" In place of a signature on the back of the card I have always put down "Check ID" To me this is the least that a store can do to reduce the chances that my stollen card might be used to purchase things for the thief."
Checking anything other than the signature on the back of the credit card is usually in violation of the retailer's agreement with the credit card company.
"Heinlein is not for everyone. He was an intelligent, strong and opinionated writer."
Well said. I note that many of the posters here favor Heinlien's young adult stories. His later works require more patience and sophistication on the part of the reader.
I think the first story I read was "Tunnel In The Sky" when I was ten. I read Stranger when I was 14 and I walked around for days in a sort of post-electric-shock sort of way.
"However, it is rather rude to use plain text. One person saving time by not making links clickable wastes the time of the many people who want to use the link."
I'm sorry, but in my world it is the computer's job to make the links clickable, not me. That's what it's for, after all.
"One could imagine, for instance, contact lenses with displays and miniature computers on them, so that you can experience a virtual tour of a new city as you walk around."
Someone did imagine this sort of technology. I particularly like "Fast Times at Fairmont High" by Vernor Vinge for it's description of wearable computers/contacts use for visual 'enhancement'.
I haven't looked at "There" yet, but I suspect we don't have a Metaverse yet. I really want one.
The Metaverse in Snow Crash had real world connections. This is lacking in virtual worlds to date. I don't mean network connections for the participants, I mean connections to resources.
In the Metaverse, I could go up to a virtual web browser and browse the web. I could make a phone call, I could access databases, etc., etc.
Until a virtual world has real-world connections (or replacements - that database could be internal I suppose), it's just a toy.
"I once read a book about the fact that radio masts mounted onto buildings were a plan to brainwash the nation and only a psychotic patient was able to communicate this fact to his shrink."
In the real world, we call those 'television antennas'
It's not a problem for me. I've had a P.O. Box and an unlisted phone number all of my adult life (decades).
The only people who know my real address is the electric company, and I expect it's just a matter of time before data-mining/coordination undoes *years* of hard work.
"First of all, New England refers to those states in the North which are part of the original colonies. Maine didn't even exist when the term came into use, so I don't know where the hell you get this tripe from."
I think you're confused. Very confused.
It appears you have have combined two separate and distinct statements into one, and then objected when your construction did not make sense.
Nobody said anything about Maine being one of the original colonies except you.
Today's usage of 'New England' is Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
This is easily verified by throwing a few keywords at Google. One prominent link is from the United States Geological Survey, which lists the six states I mentioned above.
As it turns out, Connecticut and bits of Vermont were affected, so certainly some New England states were involved with the power outage. It would still be inaccurate to say that New England in general was affected.
A. (this post is off-topic, as it it's parent, and should be moderated as such - were anyone still reading)
"For the geographicall [sic] challenged, the areas affected are known as the "New England" States and the "Great Lakes Region". To New Englanders, it's specifically the "Northwest Corridor"."
Mr. Pedantic here,
You're apparently not a 'New Englander'. I am, have been for several decades. I've never heard anyone refer to New York as the 'Northwest Corridor'. Maybe it's power-speak.
While I'm being pedantic, 'New England' isn't even affected. New England is considered by most modern* people as Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Perhaps you were thinking of 'The NorthEast', which should be sufficiently vague to suit your needs?
* Once upon a time, 'New England' referred to the original 13 colonies, but it's been a while since that was in general use.
"With/. being one of the largest content delivery systems on the net..."
I'm sorry, but could you offer any justification for this statement? Most people on the web have heard of Yahoo, and probably Google but/. is not mainstream. If 'largest' means 'one of the top 5,000 sites' then ok, fine.
The solution for this already exists. Buy movies that say 'Enhanced for 16x9'. These movies use the full DVD frame for picture information. DVD players attached to 4:3 TVs will perform the letterboxing automatically. A 16x9 display have as close to a 100% fill rate as the film format allows.
This is also called 'Anamorphic Widescreen' at IMDB.
Now that Widescreen format is winning, we can press for anamorphic transfers and get rid of letterboxing. The sun will shine, birds will sing, and there will be much rejoicing.
(Using an anamorphic transfer fills the DVD frame with picture information - if any letterboxing needs to be done, it's done by the DVD player, and only for those displays that require it.)
"Addresses an issue in which domain name lookups could fail if the DNS server responded with a very large reply packet."
Since Akamai's servers appear to work fine for just about everyone else, and Apple did choose to issue a fix, the implication is that they had a bug. I haven't read anything that points to Akamai - and I did a *lot* of googling trying to sort this out.
Yes, it's possible that Akamai changed their servers at the same moment that I upgraded to 10.2.6, but I don't think that is as likely as Apple dropping a fix on the floor by accident.
What I do know is that last night I upgraded to.6, and today browsing is near impossible, just like it was before.5
Slashdot Mirror
" In place of a signature on the back of the card I have always put down "Check ID" To me this is the least that a store can do to reduce the chances that my stollen card might be used to purchase things for the thief."
Checking anything other than the signature on the back of the credit card is usually in violation of the retailer's agreement with the credit card company.
A.
"Heinlein is not for everyone. He was an intelligent, strong and opinionated writer."
Well said. I note that many of the posters here favor Heinlien's young adult stories. His later works require more patience and sophistication on the part of the reader.
I think the first story I read was "Tunnel In The Sky" when I was ten. I read Stranger when I was 14 and I walked around for days in a sort of post-electric-shock sort of way.
A.
"At least he didn't wake up inside the body of Diana."
That's a different book.
(see "I Will Fear No Evil")
A.
"However, it is rather rude to use plain text. One person saving time by not making links clickable wastes the time of the many people who want to use the link."
I'm sorry, but in my world it is the computer's job to make the links clickable, not me. That's what it's for, after all.
A.
"One could imagine, for instance, contact lenses with displays and miniature computers on them, so that you can experience a virtual tour of a new city as you walk around."
Someone did imagine this sort of technology. I particularly like "Fast Times at Fairmont High" by Vernor Vinge for it's description of wearable computers/contacts use for visual 'enhancement'.
A.
I haven't looked at "There" yet, but I suspect we don't have a Metaverse yet. I really want one.
The Metaverse in Snow Crash had real world connections. This is lacking in virtual worlds to date. I don't mean network connections for the participants, I mean connections to resources.
In the Metaverse, I could go up to a virtual web browser and browse the web. I could make a phone call, I could access databases, etc., etc.
Until a virtual world has real-world connections (or replacements - that database could be internal I suppose), it's just a toy.
A.
"Not possible... You can't do this. Not without hooking up with someone outside..."
This is like saying "you can't possibly drink beer. No way. Not without raising your glass to your lips."
A.
"The first thing I do when I get a Solaris system is to install a whole heap of GNU utilities, all of which come with any of the Linux distribution."
They come with the Solaris distribution as well. Not Sun's fault if you don't install them.
A.
"I once read a book about the fact that radio masts mounted onto buildings were a plan to brainwash the nation and only a psychotic patient was able to communicate this fact to his shrink."
In the real world, we call those 'television antennas'
A.
"Is it a problem? I don't think so."
It's not a problem for me. I've had a P.O. Box and an unlisted phone number all of my adult life (decades).
The only people who know my real address is the electric company, and I expect it's just a matter of time before data-mining/coordination undoes *years* of hard work.
A.
(who never wanted it to become a 'problem')
"it's going the same angular speed as the ground"
True.
The original poster seemed to be under the impression that the atmosphere would be going past at a thousand miles an hour, and I was moved to respond.
A.
"as the atmosphere whizzes past it 24/7"
Umn... whizzes? It's going the same speed as the atmosphere...
A.
"First of all, New England refers to those states in the North which are part of the original colonies. Maine didn't even exist when the term came into use, so I don't know where the hell you get this tripe from."
I think you're confused. Very confused.
It appears you have have combined two separate and distinct statements into one, and then objected when your construction did not make sense.
Nobody said anything about Maine being one of the original colonies except you.
Today's usage of 'New England' is Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
This is easily verified by throwing a few keywords at Google. One prominent link is from the United States Geological Survey, which lists the six states I mentioned above.
As it turns out, Connecticut and bits of Vermont were affected, so certainly some New England states were involved with the power outage. It would still be inaccurate to say that New England in general was affected.
A.
(this post is off-topic, as it it's parent, and should be moderated as such - were anyone still reading)
"For the geographicall [sic] challenged, the areas affected are known as the "New England" States and the "Great Lakes Region". To New Englanders, it's specifically the "Northwest Corridor"."
Mr. Pedantic here,
You're apparently not a 'New Englander'. I am, have been for several decades. I've never heard anyone refer to New York as the 'Northwest Corridor'. Maybe it's power-speak.
While I'm being pedantic, 'New England' isn't even affected. New England is considered by most modern* people as Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Perhaps you were thinking of 'The NorthEast', which should be sufficiently vague to suit your needs?
* Once upon a time, 'New England' referred to the original 13 colonies, but it's been a while since that was in general use.
A.
"With /. being one of the largest content delivery systems on the net..."
/. is not mainstream. If 'largest' means 'one of the top 5,000 sites' then ok, fine.
I'm sorry, but could you offer any justification for this statement? Most people on the web have heard of Yahoo, and probably Google but
A.
...learn something new every day...
A.
"You can already play the songs on your iPod right in iTunes. Just turn auto-syncing off."
You can play songs from the iPod this way if it's on the "home" machine, but not if it's at some other machine.
A.
"UNIX technology was created for the x86 architecture"
In other news, it has been discovered that the current crop of teenagers has invented sex.
A.
"Also of note, who says that Jobs can't encorporate all the advantages Linux has into his OS."
Linux has advantages?
A.
"How much did AOL pay for Netscape? It certainly wasn't $750,000,000. Talk about a good return on an investment."
Ummn.. according to another news.com article, about 4.3 *billion*. You were saying?
A.
O "Realms of Mit'uen", wherefore art thou?
A.
(who spent many long winter hours there)
should be on your list.
I think it should be on everyone's list.
A.
The solution for this already exists. Buy movies that say 'Enhanced for 16x9'. These movies use the full DVD frame for picture information. DVD players attached to 4:3 TVs will perform the letterboxing automatically. A 16x9 display have as close to a 100% fill rate as the film format allows.
This is also called 'Anamorphic Widescreen' at IMDB.
A.
Now that Widescreen format is winning, we can press for anamorphic transfers and get rid of letterboxing. The sun will shine, birds will sing, and there will be much rejoicing.
(Using an anamorphic transfer fills the DVD frame with picture information - if any letterboxing needs to be done, it's done by the DVD player, and only for those displays that require it.)
A.
I generally don't reply to AC postings (as I don't usually see them), but between the mis-information and the request, an exception seems called for.
2 10
.6, and today browsing is near impossible, just like it was before .5
In spite of the AC claiming that this is not a OS bug, I beg to differ. In:
http://docs.info.apple.comarticle.html?artnum=120
Apple says:
"Addresses an issue in which domain name lookups could fail if the DNS server responded with a very large reply packet."
Since Akamai's servers appear to work fine for just about everyone else, and Apple did choose to issue a fix, the implication is that they had a bug. I haven't read anything that points to Akamai - and I did a *lot* of googling trying to sort this out.
Yes, it's possible that Akamai changed their servers at the same moment that I upgraded to 10.2.6, but I don't think that is as likely as Apple dropping a fix on the floor by accident.
What I do know is that last night I upgraded to
A.