Patrick Smith, a writer and airplane pilot, has a recent column that explains how absurd the thought of a plane landing on its own, with or without "help" from an uninformed passenger, really is. It seems that airplane technology is still a long ways off from having planes that can safely fly a jet from point A to point B without human intervention.
I have a friend who recently had to take her computer in to Best Buy and spend $210 for them to diagnose, remove viruses/spyware, and install protection. It took them 2 days to do this. All of this because she is very computer illiterate (she uses it for email, visiting websites) and her mom is even morseo.
I tell them time and time again not to open strange email attachments and to keep automatic updates turned on. Still, even though neither of them will admit to ever clicking on "bad" emails or visiting spyware infested websites, the Best Buy techs managed to find over 30 different types of spyware installed.
I recently purchased a $2500 laptop (Toshiba 5105-S607) to use between work and home, as well as when I'm away from home. It's pretty powerful, so it also serves as a desktop replacement for my home machine.
I can't understand why people will pay thousands of dollars for a piece of machinery, then carlessly leave it at a table or seat while they go off and do something else. Even if it's company equipment, somebody paid for that laptop. I think these are the same people who leave their car running with the keys in the ignition while they drop off their 3-day-late movie at Blockbuster, or run into store to grab a coke. It never hurts to be overly cautious.
When I'm at work, I lock the laptop down with one of those 4-digit combo locks attached to a metal wire. I know that any person with an interest in my $2500 machine can come along with a pair of wire cutters and hack off the wire. Having the lock on there is to basically keep the honest people honest. When I leave for lunch I take off the combo lock and lock the laptop up in my drawer. When I'm done for the day I pack everything up and take it back home with me.
Noise alarms are just annoying and don't really help, much like car alarms. When's the last time you ran towards an alarm, thinking to help overpower a thief? If anything, like the article says, the thief would just chuck the alarm card, or better yet feign embarassment while pretending it really is his/her laptop.
Simply paying attention to your surroundings and taking that extra step to secure your laptop will often work better than more expensive options, which unfortunately might cause people to let down their guard.
A family friend had their Mobil Speedpass stolen last week. It was to their keyring, and they had taken it in to the dealership to have the car serviced. The wife dropped the car off in the morning. She was trying to remove the little speedpass but had a hard time doing so. Since she believed it to be a fairly reputable establishment (one of the only luxury car dealers in town), she thought it'd be safe with the keys.
She was wrong.
After the husband returned to pick up the car that evening he noticed that the speedpass was missing from the keyring. He assumed that it was taken off before giving them the keys. When he got home he found out that they had taken the speedpass. They called up Mobil to report it missing, only to find out that someone had just recently used it to purchase $150 worth of items and gas. The thief even tried to use it again the next evening to buy some items, but the speedpass had already been disabled.
So, if you do get one of these speedpass items, or already have one, make sure you always carry it with you. Do not trust anyone else with it. The same thing applies for those little highway transponders that pay tolls for you-- take them off your winshield if you can. Thieves love these things since you don't have to prove your identity to anyone.
gamgee5273: Hell, I don't think I would let a kid under 11 or 12 play Shenmue, even, because Ryo is dealing with things that even teenagers are just beginning to understand.
Here's some links for information on that legendary spam. I remember sitting down to read my newsgroups that day and seeing this message in _every_ newsgroup I subscribed to. It was strange to see such a thing back then!
I was able to play a region "PAL 2-6" DVD I purchased from an eBay seller from the UK.
However, the DVD skipped a frame every second or so, making the video look a bit jerky. The DVD does not do this on my PC DVD drive or my standalone region-free DVD player. Region 1 DVDs look fine.
A quick search on Google found this place, which acts as sort of a wish list/gift registry. I have no idea how popular it is or how it works, though.
Many of the big online stores have their own wish list/gift registry systems in place. Oddly enough, GiftRegistry.com has links to some of these places.
No, it is not noisy, nor is it very hot, even after a long game of Halo. My PS2 is noiser and hotter than my XBox. My Dreamcast is noiser than either of those two.
On another note, it's nice to go into the memory settings and see "50,000+ blocks free" rather than something like "15/128 blocks free". Thats with a saved game from each of my 3 launch titles, too. =)
I wonder what kind of picture would come up if you used a Photon micro-light that emitted IR? Here's what their web page says about the IR light:
"Used by members of the Secret Service, this Photon light creates a powerful infrared beam invisible to the naked eye. Rated at 11mW, this little light is quite a bit more powerful than your average IR illuminator. When used in conjunction with night vision equipment, it will illuminate a large area. This Photon light is ONLY useful when used with night vision equipment or other equipment sensitive to infrared light."
I just reinstalled Bearshare, and was able to deselect the options for installing the adware programs. It's pretty easy to spot, unless you're flying through the install program by mashing on your enter key.
Back when I had my Palm PDA I used FitalyStamp as my input method (a version is also available for the PocketPC). It's significantly faster than graffiti, and according to a contest held last year the fastest "tapist" could tap out words at 81.74 wpm! Sound crazy? You can see for yourself how fast they tap.
Chalmers: (notices kitchen is on fire) Good Lord, what is happening in there? Skinner: Aurora Borealis? Chalmers: Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen? Skinner: Yes. Chalmers: May I see it? Skinner: Oh, erm... No.
You know, I also thought it was Darrien "Fox" as well. Then I started watching it with closed captioning and found out that it is Darrien "Fawkes".
Speaking of closed captioning, I've noticed that a lot of the shows I watch-- ER, Farscape, Invisible Man-- are being captioned with proper capitalization. Why the change from ALL CAPS, AS WITH OTHER SHOWS? I DID NOT LIKE ALL CAPS, THOUGH. IT'S PROBABLY FASTER TO READ, BUT IT'S NOT AS PRETTY.
They used to show anime movies for a while, usually Saturday mornings, but I don't think it ever came back after the summer of 98. This is taken from their FAQ:
We air an anime movie every Saturday morning in our Saturday Anime block (temporarily preempted for Summer '98). Acquiring the U.S. TV rights to anime is difficult and expensive (compared to other programming) so we only add new movies to our anime library during our annual Festival of Anime theme week. This theme week usually runs during the spring or summer months. We have no plans to acquire the rights to anime series - we only run anime movies.
I now understand Robert Beltran...
on
Voyager Eulogy
·
· Score: 1
I've been reading up on how Robert Beltran, the actor who played Chakotay, pretty much didn't care much for his role on Voyager. I frankly expected a lot more from the finale episode. An episode which was supposed to tie up all the loose ends. If anything, it left more loose ends than we had before!
I quote Mr. Beltran from an online transcript of one of his appearances, talking about the episode in which Kes returns (read here:
"...it was just the same old indication of
our writers and producers having their head firmly up their collective ass."
If the Federation develops time travel, then there's nothing to stop their peaceful existence, and there's nothing left to drive Star Trek.
The Federation supposedly does do this-- it was shown on Voyager in a few episodes. Captain Braxton and his Time Traveling Adventures!
Time travel is very confusing, so I hope they stay away from it unless they settle on a concrete method of explaining things to the average star trek viewer.
Slashdot Mirror
Patrick Smith, a writer and airplane pilot, has a recent column that explains how absurd the thought of a plane landing on its own, with or without "help" from an uninformed passenger, really is. It seems that airplane technology is still a long ways off from having planes that can safely fly a jet from point A to point B without human intervention.
I have a friend who recently had to take her computer in to Best Buy and spend $210 for them to diagnose, remove viruses/spyware, and install protection. It took them 2 days to do this. All of this because she is very computer illiterate (she uses it for email, visiting websites) and her mom is even morseo.
I tell them time and time again not to open strange email attachments and to keep automatic updates turned on. Still, even though neither of them will admit to ever clicking on "bad" emails or visiting spyware infested websites, the Best Buy techs managed to find over 30 different types of spyware installed.
Yes, because everyone is JUST LIKE YOU! How stupid of us to realize that these silly diagnoses are just made up.
Go back to the 18th century, asshole.
Story here. Neat stuff. :)
The Street Team's website can be found here. They have people in LA, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, and Dallas.
Don't worry. Wesley will save us!
I recently purchased a $2500 laptop (Toshiba 5105-S607) to use between work and home, as well as when I'm away from home. It's pretty powerful, so it also serves as a desktop replacement for my home machine.
I can't understand why people will pay thousands of dollars for a piece of machinery, then carlessly leave it at a table or seat while they go off and do something else. Even if it's company equipment, somebody paid for that laptop. I think these are the same people who leave their car running with the keys in the ignition while they drop off their 3-day-late movie at Blockbuster, or run into store to grab a coke. It never hurts to be overly cautious.
When I'm at work, I lock the laptop down with one of those 4-digit combo locks attached to a metal wire. I know that any person with an interest in my $2500 machine can come along with a pair of wire cutters and hack off the wire. Having the lock on there is to basically keep the honest people honest. When I leave for lunch I take off the combo lock and lock the laptop up in my drawer. When I'm done for the day I pack everything up and take it back home with me.
Noise alarms are just annoying and don't really help, much like car alarms. When's the last time you ran towards an alarm, thinking to help overpower a thief? If anything, like the article says, the thief would just chuck the alarm card, or better yet feign embarassment while pretending it really is his/her laptop.
Simply paying attention to your surroundings and taking that extra step to secure your laptop will often work better than more expensive options, which unfortunately might cause people to let down their guard.
A family friend had their Mobil Speedpass stolen last week. It was to their keyring, and they had taken it in to the dealership to have the car serviced. The wife dropped the car off in the morning. She was trying to remove the little speedpass but had a hard time doing so. Since she believed it to be a fairly reputable establishment (one of the only luxury car dealers in town), she thought it'd be safe with the keys.
She was wrong.
After the husband returned to pick up the car that evening he noticed that the speedpass was missing from the keyring. He assumed that it was taken off before giving them the keys. When he got home he found out that they had taken the speedpass. They called up Mobil to report it missing, only to find out that someone had just recently used it to purchase $150 worth of items and gas. The thief even tried to use it again the next evening to buy some items, but the speedpass had already been disabled.
So, if you do get one of these speedpass items, or already have one, make sure you always carry it with you. Do not trust anyone else with it. The same thing applies for those little highway transponders that pay tolls for you-- take them off your winshield if you can. Thieves love these things since you don't have to prove your identity to anyone.
Here's some links for information on that legendary spam. I remember sitting down to read my newsgroups that day and seeing this message in _every_ newsgroup I subscribed to. It was strange to see such a thing back then!
m l
http://www.eff.org/pub/Intellectual_property/Legal /Cases/Canter_Siegel/
http://www.skypoint.com/members/gimonca/usewar.ht
I was able to play a region "PAL 2-6" DVD I purchased from an eBay seller from the UK.
However, the DVD skipped a frame every second or so, making the video look a bit jerky. The DVD does not do this on my PC DVD drive or my standalone region-free DVD player. Region 1 DVDs look fine.
A quick search on Google found this place, which acts as sort of a wish list/gift registry. I have no idea how popular it is or how it works, though.
Many of the big online stores have their own wish list/gift registry systems in place. Oddly enough, GiftRegistry.com has links to some of these places.
No, it is not noisy, nor is it very hot, even after a long game of Halo. My PS2 is noiser and hotter than my XBox. My Dreamcast is noiser than either of those two.
On another note, it's nice to go into the memory settings and see "50,000+ blocks free" rather than something like "15/128 blocks free". Thats with a saved game from each of my 3 launch titles, too. =)
Play Dance Dance Revolution! With a nice floor mat and a Playstation, or even a PC, you can burn those calories in no time.
I wonder what kind of picture would come up if you used a Photon micro-light that emitted IR? Here's what their web page says about the IR light:
"Used by members of the Secret Service, this Photon light creates a powerful infrared beam invisible to the naked eye. Rated at 11mW, this little light is quite a bit more powerful than your average IR illuminator. When used in conjunction with night vision equipment, it will illuminate a large area. This Photon light is ONLY useful when used with night vision equipment or other equipment sensitive to infrared light."
>Installing Smart-Tags software is the equivalent of signing up for TiVio to watch infomercials.
I guess so, seeing as how one day my TiVo decided I'd enjoy 5 hours of "Paid Programming".
Huh?
I just reinstalled Bearshare, and was able to deselect the options for installing the adware programs. It's pretty easy to spot, unless you're flying through the install program by mashing on your enter key.
What [fitaly.com] are [fitaly.com] you [fitaly.com] talking [fitaly.com] about? [fitaly.com]
Back when I had my Palm PDA I used FitalyStamp as my input method (a version is also available for the PocketPC). It's significantly faster than graffiti, and according to a contest held last year the fastest "tapist" could tap out words at 81.74 wpm! Sound crazy? You can see for yourself how fast they tap.
Chalmers: (notices kitchen is on fire) Good Lord, what is happening in there?
Skinner: Aurora Borealis?
Chalmers: Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?
Skinner: Yes.
Chalmers: May I see it?
Skinner: Oh, erm... No.
You know, I also thought it was Darrien "Fox" as well. Then I started watching it with closed captioning and found out that it is Darrien "Fawkes".
Speaking of closed captioning, I've noticed that a lot of the shows I watch-- ER, Farscape, Invisible Man-- are being captioned with proper capitalization. Why the change from ALL CAPS, AS WITH OTHER SHOWS? I DID NOT LIKE ALL CAPS, THOUGH. IT'S PROBABLY FASTER TO READ, BUT IT'S NOT AS PRETTY.
I quote Mr. Beltran from an online transcript of one of his appearances, talking about the episode in which Kes returns (read here:
I'm suing you.