Unfortunately, no. I got them on Sunday, used 3 of them right away. Then I was offline for a couple of days. I tried to use them in this thread before I left work, but couldn't. When I got home, they were timed out. Oh well.
I'm not too worried about it, as I tend to get mod points fairly often (about every 8 or 9 days, a couple times I've had 5 fresh mod points within a few hours of using my last one).
Actually, I had 2 mod points remaining before I posted... I started reading comments, wanted to mod one up (don't remember which one anymore), but the option wasn't available.
Apparently it's working now (I see that there's one comment modded up to 4) but too late for me... my mod points timed out this afternoon.
Oh well, there's always next time.
I have a couple of mod points left, and I was hoping to spend them here.... but for some reason the moderation drop-down lists are gone.
A bug in slash, perhaps?
All fine and good, as long as the reply-to address isn't forged.
Case in point: About 3 weeks ago my email was flooded with bounce-backs from spam. Apparently someone had used my email address in a forged From and Reply-To header. I recieved about 300 of these messages in 5 hours.
In your scenario, suddenly my email address is blacklisted, not the spammers. Oh well, guess it's time for a new Hotamil address anyway. (BTW, I do have another Hotamil address, that has never recived a non-"Hotmail member services" spam. I think the trick was to put nonstandard characters in there, that particular address has an _ character in it).
At one hearing last summer, Hollings all but called Powell a shill for big business in general and the large regional telephone companies in particular.
So, if I got read this correctly, Fritz (Disney) Hollings is calling Powell a corporate whore?
Here's another good one that I pulled on an MCI telemarketer once.
Salesdroid: "Hello sir. I'm calling you this evening to tell you... blah blah blah.... switching long distance carriers...."
Me: "I'm sorry, I don't think I can do that. I don't have a phone"
Salesdroid (prepared response): "Well, sir, that's..... uuuuuhhhhh... you don't have a phone?"
Me: "Yes. Hey, get off the microwave, I'm trying to cook dinner! (Click)"
I can just imagine that poor bastard sitting in his cube, his poor automaton braing trying to process such invalid input. To this day, it still makes me laugh (and yes, it's a true story).
Which is exactly the reason why I DON'T want a company issued cell phone or pager. I can understand having one for certain cases (a new system about to go live, the occasional on-call week, etc). But my general feeling is that I get my work done while I'm at work, and once I leave the office I leave my work at the office.
If the end is the same, I'd just as soon have the money come out of the *AAs' pockets than the tax coffers.
I agree. However, it seems slimy at best and possibly illegal at worst for a private entity to gather evidence that can later be used by the government in a criminal trial. In my mind, a private entity can certainly gather evidence for a civil court case, but should not be allowed to for a criminal one. Criminal cases are (should be) a government matter.
Personally, I feel that copyright infringement should be considered a civil matter, not a criminal one, hence the *AA's should be forced to bear the brunt of the investigative cost and have infringers charged in civil court.
So let me get this straight.... a PRIVATE (non-govmt) company is basically doing the dirty work for the FBI and *AA's?
Shouldn't investigating and collecting evidence for criminal cases (which is what their doing, the DMCA is the law of the land whether we like it or not) be the responsibility of a government law enforcement agency?
"We believe the court's action unnecessarily narrowed the Patriot Act and limited our ability to fully utilize the authority Congress gave us," the Justice Department said in a statement.
So, in other words, Congress (Legislative Branch) attempted to give additional (unconstitutional?) power to the Justice Department (Executive Branch), and this power was taken away by the court (Judicial Branch). Apparently the system, corrupt and ineffective though it may be, actually DOES work sometimes.
I got a phone/plan with Verizon for one simple reason: I could go 'anywhere' within a 6 state area and have my phone work. Verizon was the only plan that allowed local coverage both in Minnesota (where I live) and rural Iowa (where many of my friends/family live).
The last 2 times I've driven back and forth, I've noticed about a 70-mile gap in Verizon coverage along my main route, which wasn't there when I originally got the plan almost a year ago. I called Verizon, but never got a straight answer.
You know, if they would TELL customers about things like this, they just might be willing to accept it. As it is, I'm currently searching for a new phone plan.
What kind of anal person wastes time on scheduling/queuing algorithms for TP?!?!
It may seem stupid at first, but it could make for an easy introduction to algorithms for young students. Just because it's a somewhat inconsequential topic to everyday life doesn't mean it's not something that's useless.
For example, in my macroeconomics class my freshman year of college, the professor attempted to explain many of the economic concepts in terms of beer and college students. Law of supply and demand: Price of beer goes up, supply of beer goes up, but demand for beer goes down (college students, of course, being limited in budget). Compliments and substitutes: Price of pretzels goes down, demand for beer goes up.
Yes, they are simplified examples, but I firmly believe the only reason I remembered anything from that class to this day is because of the examples she used.
One of the many tidbits of knowledge from my parents:
"The main difference between smart people and dumb people is that smart people will know where to look for answers to their questions, while dumb people will just make something up"
Maybe it doesn't hold true in all cases, but I think it hits pretty close to the mark.
Though conventionally powered, Filo did away with mechanical steering, clutch, and braking hardware, replacing it all with wires and circuits controlled by a joystick.
IIRC, cars are required to have mechanical links to things like steering and braking, for the simple reason that if the computer controls fail, you would still have some measure of control over your vehicle.
I've personally had the power steering and power braking fail on a few cars that I've owned. If there was no mechanical backup. Not a fun experience, but at least I was able to stop/steer, albiet at with somewhat less control.
The thought of riding in a car whose steering/braking suddenly fails completely with no backup makes me shudder.
Yes, this is an issue. The biggest problem with biometrics as a unique identifier is that they don't tolerate failure well. If your retnia scan is compromised, there is no way to recover from the failure, short of an eye transplant.
I haven't had any problems with ethical/nonethical use of my information yet.
The key word here is yet. If a biometric national ID card comes into common use, you can bet that there are any number of corporations and script-kiddies who will find a way to use this information in a non-ethical way.
According to this the population of Iowa is 2,923,179 residents. Assuming each person has 1 legally-purchased copy of Win98, $40 to each person winds up costing Billy-Boy $116,927,160. Which is approximately 0.29% of M$'s $40 Billion cashpile.
A very insignificant amount in the grand scheme of things for Redmond.
The problem is simply this: If some third party manufactures a razor blade that attaches to the Schick razor, that blade can be used by the razor.
If some third party manufactures an ink cartridge that fits in the Cannon/HP/Epson printer, it will either produce poor-quality printing, not work, or cause the printer to break.
Besides, a $50 - $100 printer is a much bigger investment then a $3 razor.
Setting aside the privacy issues for a moment, how do these guys figure that $315 million will be enough money to create this system?
After all, with the current US population somewhere in the neighborhood of 270+ million (I'm too lazy to look up a more accurate estimate) they think they can create and implement this system for just over $1 per citizen?
Belo says that those links "can result in a viewer not understanding that the content is on our client's site"
If your webpage is so poorly designed that a 'deep link' within the page is unclear as to which site you're reading, your webpage is badly in need of a redesign.
You have to remember that this product is not intended for the typical/. reader. This product is aimed for the grandparents out there who don't know what a firewall is, much less why they would need one.
Even if it's not perfect, it's better then nothing.
One article does not a victory make. Yes, it's comforting to hear that the politicians are (maybe) actually listening to their constituents, but that does not imply that the battle has been won. Keep up the fight. Keep writing the letters, sending the faxes and donating to Digital Consumer and EFF.
And above all, don't become smug and complacent. We still have a long way to go.
And remember, as long as the bill is still alive in Congress somewhere, it's still a threat.
Slashdot Mirror
Unfortunately, no. I got them on Sunday, used 3 of them right away. Then I was offline for a couple of days. I tried to use them in this thread before I left work, but couldn't. When I got home, they were timed out. Oh well. I'm not too worried about it, as I tend to get mod points fairly often (about every 8 or 9 days, a couple times I've had 5 fresh mod points within a few hours of using my last one).
Actually, I had 2 mod points remaining before I posted... I started reading comments, wanted to mod one up (don't remember which one anymore), but the option wasn't available. Apparently it's working now (I see that there's one comment modded up to 4) but too late for me... my mod points timed out this afternoon. Oh well, there's always next time.
I have a couple of mod points left, and I was hoping to spend them here.... but for some reason the moderation drop-down lists are gone. A bug in slash, perhaps?
All fine and good, as long as the reply-to address isn't forged.
Case in point: About 3 weeks ago my email was flooded with bounce-backs from spam. Apparently someone had used my email address in a forged From and Reply-To header. I recieved about 300 of these messages in 5 hours.
In your scenario, suddenly my email address is blacklisted, not the spammers. Oh well, guess it's time for a new Hotamil address anyway. (BTW, I do have another Hotamil address, that has never recived a non-"Hotmail member services" spam. I think the trick was to put nonstandard characters in there, that particular address has an _ character in it).
This is why I wasn't an English major in college. Thanks for the correction.
At one hearing last summer, Hollings all but called Powell a shill for big business in general and the large regional telephone companies in particular.
So, if I got read this correctly, Fritz (Disney) Hollings is calling Powell a corporate whore?
Here's another good one that I pulled on an MCI telemarketer once.
Salesdroid: "Hello sir. I'm calling you this evening to tell you... blah blah blah.... switching long distance carriers...."
Me: "I'm sorry, I don't think I can do that. I don't have a phone"
Salesdroid (prepared response): "Well, sir, that's..... uuuuuhhhhh... you don't have a phone?"
Me: "Yes. Hey, get off the microwave, I'm trying to cook dinner! (Click)"
I can just imagine that poor bastard sitting in his cube, his poor automaton braing trying to process such invalid input.
To this day, it still makes me laugh (and yes, it's a true story).
Which is exactly the reason why I DON'T want a company issued cell phone or pager. I can understand having one for certain cases (a new system about to go live, the occasional on-call week, etc). But my general feeling is that I get my work done while I'm at work, and once I leave the office I leave my work at the office.
If the end is the same, I'd just as soon have the money come out of the *AAs' pockets than the tax coffers.
I agree. However, it seems slimy at best and possibly illegal at worst for a private entity to gather evidence that can later be used by the government in a criminal trial. In my mind, a private entity can certainly gather evidence for a civil court case, but should not be allowed to for a criminal one. Criminal cases are (should be) a government matter.
Personally, I feel that copyright infringement should be considered a civil matter, not a criminal one, hence the *AA's should be forced to bear the brunt of the investigative cost and have infringers charged in civil court.
So let me get this straight.... a PRIVATE (non-govmt) company is basically doing the dirty work for the FBI and *AA's?
Shouldn't investigating and collecting evidence for criminal cases (which is what their doing, the DMCA is the law of the land whether we like it or not) be the responsibility of a government law enforcement agency?
"We believe the court's action unnecessarily narrowed the Patriot Act and limited our ability to fully utilize the authority Congress gave us," the Justice Department said in a statement.
So, in other words, Congress (Legislative Branch) attempted to give additional (unconstitutional?) power to the Justice Department (Executive Branch), and this power was taken away by the court (Judicial Branch). Apparently the system, corrupt and ineffective though it may be, actually DOES work sometimes.
Now, if only we can get the DMCA overturned.....
I got a phone/plan with Verizon for one simple reason: I could go 'anywhere' within a 6 state area and have my phone work. Verizon was the only plan that allowed local coverage both in Minnesota (where I live) and rural Iowa (where many of my friends/family live). The last 2 times I've driven back and forth, I've noticed about a 70-mile gap in Verizon coverage along my main route, which wasn't there when I originally got the plan almost a year ago. I called Verizon, but never got a straight answer. You know, if they would TELL customers about things like this, they just might be willing to accept it. As it is, I'm currently searching for a new phone plan.
What kind of anal person wastes time on scheduling/queuing algorithms for TP?!?!
It may seem stupid at first, but it could make for an easy introduction to algorithms for young students. Just because it's a somewhat inconsequential topic to everyday life doesn't mean it's not something that's useless.
For example, in my macroeconomics class my freshman year of college, the professor attempted to explain many of the economic concepts in terms of beer and college students. Law of supply and demand: Price of beer goes up, supply of beer goes up, but demand for beer goes down (college students, of course, being limited in budget). Compliments and substitutes: Price of pretzels goes down, demand for beer goes up.
Yes, they are simplified examples, but I firmly believe the only reason I remembered anything from that class to this day is because of the examples she used.
The Librarian of Congress was duped by Yahoo!'s self-serving testimony in the CARP.
This is, of course, opposed to the self-serving testimony of the RIAA.
One of the many tidbits of knowledge from my parents:
"The main difference between smart people and dumb people is that smart people will know where to look for answers to their questions, while dumb people will just make something up"
Maybe it doesn't hold true in all cases, but I think it hits pretty close to the mark.
"Who controls the past now, controls the future.
Who controls the present now, controls the past."
-- Rage Against The Machine
IIRC, cars are required to have mechanical links to things like steering and braking, for the simple reason that if the computer controls fail, you would still have some measure of control over your vehicle.
I've personally had the power steering and power braking fail on a few cars that I've owned. If there was no mechanical backup. Not a fun experience, but at least I was able to stop/steer, albiet at with somewhat less control.
The thought of riding in a car whose steering/braking suddenly fails completely with no backup makes me shudder.
I haven't had any problems with ethical/nonethical use of my information yet.
The key word here is yet. If a biometric national ID card comes into common use, you can bet that there are any number of corporations and script-kiddies who will find a way to use this information in a non-ethical way.
According to this the population of Iowa is 2,923,179 residents. Assuming each person has 1 legally-purchased copy of Win98, $40 to each person winds up costing Billy-Boy $116,927,160. Which is approximately 0.29% of M$'s $40 Billion cashpile. A very insignificant amount in the grand scheme of things for Redmond.
I can maybe understand repeated stories on different days, but in back-to-back stories?
The problem is simply this: If some third party manufactures a razor blade that attaches to the Schick razor, that blade can be used by the razor.
If some third party manufactures an ink cartridge that fits in the Cannon/HP/Epson printer, it will either produce poor-quality printing, not work, or cause the printer to break.
Besides, a $50 - $100 printer is a much bigger investment then a $3 razor.
Setting aside the privacy issues for a moment, how do these guys figure that $315 million will be enough money to create this system?
After all, with the current US population somewhere in the neighborhood of 270+ million (I'm too lazy to look up a more accurate estimate) they think they can create and implement this system for just over $1 per citizen?
Seems a little conservative to me.
From the article:
Belo says that those links "can result in a viewer not understanding that the content is on our client's site"
If your webpage is so poorly designed that a 'deep link' within the page is unclear as to which site you're reading, your webpage is badly in need of a redesign.
You have to remember that this product is not intended for the typical /. reader. This product is aimed for the grandparents out there who don't know what a firewall is, much less why they would need one.
Even if it's not perfect, it's better then nothing.
One article does not a victory make. Yes, it's comforting to hear that the politicians are (maybe) actually listening to their constituents, but that does not imply that the battle has been won. Keep up the fight. Keep writing the letters, sending the faxes and donating to Digital Consumer and EFF.
And above all, don't become smug and complacent. We still have a long way to go.
And remember, as long as the bill is still alive in Congress somewhere, it's still a threat.