How about the word for someone that doesn't take everything told to them by the government (or media) at face value?
"Responsible Citizen".
Check your facts. Don't blatantly believe that it's the truth just because it comes from GWB or CNN. If nobody challenges these authority figures, they can get away with ANYTHING. And they will.
>> palestinians who blow themselves (and innocent babies) are "freedom fighters
well, anyone that blows themselves is pretty flexible to say the least... and not likely to ever leave their own home. So, I doubt they'd be very effective freedom fighters.
As for blowing innocent babies... that'll get you 25 to life here in America.:)
I know you meant that in jest, but you have to understand that copyright enforcement is essentail to the survival of a capitalist society... if there's no profit in doing something, it won't be done.
If you make the entertainment industry profitless due to illegal downloads of all their works, nobody will make movies any more. Sure, a lot of it is crap, but there are very few people that can honestly say they haven't watched TV, listened to music, or seen a movie in the last DAY, let alone last month/year.
If you take the FBI off these tasks, you're undermining the foundation our society is (maybe wrongly) built on.
Can you use the DMCA to prosecute these people? Technically an anti-spam filter is a technology designed to prevent unauthorized access to your email. Systems to circumvent that are "circumvention devices"...
I guess you'd have to show that you have copyright to your email inbox...
>> DoubleClick says that it is 'developing technology that will enable pop-up ads to evade the blocking software.' Why isn't that surprising?"
Wouldn't one assume that if a consumer is running popup blocking software that they DON'T want to see popups? I know the whole name of the game is "get my ad seen at all costs", but consumer backlash is going to KILL some of the companies that advertise this way. I'd go as far as to assume that consumers that install popup-blocking software are also smart enough to get angry at companies that get around it...
Just ranting... assaultive advertising is enough to make me go postal.
>> They built something wonderful, and they're now being rewarded for their efforts, and they're doing so without compromising a damn thing.
Not quite... with a huge payout like that, they're probably setting up a good portion of their key staff to retire. I'm not sure how much that staff is key to the continued success of Google, but it sure as hell was key to them getting to where they are now.
If any of the instant-millionaire-retirees is crucial to the business (continued growth, etc.), then they are compromising something. How much, who knows...
You must defend a trademark to retain it (which is why Hormel made a big stink about SPAM versus spam and the acceptable way to use that word without violating their trademark). You an submarine a patent all you like and spring out of the bushes to collect royalties years later.
>> Not making use of technology in the information age just doesn't make good sense.
So you're the dumb F&*% that wants to put a web browser in my refridgerator?
Over-use of technology when there's no need for it is a bigger mistake than not implementing the "latest and greatest" when you have a system that already works.
The lens makes MUCH more difference to image quality than the camera body does.
Unless you need all the fancy auto-exposure, TTL flash, and auto-focus features, you're much better off buying a cheap body and good lenses.
Tips: - buy a camera body from a major name-brand maker. Ensure that your local camera shops or Ebay have a good supply of used lenses for that body type. - zoom lenses are ALWAYS worse than fixed ("prime") lenses - "pro" level zoom lenses are pretty decent, but still not as good as a good prime lens... you'll spend at least $900 on a decent zoom. - buy name-brand lenses if you can afford it (i.e. Nikon, Canon, or whatever your body is). 3rd party lenses are sometimes pretty good, but more often than not they're crap. Otherwise, do some serious homework before buying a 3rd-party lens. (a good example of a decent 3rd-party lens is the Tamron 90mm/2.5 macro... but a lot of other Tamron lenses SUCK!).
Anyone that stated that the outage was IN FACT caused by a MS worm SHOULD apologize (as the NYC mayor presented the outage was Canada's fault).
Speculation and suggestion are slightly different... if the mayor simply said "it could be because of Canada" or "at this point it looks like... but we're not sure" things wouldn't be as significant.
Hey, when I accuse somebody of something and then turn out to be wrong, I'll gladly apologize.
>> sending the bogus replies to some poor sucker who had no idea their email address was being used as the "From:" header in a major spam operation.
Believe me... you'll know (from personal experience). It's called a Joe Job, and I had a group of spammers in Russia using my domain as the reply to for about 6 months. I tried ALL KINDS of ways to get it to stop, but still got about 5k-10k bounces per WEEK coming back at me. (and that's just the bounces!)
Solution: I changed web hosts (for other reasons) and in the process my domain was offline for 2 days (i.e. DNS entry was invalid). ALL their email was bounced during this time because most servers reject mail from a sender where the domain doesn't resolve at the DNS. Since then: no more Joe Jobs.
If it's picking a "Random" http request to redirect, what if that request was VERY important and caused financial damage to the user?
- last-second ebay bid screwed by Belkin... loses $1m collector item going for only $193
- user is in the middle of a very long registration or payment process... interruption screws it all up (or at least the user doesn't know how to recover), lost time and the user isn't sure if he registered or not... could end up with double payments
- and so on...
A router (with firewall even) is a security product... it just SHOULDN'T do crap like this. I wish someone that ran into the above sued them for $1m for malicious damage or something.
Don't whine when my "crippleware" craps out on you in the middle of your business crunch time because you didn't think donating $50 to support it was worth while.
I write shareware too... but have a very different view from you.
The first few programs I released I simply had a "reminder" window pop up regularly to tell the user that it was a shareware program and that they should make a donation to support the development. One of these programs became relatively popular in a niche market, and I know for a fact that over 250 users are using it daily in BUSINESS production. Guess how many people registered? One. Guess how many people email for support, and get pissed off after I only answer their first 2-3 emails? LOTS.
So, my new programs have an activation feature tied to the program after a 30-day trial. Sure, there's tons of pissed off people that get annoyed when the 30-day trial expires and they have to register to continue using it in their business. Do I care? No, because otherwise they wouldn't register and I would have $0 to show for my thousands of hours of work on the software.
Now for commercial software where they pay money up front, that's a different issue. For shareware, it's the ONLY way to get compensated for the value you're giving people. I find the 30-day trial period lets them decide if its worth the money. If they get caught on day 30 in a pickle, that's their problem because I've warned them for 29 days that it would expire if they didn't register.
Slashdot Mirror
How about the word for someone that doesn't take everything told to them by the government (or media) at face value?
"Responsible Citizen".
Check your facts. Don't blatantly believe that it's the truth just because it comes from GWB or CNN. If nobody challenges these authority figures, they can get away with ANYTHING. And they will.
MadCow.
That's allright... Sony Japan was going to bring a peta-byte industrial tape storage system to North America... and call it the "Peta-File".
Uh... no. Don't do that.
(Seriously, an ex co-worker was part of the Sony Canada business team involved).
MadCow.
>> palestinians who blow themselves (and innocent babies) are "freedom fighters
:)
well, anyone that blows themselves is pretty flexible to say the least... and not likely to ever leave their own home. So, I doubt they'd be very effective freedom fighters.
As for blowing innocent babies... that'll get you 25 to life here in America.
MadCow
>> and google tunes (gTunes?)
/.ers haven't been invited. :)
Heck, they've also got that elusive GSpot... I guess that one is invitation only too, and most
MadCow.
I know you meant that in jest, but you have to understand that copyright enforcement is essentail to the survival of a capitalist society... if there's no profit in doing something, it won't be done.
If you make the entertainment industry profitless due to illegal downloads of all their works, nobody will make movies any more. Sure, a lot of it is crap, but there are very few people that can honestly say they haven't watched TV, listened to music, or seen a movie in the last DAY, let alone last month/year.
If you take the FBI off these tasks, you're undermining the foundation our society is (maybe wrongly) built on.
MadCow.
The technology to read the data may now be public domain / not illegal, but there are still Copyright infringement issues with copying DVD content.
madCow.
You're forgetting one thing: SCO no longer employs programmers, only lawyers.
MadCow.
Actually, you raise an interesting point:
Can you use the DMCA to prosecute these people? Technically an anti-spam filter is a technology designed to prevent unauthorized access to your email. Systems to circumvent that are "circumvention devices"...
I guess you'd have to show that you have copyright to your email inbox...
Interesting though.
MadCow
>> DoubleClick says that it is 'developing technology that will enable pop-up ads to evade the blocking software.' Why isn't that surprising?"
Wouldn't one assume that if a consumer is running popup blocking software that they DON'T want to see popups? I know the whole name of the game is "get my ad seen at all costs", but consumer backlash is going to KILL some of the companies that advertise this way. I'd go as far as to assume that consumers that install popup-blocking software are also smart enough to get angry at companies that get around it...
Just ranting... assaultive advertising is enough to make me go postal.
MadCow.
Actually, make that 3-off... include the one that they have at the NASA lab for testing with (they rehearsed the roll-off from the platform with it).
The cost of the actual materials and construction is probably 1% of the $400M figure.
MadCow.
>> They built something wonderful, and they're now being rewarded for their efforts, and they're doing so without compromising a damn thing.
Not quite... with a huge payout like that, they're probably setting up a good portion of their key staff to retire. I'm not sure how much that staff is key to the continued success of Google, but it sure as hell was key to them getting to where they are now.
If any of the instant-millionaire-retirees is crucial to the business (continued growth, etc.), then they are compromising something. How much, who knows...
MadCow.
You're thinking trademark, not patent.
You must defend a trademark to retain it (which is why Hormel made a big stink about SPAM versus spam and the acceptable way to use that word without violating their trademark). You an submarine a patent all you like and spring out of the bushes to collect royalties years later.
Not to say I agree with it, but you can do it.
MadCow.
>> Not making use of technology in the information age just doesn't make good sense.
So you're the dumb F&*% that wants to put a web browser in my refridgerator?
Over-use of technology when there's no need for it is a bigger mistake than not implementing the "latest and greatest" when you have a system that already works.
(not to say that the US voting system works)
MadCow.
The lens makes MUCH more difference to image quality than the camera body does.
Unless you need all the fancy auto-exposure, TTL flash, and auto-focus features, you're much better off buying a cheap body and good lenses.
Tips:
- buy a camera body from a major name-brand maker. Ensure that your local camera shops or Ebay have a good supply of used lenses for that body type.
- zoom lenses are ALWAYS worse than fixed ("prime") lenses
- "pro" level zoom lenses are pretty decent, but still not as good as a good prime lens... you'll spend at least $900 on a decent zoom.
- buy name-brand lenses if you can afford it (i.e. Nikon, Canon, or whatever your body is). 3rd party lenses are sometimes pretty good, but more often than not they're crap. Otherwise, do some serious homework before buying a 3rd-party lens. (a good example of a decent 3rd-party lens is the Tamron 90mm/2.5 macro... but a lot of other Tamron lenses SUCK!).
My $0.02 (Cdn).
MadCow.
>> If Canada had been at fault, would you be so quick to ask the Toronto mayor to apologize?
Why yes I would. And, I'm fairly sure that he would have offered (hey, we're Canadians after all...) q:]
As for preventing things like this from occuring again I agree. However, cross-border relations are also a serious matter.
MadCow.
Why would that be a joke?
Anyone that stated that the outage was IN FACT caused by a MS worm SHOULD apologize (as the NYC mayor presented the outage was Canada's fault).
Speculation and suggestion are slightly different... if the mayor simply said "it could be because of Canada" or "at this point it looks like... but we're not sure" things wouldn't be as significant.
Hey, when I accuse somebody of something and then turn out to be wrong, I'll gladly apologize.
MadCow.
He was VERY vocal when the outage occurred that it was the fault of the Canadian power grid, although he had NO basis for that assumption.
His pissy attitude was inexcusable and Canada should request a formal apology.
MadCow.
It's more likely to be a whole sheep.
MadCow.
>> sending the bogus replies to some poor sucker who had no idea their email address was being used as the "From:" header in a major spam operation.
Believe me... you'll know (from personal experience). It's called a Joe Job, and I had a group of spammers in Russia using my domain as the reply to for about 6 months. I tried ALL KINDS of ways to get it to stop, but still got about 5k-10k bounces per WEEK coming back at me. (and that's just the bounces!)
Solution: I changed web hosts (for other reasons) and in the process my domain was offline for 2 days (i.e. DNS entry was invalid). ALL their email was bounced during this time because most servers reject mail from a sender where the domain doesn't resolve at the DNS. Since then: no more Joe Jobs.
MadCow.
If it's picking a "Random" http request to redirect, what if that request was VERY important and caused financial damage to the user?
- last-second ebay bid screwed by Belkin... loses $1m collector item going for only $193
- user is in the middle of a very long registration or payment process... interruption screws it all up (or at least the user doesn't know how to recover), lost time and the user isn't sure if he registered or not... could end up with double payments
- and so on...
A router (with firewall even) is a security product... it just SHOULDN'T do crap like this. I wish someone that ran into the above sued them for $1m for malicious damage or something.
MadCow.
Don't whine when my "crippleware" craps out on you in the middle of your business crunch time because you didn't think donating $50 to support it was worth while.
:)
Sorry, I don't work for free.
MadCow.
I write shareware too... but have a very different view from you.
The first few programs I released I simply had a "reminder" window pop up regularly to tell the user that it was a shareware program and that they should make a donation to support the development. One of these programs became relatively popular in a niche market, and I know for a fact that over 250 users are using it daily in BUSINESS production. Guess how many people registered? One. Guess how many people email for support, and get pissed off after I only answer their first 2-3 emails? LOTS.
So, my new programs have an activation feature tied to the program after a 30-day trial. Sure, there's tons of pissed off people that get annoyed when the 30-day trial expires and they have to register to continue using it in their business. Do I care? No, because otherwise they wouldn't register and I would have $0 to show for my thousands of hours of work on the software.
Now for commercial software where they pay money up front, that's a different issue. For shareware, it's the ONLY way to get compensated for the value you're giving people. I find the 30-day trial period lets them decide if its worth the money. If they get caught on day 30 in a pickle, that's their problem because I've warned them for 29 days that it would expire if they didn't register.
MadCow.
They're more likely to be getting a large penis FROM the nice Nigerian man. At least figuratively. :)
MadCow
>> you aren't going to be able to slip this under people's noses this time like with the DMCA
Sure you can, just put the word "Patriot" in the name of your bill.
MadCow.
"Efficeon" (or "E" Model) came after the notoriously crappy "D" model: the Defficaceon.