Since the Chipotle EFT breach, I've been using cash for everything I buy in person, withdrawing (typically) $100 from my account at a time, and I'm really beginning to wish I'd done this a long time ago. Not only do I have more privacy with respect to my purchasing habits, but balancing my account every month is so much easier when the total number of transactions every month is cut down to about 10% of what it used to be. Next will be 'closing the gap' with regard to online payments, which I don't have much choice about; I'll either start stuffing money into my one credit card, or get a rechargeable prepaid card and only ever keep on it what I need to spend online immediately. Either one should provide enough of a financial 'air gap' to give me some modicum of protection. Of course because Equifax were a bunch of useless wankers that let shit happen, nothing I do now may be enough to protect me from someone stealing my entire life..
Okay, what if they offered you three versions: (1) You pay a subscription fee or per-use micropayment. (2) You get 'traditional' ads. (3) You get the cryptocurrency mining javascript. All the above are opt-in, fully informed, never opt-out. Saying "I don't like any of the above, why can't I access the site for FREE?" means you're denied access to the site entirely; you must choose one of the three options.
1. They just threw down the 'digital gauntlet' at the feet of every hacker/hacker collective/black hat/white hat/whoever; they've more or less declared Open Season on themselves.
1A. They might know damned well they're doing this -- and want their own systems and methods tested in live-fire scenarios.
2. On the surface (allowing for some assumptions, for the sake of argument) this sounds great; but the 'hey, wait a minute..' moment soon comes, and you realize that they're setting themselves up as the Gatekeepers for the Internet; the digital Heimdall standing guard at the Rainbow Bridge to the Internet. That's a lot of power for one company to have, and with that power comes a lot of responsibility -- and potential for abuse.
3. DDoS attacks are just one form of digital treachery that is committed on the Internet; what about everything else?
Again, if it were I implementing this.. I probably would detect it being on a smartphone and not have it execute at all, or at most have it be 'opt in', simply because something like this would kill a smartphone battery in nothing flat, maybe even compared to playing HD video. They'd be offered a choice of paying a subscription fee or pay-per-use fee instead.
If they did something like that, they'd take what might have been a good replacement for annoying ads, and made it into something even more annoying than ads: making you sit there and wait, perhaps watching some inane countdown or 'progress bar' for something that the vast majority of people wouldn't understand. All I'm saying is, if it were I who were implementing this idea, I'd make it clear in the Terms of Service for the affected site that it's happening (perhaps with a one-time pop-up notice informing you) and otherwise let it execute silently in the background. Optionally a link you can click that shows realtime progress of the miner code in operation.
The real question is, I guess: Is this better or worse than ads? Pretty much everyone hates ads. This, ostensibly, would run silently in the background. If you're informed it's happening, and making a very broad assumption that there isn't going to be any malicious code being executed (implies they protect it from being hacked/repurposed into something malicious) is it a better solution for funding websites instead of ads?
This is one thought I immediately had: So far as I know, it takes some serious computing power to 'mine' any sort of cryptocurrency; dedicated, FPGA-based platforms have been purpose-built for it. Direct machine code running on a general-purpose CPU is a pale substitute for this, and Javascript is slow and bloated compared to that, and the code would only be running so long as you had a webpage open? I have a hard time seeing how it would 'mine' much of anything.
I've only been saying this for at least a YEAR, now. Companies hype their 'product'. The Media doesn't understand it and runs with it anyway. In the minds of laypeople everywhere reading all that, they conflate it with fantasy 'AI' they see in movies and on TV. The result: People think the so-called 'AI' everyone is talking about, is like something out of an Isaac Asimov novel, fully conscious, self-aware, and like a human being in it's ability to 'think'. Nothing could be farther from the truth though!
There is no Star Trek anything anymore, just 'Star Trek artificially flavored' productions. Won't even watch it for free, I got better things to be doing.
Most common things from Winco, because they are always cheapest. Most fresh produce and red meat from a more expensive store, for better quality. A few specialty items from Whole Foods, because they're who carries them. I'd go broke or go without buying everything from one store only.
As I said above: Winco. Or stores like it. Winco is nation-wide, too. There are THREE of them within 20 miles of me. You, friend, have it figured out, though.
Why should I go to Walmart for groceries when there is Winco, or Food Max, or any of the other non-membership stores like them, that have all the basics at the lowest prices? Specialty things I get in more expensive stores because that's where I can get them. Besides Walmart is evil.
Yes. And a year ago, when I first heard about Miscreant-o-soft having anything to do with Linux, I told people they would try to annex and subvert Linux -- because they want a Microsoft-only computing world -- and I was scoffed at and ridiculed, told that it would never happen. Are you all scoffing at me now? I was told the GNU license would prevent it. Guess what? That's just a piece of paper, it means NOTHING when you have a whole room full of high-priced lawyers working for you. Microsoft will eventually own Linux entirely, one way or another, and make sure computing platforms lock out anything independent anyone else writes. Not sure what, if anything, can stop this from happening.
Walmart Wants To Invade Your Home -- To Deliver Groceries
As some others have already commented: Walmart is the LAST place anyone I know would buy groceries.. what's to keep the driver from casing your house while you're not home.. and so on. Utterly clueless idea from Walmart.
Also, how many of you only go to one store for all your food shopping? I sure don't, and I don't know anyone who does, either.
How many bees in an average hive?
Honey bees are social insects that live in colonies. Honey bee colonies consist of a single queen, hundreds of male drones and 20,000 to 80,000 female worker bees. Each honey bee colony also consists of developing eggs, larvae and pupae.
Who the hell gets to glue a tiny RFID chip to 20,000 to 80,000+ bees?
I'm drinking coffee right now, and in fact had 200mg of caffeine anhydrous, in powder form, when I got up this morning.
But caffeine doens't cause cancer, and there is no such thing as 'second hand caffeine', blowing around for other people to inhale.
Your 'people you know' who don't use any drugs in their drug delivery device are outliers -- and probably lying to you, too.
I know quite well how science works -- and I also know that smokers get cancer and other life-ending diseases, and DIE, and most of them are insufferable jackasses, much like you're being, who are addicts to their filthy habit. E-cigs aren't really that much better and still keep them addicted. YOU are probably a smoker of one sort or another, based on how riled up you're getting over my perfectly reasonable and LOGICAL assertion that smoking is a filthy and unhealthy habit and that nicotine is a POISON, plain and simple, and has no place being inserted into the human body (unless you're just self-destructive and suicidal, I guess).
I suggest you get into a smoking cessation program before you become diseased and a burden to everyone around you. Kicking the habit will probably also make you less of a pain in the ass to deal with, too, not jonesing constantly for your poison fix.
Just checked: There are NO valid medical uses for nicotine. Now, you were saying?
Nicotine is a POISON. There is NO REASON why anyone should be voluntarily taking it into their bodies.
Are you a smoker, defending your nicotine addiction? I think it likely, and if so then I can't take your arguments seriously anyway. So how about you stop poisoning yourself, then we'll talk mkay?
Oh get real, it's a drug delivery device, always has been, and you can't defend it to anyone and expect to be taken seriously, and trying to compare it to other things is bullshit so you can knock that off too.
See, the problem is so many religious types are convinced that 'saving the planet' is a waste of time because it's going to end, soon anyway, so they feel like they can do whatever they want to it and it won't matter. Then there's the Dominionist types who fervently believe that speeding up the destruction of the planet will bring about the End Times and Zombie Jesus will come back to 'take them home'. That, in part, is the sort of mindset we're having to fight against.
I went from being religious, to non-religious and open-minded about things (have Wiccan-type friends, etc) and tolerant about all of it (so long as no one tried to force their 'beliefs' on me or anyone else) to my current state: All religion/spirituality/superstitious nonsense has to STOP -- because it's threatening to drag us backwards into a new Dark Age. Not on my watch it won't!
When are you people going to finally get the clue? Your habit is KILLING YOU, no matter how many end-runs around it you try. Just give it up already, and let's concentrate on putting tobacco and vape companies out of business once and for all.
Slashdot Mirror
Since the Chipotle EFT breach, I've been using cash for everything I buy in person, withdrawing (typically) $100 from my account at a time, and I'm really beginning to wish I'd done this a long time ago. Not only do I have more privacy with respect to my purchasing habits, but balancing my account every month is so much easier when the total number of transactions every month is cut down to about 10% of what it used to be. Next will be 'closing the gap' with regard to online payments, which I don't have much choice about; I'll either start stuffing money into my one credit card, or get a rechargeable prepaid card and only ever keep on it what I need to spend online immediately. Either one should provide enough of a financial 'air gap' to give me some modicum of protection. Of course because Equifax were a bunch of useless wankers that let shit happen, nothing I do now may be enough to protect me from someone stealing my entire life..
Okay, what if they offered you three versions: (1) You pay a subscription fee or per-use micropayment. (2) You get 'traditional' ads. (3) You get the cryptocurrency mining javascript. All the above are opt-in, fully informed, never opt-out. Saying "I don't like any of the above, why can't I access the site for FREE?" means you're denied access to the site entirely; you must choose one of the three options.
1. They just threw down the 'digital gauntlet' at the feet of every hacker/hacker collective/black hat/white hat/whoever; they've more or less declared Open Season on themselves.
1A. They might know damned well they're doing this -- and want their own systems and methods tested in live-fire scenarios.
2. On the surface (allowing for some assumptions, for the sake of argument) this sounds great; but the 'hey, wait a minute..' moment soon comes, and you realize that they're setting themselves up as the Gatekeepers for the Internet; the digital Heimdall standing guard at the Rainbow Bridge to the Internet. That's a lot of power for one company to have, and with that power comes a lot of responsibility -- and potential for abuse.
3. DDoS attacks are just one form of digital treachery that is committed on the Internet; what about everything else?
Again, if it were I implementing this.. I probably would detect it being on a smartphone and not have it execute at all, or at most have it be 'opt in', simply because something like this would kill a smartphone battery in nothing flat, maybe even compared to playing HD video. They'd be offered a choice of paying a subscription fee or pay-per-use fee instead.
If they did something like that, they'd take what might have been a good replacement for annoying ads, and made it into something even more annoying than ads: making you sit there and wait, perhaps watching some inane countdown or 'progress bar' for something that the vast majority of people wouldn't understand. All I'm saying is, if it were I who were implementing this idea, I'd make it clear in the Terms of Service for the affected site that it's happening (perhaps with a one-time pop-up notice informing you) and otherwise let it execute silently in the background. Optionally a link you can click that shows realtime progress of the miner code in operation.
The real question is, I guess: Is this better or worse than ads? Pretty much everyone hates ads. This, ostensibly, would run silently in the background. If you're informed it's happening, and making a very broad assumption that there isn't going to be any malicious code being executed (implies they protect it from being hacked/repurposed into something malicious) is it a better solution for funding websites instead of ads?
This is one thought I immediately had: So far as I know, it takes some serious computing power to 'mine' any sort of cryptocurrency; dedicated, FPGA-based platforms have been purpose-built for it. Direct machine code running on a general-purpose CPU is a pale substitute for this, and Javascript is slow and bloated compared to that, and the code would only be running so long as you had a webpage open? I have a hard time seeing how it would 'mine' much of anything.
I've only been saying this for at least a YEAR, now. Companies hype their 'product'. The Media doesn't understand it and runs with it anyway. In the minds of laypeople everywhere reading all that, they conflate it with fantasy 'AI' they see in movies and on TV. The result: People think the so-called 'AI' everyone is talking about, is like something out of an Isaac Asimov novel, fully conscious, self-aware, and like a human being in it's ability to 'think'. Nothing could be farther from the truth though!
There is no Star Trek anything anymore, just 'Star Trek artificially flavored' productions. Won't even watch it for free, I got better things to be doing.
Now they can track everyones' location with pinpoint accuracy.
Find the antenna and short it to ground. Then no one will be able to track you.
Most common things from Winco, because they are always cheapest. Most fresh produce and red meat from a more expensive store, for better quality. A few specialty items from Whole Foods, because they're who carries them. I'd go broke or go without buying everything from one store only.
As I said above: Winco. Or stores like it. Winco is nation-wide, too. There are THREE of them within 20 miles of me. You, friend, have it figured out, though.
Why should I go to Walmart for groceries when there is Winco, or Food Max, or any of the other non-membership stores like them, that have all the basics at the lowest prices? Specialty things I get in more expensive stores because that's where I can get them. Besides Walmart is evil.
Yes. And a year ago, when I first heard about Miscreant-o-soft having anything to do with Linux, I told people they would try to annex and subvert Linux -- because they want a Microsoft-only computing world -- and I was scoffed at and ridiculed, told that it would never happen. Are you all scoffing at me now? I was told the GNU license would prevent it. Guess what? That's just a piece of paper, it means NOTHING when you have a whole room full of high-priced lawyers working for you. Microsoft will eventually own Linux entirely, one way or another, and make sure computing platforms lock out anything independent anyone else writes. Not sure what, if anything, can stop this from happening.
Walmart Wants To Invade Your Home -- To Deliver Groceries
As some others have already commented: Walmart is the LAST place anyone I know would buy groceries.. what's to keep the driver from casing your house while you're not home.. and so on. Utterly clueless idea from Walmart.
Also, how many of you only go to one store for all your food shopping? I sure don't, and I don't know anyone who does, either.
You, also, are fired.
What's really going to bring humanity to it's knees? Dumbasses who can't manage to keep our data secure!
How many bees in an average hive?
Honey bees are social insects that live in colonies. Honey bee colonies consist of a single queen, hundreds of male drones and 20,000 to 80,000 female worker bees. Each honey bee colony also consists of developing eggs, larvae and pupae.
Who the hell gets to glue a tiny RFID chip to 20,000 to 80,000+ bees?
You are SO fired.
I'm drinking coffee right now, and in fact had 200mg of caffeine anhydrous, in powder form, when I got up this morning.
But caffeine doens't cause cancer, and there is no such thing as 'second hand caffeine', blowing around for other people to inhale.
Your 'people you know' who don't use any drugs in their drug delivery device are outliers -- and probably lying to you, too.
I know quite well how science works -- and I also know that smokers get cancer and other life-ending diseases, and DIE, and most of them are insufferable jackasses, much like you're being, who are addicts to their filthy habit. E-cigs aren't really that much better and still keep them addicted. YOU are probably a smoker of one sort or another, based on how riled up you're getting over my perfectly reasonable and LOGICAL assertion that smoking is a filthy and unhealthy habit and that nicotine is a POISON, plain and simple, and has no place being inserted into the human body (unless you're just self-destructive and suicidal, I guess).
I suggest you get into a smoking cessation program before you become diseased and a burden to everyone around you. Kicking the habit will probably also make you less of a pain in the ass to deal with, too, not jonesing constantly for your poison fix.
Just checked: There are NO valid medical uses for nicotine. Now, you were saying?
Nicotine is a POISON. There is NO REASON why anyone should be voluntarily taking it into their bodies.
Are you a smoker, defending your nicotine addiction? I think it likely, and if so then I can't take your arguments seriously anyway. So how about you stop poisoning yourself, then we'll talk mkay?
Wanking off about the evils of vaping
Oh get real, it's a drug delivery device, always has been, and you can't defend it to anyone and expect to be taken seriously, and trying to compare it to other things is bullshit so you can knock that off too.
Come on, vaping is just another drug delivery device, always has been since the beginning, regardless of it being nicotine or something else.
See, the problem is so many religious types are convinced that 'saving the planet' is a waste of time because it's going to end, soon anyway, so they feel like they can do whatever they want to it and it won't matter. Then there's the Dominionist types who fervently believe that speeding up the destruction of the planet will bring about the End Times and Zombie Jesus will come back to 'take them home'. That, in part, is the sort of mindset we're having to fight against.
I went from being religious, to non-religious and open-minded about things (have Wiccan-type friends, etc) and tolerant about all of it (so long as no one tried to force their 'beliefs' on me or anyone else) to my current state: All religion/spirituality/superstitious nonsense has to STOP -- because it's threatening to drag us backwards into a new Dark Age. Not on my watch it won't!
When are you people going to finally get the clue? Your habit is KILLING YOU, no matter how many end-runs around it you try. Just give it up already, and let's concentrate on putting tobacco and vape companies out of business once and for all.