I, of course, promptly uninstall it from my machines and replace it with 7-Zip. Last time I checked, Winzip still didn't handle several major file-types (like RAR).
I use 7-Zip too but your comment about Winzip not handling RAR is no longer correct. WinZip 11.1 added RAR and BZ2 support which you can verify directly at the WinZip website:
Now that those types of files are supported it can handle the majority of popular compression formats available so it no longer is lacking in that regard. I still will stick with 7-Zip although it is nice to know that if I am on a machine that only has WinZip available I will be able to use it for RAR archives.
I hope you do give it a try. If you don't like it then that is alright but at least you gave it a shot. From what I have heard web developers say is Opera has decent developer tools but they just aren't yet quite as good as Firebug so it probably is lacking in that respect. As just a normal browser I think you will be pleased though.
For situations such as yours I completely understand why you use FireFox since it does have some extensions that Opera has nothing to compare to. I was mainly saying that for the average user I think Opera is the best choice since it has so many things already built in that you need extensions for with FireFox.
Both browsers are great choices and personally I prefer Opera both because it performs better and I have just gotten used to it since I have used it since about 2001. That is cool that you at least have given Opera a shot instead of just striking it down like many FireFox users on Slashdot love to do. Opera 9.5 definitely has fixed some annoying issues that used to drive me to use FireFox or IE at times too, I am very happy with it. I hope the official 9.5 release has some developer tools that you find useful.
Stories like this make me happy I am an Opera user. It has nearly everything the average user needs built in already although if you do want add-on's it still has that ability with widgets. It is faster, more memory efficient, more secure, and more standards compliant than any other browser available as well. I don't have to fiddle with tons of settings and add-on's, I just download the latest update and it all works.
For what it is worth I used to be a Netscape then Moz user until I discovered tabbed browsing in Opera around 2000-2001 or so and I haven't gone back. At first it was slightly annoying dealing with the ads but the rest of the user experience made up for that and they eventually got rid of the ads completely (people STILL don't know this is true!) so that is no longer an issue.
To each his own, more power to those those who like to have to install 1,000 add-on's to FireFox to get it to work how they want. I prefer having most of the functionality I use built in in a non-bloated way which Opera has mastered doing.
I agree that Opera 9.5 alpha is FAST! I have been an Opera user for about 6 years and have always considered it the most superior browser available (it's tabbed browsing ability is what initially go be using it) but now it is even better.
I had 9.23 installed before upgrading and it worked great for the most part but some web pages still loaded and performed slowly such as slashdot articles with a whole lot of comments and the MSDN website. After upgrading that slowness has gone away completely which is really nice since I nearly always have MSDN open in a tab while I am working. Nice work!
I'm not "anti alcohol" to any extent, I frequently enjoy a few beers. But I don't drive afterwards. I bring enough money with me so I can get a taxi home.
Well you are lucky to live in an area that actually has taxis and probably other forms of public transportation. Over here in the US there are huge areas that have absolutely no public transportation available which is why people are still allowed to drive to work in some cases after they have gotten a DUI charge/conviction (usually only if it is the first one). In the states I have lived in you needed to prove that there is no other way for you to get to work such as by bus,train,etc so it is not like they just hand them out.
In my opinion it is comical to not allow someone who has made one mistake to be able to get to work/doctors/school/etc. You will be in pretty big trouble if you are caught driving when you are not supposed to be so everyone I know who has had a work permit only used it to get to work and back, they were absolutely no danger (alcohol impairment wise) to others on the road. You really would rather have them lose their job,etc over one mistake? If it is the persons second time then hell yeah don't give them a work permit (all the states I have lived in do not have a permit available for non-first timers), but a first timer deserves a break and will probably learn a lesson and not repeat the same mistake so making his life even more of a hell than it already becomes when charged with a DUI seems like overkill. Besides, the drunks who really need to be taken off the road could care less if they have a license or not, they are going to drive anyway so these restricted permits do not really even apply to the dangerous ones.
You don't live you so you have no idea how it is so your advice does not apply.
Most states I have lived in have similar laws and usually the breath test penalty is separate from the DUI penalties. While yes it would suck to have your license automatically suspended for some period of time it is MUCH less worse than giving them evidence which can then be used to convict you of a DUI/DWI which will then cause you to lose your license for a longer period of time, cause your insurance rates to skyrocket, make you unable to get some jobs, etc. Also, you have a much higher chance of getting a charge lowered to at least reckless driving if the prosecuter does not have a breathalyzer test showing you were over the limit. IANAL either but I know many from many different states as well as police officers and every single one of them say to refuse the test unless you are absolutely sure you are under the limit.
Even if you KNOW you are under the limit the machines can still be faulty so you still would be putting yourself at a slight risk by taking the test. Why give them something that can only be used against you (if you have had ANYTHING to drink). Down here in AZ even if you are under the.08 limit they have "impaired to the slightest degree" which means they can still convict you of the DUI even if you are under the legal limit and you are legal to drink so if you take the breathalyzer and are under the limit it still can be used to prove you had alcohol in your system which is all that is needed in some cases.
I tried to write a list of alternatives to driving that's comprehensive, instead of one that's applicable to everyone and everywhere (which would be just taxis...?).
Understood, I just thought I would clarify since many states in the US will give you a DUI if you are on a bike.
Also, a full DUI charge from riding a bicycle? Now that's retarded.
Yes, most of the DUI laws on the books nowadays are retarded. MADD has created a situation where it is damn near impossible to operate ANYTHING even if you have only had a beer or two. If MADD has their way then anyone caught driving with any amount of alcohol in their system will be sent to prison for the rest of their life and prohibition will come back into effect. I am totally against driving when impaired but I draw the line at giving DUI's to people who are clearly not impaired. The DUI laws are so bad in some states that as another poster mentioned before people have been given DUI's when they are not even in control of the vehicle, they just could have been in control.
The story I am referring to is about two farmers who slid into a ditch, one was stone sober and the other guy was drunk and passed out and the sober guy walked up the road to get help and when he got back with a tractor to pull the truck out of the ditch the cops had already arrived and were arresting his friend even though they found him asleep in the passenger side. It was either really hot out or really cold and the car had been left running to keep the guy warm/cool. They found him passed out, buckled in, but since the car was running and he could have been in control they charged him with the DUI, real fair huh?
I know people will say if they didn't give him the DUI then all a DUI driver would have to do in the future is hop in the passenger side before a cop arrived anytime they had an accident but that is bullshit since you would still have to have someone around who is sober and admits to driving. When the actual driver showed up they should have dropped the charges or at least have to have SOME proof the person being charged with the DUI was actually driving. It scares me that you can get convicted of something you only could have done, it should require you actually commit the act first.
Sorry I went on a rant it just pisses me off how screwed up the legal system is getting in the US.
Nearly all states have consequences for refusing but those consequences are way less worse than a DUI conviction so unless you know you are under the limit you better refuse the tests in MA too. The advice is still valid in your state.
Check out the following website or go to the MA dmv site too if you want to see that you are wrong thinking refusing is not a good idea:
I know people who have gone through the process and have talked to attorneys who practice in states all across the US and everyone of them say DON'T TAKE THE BREATHALYZER! It can only be used against you. Think about it this way. If you are over the limit and take the breathalyzer then now they have hard evidence to use against you in court and you probably will get convicted of the DUI end of story. A lot of states also will automatically suspend your license if you blow over the limit so your license will be suspended no matter what anyway. In MA if you refuse your license is suspended for 180 days.
So, if you are over the limit and refuse you will lose your license for 180 days but then after that you at least will be able to drive if you are not convicted of the DUI. If you do blow and are over then you will probably immediatly have your license suspended anyway PLUS if you are convicted (if you blow over the limit you probably will be convicted unless you can get them to lower the charge) you will lose your license for a year. I am not quite sure about how it works in MA but in IL the initial suspension for refusing the test is separate from the suspension after you are convicted so instead of subtracting the time you have already been without your license from the 2nd suspension you will have your license suspended for the total of the 2 suspensions (I think a first offense refusal and then conviction of DUI is 30 days plus 1 year).
The breathalyzer can only do you harm unless you know you are under the limit. Since the machines do not seem very reliable anyway I don't see why you would even want to mess with it unless you absolutely know you are under the limit in which case you probably won't be questioned about drinking anyway (except at night when they ask EVERYONE that questions). Do you understand now?
Most states I have been to will give you a DUI if you are just on a bicycle just like they would if you were in an automobile (and it has the same consequences so say bye bye to your drivers license if you get convicted). Hell, in IL I know of a guy who got a DUI driving his motorized wheelchair home from the bar. The only safe thing to do to prevent you from getting a DUI if you have been drinking is walk (have to worry about getting a public intoxication ticket though) or have a sober person drive you.
Will someone with mod points mod this man up? Why is he marked as a troll when what he says is true?
IANAL but what he says is entirely true. Unless you are absolutely certain you are under the limit (aka you have had NO alcohol, not even one drink) then ALWAYS refuse the breathalyzer. Unless you blow a 0.00 the result can only be used against you (some US states even have "impaired to the slightest degree" which means even if you are under.08 you can still get a DUI) so why provide them with that evidence? This is all based on my as well as other people I know experiences. I even have a few friends who are police officers and they have told me they would never take the breathalyzer (even if they only had one drink) and recommended I do the same if I am ever in the situation where I am asked to take one. Like mycall said you will get an automatic offense for refusing and might lose your license for a short while but that is much better than a DUI conviction which will raise your insurance rates and make you lose your license for an even longer amount of time.
NEVER TAKE THE BREATHALYZER UNLESS YOU HAVE NOT HAD ANY ALCOHOL! (better yet don't ever drink and drive and always have a designated driver so you are never in this situation)
Whoa....that would mean that some college was teaching COBOL as recently as 10 years ago, I'd surmise, which should get their program de-accredited. Unless your coworkers were aliens.
COBOL is still being used in some coursework at a few universities including Northern Illinois University. There are still A LOT of companies looking for people with COBOL programming skills and those companies recruit heavily at NIU. At NIU they have kind of an "intro" course to get you going in COBOL and then later on there is an external data structures class that focuses on COBOL programming and JCL using COBOL on a mainframe (OS 390). Proof of the classes can be found here:
I think the CS department including mainframe programming is GREAT because it really exposed me to things that almost no other CS program would and I am happy for that since it gives me more options when looking for jobs. It was a great way to get some mainframe experience, learn about COBOL and JCL programming (among many other things), and it was also an interesting way to learn about external data structures. I assume you are joking but why should using and teaching COBOL (a language still WIDELY used in the industry) in a CS program be thought of as something that is horrible? Sure, it would be great if those companies could magically move on to a more modern language for some of their applications but that isn't going to happen for sometime so experienced COBOL programmers will still be needed for a while.
I also did 3 years of CS at The Ohio State University before transferring to NIU and that program was excellent for preparing a student to pick up and easily use nearly any programming language by focusing on the fundamentals and not specific languages. The mixture of solid fundamental skills along with a whole lot of practice with a few modern languages (C/C++(even C++/RESOLVE yuck), Java, Perl, VB) as well as with some older langauges (COBOL,FORTRAN,x86 assembler,OS 390 assembler) has really turned me into an versatile and agile developer and I am extremely happy with the education I received. I am still at the same company that I started at right after graduating about 3 years ago and I am still extremely happy working here. Thankfully, I mainly use C/C++ and Perl and not COBOL at all but I still could go the COBOL route if I wanted to.
In closing the actual language used in CS courses should not really matter, it is the fundamentals that count. It does not matter what langauge CS programs use in their courses as long as they are relevant to the subject matter. Having a little mixture of old and new languages can be very interesting to some people and I definitely found it interesting. Don't knock something until you have tried it.
First, I just want to say that COBOL definitely is not a "toy" langauge and it is actually still being used in some classes in the Computer Science department at Northern Illinois University (companies still using COBOL heavily recruit graduates from NIU). Like you said you can use it to write complex business applications very well and a lot of companies still have many applications in use originally written in COBOL. Anyone who has real experience with it will find out fast that it is far from a "toy" language. In fact I would say PHP is much more of a "toy" language than COBOL since PHP is basically just a simple web scripting language.
Anyway, I just thought I would take a second stand up for the language even though I am very happy I don't use it professionally and instead mainly stick to C/C++ and Perl every once in a while. I too work for a smaller company and while I do miss out on perks just like you do I think I enjoy it more than I would being at a bigger company plus I get much more experience (since I have to wear many hats and also do more on my own) and since I am only now on my 3rd year in the "real world" the more experience I can get the better.
Good luck if and when you start the search for another job!
You are correct. I am an application developer so web programming is not my expertise so my guess is maybe as long as the login is secure then they do not need to use HTTPS afterwards. To me it sounded like the initial HTTPS hand shake is the most expensive part of using HTTPS so I would think since it must have do that at the login page that gmail would then keep using HTTPS for the rest of the session.
Does anyone know if using HTTPS after using it at the initial logon is worth the overhead?
There is a reason why GOOGLE doesn't use https for gmail by default (you have to manually type in https://mail.google.com/ to get gmail through SSL), the key echange is expensive, even by Google's standards.
Apparently Google's standards have changed and they do not consider HTTPS too expensive anymore. I just typed in www.gmail.com and it redirected me to:
Have you ever tried Cox cable? The reason I ask is I recently moved to the Phoenix area from Chicago and I have Cox cable TV/internet/phone and the cable TV SUCKS. I have an HD tuner and the first shitty thing is the guide it has sucks and the searching capabilities are worthless and another extremely annoying thing is the HD channels will randomly drop for 5-15 minutes at a time for no reason (I notice about once or twice a week). I never thought I would miss Comcast cable but Cox surely made me miss Comcast. One thing I REALLY miss from Comcast was the OnDemand content. There even was a selection of free OnDemand movies which was really cool to have access to. My remote from Cox here has an OnDemand button but it doesn't do anything, why can't they get that feature setup too?
Anyway, I grew sick of Cox and wanted to switch to Qwest because they seemed to be less expensive and have better features and I am stuck in basically the opposite situation as you. My apartment complex is Cox only and Qwest either cannot or just will not give me service. Is Qwest really that bad? What other options are there besides satellite?
Okay, so your software player is removing the CSS protection as it is reading and playing the files. It still must occur at some point.
The made me think of something that would be interesting but would never be made, a standalone DVD player that can detect CSS protection and if the keys are not available it breaks the CSS manually. That would be interesting.
1) k3b is using the CSS keys on the disc to decrypt protected sectors as it is writing out the image file. This is the most likely option.
2) The player you are using detects that some of the content is CSS protected and it deCss's while it is reading. I am not aware of any players that do this but it would not suprise me if they exist.
Look for a tool called Ripit4me and install DVD Decrypter and you might be suprised that is can rip the newer Sony's. That has been my experience lately and I used to be DVDShrink only.
DVDShrink and DVD Decrypter as well as a tool called Ripit4me all are still available and free for Windows. A combination of those tools makes it extremely simple to rip/re-encode. DVDrip is not needed.
Very good points. Another thing these people who say "just image the DVD" seem to not realize is that the flipping DVD's are encrypted and usually CSS protected. It is not just a matter of using dd because you need to "unlock" the drive so the encrypted sectors can be read (the drive will return an error on a read command otherwise) and you also need to remove the CSS protection from the VOB files. Once you do that then you also have to do stuff like re-encode the video and/or drop video/audio streams unless you are writing to DL discs.
For most movies that alone will not work. You first would have to "unlock" the drive or else you will not be able to read sectors that are marked as encryped. You can "unlock" the drive by doing something like start up some DVD playing software and load the DVD. After that you still could not just dd because a lot of the VOB files will be CSS protected so you would need to DeCSS each sector that is protected. Seriously, do you people who keep saying "just dd it" even try it first?
One other note, each sector on a DVD has 2048 bytes of user data so it would be more efficient to dd with a block size of 2048 bytes.
I kind of thought it seemed like a good way to accidently leak bogus information to confuse the "other side" too. I mean how stupid can you be to put sensitive information out on an anonymous ftp server? I definitely would never even think of putting anything like that on an ftp unless the ftp at least required a password (and even then I would think about who all already has or can get access to that ftp). It seems like security 101 to me. Who cares if the ftp is not indexed? That is like saying it is ok to leave a stack of sensitive papers in a box behind a bush at the back of a building instead of out front where everyone walks in because it is not so easily found. Stupid people!
However, I have seen just how bad government contractors and even the main workers can be when it comes to computers and I definitely could see them making a mistake like this. Some people just have no clue what they are doing on a computer (or they actually do know how to do a lot but don't understand the ramifications of what they are doing) and really need to be trained better before getting access to sensitive materials.
So, I could see it happening either way. I hope it was an intentional leak but my gut makes me lean more towards the human error/incompetence side. Who knows.
I am curious if the time you were at Comcast was last year at all because I used to live in the Chicago area the last couple of years and I had Comcast cable TV and internet?
Well last year was HORRIBLE as far as my internet connection provided by Comcast was concerned. It got even worse around May (it always seemed the hotter it was outside the worse my connection became) and never got any better. Basically my cable modem would keep randomly disconnecting for 5-15+ minutes at a time (it was replaced more than once) and if I remember correctly the logs on it seemed to say it had a problem syncing and the SNR was bad too. This was all after 2 years of everything working without a hitch. I gave up on WoW and any other online game that needed a low latency connection and the most annoying thing was getting disconnected in the middle of the game due to the connection dropping completely. The only thing I could still somewhat play was online poker but near the end I gave up on that too due to getting disconnected at key points in the game and not being able to get back in in time since it took so long for the connection to go back up. I luckily was able to get my money refunded for a few months but it really was a pain in the ass.
Now I am in Phoenix, Arizona and have Cox cable and while the internet has been MUCH more reliable (and actually usable!) I must say the cable TV sucks ass. The guide is a piece of shit and I don't use it at all since it is so worthless, has horrible search capabilities (you can't even search by genre), the HD channels will randomly go out of service for minutes at a time, and there is no On Demand. The On Demand Comcast had was one thing I loved, especially the amount of free content. Anyway, before I moved I thought I would never miss Comcast at all but after experiencing the Cox Cable TV service I actually do miss Comcasts cable TV!
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I, of course, promptly uninstall it from my machines and replace it with 7-Zip. Last time I checked, Winzip still didn't handle several major file-types (like RAR).
I use 7-Zip too but your comment about Winzip not handling RAR is no longer correct. WinZip 11.1 added RAR and BZ2 support which you can verify directly at the WinZip website:
http://www.winzip.com/prodpagewz.htm
Now that those types of files are supported it can handle the majority of popular compression formats available so it no longer is lacking in that regard. I still will stick with 7-Zip although it is nice to know that if I am on a machine that only has WinZip available I will be able to use it for RAR archives.
I hope you do give it a try. If you don't like it then that is alright but at least you gave it a shot. From what I have heard web developers say is Opera has decent developer tools but they just aren't yet quite as good as Firebug so it probably is lacking in that respect. As just a normal browser I think you will be pleased though.
For situations such as yours I completely understand why you use FireFox since it does have some extensions that Opera has nothing to compare to. I was mainly saying that for the average user I think Opera is the best choice since it has so many things already built in that you need extensions for with FireFox.
Both browsers are great choices and personally I prefer Opera both because it performs better and I have just gotten used to it since I have used it since about 2001. That is cool that you at least have given Opera a shot instead of just striking it down like many FireFox users on Slashdot love to do. Opera 9.5 definitely has fixed some annoying issues that used to drive me to use FireFox or IE at times too, I am very happy with it. I hope the official 9.5 release has some developer tools that you find useful.
Stories like this make me happy I am an Opera user. It has nearly everything the average user needs built in already although if you do want add-on's it still has that ability with widgets. It is faster, more memory efficient, more secure, and more standards compliant than any other browser available as well. I don't have to fiddle with tons of settings and add-on's, I just download the latest update and it all works.
For what it is worth I used to be a Netscape then Moz user until I discovered tabbed browsing in Opera around 2000-2001 or so and I haven't gone back. At first it was slightly annoying dealing with the ads but the rest of the user experience made up for that and they eventually got rid of the ads completely (people STILL don't know this is true!) so that is no longer an issue.
To each his own, more power to those those who like to have to install 1,000 add-on's to FireFox to get it to work how they want. I prefer having most of the functionality I use built in in a non-bloated way which Opera has mastered doing.
I agree that Opera 9.5 alpha is FAST! I have been an Opera user for about 6 years and have always considered it the most superior browser available (it's tabbed browsing ability is what initially go be using it) but now it is even better.
I had 9.23 installed before upgrading and it worked great for the most part but some web pages still loaded and performed slowly such as slashdot articles with a whole lot of comments and the MSDN website. After upgrading that slowness has gone away completely which is really nice since I nearly always have MSDN open in a tab while I am working. Nice work!
I'm not "anti alcohol" to any extent, I frequently enjoy a few beers. But I don't drive afterwards. I bring enough money with me so I can get a taxi home.
Well you are lucky to live in an area that actually has taxis and probably other forms of public transportation. Over here in the US there are huge areas that have absolutely no public transportation available which is why people are still allowed to drive to work in some cases after they have gotten a DUI charge/conviction (usually only if it is the first one). In the states I have lived in you needed to prove that there is no other way for you to get to work such as by bus,train,etc so it is not like they just hand them out.
In my opinion it is comical to not allow someone who has made one mistake to be able to get to work/doctors/school/etc. You will be in pretty big trouble if you are caught driving when you are not supposed to be so everyone I know who has had a work permit only used it to get to work and back, they were absolutely no danger (alcohol impairment wise) to others on the road. You really would rather have them lose their job,etc over one mistake? If it is the persons second time then hell yeah don't give them a work permit (all the states I have lived in do not have a permit available for non-first timers), but a first timer deserves a break and will probably learn a lesson and not repeat the same mistake so making his life even more of a hell than it already becomes when charged with a DUI seems like overkill. Besides, the drunks who really need to be taken off the road could care less if they have a license or not, they are going to drive anyway so these restricted permits do not really even apply to the dangerous ones.
You don't live you so you have no idea how it is so your advice does not apply.
Most states I have lived in have similar laws and usually the breath test penalty is separate from the DUI penalties. While yes it would suck to have your license automatically suspended for some period of time it is MUCH less worse than giving them evidence which can then be used to convict you of a DUI/DWI which will then cause you to lose your license for a longer period of time, cause your insurance rates to skyrocket, make you unable to get some jobs, etc. Also, you have a much higher chance of getting a charge lowered to at least reckless driving if the prosecuter does not have a breathalyzer test showing you were over the limit. IANAL either but I know many from many different states as well as police officers and every single one of them say to refuse the test unless you are absolutely sure you are under the limit.
.08 limit they have "impaired to the slightest degree" which means they can still convict you of the DUI even if you are under the legal limit and you are legal to drink so if you take the breathalyzer and are under the limit it still can be used to prove you had alcohol in your system which is all that is needed in some cases.
Even if you KNOW you are under the limit the machines can still be faulty so you still would be putting yourself at a slight risk by taking the test. Why give them something that can only be used against you (if you have had ANYTHING to drink). Down here in AZ even if you are under the
I tried to write a list of alternatives to driving that's comprehensive, instead of one that's applicable to everyone and everywhere (which would be just taxis...?).
Understood, I just thought I would clarify since many states in the US will give you a DUI if you are on a bike.
Also, a full DUI charge from riding a bicycle? Now that's retarded.
Yes, most of the DUI laws on the books nowadays are retarded. MADD has created a situation where it is damn near impossible to operate ANYTHING even if you have only had a beer or two. If MADD has their way then anyone caught driving with any amount of alcohol in their system will be sent to prison for the rest of their life and prohibition will come back into effect. I am totally against driving when impaired but I draw the line at giving DUI's to people who are clearly not impaired. The DUI laws are so bad in some states that as another poster mentioned before people have been given DUI's when they are not even in control of the vehicle, they just could have been in control.
The story I am referring to is about two farmers who slid into a ditch, one was stone sober and the other guy was drunk and passed out and the sober guy walked up the road to get help and when he got back with a tractor to pull the truck out of the ditch the cops had already arrived and were arresting his friend even though they found him asleep in the passenger side. It was either really hot out or really cold and the car had been left running to keep the guy warm/cool. They found him passed out, buckled in, but since the car was running and he could have been in control they charged him with the DUI, real fair huh?
I know people will say if they didn't give him the DUI then all a DUI driver would have to do in the future is hop in the passenger side before a cop arrived anytime they had an accident but that is bullshit since you would still have to have someone around who is sober and admits to driving. When the actual driver showed up they should have dropped the charges or at least have to have SOME proof the person being charged with the DUI was actually driving. It scares me that you can get convicted of something you only could have done, it should require you actually commit the act first.
Sorry I went on a rant it just pisses me off how screwed up the legal system is getting in the US.
Nearly all states have consequences for refusing but those consequences are way less worse than a DUI conviction so unless you know you are under the limit you better refuse the tests in MA too. The advice is still valid in your state.
Check out the following website or go to the MA dmv site too if you want to see that you are wrong thinking refusing is not a good idea:
http://www.1800duilaws.com/states/ma.asp
I know people who have gone through the process and have talked to attorneys who practice in states all across the US and everyone of them say DON'T TAKE THE BREATHALYZER! It can only be used against you. Think about it this way. If you are over the limit and take the breathalyzer then now they have hard evidence to use against you in court and you probably will get convicted of the DUI end of story. A lot of states also will automatically suspend your license if you blow over the limit so your license will be suspended no matter what anyway. In MA if you refuse your license is suspended for 180 days.
So, if you are over the limit and refuse you will lose your license for 180 days but then after that you at least will be able to drive if you are not convicted of the DUI. If you do blow and are over then you will probably immediatly have your license suspended anyway PLUS if you are convicted (if you blow over the limit you probably will be convicted unless you can get them to lower the charge) you will lose your license for a year. I am not quite sure about how it works in MA but in IL the initial suspension for refusing the test is separate from the suspension after you are convicted so instead of subtracting the time you have already been without your license from the 2nd suspension you will have your license suspended for the total of the 2 suspensions (I think a first offense refusal and then conviction of DUI is 30 days plus 1 year).
The breathalyzer can only do you harm unless you know you are under the limit. Since the machines do not seem very reliable anyway I don't see why you would even want to mess with it unless you absolutely know you are under the limit in which case you probably won't be questioned about drinking anyway (except at night when they ask EVERYONE that questions). Do you understand now?
I agree with you up to this point:
"Hell, cycle if it isn't too far."
Most states I have been to will give you a DUI if you are just on a bicycle just like they would if you were in an automobile (and it has the same consequences so say bye bye to your drivers license if you get convicted). Hell, in IL I know of a guy who got a DUI driving his motorized wheelchair home from the bar. The only safe thing to do to prevent you from getting a DUI if you have been drinking is walk (have to worry about getting a public intoxication ticket though) or have a sober person drive you.
Will someone with mod points mod this man up? Why is he marked as a troll when what he says is true?
.08 you can still get a DUI) so why provide them with that evidence? This is all based on my as well as other people I know experiences. I even have a few friends who are police officers and they have told me they would never take the breathalyzer (even if they only had one drink) and recommended I do the same if I am ever in the situation where I am asked to take one. Like mycall said you will get an automatic offense for refusing and might lose your license for a short while but that is much better than a DUI conviction which will raise your insurance rates and make you lose your license for an even longer amount of time.
IANAL but what he says is entirely true. Unless you are absolutely certain you are under the limit (aka you have had NO alcohol, not even one drink) then ALWAYS refuse the breathalyzer. Unless you blow a 0.00 the result can only be used against you (some US states even have "impaired to the slightest degree" which means even if you are under
NEVER TAKE THE BREATHALYZER UNLESS YOU HAVE NOT HAD ANY ALCOHOL! (better yet don't ever drink and drive and always have a designated driver so you are never in this situation)
Whoa....that would mean that some college was teaching COBOL as recently as 10 years ago, I'd surmise, which should get their program de-accredited. Unless your coworkers were aliens.
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COBOL is still being used in some coursework at a few universities including Northern Illinois University. There are still A LOT of companies looking for people with COBOL programming skills and those companies recruit heavily at NIU. At NIU they have kind of an "intro" course to get you going in COBOL and then later on there is an external data structures class that focuses on COBOL programming and JCL using COBOL on a mainframe (OS 390). Proof of the classes can be found here:
http://www.cs.niu.edu/courses/ugradcatalog.shtml#
http://www.cs.niu.edu/courses/ugradcatalog.shtml#
I think the CS department including mainframe programming is GREAT because it really exposed me to things that almost no other CS program would and I am happy for that since it gives me more options when looking for jobs. It was a great way to get some mainframe experience, learn about COBOL and JCL programming (among many other things), and it was also an interesting way to learn about external data structures. I assume you are joking but why should using and teaching COBOL (a language still WIDELY used in the industry) in a CS program be thought of as something that is horrible? Sure, it would be great if those companies could magically move on to a more modern language for some of their applications but that isn't going to happen for sometime so experienced COBOL programmers will still be needed for a while.
I also did 3 years of CS at The Ohio State University before transferring to NIU and that program was excellent for preparing a student to pick up and easily use nearly any programming language by focusing on the fundamentals and not specific languages. The mixture of solid fundamental skills along with a whole lot of practice with a few modern languages (C/C++(even C++/RESOLVE yuck), Java, Perl, VB) as well as with some older langauges (COBOL,FORTRAN,x86 assembler,OS 390 assembler) has really turned me into an versatile and agile developer and I am extremely happy with the education I received. I am still at the same company that I started at right after graduating about 3 years ago and I am still extremely happy working here. Thankfully, I mainly use C/C++ and Perl and not COBOL at all but I still could go the COBOL route if I wanted to.
In closing the actual language used in CS courses should not really matter, it is the fundamentals that count. It does not matter what langauge CS programs use in their courses as long as they are relevant to the subject matter. Having a little mixture of old and new languages can be very interesting to some people and I definitely found it interesting. Don't knock something until you have tried it.
First, I just want to say that COBOL definitely is not a "toy" langauge and it is actually still being used in some classes in the Computer Science department at Northern Illinois University (companies still using COBOL heavily recruit graduates from NIU). Like you said you can use it to write complex business applications very well and a lot of companies still have many applications in use originally written in COBOL. Anyone who has real experience with it will find out fast that it is far from a "toy" language. In fact I would say PHP is much more of a "toy" language than COBOL since PHP is basically just a simple web scripting language.
Anyway, I just thought I would take a second stand up for the language even though I am very happy I don't use it professionally and instead mainly stick to C/C++ and Perl every once in a while. I too work for a smaller company and while I do miss out on perks just like you do I think I enjoy it more than I would being at a bigger company plus I get much more experience (since I have to wear many hats and also do more on my own) and since I am only now on my 3rd year in the "real world" the more experience I can get the better.
Good luck if and when you start the search for another job!
You are correct. I am an application developer so web programming is not my expertise so my guess is maybe as long as the login is secure then they do not need to use HTTPS afterwards. To me it sounded like the initial HTTPS hand shake is the most expensive part of using HTTPS so I would think since it must have do that at the login page that gmail would then keep using HTTPS for the rest of the session.
Does anyone know if using HTTPS after using it at the initial logon is worth the overhead?
There is a reason why GOOGLE doesn't use https for gmail by default (you have to manually type in https://mail.google.com/ to get gmail through SSL), the key echange is expensive, even by Google's standards.
E JUNK CONTINUES)...
Apparently Google's standards have changed and they do not consider HTTPS too expensive anymore. I just typed in www.gmail.com and it redirected me to:
https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?(MOR
I had to try it.
Have you ever tried Cox cable? The reason I ask is I recently moved to the Phoenix area from Chicago and I have Cox cable TV/internet/phone and the cable TV SUCKS. I have an HD tuner and the first shitty thing is the guide it has sucks and the searching capabilities are worthless and another extremely annoying thing is the HD channels will randomly drop for 5-15 minutes at a time for no reason (I notice about once or twice a week). I never thought I would miss Comcast cable but Cox surely made me miss Comcast. One thing I REALLY miss from Comcast was the OnDemand content. There even was a selection of free OnDemand movies which was really cool to have access to. My remote from Cox here has an OnDemand button but it doesn't do anything, why can't they get that feature setup too?
Anyway, I grew sick of Cox and wanted to switch to Qwest because they seemed to be less expensive and have better features and I am stuck in basically the opposite situation as you. My apartment complex is Cox only and Qwest either cannot or just will not give me service. Is Qwest really that bad? What other options are there besides satellite?
How often would they change the high paying machines? That is very interesting.
Okay, so your software player is removing the CSS protection as it is reading and playing the files. It still must occur at some point.
The made me think of something that would be interesting but would never be made, a standalone DVD player that can detect CSS protection and if the keys are not available it breaks the CSS manually. That would be interesting.
All that is going on is one of two things:
1) k3b is using the CSS keys on the disc to decrypt protected sectors as it is writing out the image file. This is the most likely option.
2) The player you are using detects that some of the content is CSS protected and it deCss's while it is reading. I am not aware of any players that do this but it would not suprise me if they exist.
Recommended software: DVDshrink (rip DVDs (except newer sonys)),
Look for a tool called Ripit4me and install DVD Decrypter and you might be suprised that is can rip the newer Sony's. That has been my experience lately and I used to be DVDShrink only.
DVDShrink and DVD Decrypter as well as a tool called Ripit4me all are still available and free for Windows. A combination of those tools makes it extremely simple to rip/re-encode. DVDrip is not needed.
Very good points. Another thing these people who say "just image the DVD" seem to not realize is that the flipping DVD's are encrypted and usually CSS protected. It is not just a matter of using dd because you need to "unlock" the drive so the encrypted sectors can be read (the drive will return an error on a read command otherwise) and you also need to remove the CSS protection from the VOB files. Once you do that then you also have to do stuff like re-encode the video and/or drop video/audio streams unless you are writing to DL discs.
It is NOT just a matter of dd-ing the DVD.
dd if=/dev/hdx of=moviename.iso bs=1024
For most movies that alone will not work. You first would have to "unlock" the drive or else you will not be able to read sectors that are marked as encryped. You can "unlock" the drive by doing something like start up some DVD playing software and load the DVD. After that you still could not just dd because a lot of the VOB files will be CSS protected so you would need to DeCSS each sector that is protected. Seriously, do you people who keep saying "just dd it" even try it first?
One other note, each sector on a DVD has 2048 bytes of user data so it would be more efficient to dd with a block size of 2048 bytes.
I kind of thought it seemed like a good way to accidently leak bogus information to confuse the "other side" too. I mean how stupid can you be to put sensitive information out on an anonymous ftp server? I definitely would never even think of putting anything like that on an ftp unless the ftp at least required a password (and even then I would think about who all already has or can get access to that ftp). It seems like security 101 to me. Who cares if the ftp is not indexed? That is like saying it is ok to leave a stack of sensitive papers in a box behind a bush at the back of a building instead of out front where everyone walks in because it is not so easily found. Stupid people!
However, I have seen just how bad government contractors and even the main workers can be when it comes to computers and I definitely could see them making a mistake like this. Some people just have no clue what they are doing on a computer (or they actually do know how to do a lot but don't understand the ramifications of what they are doing) and really need to be trained better before getting access to sensitive materials.
So, I could see it happening either way. I hope it was an intentional leak but my gut makes me lean more towards the human error/incompetence side. Who knows.
I am curious if the time you were at Comcast was last year at all because I used to live in the Chicago area the last couple of years and I had Comcast cable TV and internet?
Well last year was HORRIBLE as far as my internet connection provided by Comcast was concerned. It got even worse around May (it always seemed the hotter it was outside the worse my connection became) and never got any better. Basically my cable modem would keep randomly disconnecting for 5-15+ minutes at a time (it was replaced more than once) and if I remember correctly the logs on it seemed to say it had a problem syncing and the SNR was bad too. This was all after 2 years of everything working without a hitch. I gave up on WoW and any other online game that needed a low latency connection and the most annoying thing was getting disconnected in the middle of the game due to the connection dropping completely. The only thing I could still somewhat play was online poker but near the end I gave up on that too due to getting disconnected at key points in the game and not being able to get back in in time since it took so long for the connection to go back up. I luckily was able to get my money refunded for a few months but it really was a pain in the ass.
Now I am in Phoenix, Arizona and have Cox cable and while the internet has been MUCH more reliable (and actually usable!) I must say the cable TV sucks ass. The guide is a piece of shit and I don't use it at all since it is so worthless, has horrible search capabilities (you can't even search by genre), the HD channels will randomly go out of service for minutes at a time, and there is no On Demand. The On Demand Comcast had was one thing I loved, especially the amount of free content. Anyway, before I moved I thought I would never miss Comcast at all but after experiencing the Cox Cable TV service I actually do miss Comcasts cable TV!