Well, I'm certainly not arguing with your feeling on the whole issue. In fact, I think you're exactly right.
However, opposing the use of RFID in commercial business is like sticking your finger in the dike... when there are dozens of holes.
It's the most fascinating time to be alive and it's also very scary is so many ways. The thing is, everything is being reduced to numbers, which in most cases allows us to work much more efficiently. But just as you state, when humans are reduced to numbers it's a very bad thing. Rights will evaporate and we will lose sight of much, if not all, of what makes wach one of us special.
But look on the bright side... left-handed ice cream scoops might be a dime cheaper.
You seem to be arguing from the general to the specific.
Someone somewhere might absue RFID, therefore if Walmart decides to use it to keep track of how many left-handed ice cream scoops are in stock they're somehow harming you?
RFID's could be abused. No one argues that. How does a store using it to help automate their business count as abuse? How does purchasing get linked to you specifically?
I got 9 too. I assumed one was a fraud when it wasn't, so theoretically, no harm was done.
You can figure out a lot by the context. If I get a notice from some place about an order I placed when I know I haven't placed any orders recently, it's obvious it's a scam even before I open the mail. But I'm with you, if it's real, I'll find out soon enough.
Florida was all about trying to change the rules in mid-stream. The existing rules were seriously flawed, but you have to stick with them until the appropriate time to change them.
This used to be a principle in the U.S.
Of course for all you clueless "Selected not Elected" people, several independent recounts done after the fact still gave the election to Bush.
Because your evil corporate overlords don't want you to be looking at anything that might give you ideas?
I personally find most liberals these days to be anything but "progressive", so many of them are wrapped around the axle over the failed ideas from the 60's.
So how many years will be until we see a big explosion in a movie that DOESN'T have that silly flat ring?
Even Lucas stuck it into the hacked up version of Star Wars, to me this effect is far more trite than anything ripped off from The Matrix.
Other than that, though, I hope the movie does the books service. Somehow I could never imagine the Hitchhiker books as anything other than books, a radio show or a low-budget British TV production. I hope the special effects don't upstage the story.
Wait, I like the shooting thing. I'm tired of missing out of media because I refuse to waste more time with Real's crappy software. Real owes me big for the hours I've spent over the last 5 years getting it work on various machines (and often completely failing).
The funniest one was back in 2000 when I couldn't install it because it was installed, but I couldn't uninstall it because the installation was corrupt. More recently (like this past year), my laptop came preinstalled with some Real software or other, so I actually decided to try some Real media. It said it couldn't play it and asked me to upgrade to the latest version. So I laboriously located the free version, downloaded and installed it. Then I tried that particular Real medium again and it said it couldn't play it and asked me to upgrade. Needless to say, this software sucks. Windows MediaPlayer has plenty of issues, but at least it works. Of course, I use WinAmp for 99% of my media usage. If Real's software didn't suck and they weren't just plain evil in their dealings with their users, then I would consider using them, but after this many years, they still can't get their crap to work consistently, I'm writing them off. Even Microsoft can do better than that.
THe problem is that Earth is guilty of violating the PECA:
Positronic Eon Copyright Act
Unfortunately, we only have observers in the Galactic Senate with no voting rights, and they're all farmers abducted from the 1950's and wouldn't understand the intricacies of Galactic Law.
Paper vs Rock -- Paper Wins! Paper vs Scissors -- KO! Paper is CUT TO RIBBONS!!!
I have a Toshiba e335, but I rarely take notes on it. Mostly I use it as a portable music device. With a 512MB SD card and Winampaq, I can carry around pocket full of OGG's, but also play PocketPC Age of Empires when I get bored... which is great on the airplane or the porcelain seat of contemplation. Having said all that, though, I don't really use it as a PDA too often.
...and I get very little spam (maybe 10 a day) directed to anything@mydomain.com, whereas my regular address gets around 150-200 a day. Thank goodness I have Postini and Thunderbird.
I say go for it, because you can use filters to direct different addresses to different folders, which can be useful.
Slashdot Mirror
If patents were only granted for unique and non-obvious inventions, this wouldn't be a problem.
Well, I'm certainly not arguing with your feeling on the whole issue. In fact, I think you're exactly right.
However, opposing the use of RFID in commercial business is like sticking your finger in the dike... when there are dozens of holes.
It's the most fascinating time to be alive and it's also very scary is so many ways. The thing is, everything is being reduced to numbers, which in most cases allows us to work much more efficiently. But just as you state, when humans are reduced to numbers it's a very bad thing. Rights will evaporate and we will lose sight of much, if not all, of what makes wach one of us special.
But look on the bright side... left-handed ice cream scoops might be a dime cheaper.
You seem to be arguing from the general to the specific.
Someone somewhere might absue RFID, therefore if Walmart decides to use it to keep track of how many left-handed ice cream scoops are in stock they're somehow harming you?
RFID's could be abused. No one argues that. How does a store using it to help automate their business count as abuse? How does purchasing get linked to you specifically?
I got 9 too. I assumed one was a fraud when it wasn't, so theoretically, no harm was done.
You can figure out a lot by the context. If I get a notice from some place about an order I placed when I know I haven't placed any orders recently, it's obvious it's a scam even before I open the mail. But I'm with you, if it's real, I'll find out soon enough.
Finally, someone who actually gets it.
Florida was all about trying to change the rules in mid-stream. The existing rules were seriously flawed, but you have to stick with them until the appropriate time to change them.
This used to be a principle in the U.S.
Of course for all you clueless "Selected not Elected" people, several independent recounts done after the fact still gave the election to Bush.
Because your evil corporate overlords don't want you to be looking at anything that might give you ideas?
I personally find most liberals these days to be anything but "progressive", so many of them are wrapped around the axle over the failed ideas from the 60's.
Don't forget the Earth in the HHGTTG movie teaser. Haven't we seen the ring thing enough now? It's staler than the stuff they stole from The Matrix.
That's better than the GNU make:
>make love
make: *** No rule to make target `love'. Stop.
It just doesn't work. It's kind of like getting a fortune cookie that doesn't make sense when you add "between the sheets"
Microsoft's is a little better:
>nmake love
NMAKE : fatal error U1073: don't know how to make 'love'
Stop.
So how many years will be until we see a big explosion in a movie that DOESN'T have that silly flat ring?
Even Lucas stuck it into the hacked up version of Star Wars, to me this effect is far more trite than anything ripped off from The Matrix.
Other than that, though, I hope the movie does the books service. Somehow I could never imagine the Hitchhiker books as anything other than books, a radio show or a low-budget British TV production. I hope the special effects don't upstage the story.
/. certainly isn't the waste of time it sometimes appears to be, that's for sure.
I was giving the parent post a chance to respond, since he seemed to know what he's talking about.
Clearly you've wasted more time composing your post than someone who actually answered the question. I'm sure you're proud.
Wait, I like the shooting thing. I'm tired of missing out of media because I refuse to waste more time with Real's crappy software. Real owes me big for the hours I've spent over the last 5 years getting it work on various machines (and often completely failing).
The funniest one was back in 2000 when I couldn't install it because it was installed, but I couldn't uninstall it because the installation was corrupt. More recently (like this past year), my laptop came preinstalled with some Real software or other, so I actually decided to try some Real media. It said it couldn't play it and asked me to upgrade to the latest version. So I laboriously located the free version, downloaded and installed it. Then I tried that particular Real medium again and it said it couldn't play it and asked me to upgrade. Needless to say, this software sucks. Windows MediaPlayer has plenty of issues, but at least it works. Of course, I use WinAmp for 99% of my media usage. If Real's software didn't suck and they weren't just plain evil in their dealings with their users, then I would consider using them, but after this many years, they still can't get their crap to work consistently, I'm writing them off. Even Microsoft can do better than that.
OK, fine. Can I find a rock with no moss or lichen growing on it and just beat my head against it rhythmically?
At worst, I'm ever-so-slightly speeding up the production of soil. Besides, that's what listening to Greens feels like anyway.
p.s. What's a digeridoo made from anyway?
Yeah, the Greens would outlaw any musical device more technologically advanced than, say, a didgeridoo.
THe problem is that Earth is guilty of violating the PECA:
Positronic Eon Copyright Act
Unfortunately, we only have observers in the Galactic Senate with no voting rights, and they're all farmers abducted from the 1950's and wouldn't understand the intricacies of Galactic Law.
You're right, but if they named it after the clock speed, it wouldn't look that way.
Marketing is easier if you can reduce your product to a number. Bigger numbers win.
AOL 9 is better than Netscape 7, which is better than MSIE 6.
Firefox 0.9? Forget it.
An Athlon XP 2000+ is better than a P4 1800MHz.
V-8 is better than 7-up.
etc.
Thanks to McCain-Feingold, that's no longer necessary.
You just don't mention your candidate by name and you can spend all you want any way you want.
wild children have very strange habits, such as hording fluids.
What's so weird about that? I always try to keep several six-packs of Mountain Dew handy.
Yeah, I went through a similar process...
Paper vs Rock -- Paper Wins!
Paper vs Scissors -- KO! Paper is CUT TO RIBBONS!!!
I have a Toshiba e335, but I rarely take notes on it. Mostly I use it as a portable music device. With a 512MB SD card and Winampaq, I can carry around pocket full of OGG's, but also play PocketPC Age of Empires when I get bored... which is great on the airplane or the porcelain seat of contemplation. Having said all that, though, I don't really use it as a PDA too often.
...read the words "Jackito Tactile PDA" and immediately think of that pop singer who used to wear only one glove?
I'll leave it to your imagination what PDA might stand for.
Michael Moore?!
/.
I thought you'd be too busy freebasing twinkies to slum on
...and I get very little spam (maybe 10 a day) directed to anything@mydomain.com, whereas my regular address gets around 150-200 a day. Thank goodness I have Postini and Thunderbird.
I say go for it, because you can use filters to direct different addresses to different folders, which can be useful.
Not only that, but he put a bunch of extra crap that wasn't in the movies. Tom Bombadil? What the hell was up with that?
And he totally dissed Liv Tyler's character. She should sue. The nerve of some people...
I also heard the novelization of "The Passion of the Christ" came in 4 slightly different versions by different authors. That's just wacky.
I just picked up a used DC at EBGames for $10. Surely you aren't THAT broke.