Although it can't render some of the sites that Mozilla is capable of, I love Opera. Tabbed browsing, mouse gestures, ability to stop popups, and speed! Sweet. I use Moz as my backup, then Konqueror, in case some page won't render with Opera. And if those fail, I just launch my Linux version of IE.
Just kidding - I have to boot up the Win box for that.:-)
This has gone on long enough, why are Katz's articles still posted? Nothing new^H^H^H to say. I'll never subscribe to Slashdot as long as they insult us with Jon's presence.
Re:Best "case mod" ever (not quite)
on
Tool Box PC
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· Score: 2
I actually like the "aluminum briefcase" mods that I have seen. Much more stylish than a plastic toolbox. Don't get me wrong, it is still cool, but not the coolest.
I am sure that everyone (else) who tried to go to petswarehouse to get an email address and send this fool a bit-slapping (my new term - he he), has discovered that his site has been slashdotted. Oh, let the lawsuits begin for that one...
If you get your ATi card working OK, for Jebus' sake, DON'T UPDATE YOUR DRIVERS!!! No matter what they say, no matter if the new drivers will supposedly give you 1000% performance increase, will wash your car, and automatically download free pr0n, if you get it working, leave it the Fizuck alone.
Can you tell that I recently upgraded the drivers for my AIW 128 Pro card? After about 2 minutes in Ghost Recon, it would lock up. I tried a couple of times to unsuccessfully revert back to the old drivers. An email to ATI support went into a black hole. I finally got the new drivers to uninstall properly (I think), and the old ones installed, but the game still locks up occasionally. Damn ATI and their shitty drivers. I didn't have ANY problems for a whole year with the original drivers. I got the card for the ability to watch TV on the PC, and get some old video tapes to digital format. It was OK for that, but I would be very leery of buying another ATI card.
Katz is one of the reasons I won't subscribe.
"Just don't read his stories" you might say. Well, for me it is a matter of respect. Why are his stories posted? It is bordering on ridiculous. I don't think it is just/. readers bias against Jon, it is the fact that it is repeatedly shown that he writes unthoughtful pieces of little substance. The fact that his stories are posted is almost mocking the readers here, goading them to respond. If/. cannot respect the readers any more than that, then I will never subscribe. It was cute and funny for a while, but now it is just pathetic.
Dammit! This was one of the reasons I left Motorola 3 years ago - they are just stupid. And this doesn't give me much hope that the stock I bought while I worked there, which is worth 1/3 what it was, is going to go anywhere but down the toilet.
But knowing what I know about them (I was there 5 years) they most likely didn't have anything to do with creating this software. They are sooooo behind the times there, a technological iceberg. Lots of potential, no action. I am sure they could afford to buy a stake in these small companies with the money they saved from laying off the massive amounts of dead wood they allowed to hang on the corporate teat for years.
no sour grapes, just REAL glad I left.
Re:That reminds me of an entry from the Jargon Fil
on
Spy v. Spy
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· Score: 4, Funny
The scenario sounds familiar, but the names do not. On the old Sun terminals, you could do a screenshot of another user's terminal. It was always interesting to do that to someone, just for the fun of it. That was before the net really existed though, so not much of a chance of catching someone looking at pr0n. What was really cruel was to dump the passwd file (or a binary) to all of their terminal windows. he he. You could hear the cursing across the cubicles. I always found it more fun to just send a CRLF to them, because it wouldn't be so obvious that they got nailed. Oh, and you could display background images on their terminals too. THAT was always a sure-fire way to cross the line, especially if you did it just before their boss walked up. We even had a script called "pissoff" and when you ran it, it would prompt you "Which user would you like to piss off?". Pick from the list, give it a message, or a file to dump, and watch the ensuing hilarity.
Re:You, sir, are ignorant (retraction)
on
Chase the Rabbits
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· Score: 2
All I can say is.... Damn man, why didn't you say so in the first place?:-) Excellent response to my admittedly emotionally charged thought-flow. I know I wasn't all that concise, but it really was just what I was feeling at that time. If I read what you wrote in a different forum, I might not have gone off like I did. Being that it was posted to Slashdot, I read it on the surface, but in my own defense, the comments were pretty superficial. But you expanded on them well in your followup post. I agree with pretty much everything you said here. But to address a couple of things in particular....
War has existed since the dawn of time, and long periods of war never improve humanity. Humanity improves when intellectual revolutions occur.
I don't know about this - to say war has never improved humanity? That might be a stretch. Maybe war didn't improve it directly, but it certainly prompted rapid change. It is hard to imagine what the world would be like without the US Revolutionary War or the US Civil War. I am sure there are others that you can agree that had a great impact on the world. I think humanity can certainly improve as a result of war. Many technologies are produced for/by the military, so without wars, perhaps technology may not progress as rapidly. (but that begs the question, does technology improve humanity)
I don't have delusions of grandeur, I don't try to be great. It saddens me that you would say such a thing. If you do not live your life trying to be the best you possible can be, then why live at all?
That is different than what I meant by "great". I was referring to "great" in the common sense, as in the eyes of others. I don't try to be a great man. I just do what I do, to the best of my ability. I don't want to be rich and powerful. I just want to be happy. I could certainly be happy with money, but that is not my goal. I know people who are like that, they want to be great (in the selfish sense). It makes me sick. Some people thrive on the admiration of others and on having "power". Not me. It follows a more Zen philosophy, of just being. Just live in the moment, and appreciate everything you have. The desire to be great will cloud your judgement.
OK, we had better end this right now, or we will get modded down for having a reasonable discussion. This isn't the place for that.:-)
First off, you really shouldn't classify things into two categories. That makes you ignorant.
The only reason it is now "cool" to be a geek is because the everyday person uses it, and you get paid well to be one. That doesn't mean that geeks should be put on a throne and admired. Your comments lead me to believe that you are some kind of self-worshipping, elitest A-hole. In reality, that is what a lot of tech people are, so you shouldn't feel special. Don't worry, there are a lot of other types of people who act the same way too.
And stop with the 110% garbage. Cliche. If you are all geek, all the time, good for you. But don't expect people to automatically respect you for that. What dangers do you face in your life? What are YOU doing to make the world a better place? Do you think that in the end, technology is the answer? If you do, then you had better WAKE THE FUCK UP! You ask the question about the instructor "...how does his efforts make the world a better place?" That makes you seem uneducated and elitest. The fact that you may not remember those who gave their lives for YOUR FREEDOM doesn't mean that they aren't important. They are the unsung heros who lazy bastards like you take advantage of every day as you give your "110%" to a luxury like technology. Revolutionary! Bah. RMS may be a revolutionary, but you have to have something to revolt against, that that something was possible because of people in the military, government, artists, musicians, etc. You think technology built this country? It was the comman person, who busted their ass farming, working in factories, fixing your car, cooking your food, teaching you, RAISING YOUR ASS from a snotty nosed kid to a snotty nosed adult. Why don't you give credit where credit is due, instead of going through life with tunnel-vision?
Damn. Maybe I am reading too much into your weak comments, but you touched on something. For the most part, most of the tech people I know are physically lazy. Sure, they can code for 6 hours straight, and they can focus all their attention on one problem, but they usually can only function around other people like them. Why be ignorant of everything else? I know that there are specialists in every field, and there are tech specialists too who are the best at what they do. But that isn't everyone. If you aren't one of these people (and chances are you aren't) then you should expand yourself. Learn about other things. Get off your ass and go to a museum (of real art, not anime!). Read a book that doesn't have to do with cryptography or a programming language. Go in the kitchen and cook, instead of dialing the phone or having your mommy cook something for you. DO SOMETHING ELSE!!! Why are you sitting in front of that PS2 or Xbox for 5 hours straight? Yeah, it's fun. Why do you do it every day? What, may I ask, is that going to do to make the world a better place?
You may be asking yourself "who is this prick? He is probably a hypocrite." Some may think that. I certainly don't claim to be the most well-rounded person, but I realize that every day and try to fix it. I don't have delusions of grandeur, I don't try to be great. I try not to be an arrogant prick when I am right. I love to learn new things. I try to get stuck in one thing. It is boring!!!!! Don't be a boring person. Make this a better world by improving yourself, physically, mentally, spiritually, philosophically, technologically.... The list goes on. If you can speak out of some kind of experience, then I may be more apt to listen to you, but don't try and put other people down without having some kind of knowledge of what you are talking about. It is OK to not say anything. Just shut up and listen, you may learn something.
OK, I am getting tired of typing. If you ever met me, you would never guess that this rant is coming out of me, because I am the quiet guy. But by being quiet I listen and learn. Maybe I have just been trapped in SUVland suburbian hell for too long. Maybe I am just tired of all the cliches that I see cycling through this world. Maybe I am just sick and tired of ignorance.
eeggs.com is a site that lists easter eggs in various things, among them TV shows. Of course, the Simpsons are full of them, and the 3D episode that was mentioned in this article has one of the coolest one I have heard (and it is math related)
"When homer stpes into the 3rd dimension (It's in a halloween episode, i think) there is a string of hexidecimal numbers that read: 46 72 69 6E 6B 20 72 75 6C 65 73 21 when converted to ASCII, this reads Frink rules!"
Now you made me go look on IMDB for all her movies. Not quite Pokemon, but some are close.:-) Now I have to go home and bust out The Fifth Element on DVD and ready the pause button.
New Feature - Slash Libs!
on
Resident Evil
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· Score: 4, Funny
You missed the golden opportunity to title your post Slash Libs!
You could have Katz Slash Libs too!
In this day and age of ____(buzz word) and ____ (buzz word), we often don't realize that the ____ (buzz word) has been ______ (verb). That isn't the case anymore. I remember back in ___ (year) when I was _________ (boring verb), things were much more _______ (wordy adjective). In conclusion, I think that we need to _______ (verb) the ________ (buzz word) and embrace the _______ (noun) before it is too late.
Why would MS complain about Sony unless they did something to provoke it?
Exactly. How dare they not follow the rules! This isn't about game consoles and allowing the customers to enjoy the product. It is about us telling them if they are allowed to enjoy it. And Sony, with all their hundreds of working games. Bah. MS just needs one game, and everyone will love it. Why go to all that trouble to give the customer a choice? Sony just doesn't make any sense, as a business. I bet their little PlayStation will fail miserably. And speaking of failures, I bet that Nintendo company will be out of the game business soon too. And this internet thing is just a fad. DAMMIT! Listen to us, we know what you want! Why won't anyone listen to us anymore??? Do you know who we are?! We're MICROSOFT !!!!
Bottom line is that scientists cannot agree on whether global warming is actually occurring or not. And don't cite people who believe one side over the other, there is just as much "evidence" on both sides. Read Scientific American , they have really good articles on the issue.
(search for global warming)
I make a concerted effort to not go to a movie the first week it is out, especially movies like LOTR and StarWars. That is when all the freaks are there. I don't what to be sitting next to some dufus who is in costume, or who cheers and claps during "good" parts. Not to mention the fact that popular movies are PACKED and sometimes sold out for the first week. Ewwww. I always get stuck with the idiots around me who have to have things explained to them, or they bring in a grocery bag full of food, and eat like livestock. I don't need the "community" atmosphere of a theatre. I am there to watch a movie, not share some kind of experience with other people.
I waited almost a month to see Star Wars Episode I, and you know what? It still sucked. I'll go see the new one because I am a fan of the series, but I'll allow probably 2 weeks and go to a matinee.
I have been online since before there was an online. (do gopher and ftp count?) The Net has always been useful AND fun. Why does there have to be a distinction? I think some of what we used to call fun has for some reason become legitimate - It used to be cool to be able to see weather radar images, now it is useful - It used to be cool to go to IMDB and look up your favorite movies - now it is useful - It used to be fun to chat with people, now it can be essential. I don't think much has changed, it has just grown. There are more useful things, and there are more fun things. There are more boring things. There is just more.
Not in corporations. In corporations and businesses, it is whatever they tell you it is. It doesn't matter if it is less efficient, or more expensive, it is whatever is mandated. If it is easier for them to set up the server, then the end users be damned. Sometimes it is ease over cost, sometimes the other way around - depends on the size and intelligenge of your business people.
I have seen it first hand in the product our company produces. I am in QA, and even though I have raised several issues about the usability of our product, the end result is - it doesn't matter. The end user will use whatever they are told to use. We sell to hospitals, and cater to the administration needs, not the end user needs (nurses, stock people, etc). As long as we can sell it, and it does what the "higher-ups in the hospital want", the end user isn't a factor.
I think that is what would happen with a company setting up streaming media - the end user will use whatever they decide they will use.
Exactly how is this a risk to M$? If this new FS doesn't fly, do you think they are in trouble as a company? Ha. Not bloody likely. That isn't taking a risk at all. They could simply up their subscription fees by $1 and make up their losses.
I wonder how many R&D projects get canned in MS. Probably a whole lot. And considering building a new FS is nowhere near innovative. Are you suggesting that MS thought up the idea of this new type of FS? Puhleeze.
That's THE Jon Katz now....
on
Google Juice
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· Score: 2
I believe we should start referring to him as "THE Jon Katz". THE, of course, stands for Talentless Hack Emeritus.
It is really very simple - technology has advanced faster and been accepted faster than any other thing in recent memory. It took years for people to get TVs in their houses. Computers and the internet are in their infancy (ok, maybe their teens). But what is the point of comparing the usability of a computer to a TV? That is ignorant. But, considering the source, SOP. A TV is a single purpose device, computers are not. And has been shown by the failure of web devices, people don't want single purpose devices when computers are concerned.
To me, this article was just some veiled racial comments and SOP (Standard Operating Poo-poo) for Katz.
Slashdot Mirror
Just kidding - I have to boot up the Win box for that. :-)
This has gone on long enough, why are Katz's articles still posted? Nothing new^H^H^H to say. I'll never subscribe to Slashdot as long as they insult us with Jon's presence.
(BTW, mine is pretty cool too.)
Although his workmanship may have been a little better in creating the box, mine is much cooler looking! And it is running Linux. Heh.
I am sure that everyone (else) who tried to go to petswarehouse to get an email address and send this fool a bit-slapping (my new term - he he), has discovered that his site has been slashdotted. Oh, let the lawsuits begin for that one...
Can you tell that I recently upgraded the drivers for my AIW 128 Pro card? After about 2 minutes in Ghost Recon, it would lock up. I tried a couple of times to unsuccessfully revert back to the old drivers. An email to ATI support went into a black hole. I finally got the new drivers to uninstall properly (I think), and the old ones installed, but the game still locks up occasionally. Damn ATI and their shitty drivers. I didn't have ANY problems for a whole year with the original drivers. I got the card for the ability to watch TV on the PC, and get some old video tapes to digital format. It was OK for that, but I would be very leery of buying another ATI card.
Katz is one of the reasons I won't subscribe. "Just don't read his stories" you might say. Well, for me it is a matter of respect. Why are his stories posted? It is bordering on ridiculous. I don't think it is just /. readers bias against Jon, it is the fact that it is repeatedly shown that he writes unthoughtful pieces of little substance. The fact that his stories are posted is almost mocking the readers here, goading them to respond. If /. cannot respect the readers any more than that, then I will never subscribe. It was cute and funny for a while, but now it is just pathetic.
How is this ironical? Irony something that is contrary to what was expected.
But knowing what I know about them (I was there 5 years) they most likely didn't have anything to do with creating this software. They are sooooo behind the times there, a technological iceberg. Lots of potential, no action. I am sure they could afford to buy a stake in these small companies with the money they saved from laying off the massive amounts of dead wood they allowed to hang on the corporate teat for years.
no sour grapes, just REAL glad I left.
The scenario sounds familiar, but the names do not. On the old Sun terminals, you could do a screenshot of another user's terminal. It was always interesting to do that to someone, just for the fun of it. That was before the net really existed though, so not much of a chance of catching someone looking at pr0n. What was really cruel was to dump the passwd file (or a binary) to all of their terminal windows. he he. You could hear the cursing across the cubicles. I always found it more fun to just send a CRLF to them, because it wouldn't be so obvious that they got nailed. Oh, and you could display background images on their terminals too. THAT was always a sure-fire way to cross the line, especially if you did it just before their boss walked up. We even had a script called "pissoff" and when you ran it, it would prompt you "Which user would you like to piss off?". Pick from the list, give it a message, or a file to dump, and watch the ensuing hilarity.
War has existed since the dawn of time, and long periods of war never improve humanity. Humanity improves when intellectual revolutions occur.
I don't know about this - to say war has never improved humanity? That might be a stretch. Maybe war didn't improve it directly, but it certainly prompted rapid change. It is hard to imagine what the world would be like without the US Revolutionary War or the US Civil War. I am sure there are others that you can agree that had a great impact on the world. I think humanity can certainly improve as a result of war. Many technologies are produced for/by the military, so without wars, perhaps technology may not progress as rapidly. (but that begs the question, does technology improve humanity)
I don't have delusions of grandeur, I don't try to be great. It saddens me that you would say such a thing. If you do not live your life trying to be the best you possible can be, then why live at all?
That is different than what I meant by "great". I was referring to "great" in the common sense, as in the eyes of others. I don't try to be a great man. I just do what I do, to the best of my ability. I don't want to be rich and powerful. I just want to be happy. I could certainly be happy with money, but that is not my goal. I know people who are like that, they want to be great (in the selfish sense). It makes me sick. Some people thrive on the admiration of others and on having "power". Not me. It follows a more Zen philosophy, of just being. Just live in the moment, and appreciate everything you have. The desire to be great will cloud your judgement.
OK, we had better end this right now, or we will get modded down for having a reasonable discussion. This isn't the place for that. :-)
First off, you really shouldn't classify things into two categories. That makes you ignorant.
The only reason it is now "cool" to be a geek is because the everyday person uses it, and you get paid well to be one. That doesn't mean that geeks should be put on a throne and admired. Your comments lead me to believe that you are some kind of self-worshipping, elitest A-hole. In reality, that is what a lot of tech people are, so you shouldn't feel special. Don't worry, there are a lot of other types of people who act the same way too.
And stop with the 110% garbage. Cliche. If you are all geek, all the time, good for you. But don't expect people to automatically respect you for that. What dangers do you face in your life? What are YOU doing to make the world a better place? Do you think that in the end, technology is the answer? If you do, then you had better WAKE THE FUCK UP! You ask the question about the instructor "...how does his efforts make the world a better place?" That makes you seem uneducated and elitest. The fact that you may not remember those who gave their lives for YOUR FREEDOM doesn't mean that they aren't important. They are the unsung heros who lazy bastards like you take advantage of every day as you give your "110%" to a luxury like technology. Revolutionary! Bah. RMS may be a revolutionary, but you have to have something to revolt against, that that something was possible because of people in the military, government, artists, musicians, etc. You think technology built this country? It was the comman person, who busted their ass farming, working in factories, fixing your car, cooking your food, teaching you, RAISING YOUR ASS from a snotty nosed kid to a snotty nosed adult. Why don't you give credit where credit is due, instead of going through life with tunnel-vision?
Damn. Maybe I am reading too much into your weak comments, but you touched on something. For the most part, most of the tech people I know are physically lazy. Sure, they can code for 6 hours straight, and they can focus all their attention on one problem, but they usually can only function around other people like them. Why be ignorant of everything else? I know that there are specialists in every field, and there are tech specialists too who are the best at what they do. But that isn't everyone. If you aren't one of these people (and chances are you aren't) then you should expand yourself. Learn about other things. Get off your ass and go to a museum (of real art, not anime!). Read a book that doesn't have to do with cryptography or a programming language. Go in the kitchen and cook, instead of dialing the phone or having your mommy cook something for you. DO SOMETHING ELSE!!! Why are you sitting in front of that PS2 or Xbox for 5 hours straight? Yeah, it's fun. Why do you do it every day? What, may I ask, is that going to do to make the world a better place?
You may be asking yourself "who is this prick? He is probably a hypocrite." Some may think that. I certainly don't claim to be the most well-rounded person, but I realize that every day and try to fix it. I don't have delusions of grandeur, I don't try to be great. I try not to be an arrogant prick when I am right. I love to learn new things. I try to get stuck in one thing. It is boring!!!!! Don't be a boring person. Make this a better world by improving yourself, physically, mentally, spiritually, philosophically, technologically.... The list goes on. If you can speak out of some kind of experience, then I may be more apt to listen to you, but don't try and put other people down without having some kind of knowledge of what you are talking about. It is OK to not say anything. Just shut up and listen, you may learn something.
OK, I am getting tired of typing. If you ever met me, you would never guess that this rant is coming out of me, because I am the quiet guy. But by being quiet I listen and learn. Maybe I have just been trapped in SUVland suburbian hell for too long. Maybe I am just tired of all the cliches that I see cycling through this world. Maybe I am just sick and tired of ignorance.
"When homer stpes into the 3rd dimension (It's in a halloween episode, i think) there is a string of hexidecimal numbers that read: 46 72 69 6E 6B 20 72 75 6C 65 73 21 when converted to ASCII, this reads Frink rules!"
(I posted almost an identical comment to this on a previous very similar slashdot story, and I got +4 Funny.)
*crosses fingers*
Now you made me go look on IMDB for all her movies. Not quite Pokemon, but some are close. :-) Now I have to go home and bust out The Fifth Element on DVD and ready the pause button.
You could have Katz Slash Libs too!
In this day and age of ____(buzz word) and ____ (buzz word), we often don't realize that the ____ (buzz word) has been ______ (verb). That isn't the case anymore. I remember back in ___ (year) when I was _________ (boring verb), things were much more _______ (wordy adjective). In conclusion, I think that we need to _______ (verb) the ________ (buzz word) and embrace the _______ (noun) before it is too late.
Exactly. How dare they not follow the rules! This isn't about game consoles and allowing the customers to enjoy the product. It is about us telling them if they are allowed to enjoy it. And Sony, with all their hundreds of working games. Bah. MS just needs one game, and everyone will love it. Why go to all that trouble to give the customer a choice? Sony just doesn't make any sense, as a business. I bet their little PlayStation will fail miserably. And speaking of failures, I bet that Nintendo company will be out of the game business soon too. And this internet thing is just a fad. DAMMIT! Listen to us, we know what you want! Why won't anyone listen to us anymore??? Do you know who we are?! We're MICROSOFT !!!!
I waited almost a month to see Star Wars Episode I, and you know what? It still sucked. I'll go see the new one because I am a fan of the series, but I'll allow probably 2 weeks and go to a matinee.
I have been online since before there was an online. (do gopher and ftp count?) The Net has always been useful AND fun. Why does there have to be a distinction? I think some of what we used to call fun has for some reason become legitimate
- It used to be cool to be able to see weather radar images, now it is useful
- It used to be cool to go to IMDB and look up your favorite movies - now it is useful
- It used to be fun to chat with people, now it can be essential.
I don't think much has changed, it has just grown. There are more useful things, and there are more fun things. There are more boring things. There is just more.
I have yet to figure out exactly what his point is in a story, so it would be really interesting to see software try and handle it.
Of course, it did say it summarizes NEWS stories.
I have seen it first hand in the product our company produces. I am in QA, and even though I have raised several issues about the usability of our product, the end result is - it doesn't matter. The end user will use whatever they are told to use. We sell to hospitals, and cater to the administration needs, not the end user needs (nurses, stock people, etc). As long as we can sell it, and it does what the "higher-ups in the hospital want", the end user isn't a factor.
I think that is what would happen with a company setting up streaming media - the end user will use whatever they decide they will use.
I wonder how many R&D projects get canned in MS. Probably a whole lot. And considering building a new FS is nowhere near innovative. Are you suggesting that MS thought up the idea of this new type of FS? Puhleeze.
I believe we should start referring to him as "THE Jon Katz". THE, of course, stands for Talentless Hack Emeritus.
To me, this article was just some veiled racial comments and SOP (Standard Operating Poo-poo) for Katz.