Its always been my dream, to one day pull a gun and badge on someone and yell "Federal Agent, DONT MOVE!" or something cool like that. Unfortunately here in the UK theres nothing with any really catchy names, "Flying Squad" sounds lame, "MI5" sounds lame, the only cool thing i can think of is "Secret Service" but you would probably have to wisper it because its secret..:( Even the police dont have cool 4-letter things like NYPD or LAPD. "Swansea Police, FREEZE!"
I think its important for all geeks that want to join the FBI to get fit, and cherish their ability to pull guns and shout catchy phrases even if they have desk jobs. Mulder had to pass the physical, Scully had to pass the... mmmmmmm.. she definatly passed it:)
Alitalia do this, they also include "computers connected to printers.." because as you know, its very important to be able to print documents on a plane. It was probably written before laptops had cd drives.
Mobile phones, electronic razors, cameras with flash, millitary grade radio jammers, semi-automatic weapons, and plutonium are also on the list just incase....
Editing is one thing, but there are even sicker things you can do to a film. For example, showing it on tv with stupid little station logos in the corner (*cough* channel 5). Whats even worse, is when they convert a wide screen film to 4:3!!! (*cough* channel 5). This is sick, so sick, it needs to be stopped right now. Screw free-speech, if thats what it takes, free-speech must be stopped.
As far as i can tell, the USA is filled with allot of stupid people. Unfortunately, they make up the majority of the voting public, so the rest of the population has to suffer. I have an idea to solve that that:
In the next presidential election, a dummy candidate is planted. The dummy will have outrageous policies that are totally unconstitutional. for example "electronically tagging all Muslims" and removing the right to free speech for some people. The policies have to be the right balance here - not to far, but definitely not legal.
This way, you can identify the 'dumb' people who vote for this candidate. What you do next is the tricky part. You could remove their right to vote, claiming that their vote was in fact unconstitutional (its pushing it i know) or, the dummy candidate could just drop out or disappear, hopefully leaving the good one to win.
As you can see, its a work in progress, but it has potential?:)
How stable are hard drives really? all that data is packed pretty bloody close already, so your vital, un-backedup accounts data is probably the size of a pin-head - that sounds very safe:)
On the plus side, hard-drives would make excellent containers for transporting drugs - imagine if you will, a hard-drive manufacturer who designs a hard drive with enough space so that it can still work, even when packed with cocaine. They seal up the air filter so dogs cant smell it, and then ship a whole lot of hard drives out somewhere. If police check them, they will see working hard-drives - that weigh the same as the manufacturers specs. Then, at the destination, the drugs are removed and replaced with weights to match the specs. then sold as hard-drives.
That was pretty off topic and lacking of spell check..
Knowing the USA's liberal gun laws, soon you'll be able to pick-up guns and ammo 24 hours a day.
"I was chasing some 'intruders' down the street when my gun ran out of ammo, lucky for me there was an ammo-vending machine right next to me, so i pop'ed in some quarters and my driving license and got my weapon loaded up, ready to blow some 'intruders' away"
This could actually be useful in an invasion - the enemy probably wouldn't have any American money so they wouldn't be able to use the machines:)
I know its offtopic, but i heard that in the late 90's, the major american telecoms companies tried to have VoIP banned. Coupling this with things like the Microsoft anti-trust case(s) and this story and it seems to me that america is about as capitalist as communist russia was:) Lets not talk about Enron _cough_
While i dont care either way, it would be nice in future, if the country would make their political policies clear...
So basically, they want to propel a ship by blowing up nuke... Has someone been rocket-jumping in quake too much? or maybe thats grenade jumping... Either way, you end up getting damaged:)
What is the point in wasting money on this stuff. Dont governments have anything better to do? If a terrorist/criminal is so stupid that they dont encrypt all their communications then surely they are going to be caught doing something equally stupid, such as turning up to the airport with an AK under their arms. Al'Qaeda are not small time, they are far more competent than the American government in so many ways, they arnt going to be caught out with an un-encrypted email giving an exact time and location of their meet-up point to plant the nuke. Sorry, get over it, your just going to end up with 500TB of porn, spam, and cybersex logs, and afew bragging emails about how some kids wheeled some shopping carts full of road signs down the street on a drunken night out.
cant you just hack your drivers to display semi-transparent walls or wireframes. When i play counter-strike i use my own plain textures - red for terrorists, blue for counter, that way they show up better.
You pay subscription for a channel, but you still get adverts and the stupid logo's on the screen. Try the BBC's draconian licensing scheme, at least you get to watch tv programs for more than 5 minutes at a time.:)
I can tell you what will happen, Fritz Hollings will get his way. Eventually all tv will be digitally encrypted all the way to your tv screen. Attempting to open your sealed tv screen will cause the vital components inside to destroy themselves. The PVR will be built in and will only record approved programs and it certainly wont skip adverts, in fact, it will disable fast-forward during the playback of adverts. Along with breaks every 5 minutes, there will also be banner ads on your screen. You'll be able to remove the banners by paying a monthly fee. Your TV will require an uplink - i.e internet/phone to "synchronise" the clock, and also to send viewing statistics. On the plus side, it will be easier to pay for extras, and pay-per-view events, with features such as the "subscribe me to things you think i'll like" system that guesses what you like from your viewing habits (and from what the network decides you like) and automatically charges you for it. This feature will be turned on by default. Subscribing to the latest series of Friends will be easier than changing the clock.. in fact, its impossible to change the clock.
I have to say this is the most ingeniously crap and pointless copy-protection system ive ever seen. The hardware is impressive to the point that i almost didn't believe it. Alas, they forgot one thing, its not going to work because people will defeat it using the same methods they've used to defeat all the others. Software running on your PC is subject to your snooping, you can access any memory location and analyse any program, its an open platform and that's the way we want to keep it - free from Microsofts and Hollings shackles. That's why every key, dongle and serial has been cracked, and its about time that people realised that you cant build a 100% secure system.
Its a real pitty because that was a really ingenious idea, maybe they can use it for something else...
The fact that SACDs will have better audio quality is the worst. They are just baiting people in, and the thing is, i would have bought these if they had no copy-protection, and were sold at reasonable price. Now i wont
NET only includes electronic 'theft'. Is this because they wanted to use the word 'electronic', so they could make the cool name 'NET'? What about fibre-optics - if i transferr data through a fibre optic cable then thats isolating the 2 electronic circuits...
Maybe we'll achieve warp speed, then we can just send a ship out to grab it before the aliens see our embarassing gold disk - its only 12 hours away at light speed:)
Lots of people use email and IM to keep intouch with friends/relatives and avoid phone bills, especially students:) Most windows installations come with Netmeeting which is an audio/video phone and there are probably free/open alternatives. People need normal phones because they are.. simpler. They have an easy interface, they dont need to load up software, they dont crash, or need re-installing and they are cheap. Also, people like to have a handset that they can slam down, and it feels stupid leaning over your desk to talk to someone with a crappy little microphone. If your willing to pay a fee for the priveledge of having a line then they are fine. Also, i wouldn't trust my computer if i needed to phone in an emergency, infact i dont even trust my mobile, it crashes plenty.
Somehow i don't think they'll fit DRM systems and onboard encryption and signing into PIC microprocessors - the poster-child of mod-chips. Anyone want to try and build an entire PC-Compatible out of these?:)
Not living in the USA i couldnt give a crap if you get Fritz'ed or not. Im more worried that the just-as-evil governments around the world will decide they want this too. Whats worse, is that even if they don't, allot of important hardware comes from the US and the hardware companies there might decide that its easier to just make locked products and sell the same thing to everyone rather than have the extra over-head of building to versions of something. You never know, the government may decide that its illigal to even build unlocked devices for export.
DVD, Tivo, and modern games consoles have proven that no-one really cares if they have restricted control of a device in their own home, or if its proprietry. Just as long as they can see pretty colours, and drink their starbucks its all good.
Fairly direct to the legislators maybe, but I dont see the connection between selling products that maybe harmful to the environment and fataly dangerous to other citizens, and selling products that may be harmful to the RIAA and fatal to the senators wallets... oh wait, i see what you mean.
I think the issue here is not so much the phone, but the F*CKING STUPID NOISES IT MAKES! Why do people use stupid ring tones? its not funny, and certainly not novel anymore. Things that make lame noises and play tunes have been available since the 80's so why do people still actually find them attractive? You wouldn't go around town with a mullet! Dom Jolly was making a point when he went round London on a massive phone with the (perhaps copyright-infringing) Nokia ring tone on it, take his point and make your phone quieter. Put it on vibrate and the ring tone that makes a few little beeps, you can still hear it and turn it off before it gets any louder.
Personally, having my phone go off in a church/cinema/theatre/lecture etc. would be pretty f*cking embarrassing. It wouldn't help if the person at the front started shouting at me. Obviously, some people are so full of themselves that they don't really care.
Since the technology industry has been pleasuring themselves in anticipation of how much they can screw us with DRM and gadgets that follow _their_ commands, I expect they will use the GPS features in newer phones to lock the device when it enters a designated area such as a cinema, this would be pretty evil i agree - someone else controlling your property is never good, but the alternative would be to build shielding into buildings themselves...
Slashdot Mirror
Its always been my dream, to one day pull a gun and badge on someone and yell "Federal Agent, DONT MOVE!" or something cool like that. Unfortunately here in the UK theres nothing with any really catchy names, "Flying Squad" sounds lame, "MI5" sounds lame, the only cool thing i can think of is "Secret Service" but you would probably have to wisper it because its secret.. :( Even the police dont have cool 4-letter things like NYPD or LAPD. "Swansea Police, FREEZE!"
:)
I think its important for all geeks that want to join the FBI to get fit, and cherish their ability to pull guns and shout catchy phrases even if they have desk jobs. Mulder had to pass the physical, Scully had to pass the... mmmmmmm.. she definatly passed it
Alitalia do this, they also include "computers connected to printers.." because as you know, its very important to be able to print documents on a plane. It was probably written before laptops had cd drives.
Mobile phones, electronic razors, cameras with flash, millitary grade radio jammers, semi-automatic weapons, and plutonium are also on the list just incase....
Editing is one thing, but there are even sicker things you can do to a film. For example, showing it on tv with stupid little station logos in the corner (*cough* channel 5). Whats even worse, is when they convert a wide screen film to 4:3!!! (*cough* channel 5). This is sick, so sick, it needs to be stopped right now. Screw free-speech, if thats what it takes, free-speech must be stopped.
Join me, in the fight against free-speech now!
As far as i can tell, the USA is filled with allot of stupid people. Unfortunately, they make up the majority of the voting public, so the rest of the population has to suffer. I have an idea to solve that that:
:)
In the next presidential election, a dummy candidate is planted. The dummy will have outrageous policies that are totally unconstitutional. for example "electronically tagging all Muslims" and removing the right to free speech for some people. The policies have to be the right balance here - not to far, but definitely not legal.
This way, you can identify the 'dumb' people who vote for this candidate. What you do next is the tricky part. You could remove their right to vote, claiming that their vote was in fact unconstitutional (its pushing it i know) or, the dummy candidate could just drop out or disappear, hopefully leaving the good one to win.
As you can see, its a work in progress, but it has potential?
its hard to define stupid..
I got hit by some bird-shit once. I wonder if she was actually hit by a peice of bull-shit - its quite common you know
ROFL
How stable are hard drives really? all that data is packed pretty bloody close already, so your vital, un-backedup accounts data is probably the size of a pin-head - that sounds very safe :)
On the plus side, hard-drives would make excellent containers for transporting drugs - imagine if you will, a hard-drive manufacturer who designs a hard drive with enough space so that it can still work, even when packed with cocaine. They seal up the air filter so dogs cant smell it, and then ship a whole lot of hard drives out somewhere. If police check them, they will see working hard-drives - that weigh the same as the manufacturers specs. Then, at the destination, the drugs are removed and replaced with weights to match the specs. then sold as hard-drives.
That was pretty off topic and lacking of spell check..
Knowing the USA's liberal gun laws, soon you'll be able to pick-up guns and ammo 24 hours a day.
:)
"I was chasing some 'intruders' down the street when my gun ran out of ammo, lucky for me there was an ammo-vending machine right next to me, so i pop'ed in some quarters and my driving license and got my weapon loaded up, ready to blow some 'intruders' away"
This could actually be useful in an invasion - the enemy probably wouldn't have any American money so they wouldn't be able to use the machines
I know its offtopic, but i heard that in the late 90's, the major american telecoms companies tried to have VoIP banned. Coupling this with things like the Microsoft anti-trust case(s) and this story and it seems to me that america is about as capitalist as communist russia was :) Lets not talk about Enron _cough_
While i dont care either way, it would be nice in future, if the country would make their political policies clear...
So basically, they want to propel a ship by blowing up nuke... Has someone been rocket-jumping in quake too much? or maybe thats grenade jumping... Either way, you end up getting damaged :)
What is the point in wasting money on this stuff. Dont governments have anything better to do? If a terrorist/criminal is so stupid that they dont encrypt all their communications then surely they are going to be caught doing something equally stupid, such as turning up to the airport with an AK under their arms. Al'Qaeda are not small time, they are far more competent than the American government in so many ways, they arnt going to be caught out with an un-encrypted email giving an exact time and location of their meet-up point to plant the nuke. Sorry, get over it, your just going to end up with 500TB of porn, spam, and cybersex logs, and afew bragging emails about how some kids wheeled some shopping carts full of road signs down the street on a drunken night out.
cant you just hack your drivers to display semi-transparent walls or wireframes. When i play counter-strike i use my own plain textures - red for terrorists, blue for counter, that way they show up better.
Also, unlike fancy looking cars, fancy looking computers don't get you women.
:)
Of course, just like if a woman has a nice car, guys will swarm around her, but if shes a geek girl with neons and a window, she aint gettin' any.
t_allardyce - Making non-pc comments more pc
dude, chicks dont go for jocks anymore, they are dumb and lame. Everyone knows they totally dig hardware.
You pay subscription for a channel, but you still get adverts and the stupid logo's on the screen. Try the BBC's draconian licensing scheme, at least you get to watch tv programs for more than 5 minutes at a time. :)
I can tell you what will happen, Fritz Hollings will get his way. Eventually all tv will be digitally encrypted all the way to your tv screen. Attempting to open your sealed tv screen will cause the vital components inside to destroy themselves. The PVR will be built in and will only record approved programs and it certainly wont skip adverts, in fact, it will disable fast-forward during the playback of adverts. Along with breaks every 5 minutes, there will also be banner ads on your screen. You'll be able to remove the banners by paying a monthly fee. Your TV will require an uplink - i.e internet/phone to "synchronise" the clock, and also to send viewing statistics. On the plus side, it will be easier to pay for extras, and pay-per-view events, with features such as the "subscribe me to things you think i'll like" system that guesses what you like from your viewing habits (and from what the network decides you like) and automatically charges you for it. This feature will be turned on by default. Subscribing to the latest series of Friends will be easier than changing the clock.. in fact, its impossible to change the clock.
I have to say this is the most ingeniously crap and pointless copy-protection system ive ever seen. The hardware is impressive to the point that i almost didn't believe it. Alas, they forgot one thing, its not going to work because people will defeat it using the same methods they've used to defeat all the others. Software running on your PC is subject to your snooping, you can access any memory location and analyse any program, its an open platform and that's the way we want to keep it - free from Microsofts and Hollings shackles. That's why every key, dongle and serial has been cracked, and its about time that people realised that you cant build a 100% secure system.
Its a real pitty because that was a really ingenious idea, maybe they can use it for something else...
The fact that SACDs will have better audio quality is the worst. They are just baiting people in, and the thing is, i would have bought these if they had no copy-protection, and were sold at reasonable price. Now i wont
NET only includes electronic 'theft'. Is this because they wanted to use the word 'electronic', so they could make the cool name 'NET'? What about fibre-optics - if i transferr data through a fibre optic cable then thats isolating the 2 electronic circuits...
Why is copying bits considered theft?
Maybe we'll achieve warp speed, then we can just send a ship out to grab it before the aliens see our embarassing gold disk - its only 12 hours away at light speed :)
Lots of people use email and IM to keep intouch with friends/relatives and avoid phone bills, especially students :) Most windows installations come with Netmeeting which is an audio/video phone and there are probably free/open alternatives. People need normal phones because they are.. simpler. They have an easy interface, they dont need to load up software, they dont crash, or need re-installing and they are cheap. Also, people like to have a handset that they can slam down, and it feels stupid leaning over your desk to talk to someone with a crappy little microphone. If your willing to pay a fee for the priveledge of having a line then they are fine. Also, i wouldn't trust my computer if i needed to phone in an emergency, infact i dont even trust my mobile, it crashes plenty.
Somehow i don't think they'll fit DRM systems and onboard encryption and signing into PIC microprocessors - the poster-child of mod-chips. Anyone want to try and build an entire PC-Compatible out of these? :)
Not living in the USA i couldnt give a crap if you get Fritz'ed or not. Im more worried that the just-as-evil governments around the world will decide they want this too. Whats worse, is that even if they don't, allot of important hardware comes from the US and the hardware companies there might decide that its easier to just make locked products and sell the same thing to everyone rather than have the extra over-head of building to versions of something. You never know, the government may decide that its illigal to even build unlocked devices for export.
DVD, Tivo, and modern games consoles have proven that no-one really cares if they have restricted control of a device in their own home, or if its proprietry. Just as long as they can see pretty colours, and drink their starbucks its all good.
"The analogy is fairly direct."
Fairly direct to the legislators maybe, but I dont see the connection between selling products that maybe harmful to the environment and fataly dangerous to other citizens, and selling products that may be harmful to the RIAA and fatal to the senators wallets... oh wait, i see what you mean.
Have sex on the beach,
Sand in vagina, not nice,
Sounds alot like spam.
the corporate pigs,
they will sell it to spammers,
in the end its lame.
I think the issue here is not so much the phone, but the F*CKING STUPID NOISES IT MAKES! Why do people use stupid ring tones? its not funny, and certainly not novel anymore. Things that make lame noises and play tunes have been available since the 80's so why do people still actually find them attractive? You wouldn't go around town with a mullet! Dom Jolly was making a point when he went round London on a massive phone with the (perhaps copyright-infringing) Nokia ring tone on it, take his point and make your phone quieter. Put it on vibrate and the ring tone that makes a few little beeps, you can still hear it and turn it off before it gets any louder.
Personally, having my phone go off in a church/cinema/theatre/lecture etc. would be pretty f*cking embarrassing. It wouldn't help if the person at the front started shouting at me. Obviously, some people are so full of themselves that they don't really care.
Since the technology industry has been pleasuring themselves in anticipation of how much they can screw us with DRM and gadgets that follow _their_ commands, I expect they will use the GPS features in newer phones to lock the device when it enters a designated area such as a cinema, this would be pretty evil i agree - someone else controlling your property is never good, but the alternative would be to build shielding into buildings themselves...