Yes, I was speaking of loyalty cards. Sorry about that. I know my name is on my debit card stripe and is sometimes even printed on the receipt, but do (can?) stores take that name and use it to build on their private database of who is buying what? And do banks just willy nilly give out your address and phone to anyone who asks? Not sure how to respond about the 'more for my dollar' with loyalty cards. The nicest store in my area, Publix, doesn't use them, and the second nicest, Albertsons, has a personal info opt out checkbox on their loyalty card sign-up form. My wife could speak more to the precise pricing differences between them and Winn Dixie and Food Lion!:) All in all, I don't like being herded/coerced into behaving in a way that clearly benefits others at what is at best my marginal benefit, and even potential detriment, as evidenced by the court cases where purchasing history was used against people.
"The ability to track a customer's buying habits, most retailers have that ability now. Bar codes uniquely identify a product. Unless you pay with cash (or a gift card at some retailers), the retailer has access to your name and some corresponding number (checking account or credit/debit card number). Those can easily be stored, RFID is not needed to accomplish this type of information gathering. In fact, many retailers use loyalty programs so that they can track cash and gift card purchases as well as credit/check. All of this begs the question: Is this a bad thing? If more information about your buying habits brings you lower prices, are you willing for your retailer to have that information?"
I've seen this mentioned a couple of times now. Which is it? Can they grab my name/addr/ph from just my debit card usage or does it require the 'gift' card being used? Considering the ubiquity of 'gift' cards, even if it were possible to get the info from your bank record or something, most places probably aren't set up to do so and rely on the card. Also, that 'gift' card isn't. I am not at all convinced that it does lower prices. More likely to me is that prices are skewed such that the new 'gift' card price is actually the normal price, and the 'normal' price is now higher, penalizing those who don't use the gift card. This already often done with regular 'sale' promotions.
Well that explains it! From the way he said it I thought it was one of those "somebody made to work" things, and I didn't remember ever hearing about it even in passing.
You're harping on a 'CLI Photoshop' is pretty retarded. Even before OS based GUI's were common, there were these things called 'drawing programs' that provided their own. Nobody I know of has EVER claimed a program like that, meaning one that explicitly deals with friggin graphics, would be better off as a command-line app.
Also, as far as config files go, ninety-five percent of the time there's no or little help available in settings dialogs. Not to mention multiple tabs, trees, checkboxes that can be overlooked, etc. With a config file you generally have one big list of settings that you can SEARCH, instead of clicking on shit for five minutes wondering where the hell that setting was.
File navigation is hit and miss on both sides of the argument IMO. I tend to work with the same paths enough to remember them, and I can guarantee I'm faster using the command line when I'm dealing with known paths. OTOH, when I'm not sure where something is or am kind of browsing, a GUI is better. Or 'pseudo-gui' as I think you called it - Midnight Commander. It utterly annihilates any and every gui file manager I've ever used. It has the best of both worlds, an extremely effective 'pseudo-gui' and a command line.
Finally, GUI as a _superset_ of the command line? Now I know you're high. Maybe on Windows. Under Linux it's a distant and pale subset. End of story.
Overall, it really just sounds like you have an axe to grind.
"The bottom line is I want to "use" my computer, not "learn" my computer."
One thing that sucks about the typeahead lookup or whatever it is, is when I'm attached to a network drive at work over our slow ass Cisco vpn. It reading in the info to do the lookup makes typing anything in a huge struggle and I end up just using the mouse anyway. If it were a checkbox or menu item in the file selector dialog itself, it would better. And maybe it is, if anyone can enlighten me, using KDE btw.
I remember an episode of Connections that touched on the subject of memory. Specifically the now mostly lost ability to memorize, for example, a lengthy tale or song in one listening and then being able to recite it mostly verbatim. Similarly, the people building the great cathedrals and castles of the past had no blueprints as we know them. The shape and placement of every stone was in the master builder's head. This tends to be supported by the story I heard of the man responsible for building a stronghold at the entrance of the Silk Road into China. He was asked how many bricks he would need, gave a very specific answer, and the response was that he couldn't possibly know that accurately, surely you want a few for margin. He asked for ONE additional brick which rests to this day on a ledge above the main gateway. Amazing.
There's a big difference between having one clerk notice for a moment that you are buying something embarassing and having it stored in a database for convenient perusal at any date in the future by multiple parties and without your knowledge or permission.
The thought police idea comes in when you change your behavior based on the above.
I guess Franklin should have added 'or discounts' to his 'liberty or safety' line. Sickening. Anyway, it's like those customer discount cards. A short time after most people make this tradeoff, prices will be right back where they were and those who don't want to be tracked will be paying even more. It's a trick. Mercie, but no.
A few months back I decided to give the GIMP another try for some web graphics I needed. The lack of image layer manipulation capabilities alone made me abandon the GIMP in frustration after wrestling with it for a couple of hours. I don't think what I was trying to accomplish was completely _impossible_ in the GIMP, but it sure as hell wasn't as straight-forward as it should have been. Completely non-obvious would be a better way to describe it.
The problem is that the bulk of users over the last 10+ years have been subjected to non-deterministic behavior from Windows and have come to accept it as normal.
"Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but at some point we just have to have some level of trust in other people."
Not old fashioned, just naive. _Nobody_ has your best interests at heart all of the time, not even you yourself. Which is why this (and all) tracking should be user switchable. If you want them tracking you, fine. I don't. And don't give me the standard response about how "everybody else is grabbing for every shred of your personal and private info, what's one more little bit?". That argument tells me you know it's wrong on some level to be actively trying to track everything on everyone (not Tivo obviously, but it's the tech trend that's here to stay it seems) and are just too comfortable with the latest infringement to do anything about it since it doesn't have and obvious and immediate negative effect on you. Garrrgh, this whole topic just fucking frustrates me. All you people who want to be tracked - FINE! Stick a goddamned GPS up your ass and register it directly with the NSA, the RIAA and the major networks, but please leave me out of your dystopian fantasies THANK YOU!
I'd reserve judgement on that until the original contents of the ellipsis are disclosed. Also note the comma at the end of the original quote in the article, which you have omitted.
"especially dangerous, because . . . he is Latino,"
Could be something like this:
Estrada is "especially dangerous because he is Latino, "
A coworker has a Kensington that I tried out when I was getting interested in a trackball to give my wrist a break from the mouse. Didn't like it at all. The MS Trackball Explorer (not the thumb driven one) has a scroll wheel and is way more ergonomic and attractive than those clunky Kensington things. As much as I hated to give MS money at the time (couple years ago now), no other trackball even came close in comfort and smoothness of ball action (no remarks please!). Ended up with one on all my machines.
I'm not and wasn't pissed. Simply pointing out that while you may have valid reasons for thinking this is a good thing all around, you mentioned in passing one of the primary reasons why I think it's a bad idea to have more and more things automatically reporting your activities to third parties. There was a story on here about a similar system to this and somebody had their card shut off without being notified due to precisely this kind of monitoring/profiling. It's not worth it to me to take on yet another monitoring agency for the sake of a very minor convenience. And if it's so damn cold where you are that it is worth it, then FINE!:) Everybody seemed to be claiming that there was NO issue here at all, which clearly there is.
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Yes, I was speaking of loyalty cards. Sorry about that. I know my name is on my debit card stripe and is sometimes even printed on the receipt, but do (can?) stores take that name and use it to build on their private database of who is buying what? And do banks just willy nilly give out your address and phone to anyone who asks? Not sure how to respond about the 'more for my dollar' with loyalty cards. The nicest store in my area, Publix, doesn't use them, and the second nicest, Albertsons, has a personal info opt out checkbox on their loyalty card sign-up form. My wife could speak more to the precise pricing differences between them and Winn Dixie and Food Lion! :) All in all, I don't like being herded/coerced into behaving in a way that clearly benefits others at what is at best my marginal benefit, and even potential detriment, as evidenced by the court cases where purchasing history was used against people.
"The ability to track a customer's buying habits, most retailers have that ability now. Bar codes uniquely identify a product. Unless you pay with cash (or a gift card at some retailers), the retailer has access to your name and some corresponding number (checking account or credit/debit card number). Those can easily be stored, RFID is not needed to accomplish this type of information gathering. In fact, many retailers use loyalty programs so that they can track cash and gift card purchases as well as credit/check. All of this begs the question: Is this a bad thing? If more information about your buying habits brings you lower prices, are you willing for your retailer to have that information?"
I've seen this mentioned a couple of times now. Which is it? Can they grab my name/addr/ph from just my debit card usage or does it require the 'gift' card being used? Considering the ubiquity of 'gift' cards, even if it were possible to get the info from your bank record or something, most places probably aren't set up to do so and rely on the card. Also, that 'gift' card isn't. I am not at all convinced that it does lower prices. More likely to me is that prices are skewed such that the new 'gift' card price is actually the normal price, and the 'normal' price is now higher, penalizing those who don't use the gift card. This already often done with regular 'sale' promotions.
Guess I'll throw my karma in with yours since that's EXACTLY what I immediately thought. Another way to communicate. Women like it. Shocker.
Also, I mean to add that Win CE is far less impressive than Win 2k or even 98, which is more what I thought the original poster meant.
Well that explains it! From the way he said it I thought it was one of those "somebody made to work" things, and I didn't remember ever hearing about it even in passing.
Who has Windows running on a Dreamcast?
You're harping on a 'CLI Photoshop' is pretty retarded. Even before OS based GUI's were common, there were these things called 'drawing programs' that provided their own. Nobody I know of has EVER claimed a program like that, meaning one that explicitly deals with friggin graphics, would be better off as a command-line app.
Also, as far as config files go, ninety-five percent of the time there's no or little help available in settings dialogs. Not to mention multiple tabs, trees, checkboxes that can be overlooked, etc. With a config file you generally have one big list of settings that you can SEARCH, instead of clicking on shit for five minutes wondering where the hell that setting was.
File navigation is hit and miss on both sides of the argument IMO. I tend to work with the same paths enough to remember them, and I can guarantee I'm faster using the command line when I'm dealing with known paths. OTOH, when I'm not sure where something is or am kind of browsing, a GUI is better. Or 'pseudo-gui' as I think you called it - Midnight Commander. It utterly annihilates any and every gui file manager I've ever used. It has the best of both worlds, an extremely effective 'pseudo-gui' and a command line.
Finally, GUI as a _superset_ of the command line? Now I know you're high. Maybe on Windows. Under Linux it's a distant and pale subset. End of story.
Overall, it really just sounds like you have an axe to grind.
"The bottom line is I want to "use" my computer, not "learn" my computer."
And there it is.
Yes, dictatorship over myself and by myself, to the largest extent praticable and feasible in a civilized society. I prefer to refer to it as liberty.
One thing that sucks about the typeahead lookup or whatever it is, is when I'm attached to a network drive at work over our slow ass Cisco vpn. It reading in the info to do the lookup makes typing anything in a huge struggle and I end up just using the mouse anyway. If it were a checkbox or menu item in the file selector dialog itself, it would better. And maybe it is, if anyone can enlighten me, using KDE btw.
I remember an episode of Connections that touched on the subject of memory. Specifically the now mostly lost ability to memorize, for example, a lengthy tale or song in one listening and then being able to recite it mostly verbatim. Similarly, the people building the great cathedrals and castles of the past had no blueprints as we know them. The shape and placement of every stone was in the master builder's head. This tends to be supported by the story I heard of the man responsible for building a stronghold at the entrance of the Silk Road into China. He was asked how many bricks he would need, gave a very specific answer, and the response was that he couldn't possibly know that accurately, surely you want a few for margin. He asked for ONE additional brick which rests to this day on a ledge above the main gateway. Amazing.
Huh. And here I thought it was something like goldy or bronzy.
There's a big difference between having one clerk notice for a moment that you are buying something embarassing and having it stored in a database for convenient perusal at any date in the future by multiple parties and without your knowledge or permission.
The thought police idea comes in when you change your behavior based on the above.
I guess Franklin should have added 'or discounts' to his 'liberty or safety' line. Sickening. Anyway, it's like those customer discount cards. A short time after most people make this tradeoff, prices will be right back where they were and those who don't want to be tracked will be paying even more. It's a trick. Mercie, but no.
A few months back I decided to give the GIMP another try for some web graphics I needed. The lack of image layer manipulation capabilities alone made me abandon the GIMP in frustration after wrestling with it for a couple of hours. I don't think what I was trying to accomplish was completely _impossible_ in the GIMP, but it sure as hell wasn't as straight-forward as it should have been. Completely non-obvious would be a better way to describe it.
Reminds me of my somewhat similar lotek hack:
1 old, built plastic car model kit, mostly still together
2 D size Estes rocket motors
0 control
And you even get to watch it burn at the end...if you can find it.
The problem is that the bulk of users over the last 10+ years have been subjected to non-deterministic behavior from Windows and have come to accept it as normal.
"Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but at some point we just have to have some level of trust in other people."
Not old fashioned, just naive. _Nobody_ has your best interests at heart all of the time, not even you yourself. Which is why this (and all) tracking should be user switchable. If you want them tracking you, fine. I don't. And don't give me the standard response about how "everybody else is grabbing for every shred of your personal and private info, what's one more little bit?". That argument tells me you know it's wrong on some level to be actively trying to track everything on everyone (not Tivo obviously, but it's the tech trend that's here to stay it seems) and are just too comfortable with the latest infringement to do anything about it since it doesn't have and obvious and immediate negative effect on you. Garrrgh, this whole topic just fucking frustrates me. All you people who want to be tracked - FINE! Stick a goddamned GPS up your ass and register it directly with the NSA, the RIAA and the major networks, but please leave me out of your dystopian fantasies THANK YOU!
"Of course, the idea is that these plants should reproduce and grow everywhere..."
No, it isn't. The article specifically states that the plants are sterile and cannot seed.
Damned insipid filter.
I had written as possible real sentence:
Estrada is "especially dangerous, because [his views are not our own and] he is Latino, [thus carrying more weight with that community as well.]"
I'd reserve judgement on that until the original contents of the ellipsis are disclosed. Also note the comma at the end of the original quote in the article, which you have omitted.
"especially dangerous, because . . . he is Latino,"
Could be something like this:
Estrada is "especially dangerous because he is Latino, "
Simply one possibility.
Not a problem, Bush found a way to get that asshat Pickering installed anyway.
His understanding may not be as iron-clad as it seems:
t ion
Black Gold in the Gulf
I'm keeping an eye on both that and this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_depolymeriza
If either one is totally proven, or especially if combined, it could be the end of the world oil problem.
A coworker has a Kensington that I tried out when I was getting interested in a trackball to give my wrist a break from the mouse. Didn't like it at all. The MS Trackball Explorer (not the thumb driven one) has a scroll wheel and is way more ergonomic and attractive than those clunky Kensington things. As much as I hated to give MS money at the time (couple years ago now), no other trackball even came close in comfort and smoothness of ball action (no remarks please!). Ended up with one on all my machines.
Vastly more likely related to the strategic concept.
I'm not and wasn't pissed. Simply pointing out that while you may have valid reasons for thinking this is a good thing all around, you mentioned in passing one of the primary reasons why I think it's a bad idea to have more and more things automatically reporting your activities to third parties. There was a story on here about a similar system to this and somebody had their card shut off without being notified due to precisely this kind of monitoring/profiling. It's not worth it to me to take on yet another monitoring agency for the sake of a very minor convenience. And if it's so damn cold where you are that it is worth it, then FINE! :) Everybody seemed to be claiming that there was NO issue here at all, which clearly there is.