as the personal automobile that (in sprawling medium density cities like Austin down to rural) does empower the individual to meet daily commitments and take trips. I have heard stories told by younger folk who start off in the utopian mindset and quickly realize that as they pursue the dream they begin to impose personally on others, their friends, who have made the commitment to own automobiles. And a few bucks tossed in here and there by-me does not compensate for the imposition on-you. Ultimately they shift priorities and at least consider the idea of car ownership, whether it is affordable to them or not.
And tragically it is not affordable to them. Unless they take the bus or walk, they're going to be late for work. Ironically some have made the commitment to own a car and parking is available, but they cannot afford to park. What aspect of 'city planning' has failed them? Only in the densest cities with the greatest commitment (principally in China) can one lay more than even odds that a shared bicycle will be available. How are taxicabs going to change the world? The UMich study is not wrong in any great way, nor is it right. It's just fixated on a tiny smidgen of statistical delta that is overwhelmed by the 'noise' of a distressed economy and a weird obsession with unworkable schemes.
To imply that Uber and Lyft may affect the level of car ownership in cities... and not unplanned increases in population density, poor traffic planning and insufficient focus on infrastructure, decades of neglect of public transport, and general economic strife as more bond issues (in general) have been used to bail out pension systems and line pockets than break ground on new projects... not to mention changing demographics where median income fails to cover rising expenses, the young are moving back in with their parents, and Millennials are putting a brave face on it by pretending it is a voluntary lifestyle change... half the country is at cold uncivil war with the other (non-partisan, city vs. country folk)... the 'cash for clunkers' manufacturer-driven scam that took lots of reliable and viable vehicles off the roads... and a new economy where families that once owned cars free and clear paying on houses, are now paying on cars and will forever rent houses... and the stock market is rising to the cliff while the global petrodollar is in decline...
It seems like someone has snapped on a special filter that only passes a narrow band of illumination revealing 'ride-share-y' things and 'gig economy-y' things and 'self-driving-car-y' things and is shining that dim light everywhere, so that attention is drawn to it. When the economy crashes and natural sunlight creeps in these things will be revealed as the tiny issues that they are.
Each hand is one vote. If each hand grasps two severed arms, it is six votes altogether. Six is an even number. Six is an odd number of votes for a person to have. The only number both odd and even is infinity. Therefore, this person has an infinite number of votes.
I completely approve of subcutaneous embedded RFID technology for authentication! Four automatic votes here! (raises both hands, each grasping two severed arms) BLIP. BLIP. BLIP. BLIP.
You'll have to upgrade to Office 2003 to find it in the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font. But do not apply K833407 "critical update to remove unacceptable symbols from the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font" where Microsoft famoulsly thwarted Reichturds everywhere by suddenly rendering their documents (even already printed ones! In the closet!) Swastikless. Microsoft's K833407 and the subsequent rise of Unicode emojis is the latest 1984/Illuminati/EU/Walmart plot:
1. Encourage us to express important concepts with Unicode emoji character symbols. 2. Especially with smartphones. Because, smartphones! Because, smartphones! 3. Deny Unicode support to old OSs to encourage upgrade to new (back-doored) systems. 4. Unleash a whirlwind of Unicode updates so we MUST have exploitable centralized updates. 5. New Emoji Du Jour: The New Cool. Your teenagers will lust for them even if you won't.
Then, at some point in the future,
6. Issue automatic Unicode updates to neutralize dissident ideas in all the world's literature by (simply) replacing their emojis.
Microsoft Critical Update K88833407: Replace Unicode symbol for "Eurasia" with that for "Eastasia"
Funny how that Microsoft K833407 removed the Star Of David same time. A phenomenon science will never explain.
Score -1 comment copied because it is funny and priceless! It is also MAD!
I STARTED THIS WHOLE THREAD and I'll decide who gets voted down to oblivion! I appreciate that the editors sanitized my submission (and even linked to it, thank you that's a class act, not joking) instead of flipping past it. But regrettably extracting the calmest paragraph within it... has resulted in a rather sedate discussion of gripes. I wanted to weed out the moderates, incite the ingrates and get a rip-rollin' festival of (collectively hilarous) anger going.
I wanted to bellows of rage! Profanity! Even wordless frustration!
Here is the original submission:
Ask Slashdot: Are you MAD AS HELL and not going to take it anymore??
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Howard Beal's rant in the 1976 movie 'Network', and I am staring at a laptop in the throes of a Windows 10 Update 'gasm'. Progress has rolled past 100% several times and started over. They decided people don't mind that. Some cutesy-pie message "close to goodness" flashes by that was probably 'tiger-team tested' by overpaid professionals. I am on call, supposed to be monitoring a sewer plant. Instead after several dismissals to the screens without a LATER, NOT NOW or I'LL LET YOU KNOW, I pushed the reschedule dialogue to the rear and left it waiting. But my application did not count as activity and I left for a few moments, so Windows decided to answer its own question and restart (breaking a persistent Internet connection). In addition to the flaky Bluetooth and countless options missing or rearranged beyond belief to accommodate stupidphones, I've had it.
Upon due consideration I now conclude I have been personally f*ck'd with. Driver availability, my apps and WINE permitting, this machine is getting Linux or pre-Windows-8.
We're not supposed to act this way, get angry. I'm sure there are no angry people North of Oregon, or it could never have come to this. And replacing signed components with other signed components could not possibly take this long, there must be eons of just-in-time crapulation going on behind that blue screen. I'm done with it. That's mine, now let's hear about the things that are pushing you over the edge this very minute. Phones, software, power windows, anything. Are you MAD AS HELL? Let's get a Real Beal rant rolling.
LIFE PRO TIP: Before you walk into a phone store, pour vegetable oil over your hands. Once the first sales person sees you try to operate the latest touch screen horror, they'll find an excuse to take it away quickly. Regardless of your personal gullibility level, sooner or later you'll be offered an ancient flip-phone that has a separate button for every number you'll ever need. It will have buttons for other things too. And you'll be able to operate it. BONUS: Only $50.
How could I feel angry about any of this? I would be constantly angry! What kind of life would be that?
I see bugs, non-ideal behaviors, wrong approaches too I see them every day for me and for you and I think to myself what a wonderful world I see screens of blue smoky flashes of white and it won't fucking boot, I'll be up all night yet I think to myself what a wonderful world the callback centers... the tear in my eye the snarls on the faces as my clients pass by I see hands in the air they're shouting "What will we do?" But they're really saying I forgive you I hear babies crying, they're grown men though I wish I knew less, for then I could go trapped here... I think to myself what a wonderful world
There is no fucking way we're ever going to find a working printer driver for the entangled OS.
If the Entangled OS (or any OS) convinces you to just give up... then the problem has been solved.
MEAN PRO TIP: Always save tech support emails for a company with ticket numbers in the subject. When you experience a new problem don't open a new ticket, go find the oldest one you can find and reply to it, replacing text with a description of your new problem. Most systems will automatically re-open old tickets and since the date is so old you'll shoot to the top of their status boards and set off warning sirens and be escalated automatically. It is also not unusual for the urgency of the re-opened UNRESOLVED issue to implode the building and open a giant sinkhole under the company, especially if they are in Florida.
I usually pop off CAPSLOCK and put a bit of electrical tape over the post. It's still operable but no longer bump-able.
When I ran an ISP in ~1997 CAPSLOCK was the bane of our existence... UNTIL I added custom code to the Radius server managing our logins, which stored customer passwords as crypts. Username always forced to lower case. If a login failed on the first attempt, it completely FlIpPeD (fLiPpEd) the case and tried with that. If that worked, let 'em in. This instantly reduced tech support calls by 80%... tossing the log after the first month it had quietly 'salvaged' over 10,000 logins. All of a sudden whole nights went by without a single tech support call, which were forwarded to our homes because we gave a shit. And the flip case trick only decreased password space by a linear factor of 2. Which wasn't any deal at all because we were already set to lock out brute force attempts. Not one of which was ever encountered.
What bothers me most is terrible web site compatibility with browsers. How many times has clicks not worked, or the site crashes the browser or some other compatibility problem.
There is an insurance consortium out there I was directed to under protest, that only works with Internet Explorer. But not that one. Or that one. By spoofing my Firefox Agent string I managed to complete the signup process fine and can log in fine and it claimed I have 2 messages unread, flagged Important!
The messages are Just Damned Text [tm] but impossible to read because it is a Savage Syntax Script button running code that expects non-standard DOM of DOOM which jerks off on JSON and Quietly Fails [tm]. I would have completely diagnosed the (simple-ass) problem and sent them a fix, or explain the Wonder Internet of Yukon days when links loaded text, but there was a small but terrifying risk I'd end up working for those people. So I just called them and asked for everything by U.S. Mail.
But they must have shared my personal information because lately other web sites have begun arriving in the mail too. String-tied brown packages with fanfold printouts, glossy brochures that fold out to 10 feet tall (the scroll bar is printed on!) and postcards that are pop-up ads. Amazon sent me a box containing a login prompt with my ID printed on a sticker. To complete the login I have to bake cookies and drop them in. Also, my house is now surrounded with abandoned shopping carts.
I sent Microsoft a letter asking them to ship the latest version of Internet Explorer. They sent back a large box of rubber snakes. They might have signed me up for MSDN by mistake.
Slashdot Mirror
SETI galaxy gazing Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
BITCOIN MINING navel-gazing search for Earthbound stupidity
I remember when cryptography was fun and had a noble purpose
Now even strong cryptography can be snake oil when it is being sold Enron-style by increasingly 'wealthy' middlemen as a replacement for money. Who knew?
It would have to be a group of people who participated in a suicide study and died under mysterious conditions made to look like suicide.
The cold war's unreachable countries list was just a dialing restriction placed on Americans really. You could seize an overseas trunk, MF into Paris, grab an outgoing trunk there and tone straight into Moscow.
I did it once to a random number and had a hilarious 10 minute 'conversation' with a confused Muscovite who knew only a few English words. He figured out that I was repeating some of his words, understood the English word 'American' and laughed, we parroted each other for awhile in good humor. I'll bet the KGB has a whole dossier on THAT conversation.
So what we have here is a general failure to take responsibility. And you can't blame it all on the NSA. Not by a long shot.
[respectfully] sure I can... on the NSA. All of it. Sure shot.
In fact this might be the first directly accountable and provable example of a particular virus-something 'created' in a laboratory that escaped from the laboratory and triggered a general epidemic... cybernetic OR biological. I can blame NSA because on the day it was discovered, it would have required a criminal amount of arrogance (to be fair, or stupidity) to assume that other malevolent actors would not independently discover Eternalblue. And let's toss in the fact that most of affected systems in the world were and still are, within the USA.
So their oath is to protect and defend the Constitution and close second, uphold the National Security interests of the United States. What part of those oaths were upheld? Just going on affected system stats, I'll argue that by absence of any disclosure policy for this certain case of national vulnerability -- and their observed failure to do so -- plus the significant chance it would be independently discovered... that NSA was either deliberately targeting Americans... or they have irresponsibly bad aim.
Forward all the 'oh dear I feel so triggered' complaints to a queue accessible to the individual advertisers whose ads showed up on the page. With text of the complaint. Give complainers a blank space and force them to type something rather than select from a list. If the advertisers really care they will have someone monitor the queue, can read the complaints and decide. If they flag it will keep that advertiser off of that channel or that video.
- Advertisers do have a right to decide where their money goes.
(by channel or in rare cases by specific video, if it's a viral they don't approve of)
- Demonetizing channels outright puts YouTube in an untenable position.
(against their original business model of minimal interference)
- YouTube should not offer net-nanny-for-money services. Just give advertisers good tools.
(and most advertisers won't put in the effort to do it. Whatever floats their boat)
- Complainers should be given no crutches, no pulldown lists. Force them to use their words.
(and in the process humans reviewing complaints can easier spot bot patterns)
Of course you say, this is a lot of work! YouTube has no right to make advertisers do so much work! Damned right, censorship should be expensive to maintain. And it should take a concerted effort to do it effectively. When censors lose interest and wander off the job the world will become a more provocative (but better) place.
People who post 'questionable' content of POOR quality have every right to learn the heard way that they cannot make a decent living because no one gives a shit about them, even advertisers too lazy to check complaint queues. Channel demonietizing just elevates them to faux-victim-celeb status.
People who post 'questionable' content of HIGH quality are the most promising bards and jesters of humankind. They should be cherished and rewarded. The next George Carlin is out there.
Thanks Not Security Agency for hoarding 'sploits instead of responsibly publicizing them (Eternalblue) and destroying the safety and security of those you are sworn to protect. You should be broken into pieces and scattered to the winds.
The Good News: only affected Guardasil, the shittiest little vaccine out there.
For Entertainment Purposes Only... Ahh... the bane of the 21st century, where Internet connectivity permits corporate and entrepreneurial developers to forget that
They are 'building' things that can only exist while the electricity is on, stock market is up, the project is in that cherished 'Google Beta' phase where infinite wonders are available as an API (for free!) and monetization is a distant worry. Some day predatory monetization (or project abandonment and shutdown) will appear and we will pretend it is a 'new crisis', something no one could have possibly foreseen. And unlike the shrink-wrapped self-contained software of yesterday, when the music stops you will NOT be left with a product that is functional to any extent, no installed customer bases to maintain... you can just flee.
No, cloud API snake oil is not a firm foundation to build a civilization upon. With it you can only build disasters waiting to happen. How we laughed as the centralized service bureaus of yesterday (ahem, IBM) tried to convince us that computing power on the desktop was irrelevant, that application software should be in the hands of trained professionals who maintain and evolve it in an undisclosed central location... how we rebelled to the necessity to batch traditional processes like payroll (that had been meticulously maintained in paper ledgers), crank up the modem to perform cycles 'of data entry' and 'centralized processing' and finally 'report generation'.
But now the centralized Service Bureau is baaaack! And it's propped up by illusions of solvency and foundation. If you don't need to log in every time it's not a Service Bureau. If you don't need to pay (today) it's free. If the wire was already there (Internet) it needs no wires. If the provider's logo need not appear on the screen it's entirely ours. If they're still in Beta they can handle an infinite amount of transactions. No worries! Even after monetization it's a manageable business expense, no worries!
I can imagine Dilbert's Boss poking his head in and asking, "Where is this Google API we are paying dearly for. I want to see it." When shown a slick web app he blusters, "That is just what it looks like to the customer. Do you think I'm stupid? I want to see the thing itself." And the next few frames has Wally and other employees tapping at their workstations a moment and replying, "Not here. Must be in [other department] today, try there." Everyone is passing the ball to the next, until the Boss shows up at Dilbert's desk. Dilbert, sizing up the situation and knowing that he cannot show the Boss the actual thing he has purchased, points to a paperweight on the desk. "It's there." He says. The Boss picks it up and examines it. "It's beautiful. But it's not connected to anything." "Of course." Dilbert says not missing a beat. "It's wireless."
These neural net apps fail on privacy too, which is a big who'da thunk it. Voice assistants transmitting room conversation, smart TV's bugging your house, APIs to evaluate comment text (the current topic) transmitted en masse to central Service Bureaus for 'proprietary analysis'. Whether you balk on privacy alone or the ludicrously unsustainable idea that if it catches on you'll be pipelining zigabytes of content their way on a regular basis... what's missing is the developer who says, "You know, sooner or later in some way or another this will become a bad idea."
And finally we have a Service Bureau neural-net-for-rent that claims to some day understand humans. Even when if is trained to detect sarcasm (the greatest literary spice) it will be the simplest kind of gainsaying sarcasm and humans will delight in deceiving it. Of course you'll draw lines (with set parameters) for gatekeeping, and humans will delight in misspelling words or using MEME-speak or embedding things in images to say what they intended to say, anyway. And in place of an all-human discussion with the occasional troll or bully, there will be this massive
> Man has product to sell, says his item is the one.
Shades of MONORAIL [a.k.a. TROUBLE IN RIVER CITY]
Friend... either you're closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated the suggestion of 'solar 'n storage'! Well, ya got trouble, my friend! Right here in Puerto Rico! Why sure I'm a solar fan, certainly mighty proud I say.... I'm always mighty proud to say... I consider that the hours I spend cultivatin' the little solar patch on my roof golden.
Helps you cultivate self-sufficiency it does, and a keen eye for conservation. It takes judgment, brains, and gumption money to score in the personal energy game, but any boob kin shove a tiny bit 'o power onto the grid when the conditions are right. But the power companies call that sloth. They call it 'negative load'. The first big step on the road to the depths of deg-ra-Day-- I say! First, subsynchronous resonance from a passing cloud, then a phase whammy, then stressin' Northbound South and Eastbound West, slap-a-doodle backflash jigglety pop. An' the next thing ya know, your local energy co-op is doing a no-op and the money's flowing backwards too, some big out-a-town Jasper is undercuttin' the power plant that serves your bread an' butter, but only when it suits 'im. He's gonna suck yer plants dry puttin' folks out 'o work, then swallow you whole!
'Cause energy's not a trottin' race, see? Not this great industrial country! Ne'er has been! Where a little from here and a bit from there lights up everywhere, you take care! It ain't a race when they call the shots and some stuck-up slickers get in your knickers 'an plant Enron stickers on your electric bills to make your blood boil? Well that's night soil, I should say!
Now, friends, lemme tell you what I mean. Ya may have one, two, three, four, five, six plants in your state. Gigawatt plants that mark the difference between a gentlemen and a bum, 'cause they bring jobs with a capital 'J' from bonds with a 'B' that rhymes with 'P' that stands for PAY! And pay they will unless they're fritter'n away their time spinnin' at idle 'cuz solar is waxing at noontime, waning at suppertime, dropping out in the rain and ice storms too! Wind is worse! The grid is cursed! Between time, disaster time, who's left holding the ball? That my friend is YOU 'cuz your power plants are sufferin' as subsidies are flowin' and solar fat cats are strummin' the grid like a money makin' banjo in its time of need. And the microgrid folks demandin' retail from power companies that could get it wholesale... what greed!
Now you can't fault the Sun, folks, for not shinin' at night, growin' dandelions in Winter. But it can't cook your electric dinner or pump yer city water or treat yer waste with haste! Show me a man who flushes into the City, thinks he's sittin' pretty with his solar lights ain't hardly bright enough to read by! How did we come by, forgive me, such fools? They're tools! Wearin' fancy duds may as well been knit from coal, countless other things massive energy brings. And that's trouble, Oh, yes we got lots and lots a' trouble. I'm thinkin' of the kids in the schools warm through the Winter, big buildings here and there, night lights everywhere, 'cause we've got energy to spare and haven't a care! But now Puerto Rico's laid bare!
Wires and poles on the ground all around! Not a pretty sight, you should cross yourself 'an hope it will never happen to you, but what to do? Gotta put 'em up agin, no doubt about it. But here comes trouble, folks, trouble's come to Puerto Rico. Trouble with a capital "T" And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for Powerwall!
Now I know all you folks like the scent of Musk, but I'm gonna be perfectly frank, his ideas stink. He may have the future in a bottle but that future looks like snake oil. Would ya like to know what kinda co
How many Freudians does it take to change a light bulb?
Only one, but the light bulb really has to want to change.
PHASE ONE: PRESENTING OBJECTS FOR RIDICULE SELLS. Negroes, Arabs, Jews, fat people, women [the pathetic helpless ones that need to be saved every time], whomever. Anything that visually identifies is fair game. You can even re-use the plots. Despite presence of a counterculture or social change in progress Hollywood will always hang on to the most directly disparaging treatment for as long as possible, because Box Office. In addition to those who knee-slap and guffaw, some people will actually put down money to be offended. A phenomenon science will never explain.
PHASE TWO: REFLECTION WITH OVER-COMPENSATION SELLS, for awhile. It begins poignantly and earnestly, such as Shelley Winters' role as savior in The Poseidon Adventure. But simple blindness is never enough. Script writers develop stereotypes of people who RIDICULE and those 'anti-stereotypes' are used to spice up scripts, and persist on the screen even as change is occurring in the real world and former KKK grand dragons are the butt of jokes by their own grandchildren. Larger than life cartooney bigots sell. Because again, Box Office. People like to be reminded of moral progress in the movies. Unfortunately history is not well served by these portrayals and a tiny dumb minority takes this propaganda to heart, which extends these tired memes for generations more.
PHASE THREE: BLIND EQUALITY DOESN'T SELL. I'd like to say this represents a theoretical time when simple hate-memes have disappeared, but sadly they seem to be replaced with new ones. In a time when people are staging impossible boss fights that would reduce their bones to bonemeal with computer animation tricks that could create fighting anyone or anything (such as Kung Fu Panda or Kung Fu Lightbulb)... we're still locked in phases ONE and TWO. Only heroes and anti-heroes of certain gender, race and stature need apply. The common people, the ones who live out their lives simply not pre-judging other people, the real heroes, are too boring to ever hit the silver screen.
And we typically think of Ancient Greeks as a people obsessed with legend. Oh, the irony!
Did Bach die before completing his self-referential piece, or did it kill him? Was he drawn into it? Is he still in there? A far better fate than a misplaced accidental, being run over by a Ricecar, impaled by a contrapuntal counterpoint or a baroquen heart. When great composers decompose to compositions of rich melodious compost, the wit oft exceeds the whiff.
miss it so
Do these plugins still work (and how well)?:
Beyonce Grave Acute E Accent Restorer Pro
Easy Broken Promise Video Downloader 2.0
HTML5 Video Helper Not Helping Wizard 1.5
Google Blocker Breaks Everything 1.0
Google Restorer For Google Blocker Breaks Everything
Google Restorer Blocker For Google Restorer For Google Blocker Breaks Everything, beta
Status 4-Fucking-Ever
Status 5-Fucking-Ever
Status 6-Fucking-Ever
Favicon HD Video Slideshow 1.0
NSAKEY API Developer Network
it's the screenshot button that's really important.
I thought I '1-click' ordered a T-shirt from the Internet but all I got was this lousy screen shot.
With one button screenshots Mozilla is trying to tap the lucrative 4chan market. In the next release each additional push of the screenshot button will make the crappy colors crappier and decrease font size until the information disappears altogether. And to think in the 90s we used to make fun of people who posted images of plain body text and unclickable links.
I'm aghast at some of the stuff I'm reading in this thread... people saying "I'm mad as hell and I won't take it anymore! I'm keeping 55!" and meanwhile I'm holding at 49. We're approaching the day you'll have to disconnect from the Internet permanently to keep your browser from being lobotomized by committees. Dotzler, 2011 on hiding version numbers] "We're moving to a more Web-like convention where it's simply not important what version you're using as long as it's the latest version. ... The most important thing is confidence that they're on the latest release. That's what the About dialog will give them."
One person's "user friendly" is another's "arrogant contempt". Mozilla seems to be ramping up the contempt, such as the contemptuous act of disabling the ESC key's immediate abort of all network communications.
Take the most ignorant user and give them an application that 'confuses' them with real time technical progress/status messages... and they will learn to recognize what is normal... and if there is a problem they can intelligently describe what's happening differently even if they do not understand it all. Replace actual status information with balls juggling and images of stupid LEGO robots and people who start stupid stay stupid.
I think I will be switching from Firefox to ProgressQuest because it provides better feedback.
Dare you title it 'Logic'? From the actual UMich press release, that links to the study not the article in the Slashdot summary that links to the wrong Reuters article,
In an unexpected finding, wealthier respondents were less likely to purchase a vehicle than those whose household income is below $100,000 a year. The researchers speculate that this is because those in a higher income bracket likely already had a vehicle at their disposal.
There's a clue. Or MAD MONEY at their disposal. Perhaps the researchers' ability to speculate stops short of imagining that ride sharing as it stands and those trip fares are a luxury item... and it does not provide a reliable or economical means to meet daily commitments. Today it does not even provide survival income for most that offer the service. A Ponzi scheme that draws from both ends to enhance the corporate middle. New Yorkers go to great lengths not to rely exclusively on taxicabs to commute (as little as 6%) in a city that was constructed around them. How has this all changed?
It does not help that press releases touting the latest cloud-centric 'ride sharing' schemes glibly traverse between the realms of scheduled carpooling and the idea of random car-for-hire when it suits them. Carpooling was always a great idea. The idea that there is a Uber-slave parked and waiting (on the edge of a 'surge' area, a shifting blob on their smartphone screen) a few blocks away is poised to serve a personal need, is not.
Time and again I have observed milestones of technological progress being bargained away lightly, such as the personal automobile that (in sprawling medium density cities like Austin down to rural) does empower the individual to meet daily commitments and take trips. I have heard stories told by younger folk who start off in the utopian mindset and quickly realize that as they pursue the dream they begin to impose personally on others, their friends, who have made the commitment to own automobiles. And a few bucks tossed in here and there by-me does not compensate for the imposition on-you. Ultimately they shift priorities and at least consider the idea of car ownership, whether it is affordable to them or not.
And tragically it is not affordable to them. Unless they take the bus or walk, they're going to be late for work. Ironically some have made the commitment to own a car and parking is available, but they cannot afford to park. What aspect of 'city planning' has failed them? Only in the densest cities with the greatest commitment (principally in China) can one lay more than even odds that a shared bicycle will be available. How are taxicabs going to change the world? The UMich study is not wrong in any great way, nor is it right. It's just fixated on a tiny smidgen of statistical delta that is overwhelmed by the 'noise' of a distressed economy and a weird obsession with unworkable schemes.
To imply that Uber and Lyft may affect the level of car ownership in cities... and not unplanned increases in population density, poor traffic planning and insufficient focus on infrastructure, decades of neglect of public transport, and general economic strife as more bond issues (in general) have been used to bail out pension systems and line pockets than break ground on new projects... not to mention changing demographics where median income fails to cover rising expenses, the young are moving back in with their parents, and Millennials are putting a brave face on it by pretending it is a voluntary lifestyle change... half the country is at cold uncivil war with the other (non-partisan, city vs. country folk)... the 'cash for clunkers' manufacturer-driven scam that took lots of reliable and viable vehicles off the roads... and a new economy where families that once owned cars free and clear paying on houses, are now paying on cars and will forever rent houses... and the stock market is rising to the cliff while the global petrodollar is in decline...
It seems like someone has snapped on a special filter that only passes a narrow band of illumination revealing 'ride-share-y' things and 'gig economy-y' things and 'self-driving-car-y' things and is shining that dim light everywhere, so that attention is drawn to it. When the economy crashes and natural sunlight creeps in these things will be revealed as the tiny issues that they are.
raises both hands, each grasping two severed arms
Each hand is one vote.
If each hand grasps two severed arms, it is six votes altogether.
Six is an even number.
Six is an odd number of votes for a person to have.
The only number both odd and even is infinity.
Therefore, this person has an infinite number of votes.
I completely approve of subcutaneous embedded RFID technology for authentication! Four automatic votes here! (raises both hands, each grasping two severed arms) BLIP. BLIP. BLIP. BLIP.
I wish for a SWASTIKA unicode character.
You'll have to upgrade to Office 2003 to find it in the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font. But do not apply K833407 "critical update to remove unacceptable symbols from the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font" where Microsoft famoulsly thwarted Reichturds everywhere by suddenly rendering their documents (even already printed ones! In the closet!) Swastikless. Microsoft's K833407 and the subsequent rise of Unicode emojis is the latest 1984/Illuminati/EU/Walmart plot:
1. Encourage us to express important concepts with Unicode emoji character symbols.
2. Especially with smartphones. Because, smartphones! Because, smartphones!
3. Deny Unicode support to old OSs to encourage upgrade to new (back-doored) systems.
4. Unleash a whirlwind of Unicode updates so we MUST have exploitable centralized updates.
5. New Emoji Du Jour: The New Cool. Your teenagers will lust for them even if you won't.
Then, at some point in the future,
6. Issue automatic Unicode updates to neutralize dissident ideas in all the world's literature by (simply) replacing their emojis.
Microsoft Critical Update K88833407: Replace Unicode symbol for "Eurasia" with that for "Eastasia"
Funny how that Microsoft K833407 removed the Star Of David same time.
A phenomenon science will never explain.
[AC says] software. Just. About. Everything. Is. Made. For. Stupid. People. Republicans. Caused. This. Mess.
Score -1 comment copied because it is funny and priceless! It is also MAD!
I STARTED THIS WHOLE THREAD and I'll decide who gets voted down to oblivion! I appreciate that the editors sanitized my submission (and even linked to it, thank you that's a class act, not joking) instead of flipping past it. But regrettably extracting the calmest paragraph within it... has resulted in a rather sedate discussion of gripes. I wanted to weed out the moderates, incite the ingrates and get a rip-rollin' festival of (collectively hilarous) anger going.
I wanted to bellows of rage! Profanity! Even wordless frustration!
Here is the original submission:
Ask Slashdot: Are you MAD AS HELL and not going to take it anymore??
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Howard Beal's rant in the 1976 movie 'Network', and I am staring at a laptop in the throes of a Windows 10 Update 'gasm'. Progress has rolled past 100% several times and started over. They decided people don't mind that. Some cutesy-pie message "close to goodness" flashes by that was probably 'tiger-team tested' by overpaid professionals. I am on call, supposed to be monitoring a sewer plant. Instead after several dismissals to the screens without a LATER, NOT NOW or I'LL LET YOU KNOW, I pushed the reschedule dialogue to the rear and left it waiting. But my application did not count as activity and I left for a few moments, so Windows decided to answer its own question and restart (breaking a persistent Internet connection). In addition to the flaky Bluetooth and countless options missing or rearranged beyond belief to accommodate stupidphones, I've had it.
Upon due consideration I now conclude I have been personally f*ck'd with. Driver availability, my apps and WINE permitting, this machine is getting Linux or pre-Windows-8.
We're not supposed to act this way, get angry. I'm sure there are no angry people North of Oregon, or it could never have come to this. And replacing signed components with other signed components could not possibly take this long, there must be eons of just-in-time crapulation going on behind that blue screen. I'm done with it. That's mine, now let's hear about the things that are pushing you over the edge this very minute. Phones, software, power windows, anything. Are you MAD AS HELL? Let's get a Real Beal rant rolling.
My cat just disappeared! Was that you?
LIFE PRO TIP: Before you walk into a phone store, pour vegetable oil over your hands. Once the first sales person sees you try to operate the latest touch screen horror, they'll find an excuse to take it away quickly. Regardless of your personal gullibility level, sooner or later you'll be offered an ancient flip-phone that has a separate button for every number you'll ever need. It will have buttons for other things too. And you'll be able to operate it. BONUS: Only $50.
How could I feel angry about any of this? I would be constantly angry! What kind of life would be that?
I see bugs, non-ideal behaviors, wrong approaches too
I see them every day for me and for you
and I think to myself
what a wonderful world
I see screens of blue
smoky flashes of white
and it won't fucking boot, I'll be up all night
yet I think to myself
what a wonderful world
the callback centers... the tear in my eye
the snarls on the faces as my clients pass by
I see hands in the air
they're shouting "What will we do?"
But they're really saying
I forgive you
I hear babies crying, they're grown men though
I wish I knew less, for then I could go
trapped here... I think to myself
what a wonderful world
~with apologies
There is no fucking way we're ever going to find a working printer driver for the entangled OS.
If the Entangled OS (or any OS) convinces you to just give up... then the problem has been solved.
MEAN PRO TIP: Always save tech support emails for a company with ticket numbers in the subject. When you experience a new problem don't open a new ticket, go find the oldest one you can find and reply to it, replacing text with a description of your new problem. Most systems will automatically re-open old tickets and since the date is so old you'll shoot to the top of their status boards and set off warning sirens and be escalated automatically. It is also not unusual for the urgency of the re-opened UNRESOLVED issue to implode the building and open a giant sinkhole under the company, especially if they are in Florida.
why the fuck is there a capslock key anyway
JUST BECAUSE.
I usually pop off CAPSLOCK and put a bit of electrical tape over the post. It's still operable but no longer bump-able.
When I ran an ISP in ~1997 CAPSLOCK was the bane of our existence... UNTIL I added custom code to the Radius server managing our logins, which stored customer passwords as crypts. Username always forced to lower case. If a login failed on the first attempt, it completely FlIpPeD (fLiPpEd) the case and tried with that. If that worked, let 'em in. This instantly reduced tech support calls by 80%... tossing the log after the first month it had quietly 'salvaged' over 10,000 logins. All of a sudden whole nights went by without a single tech support call, which were forwarded to our homes because we gave a shit. And the flip case trick only decreased password space by a linear factor of 2. Which wasn't any deal at all because we were already set to lock out brute force attempts. Not one of which was ever encountered.
What bothers me most is terrible web site compatibility with browsers. How many times has clicks not worked, or the site crashes the browser or some other compatibility problem.
There is an insurance consortium out there I was directed to under protest, that only works with Internet Explorer. But not that one. Or that one. By spoofing my Firefox Agent string I managed to complete the signup process fine and can log in fine and it claimed I have 2 messages unread, flagged Important!
The messages are Just Damned Text [tm] but impossible to read because it is a Savage Syntax Script button running code that expects non-standard DOM of DOOM which jerks off on JSON and Quietly Fails [tm]. I would have completely diagnosed the (simple-ass) problem and sent them a fix, or explain the Wonder Internet of Yukon days when links loaded text, but there was a small but terrifying risk I'd end up working for those people. So I just called them and asked for everything by U.S. Mail.
But they must have shared my personal information because lately other web sites have begun arriving in the mail too. String-tied brown packages with fanfold printouts, glossy brochures that fold out to 10 feet tall (the scroll bar is printed on!) and postcards that are pop-up ads. Amazon sent me a box containing a login prompt with my ID printed on a sticker. To complete the login I have to bake cookies and drop them in. Also, my house is now surrounded with abandoned shopping carts.
I sent Microsoft a letter asking them to ship the latest version of Internet Explorer. They sent back a large box of rubber snakes. They might have signed me up for MSDN by mistake.