Exactly. You know there are many benefits to running something proprietary. Security benefits at that. If no one can read the RFC or spec sheet on your hardware or protocols you use then it will obivously be harder to crack. Similar to something proprietary is the benefits of something ancient. My former employer (a University) practiced security through obsolecence. Everything they used in production was many years old. Their database was 1.5 times older than I was. You can't jump on securityfocus or in your script kiddies mailing list archives and find sploits for something like that. Hell the exploits for it were probably found a decade before securityfocus came to be. And they're still using it. Security through obscrutiny has it's merits. Security through obsolescence is embarrassing. Things like old cars and fine wine get better with age. I can't say the same for computer software or hardware.
IIRC (and it's been a while since I did it) once you're verified they'll raise you limit or eliminate it entirely. I believe when I had a limit it was $500 or so. I believe they do this to ensure that you're a more credible buyer. At least that's my guess. They didn't used to let you default to a payment method other than a checking account. I'm not sure when they made the change but I set my default payment method to CC a number of months back. Either way you always have the choice. If the default is checking and you choose CC for an individual payment, PP throughs up a warning screen and asks you to confirm your choice. They are probably worried you'll dispute the charges on your Visa long before you'd try the same with your checking account. Like I wrote before, I've been using them for years and haven't really gotten but, yet. I'm sure it will happen eventually. I'm pretty good about picking and choosing good sellers. That may contribute to my good fortune. Best of luck.
PS==> I like the other guy's idea about using a dedicated checking account with little if any funds for PP to verify. I guess there have been reports of PP "dipping" into a checking account to get funds people have disputed on the CC. If your bank will let you have a free checking account, put in the minimum and tell them (in writing) to not allow overdrafts of any kind. Make sure you get a written response too. This way PP can't get at any more $$ than what you happen to have in that account. The only good thing about my old bank was that they didn't charge me for a basic checking account. Bank of America does though. I mean BOA is excellent and all. They just happen to recoup their costs with a monthly fee if I don't meet any of a number of exemptions. Most people will meet the direct deposit exemption. I don't though. Good luck
"...killed [sic] a man in Reno just to watch him die
I have to ask, do you actually know where that quote came from? For those of you that don't know your music, allow me to give you the low-down on those lyrics. Also, your quote is slightly flawed. It's actually:
"But I shot a man in Reno,
Just to watch him die,"
That's a quote from one of the great country western songs, "Folsom Prison Blues", written and sung by the late Johnny Cash, better known as The Man in Black. That song is now one of the staples of country music, hell music in general. For those of you that aren't familar with Cash's music I encourage you to pick up one of his greatest hits albums. The Essential Johnny Cash is a good place to start. I thought I'd make that slightly OT point. Who knows, maybe it'll educate one of you tenderfoots.;-)
Hmmm... I don't know about that. Looking back through my PayPal payment history and adding every thing up I spent $4184.02 in 2002 (credit card A), $2184.69 in 2003 (credit card A again), and $2932.84 (credit card B) so far this year. This doesn't include the rifle, revolver, and semi-auto pistol I just bought either. They add up to over $2000 by themselves. Are you sure you aren't thinking of the limitations on the non-verified PayPal accounts?
I'm trying to remember the exact details of the two instances of problems I had with them. One of the items was a pair of GigE switches. The other was a Cabletron router. It's been too many years though. I just can't remember what exactly happened. I do know the fault was with PP, not the seller or myself. They were so unbelievably rude to me, avoided any and all possible contact with me (hanging up on my calls once I identified myself by account), and of absolutely no help that I really didn't have any choice but to dispute the charges. If they'd been helpful I'd have at least given them a chance. It's sad cause their service could be really good.
I agree. A second checking account with Visa Check Card is a must. I however don't do that at present *jumps into flat-retardent tidy-whities*. Yeah, I really need to stop using my actual Check Card online. I'm really lucky I've never been screwed royally. IIRC American Express has a really nice feature that I would love to be able to use. If memory serves me correctly they offer disposal credit card numbers. What I seem to remember is that you log on to their website, tell them you need a temp number, tell them for how much, and they'll issue a temporarily number with that specific dollar amount as a limit. That way even if your card info is stolen it won't do anyone any good. I pity the fool...
At the very least get a second checking account with a bank that allows you to do online transfers (perferrably instantly). Have the bank not allow any overdrafts (most banks will do this if you ask). I need to start doing this more often.
I've never had any CC company temporarily or otherwise disable my card because of suspicious activity. Back when I repaired and sold Macs in Wichita I had a couple customers that couldn't purchase a new system without calling into the number on the back, identifying themselves, and telling the CC company what they were about to do and the dollar amount of the purchase. Never happened to me but I wouldn't mind if it I could easily get a purchase through with a simple phone call. Ironic what's suspicious and what isn't.
They do. That's for sure. Really, I've just been lucky so far. In the past (well hell, lets be honest, in the present!) I've made the mistake of using my Visa Check Card with PayPal. I know I shouldn't do that. I really shouldn't use it online at all but I do. I'm doing that less and less now though. Since I switched to Bank of America I've done that less. Their online interface ties their credit card and checking accounts (and Visa Check Cards) together in a very easy to use interface. I can easily see that I have $900 on my actual CC and $3500 in checking account. I can pay the CC from the checking account over night. I don't have the problem of not knowing how much money I actually have (checking account minus CC balance) because it's right there in front of me. It's really helped a lot. I use the CC more than the check card now.
Yes, PayPal screws lots of folks. I have bought nearly a thousand (not kidding) off of eBay over the years. Most of it was paid via PayPal. I can't believe I haven't been screwed by PP yet. Hell I can't believe I've never been a victim of credit card fraud or identity theft! If you do have to use PP, always use a CC.
I have had to (more than once!) dispute a charge on a CC I used on PayPal because they were trying to screw me out of my money (or the product). The PayPal folks wouldn't return my calls or letters. I got a live body once and told them I was going to dispute the charges if they didn't stop trying to defraud me. They immediately transfered me to a guy that IMHO does nothing other than threaten to sue PayPal users if they threaten to dispute CC charges. I mean that's all he didn't. He knew nothing about the circumstances. He was just there to read me the riot act (from a script) about what they'd do if I disputed the charge. I told him just exactly what he could do with his business and called my CC company. The CC company credited me my $$ within a week and I never heard any more about it. Paypal, contrary to what many of the horror stories said, didn't freeze my account. It wouldn't surprise me if they did but they didn't to me at least. Always Always ALWAYS use a CC when paying via PayPal. In fact I don't have a valid checking account registered with them anymore. I closed that account nearly 8 months ago when I moved. They already verified the account and I'm not going to try and tell them otherwise.:)
Yikes! While that's a horrible thing to have happen (or nearly have happen). I'd like to think that it isn't the norm though. I mean I'm sure a doctor has gotten more than a little over zealous before about treating multiple patients or writing off a patient as dead who in his experience is almost certain to die. Still one would think they wouldn't do that before you're dead (unless you're braindead of course and then it might make sense). They could still harvest the organs if the surgery was unsuccessful. I'd hope this is a very rare thing. Did ya'll follow up with a lawsuit or at least demand a medical board review of the situation?
Hehe, only reason I mentioned it was because of an anti-organ donating website I stumbled across a few months back (Fall maybe?). They made numerous oddball arguments, most relgious arguments. One of them though was about how they couldn't have an open-casket funeral because their eyes are missing. I've never been to one with open-eyes either. It would be... um... unique to say the least. More than a little freaky probably. That's the only reason I mentioned it.
at present. How rural are you talking? This town has 231 people in it but we're practically out of town too. You could very well set up a computer shop in a larger town, one that at least has a dozen store fronts. Realize one thing though. Once the local population has a computer, they probably won't buy one from you again for many years. You won't have much recurring business. You could offer classes of course. One of the biggest money makers is to offer internet access in a town that doesn't already have it. My local telco owns about 2 dozen exchanges here in rural Kansas and Nebraska. They also handle the cable TV. Since they of course own the lines they can easily provide fancy smancy Internet options that other rural places could only dream of. This town with 231 people in it has DSL. The neighboring town doesn't get it's phone service from this company but they do get their cable TV from them. That town has cable modems. My folks' new house north of town 5 miles is going to be on with long-range Ethernet soon. They've offered dialup since 96 or so. I was their second helpdesk person hired at the time. I now keep their servers running like clockwork and have had a hand in some of their networking over the years. That's another possibility. Get on with a local telco/ISP. They can always use a good programmer/sysadm. Learn to set up custom applications to handle all types of user data and billing in databases. Make user info available via LDAP. Things like that. It may seem rudimentary to you and I but I can assure you that few small town ISPs have this. Everything they do now is replicated in multiple locations and is very disorganized. Learn to provide this functionality. If you want to learn a trade that ISPs will always need, hone your spam-filtering and security skills. These are two skills that will always be needed. Also, give your local school district a try. Perhaps you could work for them part-time to keep their servers running or provide them with custom-built machines with support. There's lots of options in the sticks. You just have to look for them. Me, I want to live miles and miles from the nearest person and yet have very high speed Internet access. I also want to be able to get to town quickly for supplies and entertainment. This is why I plan on getting my pilot's license.:) Best of luck.
This is a perfect example of why people should become organ donors. Have it noted on your driver's license. Tell your family that you want all or some of your organs to be used if needed to save someone else. Ok, I can understand if you don't want your face to be altered for open-casket reasons (ie cornea donor). That does make sense. Remember though that morticians can replace your eyes with very life-like and nearly identical fake eyes and no one would be the wiser. The important thing is that you choose to be a donor. I'm sure this little girl will be very grateful in decades of her life yet to come.
It's really not hard to tell which sites are which in a spam run. It's easy to tell which sites are under the direct control of the spammers and which sites simply being used for image harvesting. It's really quite easy. As a person that actually investigates spam I know that what wins in the end is information. Archives of news.admin.net-abuse.* are invaluable to the fight. There's nothing like comparing your own spam to thousands of others' around the world. If you come across a spam that is simply questionable then you simply don't blacklist it. You log it of course because odds are it does belong to a spammer. You'll eventually have the proof you need to justify it. I do this all the time with my personal blacklist of domains and netblocks. I'm well over 15,000 entries strong so it must work.:)
Catching up my ass. Apple wrote the book in text-to-speech software long ago, pal. There's no catching up involved except on Microsoft's and Linux's part as far as text-to-speech goes.
As long as you can reach an audience who wants to hear your thoughts, you're enjoying free speech. I don't see how sanitizing the airwaves (which are common property) restricts anyone's rights.
What about the audience that wanted to hear what Howard Stern had to say? Wasn't that also their right? People have the right not to listen. They don't have the right to prevent someone else from speaking, even in public. There is a quote that I believe if infinitely relavent here:
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall under the pseudonym S[tephen] G. Tallentyre.
The Freedom of Speech is our most sacred right. It is that right that all our other rights stem from. Every tiny infringment on that right has reprocusions that have no limits.
Have you ever read a single book about prohibition and the time period surrounding it? Your comment leads me to believe that you haven't. Find one and read it so you may be enlightened as well. It's really quite remarkable how the population was "controlled."
But at lease with prohibition there was some scientific backing that showed alcohol could do damage. It is bad for your health.
However there have also been nurerous studies that show how alcohol can be something that improves your health. I read about a study just the other day that said a glass or two of wine a day decreases your likelyhood of catching a cold or becoming sick by something like 80%.
Taboos are horrible. George Carlin hit the nail on the head when he talked about the "Pussification of the United States." I mean really, aren't people raising a bunch of litigious prudes nowadays? People are too damned sensitive to the silliest little things nowadays. Take crime and guns for example. All the opponent arguements attempt to parallel guns and crime. Canada has a greater number of guns per captia that the US and yet they have less than half the TCI (total crime index) of the US. I don't remember the numbers for alcohol-related incidents in Germany or the sex-crimes in Amsterdam or France but I remember it was a fraction of that in the US. Why do we have so damned many prudes here in the US?
I think what people are actually outraged about is the fact that they want to regulate speech at all. If they said that they were regulating speech that was used in a sexual intent we'd still be outraged.
It's not the words that are illegal. It's the person's intent that's speaking. If I speak in a sexually insinuating manner to a co-worker of the opposite sex then my intent is to sexually harrass her. My words aren't criminal; my intent is. If a FCCing(tm) pervert tells a child all sorts of inappropriate sexual things then their intent is what's in violation of the law; their words are just that, words. If I scream "FIRE!" inside a crowded movie theater, the word isn't criminal. My intent is. By your definition telling someone on an airplane that "I'm a bomb technician" makes a criminal out of me. In reality neither my words nor my intent are criminal in that case.
Think of it like prohibition. A select handful of people wanted to rid themselves of alcoholics (Im' paraphrasing here). So they outlawed the drink. Did that work? Hell no. Its use increased and criminalized all that participated in the drink. Fast forward to today. A select handful of individuals want to rid themselves of those that don't share or support their views and openly speak against them. So they keep restricting speech until anything that's not inline with what they believe is outlawed. Those the speak out are criminals. How many times has history recorded this in the past?
Both parties are really pretty FCCing(tm) awful. The Republican party is just the worst. I'd like to see what it would be like without a party system altogether.
They let their religious beliefs do that for them. Does your religion require you to not say things like fuck, damn, hell, bastard and bitch. Mine doesn't. What ever happened to the separation of church and state?
As a citizen in allegedly one of the most "free" countries in the world I am appalled by the FCC's actions. I'm not sure what disturbs me more, the fact that the FCC is yet again trying regulate speech or the fact that this country is so fucking full of god damned prudes.
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Exactly. You know there are many benefits to running something proprietary. Security benefits at that. If no one can read the RFC or spec sheet on your hardware or protocols you use then it will obivously be harder to crack. Similar to something proprietary is the benefits of something ancient. My former employer (a University) practiced security through obsolecence. Everything they used in production was many years old. Their database was 1.5 times older than I was. You can't jump on securityfocus or in your script kiddies mailing list archives and find sploits for something like that. Hell the exploits for it were probably found a decade before securityfocus came to be. And they're still using it. Security through obscrutiny has it's merits. Security through obsolescence is embarrassing. Things like old cars and fine wine get better with age. I can't say the same for computer software or hardware.
PS==> I like the other guy's idea about using a dedicated checking account with little if any funds for PP to verify. I guess there have been reports of PP "dipping" into a checking account to get funds people have disputed on the CC. If your bank will let you have a free checking account, put in the minimum and tell them (in writing) to not allow overdrafts of any kind. Make sure you get a written response too. This way PP can't get at any more $$ than what you happen to have in that account. The only good thing about my old bank was that they didn't charge me for a basic checking account. Bank of America does though. I mean BOA is excellent and all. They just happen to recoup their costs with a monthly fee if I don't meet any of a number of exemptions. Most people will meet the direct deposit exemption. I don't though. Good luck
I have to ask, do you actually know where that quote came from? For those of you that don't know your music, allow me to give you the low-down on those lyrics. Also, your quote is slightly flawed. It's actually:
That's a quote from one of the great country western songs, "Folsom Prison Blues", written and sung by the late Johnny Cash, better known as The Man in Black. That song is now one of the staples of country music, hell music in general. For those of you that aren't familar with Cash's music I encourage you to pick up one of his greatest hits albums. The Essential Johnny Cash is a good place to start. I thought I'd make that slightly OT point. Who knows, maybe it'll educate one of you tenderfoots. ;-)
Hmmm... I don't know about that. Looking back through my PayPal payment history and adding every thing up I spent $4184.02 in 2002 (credit card A), $2184.69 in 2003 (credit card A again), and $2932.84 (credit card B) so far this year. This doesn't include the rifle, revolver, and semi-auto pistol I just bought either. They add up to over $2000 by themselves. Are you sure you aren't thinking of the limitations on the non-verified PayPal accounts?
I agree. A second checking account with Visa Check Card is a must. I however don't do that at present *jumps into flat-retardent tidy-whities*. Yeah, I really need to stop using my actual Check Card online. I'm really lucky I've never been screwed royally. IIRC American Express has a really nice feature that I would love to be able to use. If memory serves me correctly they offer disposal credit card numbers. What I seem to remember is that you log on to their website, tell them you need a temp number, tell them for how much, and they'll issue a temporarily number with that specific dollar amount as a limit. That way even if your card info is stolen it won't do anyone any good. I pity the fool...
At the very least get a second checking account with a bank that allows you to do online transfers (perferrably instantly). Have the bank not allow any overdrafts (most banks will do this if you ask). I need to start doing this more often.
I've never had any CC company temporarily or otherwise disable my card because of suspicious activity. Back when I repaired and sold Macs in Wichita I had a couple customers that couldn't purchase a new system without calling into the number on the back, identifying themselves, and telling the CC company what they were about to do and the dollar amount of the purchase. Never happened to me but I wouldn't mind if it I could easily get a purchase through with a simple phone call. Ironic what's suspicious and what isn't.
Yes, PayPal screws lots of folks. I have bought nearly a thousand (not kidding) off of eBay over the years. Most of it was paid via PayPal. I can't believe I haven't been screwed by PP yet. Hell I can't believe I've never been a victim of credit card fraud or identity theft! If you do have to use PP, always use a CC.
Nope. I read about it in a Phantom Console brochure.
I have had to (more than once!) dispute a charge on a CC I used on PayPal because they were trying to screw me out of my money (or the product). The PayPal folks wouldn't return my calls or letters. I got a live body once and told them I was going to dispute the charges if they didn't stop trying to defraud me. They immediately transfered me to a guy that IMHO does nothing other than threaten to sue PayPal users if they threaten to dispute CC charges. I mean that's all he didn't. He knew nothing about the circumstances. He was just there to read me the riot act (from a script) about what they'd do if I disputed the charge. I told him just exactly what he could do with his business and called my CC company. The CC company credited me my $$ within a week and I never heard any more about it. Paypal, contrary to what many of the horror stories said, didn't freeze my account. It wouldn't surprise me if they did but they didn't to me at least. Always Always ALWAYS use a CC when paying via PayPal. In fact I don't have a valid checking account registered with them anymore. I closed that account nearly 8 months ago when I moved. They already verified the account and I'm not going to try and tell them otherwise. :)
Yikes! While that's a horrible thing to have happen (or nearly have happen). I'd like to think that it isn't the norm though. I mean I'm sure a doctor has gotten more than a little over zealous before about treating multiple patients or writing off a patient as dead who in his experience is almost certain to die. Still one would think they wouldn't do that before you're dead (unless you're braindead of course and then it might make sense). They could still harvest the organs if the surgery was unsuccessful. I'd hope this is a very rare thing. Did ya'll follow up with a lawsuit or at least demand a medical board review of the situation?
Hehe, only reason I mentioned it was because of an anti-organ donating website I stumbled across a few months back (Fall maybe?). They made numerous oddball arguments, most relgious arguments. One of them though was about how they couldn't have an open-casket funeral because their eyes are missing. I've never been to one with open-eyes either. It would be... um... unique to say the least. More than a little freaky probably. That's the only reason I mentioned it.
at present. How rural are you talking? This town has 231 people in it but we're practically out of town too. You could very well set up a computer shop in a larger town, one that at least has a dozen store fronts. Realize one thing though. Once the local population has a computer, they probably won't buy one from you again for many years. You won't have much recurring business. You could offer classes of course. One of the biggest money makers is to offer internet access in a town that doesn't already have it. My local telco owns about 2 dozen exchanges here in rural Kansas and Nebraska. They also handle the cable TV. Since they of course own the lines they can easily provide fancy smancy Internet options that other rural places could only dream of. This town with 231 people in it has DSL. The neighboring town doesn't get it's phone service from this company but they do get their cable TV from them. That town has cable modems. My folks' new house north of town 5 miles is going to be on with long-range Ethernet soon. They've offered dialup since 96 or so. I was their second helpdesk person hired at the time. I now keep their servers running like clockwork and have had a hand in some of their networking over the years. That's another possibility. Get on with a local telco/ISP. They can always use a good programmer/sysadm. Learn to set up custom applications to handle all types of user data and billing in databases. Make user info available via LDAP. Things like that. It may seem rudimentary to you and I but I can assure you that few small town ISPs have this. Everything they do now is replicated in multiple locations and is very disorganized. Learn to provide this functionality. If you want to learn a trade that ISPs will always need, hone your spam-filtering and security skills. These are two skills that will always be needed. Also, give your local school district a try. Perhaps you could work for them part-time to keep their servers running or provide them with custom-built machines with support. There's lots of options in the sticks. You just have to look for them. Me, I want to live miles and miles from the nearest person and yet have very high speed Internet access. I also want to be able to get to town quickly for supplies and entertainment. This is why I plan on getting my pilot's license. :) Best of luck.
This is a perfect example of why people should become organ donors. Have it noted on your driver's license. Tell your family that you want all or some of your organs to be used if needed to save someone else. Ok, I can understand if you don't want your face to be altered for open-casket reasons (ie cornea donor). That does make sense. Remember though that morticians can replace your eyes with very life-like and nearly identical fake eyes and no one would be the wiser. The important thing is that you choose to be a donor. I'm sure this little girl will be very grateful in decades of her life yet to come.
It's really not hard to tell which sites are which in a spam run. It's easy to tell which sites are under the direct control of the spammers and which sites simply being used for image harvesting. It's really quite easy. As a person that actually investigates spam I know that what wins in the end is information. Archives of news.admin.net-abuse.* are invaluable to the fight. There's nothing like comparing your own spam to thousands of others' around the world. If you come across a spam that is simply questionable then you simply don't blacklist it. You log it of course because odds are it does belong to a spammer. You'll eventually have the proof you need to justify it. I do this all the time with my personal blacklist of domains and netblocks. I'm well over 15,000 entries strong so it must work. :)
Catching up my ass. Apple wrote the book in text-to-speech software long ago, pal. There's no catching up involved except on Microsoft's and Linux's part as far as text-to-speech goes.
What about the audience that wanted to hear what Howard Stern had to say? Wasn't that also their right? People have the right not to listen. They don't have the right to prevent someone else from speaking, even in public. There is a quote that I believe if infinitely relavent here:
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall under the pseudonym S[tephen] G. Tallentyre.
The Freedom of Speech is our most sacred right. It is that right that all our other rights stem from. Every tiny infringment on that right has reprocusions that have no limits.
Have you ever read a single book about prohibition and the time period surrounding it? Your comment leads me to believe that you haven't. Find one and read it so you may be enlightened as well. It's really quite remarkable how the population was "controlled."
However there have also been nurerous studies that show how alcohol can be something that improves your health. I read about a study just the other day that said a glass or two of wine a day decreases your likelyhood of catching a cold or becoming sick by something like 80%.
Taboos are horrible. George Carlin hit the nail on the head when he talked about the "Pussification of the United States." I mean really, aren't people raising a bunch of litigious prudes nowadays? People are too damned sensitive to the silliest little things nowadays. Take crime and guns for example. All the opponent arguements attempt to parallel guns and crime. Canada has a greater number of guns per captia that the US and yet they have less than half the TCI (total crime index) of the US. I don't remember the numbers for alcohol-related incidents in Germany or the sex-crimes in Amsterdam or France but I remember it was a fraction of that in the US. Why do we have so damned many prudes here in the US?
I think what people are actually outraged about is the fact that they want to regulate speech at all. If they said that they were regulating speech that was used in a sexual intent we'd still be outraged.
It's not the words that are illegal. It's the person's intent that's speaking. If I speak in a sexually insinuating manner to a co-worker of the opposite sex then my intent is to sexually harrass her. My words aren't criminal; my intent is. If a FCCing(tm) pervert tells a child all sorts of inappropriate sexual things then their intent is what's in violation of the law; their words are just that, words. If I scream "FIRE!" inside a crowded movie theater, the word isn't criminal. My intent is. By your definition telling someone on an airplane that "I'm a bomb technician" makes a criminal out of me. In reality neither my words nor my intent are criminal in that case.
Both parties are really pretty FCCing(tm) awful. The Republican party is just the worst. I'd like to see what it would be like without a party system altogether.
They let their religious beliefs do that for them. Does your religion require you to not say things like fuck, damn, hell, bastard and bitch. Mine doesn't. What ever happened to the separation of church and state?
Howdy. I'm a card-carrying member of the ACLU and a lifetime member of the NRA. Nice to meet you. Come here often?
As a citizen in allegedly one of the most "free" countries in the world I am appalled by the FCC's actions. I'm not sure what disturbs me more, the fact that the FCC is yet again trying regulate speech or the fact that this country is so fucking full of god damned prudes.
Yeah, that is a good point. I wish they'd told the USDOHS to stick it.
I mean this is over a day old now. Why it took CERT so long to send the advisory I don't know.