I always have to sign my name (though it's usually more of a scribble) when I use my credit card in a physical store, but no such authorization is required for online credit card transactions. Why?
Nobody ever bothers to check my signature vs. the on the back of my card in real life, so why are these signatures required in the first place? Is it tradition =) or something?
Was this really a Steve Jobs decision? Is all the flak Microsoft gets a result of decisions directly made by Bill Gates? I realize it's easy enough to point a finger, but it seems that decisions like these would not be something a CEO would bother themselves with. Oh well.
You obviously didn't catch the hypothetical nature of my post.
I've been to isonews before, I used to check the site regularly, post in the forums, etc. I've been in the scene, and I'm well aware that they don't post anything "illegal" and ban anyone from the forums who tries such a thing.
The problem with isonews is simple: they provide information that is connected to illegal activities. An NFO file with details on who released movie X or game Y has nothing to do with making legal backups or any of the other stupid excuses the pirating community comes up with to legitimize their practices. Isonews doesn't provide any illegal content, but the intent is definitely there.
I agree with you, though, Sega doesn't have any idea what they're doing. They're attacking (mostly) harmless middlemen rather than the rippers/distributors/traders themselves. With the NFO files, Sega even has a potentially simple way to pin a large sum of piracy charges on a small group of individuals, provided they can match up nicks to real names.
Corporations are mostly clueless when it comes to criminal activity on the internet. If someone could show them how to focus their efforts on the actual source of the problem, perhaps things like SDMI and DeCSS would have never happened.
If Isonews is really telling people where to download pirated DC games, then why isn't Sega going after the people running *those* web/ftp/whatever sites?
If Sega's claims were even halfway valid, they're barking up the wrong tree.
Why anyone would be in favor of entrusting their child's education to the government rather than keeping control themselves in beyond my comprehension.
For every "bad" public school out there, there's plenty more good ones. I was fortunate enough to attend an excellent public school. I was more than prepared when I started college a few years back.
Furthermore, never assume that a private school is the best choice. Most of the private schools where I grew up were academically squalid compared to my public high school and another one a few school districts over. Private schools aren't always the best choice.
If you care so much about your child's education, why not go the home-schooling route? That way you can mold them into a perfect copy of yourself and you'd never have to worry about them putting faith in the government ever again.
Instead, I suggest taking the time to read a little more about what you can do besides abandoning our public schools.
Are the SDMI watermarking algorithms actually copyrighted yet?
If not, somebody crack them, copyright them before the SDMI organization, and sue SDMI for trying to embed the technology in consumer electronics and software without licensing it from you.
Ever since I started my university schooling three years ago, I've become increasingly aware that most of my classes weren't worth taking. Too often, the majority of the material I take away from a course comes directly from reading the texts. I feel like my parents are cutting massive checks just so someone can regurgitate the book to me in various classes. It isn't always this way, I *have* had a few really great professors, but only a few.
The other concern I have is that my education costs almost $30k per year, yet I could be learning the same material at a school that costs half that or less. Does a degree from an expensive private school really mean that much more than a degree from a less-expensive state school?
I've always wondered how my life would be different today if I asked my parents to just keep the tuition money, and let me split my time between educating myself and working in the field. Sure, I've learned a lot about development here at school. However, I think I could have picked up most of it just as easily outside of an academic environment.
Does anybody else feel that their college education hasn't been worth the time or money invested in it? I've got another year to go yet, and I'm not really looking forward to it.
This sort of thing has been bothering me a great deal lately.
I've seen endless amounts of complaining on slashdot about the 'click here to agree' licenses that come with most commercial software. Some say they aren't binding and shouldn't be taken seriously. Why, then, should anybody take a license included with an open-source package seriously? We don't even get to click on those:)
Most anything I've ever released (not much, mind you) has been under my own personal license that goes something like this: "Do not abuse this software under penalty of death. For more information, contact the author."
Is my license really any less credible than the GPL or any other license slapped on any piece of software?
The only redeemable thing about Ghost in the Shell was the action. The mechanical design of the weapons and vehicles was excellent (same guy that worked on Patalabor, I think), but it wasn't enough to cover for the rest of the movie.
I think the major flaw with most anime is pacing. In Ghost in the Shell, the movie moves too slow to maintain the viewer's interest. Dragonball Z also suffers from this quite often. Some anime also moves too quickly for me to follow, usually because I'm not familiar enough with Japanese culture to fully understand all of what's happening. Some of the best anime I've seen moves at a reasonable pace.
Trying to define 'good anime' though is like trying to deinfe 'good movies'. There's too many genres within anime to appeal to a large, general audience. With most any form of entertainment, the 'good' stuff is always what you find that you like best. Here's some suggestions.
Some of my favorite movies:
Vampire Hunter D (old-school anime gore)
any of the Project A-Ko movies (silly but I like 'em)
Some of my favorite series:
Rurouni Kenshin (really great stuff)
Battle Athletes OAV/Victory
Excel Saga (anime making fun of anime - hilarious!)
Love Hina Naru (tenchi-like one guy/many girls thing... funny)
I've been watching Battle Athletes Victory (now one of my fav. anime series) lately, and it's mind boggling how the storyline moves between purely comical and darkly depressing so quickly at times. Very entertaining stuff though. I haven't seen the OVA's yet, and I'm interested in what they're like.
I also watched some episodes of Rurouni Kenshin recently, as well as the Kenshin Requiem Movie. Though it's entertaining, it feels too much like Trigun with swords instead of guns. Still worth a watch, though. I believe there's almost 100 episodes of it, so there's plenty to watch. Question of the day for Kenshin fans: what the heck does "Oro" mean?
... there's plenty of fansubs and other such things on IRC, gnutella, scour exchange, etc. The quality certainly doesn't match up to a DVD, but you can sometimes find stuff that isn't even available on video or DVD yet. Happy hunting.
put your application in a subdir of c:\program files\
put your dlls in c:\windows\system\
write some crap to the registry
maybe add some stuff to the start menu
done.
granted, 99% of windows installs don't worry about where libraries are, and what compilers are needed, etc. as unicies do, but they're easy and simple.
My FreeBSD box has more bin and lib directories than I'm probably aware of, and it seems silly. Perhaps it's time to invent a whole new layout for the unix fs organization. Applications and tasks have changed over the years, maybe we should work on how to make the fs layout accomodate that.
These have been the ramblings of a very sleep-deprived person... oh well.
What with the internet and all, startups and making fortunes all across the country (and world) with tech sector growth strong in just about every major urban center you can think of, and many small ones. Is silicon valley gonna turn into a "quiet" tech town much like the old mining towns of the west are today?
Slashdot Mirror
Just about any robot you want is out there if you look hard enough.
I've looked, believe me, and I can't find a Gundam anywhere. =)
Something I've always wondered:
I always have to sign my name (though it's usually more of a scribble) when I use my credit card in a physical store, but no such authorization is required for online credit card transactions. Why?
Nobody ever bothers to check my signature vs. the on the back of my card in real life, so why are these signatures required in the first place? Is it tradition =) or something?
... that I don't think I could handle drugs. Take my "russian breakfast" for example:
Find a bowl. Fill with vodka. Consume.
Way to go, Jobs.
Was this really a Steve Jobs decision? Is all the flak Microsoft gets a result of decisions directly made by Bill Gates? I realize it's easy enough to point a finger, but it seems that decisions like these would not be something a CEO would bother themselves with. Oh well.
You obviously didn't catch the hypothetical nature of my post.
I've been to isonews before, I used to check the site regularly, post in the forums, etc. I've been in the scene, and I'm well aware that they don't post anything "illegal" and ban anyone from the forums who tries such a thing.
The problem with isonews is simple: they provide information that is connected to illegal activities. An NFO file with details on who released movie X or game Y has nothing to do with making legal backups or any of the other stupid excuses the pirating community comes up with to legitimize their practices. Isonews doesn't provide any illegal content, but the intent is definitely there.
I agree with you, though, Sega doesn't have any idea what they're doing. They're attacking (mostly) harmless middlemen rather than the rippers/distributors/traders themselves. With the NFO files, Sega even has a potentially simple way to pin a large sum of piracy charges on a small group of individuals, provided they can match up nicks to real names.
Corporations are mostly clueless when it comes to criminal activity on the internet. If someone could show them how to focus their efforts on the actual source of the problem, perhaps things like SDMI and DeCSS would have never happened.
If Isonews is really telling people where to download pirated DC games, then why isn't Sega going after the people running *those* web/ftp/whatever sites?
If Sega's claims were even halfway valid, they're barking up the wrong tree.
Why anyone would be in favor of entrusting their child's education to the government rather than keeping control themselves in beyond my comprehension.
For every "bad" public school out there, there's plenty more good ones. I was fortunate enough to attend an excellent public school. I was more than prepared when I started college a few years back.
Furthermore, never assume that a private school is the best choice. Most of the private schools where I grew up were academically squalid compared to my public high school and another one a few school districts over. Private schools aren't always the best choice.
If you care so much about your child's education, why not go the home-schooling route? That way you can mold them into a perfect copy of yourself and you'd never have to worry about them putting faith in the government ever again.
Instead, I suggest taking the time to read a little more about what you can do besides abandoning our public schools.
... link
Are the SDMI watermarking algorithms actually copyrighted yet?
If not, somebody crack them, copyright them before the SDMI organization, and sue SDMI for trying to embed the technology in consumer electronics and software without licensing it from you.
.nfo files were great until win2k decided to use that extension for system iNFOrmation files.
To myself:
Hey! Where'd you put the remote?
- Me.
"Where'd my hard drive go? It was here a second ago!"
Ever since I started my university schooling three years ago, I've become increasingly aware that most of my classes weren't worth taking. Too often, the majority of the material I take away from a course comes directly from reading the texts. I feel like my parents are cutting massive checks just so someone can regurgitate the book to me in various classes. It isn't always this way, I *have* had a few really great professors, but only a few.
The other concern I have is that my education costs almost $30k per year, yet I could be learning the same material at a school that costs half that or less. Does a degree from an expensive private school really mean that much more than a degree from a less-expensive state school?
I've always wondered how my life would be different today if I asked my parents to just keep the tuition money, and let me split my time between educating myself and working in the field. Sure, I've learned a lot about development here at school. However, I think I could have picked up most of it just as easily outside of an academic environment.
Does anybody else feel that their college education hasn't been worth the time or money invested in it? I've got another year to go yet, and I'm not really looking forward to it.
This sort of thing has been bothering me a great deal lately.
:)
I've seen endless amounts of complaining on slashdot about the 'click here to agree' licenses that come with most commercial software. Some say they aren't binding and shouldn't be taken seriously. Why, then, should anybody take a license included with an open-source package seriously? We don't even get to click on those
Most anything I've ever released (not much, mind you) has been under my own personal license that goes something like this: "Do not abuse this software under penalty of death. For more information, contact the author."
Is my license really any less credible than the GPL or any other license slapped on any piece of software?
The only redeemable thing about Ghost in the Shell was the action. The mechanical design of the weapons and vehicles was excellent (same guy that worked on Patalabor, I think), but it wasn't enough to cover for the rest of the movie.
... funny)
I think the major flaw with most anime is pacing. In Ghost in the Shell, the movie moves too slow to maintain the viewer's interest. Dragonball Z also suffers from this quite often. Some anime also moves too quickly for me to follow, usually because I'm not familiar enough with Japanese culture to fully understand all of what's happening. Some of the best anime I've seen moves at a reasonable pace.
Trying to define 'good anime' though is like trying to deinfe 'good movies'. There's too many genres within anime to appeal to a large, general audience. With most any form of entertainment, the 'good' stuff is always what you find that you like best. Here's some suggestions.
Some of my favorite movies:
Vampire Hunter D (old-school anime gore)
any of the Project A-Ko movies (silly but I like 'em)
Some of my favorite series:
Rurouni Kenshin (really great stuff)
Battle Athletes OAV/Victory
Excel Saga (anime making fun of anime - hilarious!)
Love Hina Naru (tenchi-like one guy/many girls thing
should be to www.idsoftware.com, not www.id.com
Some more options:
I've been watching Battle Athletes Victory (now one of my fav. anime series) lately, and it's mind boggling how the storyline moves between purely comical and darkly depressing so quickly at times. Very entertaining stuff though. I haven't seen the OVA's yet, and I'm interested in what they're like.
I also watched some episodes of Rurouni Kenshin recently, as well as the Kenshin Requiem Movie. Though it's entertaining, it feels too much like Trigun with swords instead of guns. Still worth a watch, though. I believe there's almost 100 episodes of it, so there's plenty to watch. Question of the day for Kenshin fans: what the heck does "Oro" mean?
... there's plenty of fansubs and other such things on IRC, gnutella, scour exchange, etc. The quality certainly doesn't match up to a DVD, but you can sometimes find stuff that isn't even available on video or DVD yet. Happy hunting.
windows install
... oh well.
put your application in a subdir of c:\program files\
put your dlls in c:\windows\system\
write some crap to the registry
maybe add some stuff to the start menu
done.
granted, 99% of windows installs don't worry about where libraries are, and what compilers are needed, etc. as unicies do, but they're easy and simple.
My FreeBSD box has more bin and lib directories than I'm probably aware of, and it seems silly. Perhaps it's time to invent a whole new layout for the unix fs organization. Applications and tasks have changed over the years, maybe we should work on how to make the fs layout accomodate that.
These have been the ramblings of a very sleep-deprived person
PNG/MNG are for bitmapped (pixels) graphics. SVG is vector-based (lines, curves, shapes, etc.) graphics. They serve different purposes.
The sysadmin in the CS department where I go to school is a real asshole. Intro to operating systems, he says to the class:
"If you can't figure out how to kill a process, maybe you shouldn't be in this class!"
Our professor didn't take kindly to that. Most of the students where working in a unix environment for the first time.
What with the internet and all, startups and making fortunes all across the country (and world) with tech sector growth strong in just about every major urban center you can think of, and many small ones. Is silicon valley gonna turn into a "quiet" tech town much like the old mining towns of the west are today?
Try scanning the negatives. It works quite well if you've got a decent scanner.
"Beedeebeedeebeedee what's up Buck?"
Was that Twiki or I have I got my robots confused?
Doesn't MCI own a fairly large chunk of the internet backbone here in the states? Kind of stuck with the phone companies either way.