>> TO: <entire address book> >> RE: SPAMMERS HARVESTING EMAIL ADDRESSES! >> >> ok please everyone i was watching cnn today >> and they were saying that spammers sometimes >> take forwarded jokes and warnings and collect >> the email addresses off of them! for those of >> you who do not know spammers are not canned >> meat enthusiasts LOL they are hackers who send >> out pornographics and viruses through email so >> please be careful when forwarding emails to >> your friends and family. >> >> Please forward this warning to everyone in >> your address book.
Actually, if it was properly formatted to be a title, "is" would also have to be capitalized, since the only things you don't capitalize are prepositions and noun identifiers (unless they are at the beginning of the title).
Conversely, it's not properly formatted to be a sentence wherein "Play Video Games" is a title or subject, since "Homework" is capitalized. You could argue that "Homework" refers to a proper noun in this case rather than the common noun, although there is no reason to assume that. Furthermore, I really hate myself for taking the time to argue this crap. Sorry.
I absolutely LOVE when people say Windows hasn't changed since Windows 95, because it basically invalidates their argument. Just because Microsoft has kept the concepts of a "Start Menu" and a "desktop" around, does not mean that the OS hasn't changed. I recently encountered a Windows 95 machine after not seeing one for several years, and I was amazed how hard a time I had adjusting to it.
Most of the UI changes are subtle between Windows versions, but they make such a difference in usability. Even between 2K and XP, I often find myself expecting a lot of little conveniences that I forget 2K doesn't have.
Still, the guy I keep chained up in my basement is allowed to watch all his favourite television shows. Doesn't make his kidnapping any more legitimate.
And I get internet access. It's really not all that bad down here, actually. Oh, gotta go, Friends is coming on!
... So then you're implying that the responsibility to prevent "unauthorized duplication" is on the distributor, because the distributor signed a contract saying that they would SELL the author's work, and not allow it to be acquired without remuneration? That sounds like a case for DRM...
Seriously, people. I've posted my stance on this issue several times, and have never been able to engage in a coherent discussion about it (because most repliers don't present a valid counter-argument).
You may not be depriving the author/artist/programmer any quantifiable sum of money, but you are going against the very premise of capitalism, which is to compensate someone for the products or services they render. Of course most "pirates" wouldn't consider it right to do this with physical items (or perhaps it's simply the risk of bad consequences that deters them), yet somehow it is okay to do this when copying a digital medium, because no actual "theft" occurs. Except it does occur, because the product is not the bytes that are copied, it is the information contained therein, and all the work that went into creating that information. So you are still taking something without compensating the author, which is theft.
One counterargument I've heard is that people "pirate" (I use quotes so the pedants won't pounce) as a display of dissent towards the **AA/IP laws/The Man/etc. But that is complete bullshit. There is a very prominent difference between dissent and deviance; the former is intended to prove a point about your beliefs, the latter is to veil your selfishness in someone else's belief. Depriving yourself of art because you disagree with the laws concerning it and don't want to fund the **AA is dissent. "Pirating" the art so you can enjoy it without abiding by the rules concerning it is deviance.
My argument is not for or against intellectual property (though I do support the idea within reasonable limits), it is for people to declare that what they do is wrong by social standards, regardless of what their personal standards are.
That's my problem, too. Cynical and jaded as I may be-- and I am pretty damned cynical and jaded--, I just can't fathom how people do the things they do, and how in their minds, these things are alright.
But yeah, after my friends stopped laughing, they told me it could've been a much nastier situation, and I guess I was pretty fortunate.
But that's distorting the argument a little bit. Having a working knowledge of something is not the same as being an expert in it.
No, you shouldn't be expected to know the slack of your timing chain, but you should know how to operate your wipers, turn signal, proper pressure of your tires, what the warning lights mean, road signs, etc.
Similarly, using a computer does not mean you need to know how to program a database, or set up an authentication relay to a secondary domain. But you should know the peripheral functions of the tools you use everyday. And you should be familiar with the safegaurds that ARE in place to protect you, imperfect as they may be. I don't think there is a way to prevent scamming other than educating the user (security holes are another matter entirely).
The most effective phishing attempt on me was carried out IRL.
My friends and I drove from Tallahassee to Atlanta for a concert, and as we got into downtown that night, I stopped for gas at a Chevron. This guy in a blue and white (Chevron's colors) jacket-thing walks up and asks what I need.
Me: "Just ten bucks in gas. Guy: "Alright." [Guy is just standing there staring at me] Me: "... Do I just pay you?" Guy: "Yeah." Me: "... Oh, okay."
I hand the guy ten bucks, and he walks off into the night, and I'm standing there feeling like a COMPLETE dumbass. Needless to say, it wasn't one of my proudest moments. But I was a stupid 17-year-old kid, so...
The funniest (I guess) part was that a cop SAW THE WHOLE THING, comes by and I tell him what just happened. He shakes his head and says, "Don't come around here no more." Nice, officer, way to make me feel safe in your city.
You can do this with VBScript. I used it to automate a *very* poorly-designed imaging procedure, which had us doing two hours of identical setup on every machine, then transferring over the user's profile (which should have been stored on the network to begin with).
Anyway, for a few tasks where I couldn't interact directly with the shell, I had VBScript parse the active window and enumerate the controls on it, which allowed me to manipulate them as you suggested.
Well, it was done in conjunction with AOL, where most users are either on dialup or have no idea what internets are outside of AOL keywords...
As for my take on the report, I'm surprised they actually had to research this. With the influx of cheap home entertainment equipment and cheap DVDs, as well as convenient rental programs (NetFlix, et al), I can't imagine many people who would want the hassle of movie theaters anymore. Movies are a social/cultural (used loosely) experience, but that doesn't mean you'd prefer a group of obnoxious strangers to an intimate group of friends.
Also, watching movies at home, you have an exponentially more options on what to watch than the latest few releases.
Hmmm... I'm not so sure which way the **AA/BSA pendulum will swing on this one.
I haven't heard much about the file-swapping lawsuits lately, but I understand that they're still going on. However, if they do file suit against this company, it's kind of like "cleaning up" a tool that they've repeatedly condemned as the downfall of their industry. Also, I would imagine they're happy that P2Pers are getting infested with crap, and that would probably outweigh their desire to protect their (pirated) products.
If they did press charges or file suit and it gained publicity, they'd probably have to publicize a new slew of "average-joe" lawsuits, too.
... I've never really heard the argument that it takes too much work to get Linux to *look* how you like it, rather that it just takes too much goddamned effort to get it to work.
Every few months, I'll stumble across an image of Tux and get an itch to install the latest release of some distro (I research and find out which one will likely meet my needs). And every time, without fail, I'll be back on Windows within a few days. Either I can't get vital drivers to work (my system is a couple years old, so it's not cutting-edge stuff), or I can't install the software that I'd like, or I simply can't do most of the stuff I do in Windows, other than basic web/music/email stuff.
And too often I see people saying, "well it's open-source so you can code some modules and recompile your kernel, or write your own programs or--"... no. I'm past the days where I tinker with my machine just for the hell of it, now I use my machine to get done the many different things I need to get done, like graphic design, 3D modelling, audio recording and manipulation, programming, and a bunch of other stuff. I want my OS to work, and to allow me to work with minimal effort. And Linux simply does not provide me that luxury. Granted, Windows has some issues, but it's still the best general-use, workstation/desktop OS available.
Actually, the two methods of control in the US are maintaining widespread ignorance (which leads to apathy and acceptance of propaganda) and maintaining the facade of democracy while completely disregarding it in practice. But back to your point...
I agree that valuing and expressing individuality are very, very important to fixing our broken society. But I liken the idea of consumer nonconformity to all the punk/hardcore kids I used to see at concerts (which is why I stopped going and, ultimately, became so disillusioned with the music): they all strived to appear outwardly unique, but they all looked the same. At first I blamed the recent pop-punk upsurge for dilluting the "scene" and watering down the core philosophies of the punk movement, but then I realized that that's the way it's always been. While some may hold true the ideals of any movement, invariably the message will be lost/reinterpreted/mainstreamed and it will be just another clique group to which to conform. All the Hot Topic goths running around thinking they're *so* different and misunderstood, and the world is dark and dreary and -- oh look, how convenient that a big corporation caters to their needs as individuals amidst this pillar of consumerism and conformity (the mall).
In fact, I'm currently reading _Nation_of_Rebels_ (US title; original Canadian title is _Rebel_Sell_), and it deals with this very issue. Very good read so far, and while it's not groundbreaking, it's given me a much better understanding of the whole counterculture thing.
... I will admit the main reason I'm a big Mac fan is that it has a degree of originality to it in a world that's forced to conform.
Seriously, wtf? You look to your mass-produced computer/OS for nonconformity? You think it's a little rebellion against a "world that's forced to conform"? It's just a computer, and more importantly, just a product. It does not promote "thinking differently", that's just an ad campaign.
I'm really not trying to be a troll or a dick, I just don't understand that statement at all. If you think the Mac is a better product for your needs, cool. But if you think it somehow "encourages" nonconformity, you need to reexamine your definition of conformity.
Really, I think the difference is that they (we) are the ones who said we'd never do it. We were supposed to welcome the tired, the weak, and the poor-- huddled masses and all-- and be a land of opportunity. But our history and our present show that it was a bunch of bullshit.
But they could protect us, if they'd just stop pissing off every other country in the world.
Look, when you call a peoples "barbaric and backwards" (to say nothing of a history of imperialism and crippling foreign economic policy), you're going to rattle some proverbial beehives. This whole "us and them" mentality that's emerged in the U.S. is frightening; this dehumanization of our enemies and its acceptance by our citizens is downright terrifying.
It reminds me of the.sig I've seen floating around here about XML and violence; that has honestly become our mantra... "fight the possible threat of violence with more preemptive violence".
Heck, more people die of AIDS everyday then during 9/11. But I guess nobody cares about that.
No, of course not. AIDS is for teh gheys and the poor African countries, why should we Americans give a shit about them?
Those subhuman Muslim extremists from Iraqistan hate freedom, and America stands for freedom. The events that transpired on 9/11 serve as a reminder that those godless heathens are fueled by blind hatred, so by golly, let's just blindly hate them right back!
Seriously though, several posts in this thread have reignited my e'er-dwindling hope for humanity. I know there are people whose eyes are open, I just don't know why they remain so immobile. It's time we accept that the system does not work, and that change must come from the outside (*note to Carnivore: I am not endorsing terrorism*).
We need to open people's eyes-- to remind them that there are better ways to live than our current state of existence. Poverty and suffering, or ignorance and complacency is unacceptable.
Damnit, now I'm all riled up.
note: I know Carnivore is a (supposedly) defunct EMAIL scanner.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, this is the UK, so they don't have Amtrak there... ... You know... 'cause of all the derailments and stuff...
TO:
RE: GUYS READ!!1 IMPORTANT!!
Just got this and I thought I should warn you!
>> TO: <entire address book>
>> RE: SPAMMERS HARVESTING EMAIL ADDRESSES!
>>
>> ok please everyone i was watching cnn today
>> and they were saying that spammers sometimes
>> take forwarded jokes and warnings and collect
>> the email addresses off of them! for those of
>> you who do not know spammers are not canned
>> meat enthusiasts LOL they are hackers who send
>> out pornographics and viruses through email so
>> please be careful when forwarding emails to
>> your friends and family.
>>
>> Please forward this warning to everyone in
>> your address book.
Um... I thought it was Abe Froman, but good reference, ne'er-the-less.
Actually, if it was properly formatted to be a title, "is" would also have to be capitalized, since the only things you don't capitalize are prepositions and noun identifiers (unless they are at the beginning of the title).
Conversely, it's not properly formatted to be a sentence wherein "Play Video Games" is a title or subject, since "Homework" is capitalized. You could argue that "Homework" refers to a proper noun in this case rather than the common noun, although there is no reason to assume that. Furthermore, I really hate myself for taking the time to argue this crap. Sorry.
The satellite view shows my pool, though, so - Hey!! I can see my pool from space!!
That's more scary than exciting to me, though.
Imagine if if Slashdot were in existence on such planets. Imagine the commentaries posted on THOSE pages...
Well, it certainly couldn't be much more incoherent than yours.
I absolutely LOVE when people say Windows hasn't changed since Windows 95, because it basically invalidates their argument. Just because Microsoft has kept the concepts of a "Start Menu" and a "desktop" around, does not mean that the OS hasn't changed. I recently encountered a Windows 95 machine after not seeing one for several years, and I was amazed how hard a time I had adjusting to it.
Most of the UI changes are subtle between Windows versions, but they make such a difference in usability. Even between 2K and XP, I often find myself expecting a lot of little conveniences that I forget 2K doesn't have.
Kick Firefox to the curb
Kick Opera to the curb
Kick Maxthon to the curb
You forgot this one:
Kick Kmeleon to the curb
Still, the guy I keep chained up in my basement is allowed to watch all his favourite television shows. Doesn't make his kidnapping any more legitimate.
And I get internet access. It's really not all that bad down here, actually. Oh, gotta go, Friends is coming on!
... So then you're implying that the responsibility to prevent "unauthorized duplication" is on the distributor, because the distributor signed a contract saying that they would SELL the author's work, and not allow it to be acquired without remuneration? That sounds like a case for DRM...
Seriously, people. I've posted my stance on this issue several times, and have never been able to engage in a coherent discussion about it (because most repliers don't present a valid counter-argument).
You may not be depriving the author/artist/programmer any quantifiable sum of money, but you are going against the very premise of capitalism, which is to compensate someone for the products or services they render. Of course most "pirates" wouldn't consider it right to do this with physical items (or perhaps it's simply the risk of bad consequences that deters them), yet somehow it is okay to do this when copying a digital medium, because no actual "theft" occurs. Except it does occur, because the product is not the bytes that are copied, it is the information contained therein, and all the work that went into creating that information. So you are still taking something without compensating the author, which is theft.
One counterargument I've heard is that people "pirate" (I use quotes so the pedants won't pounce) as a display of dissent towards the **AA/IP laws/The Man/etc. But that is complete bullshit. There is a very prominent difference between dissent and deviance; the former is intended to prove a point about your beliefs, the latter is to veil your selfishness in someone else's belief. Depriving yourself of art because you disagree with the laws concerning it and don't want to fund the **AA is dissent. "Pirating" the art so you can enjoy it without abiding by the rules concerning it is deviance.
My argument is not for or against intellectual property (though I do support the idea within reasonable limits), it is for people to declare that what they do is wrong by social standards, regardless of what their personal standards are.
That's my problem, too. Cynical and jaded as I may be-- and I am pretty damned cynical and jaded--, I just can't fathom how people do the things they do, and how in their minds, these things are alright.
But yeah, after my friends stopped laughing, they told me it could've been a much nastier situation, and I guess I was pretty fortunate.
But that's distorting the argument a little bit. Having a working knowledge of something is not the same as being an expert in it.
No, you shouldn't be expected to know the slack of your timing chain, but you should know how to operate your wipers, turn signal, proper pressure of your tires, what the warning lights mean, road signs, etc.
Similarly, using a computer does not mean you need to know how to program a database, or set up an authentication relay to a secondary domain. But you should know the peripheral functions of the tools you use everyday. And you should be familiar with the safegaurds that ARE in place to protect you, imperfect as they may be. I don't think there is a way to prevent scamming other than educating the user (security holes are another matter entirely).
The most effective phishing attempt on me was carried out IRL.
My friends and I drove from Tallahassee to Atlanta for a concert, and as we got into downtown that night, I stopped for gas at a Chevron. This guy in a blue and white (Chevron's colors) jacket-thing walks up and asks what I need.
Me: "Just ten bucks in gas.
Guy: "Alright."
[Guy is just standing there staring at me]
Me: "... Do I just pay you?"
Guy: "Yeah."
Me: "... Oh, okay."
I hand the guy ten bucks, and he walks off into the night, and I'm standing there feeling like a COMPLETE dumbass. Needless to say, it wasn't one of my proudest moments. But I was a stupid 17-year-old kid, so...
The funniest (I guess) part was that a cop SAW THE WHOLE THING, comes by and I tell him what just happened. He shakes his head and says, "Don't come around here no more." Nice, officer, way to make me feel safe in your city.
You can do this with VBScript. I used it to automate a *very* poorly-designed imaging procedure, which had us doing two hours of identical setup on every machine, then transferring over the user's profile (which should have been stored on the network to begin with).
Anyway, for a few tasks where I couldn't interact directly with the shell, I had VBScript parse the active window and enumerate the controls on it, which allowed me to manipulate them as you suggested.
Well, it was done in conjunction with AOL, where most users are either on dialup or have no idea what internets are outside of AOL keywords...
As for my take on the report, I'm surprised they actually had to research this. With the influx of cheap home entertainment equipment and cheap DVDs, as well as convenient rental programs (NetFlix, et al), I can't imagine many people who would want the hassle of movie theaters anymore. Movies are a social/cultural (used loosely) experience, but that doesn't mean you'd prefer a group of obnoxious strangers to an intimate group of friends.
Also, watching movies at home, you have an exponentially more options on what to watch than the latest few releases.
Hmmm... I'm not so sure which way the **AA/BSA pendulum will swing on this one.
I haven't heard much about the file-swapping lawsuits lately, but I understand that they're still going on. However, if they do file suit against this company, it's kind of like "cleaning up" a tool that they've repeatedly condemned as the downfall of their industry. Also, I would imagine they're happy that P2Pers are getting infested with crap, and that would probably outweigh their desire to protect their (pirated) products.
If they did press charges or file suit and it gained publicity, they'd probably have to publicize a new slew of "average-joe" lawsuits, too.
... I've never really heard the argument that it takes too much work to get Linux to *look* how you like it, rather that it just takes too much goddamned effort to get it to work.
Every few months, I'll stumble across an image of Tux and get an itch to install the latest release of some distro (I research and find out which one will likely meet my needs). And every time, without fail, I'll be back on Windows within a few days. Either I can't get vital drivers to work (my system is a couple years old, so it's not cutting-edge stuff), or I can't install the software that I'd like, or I simply can't do most of the stuff I do in Windows, other than basic web/music/email stuff.
And too often I see people saying, "well it's open-source so you can code some modules and recompile your kernel, or write your own programs or--"... no. I'm past the days where I tinker with my machine just for the hell of it, now I use my machine to get done the many different things I need to get done, like graphic design, 3D modelling, audio recording and manipulation, programming, and a bunch of other stuff. I want my OS to work, and to allow me to work with minimal effort. And Linux simply does not provide me that luxury. Granted, Windows has some issues, but it's still the best general-use, workstation/desktop OS available.
Actually, the two methods of control in the US are maintaining widespread ignorance (which leads to apathy and acceptance of propaganda) and maintaining the facade of democracy while completely disregarding it in practice. But back to your point...
I agree that valuing and expressing individuality are very, very important to fixing our broken society. But I liken the idea of consumer nonconformity to all the punk/hardcore kids I used to see at concerts (which is why I stopped going and, ultimately, became so disillusioned with the music): they all strived to appear outwardly unique, but they all looked the same. At first I blamed the recent pop-punk upsurge for dilluting the "scene" and watering down the core philosophies of the punk movement, but then I realized that that's the way it's always been. While some may hold true the ideals of any movement, invariably the message will be lost/reinterpreted/mainstreamed and it will be just another clique group to which to conform. All the Hot Topic goths running around thinking they're *so* different and misunderstood, and the world is dark and dreary and -- oh look, how convenient that a big corporation caters to their needs as individuals amidst this pillar of consumerism and conformity (the mall).
In fact, I'm currently reading _Nation_of_Rebels_ (US title; original Canadian title is _Rebel_Sell_), and it deals with this very issue. Very good read so far, and while it's not groundbreaking, it's given me a much better understanding of the whole counterculture thing.
... I will admit the main reason I'm a big Mac fan is that it has a degree of originality to it in a world that's forced to conform.
Seriously, wtf? You look to your mass-produced computer/OS for nonconformity? You think it's a little rebellion against a "world that's forced to conform"? It's just a computer, and more importantly, just a product. It does not promote "thinking differently", that's just an ad campaign.
I'm really not trying to be a troll or a dick, I just don't understand that statement at all. If you think the Mac is a better product for your needs, cool. But if you think it somehow "encourages" nonconformity, you need to reexamine your definition of conformity.
I could mod your comment down past the threshold, if you'd like.
Wait, shit... nevermind.
Well, since this is slashdot, even though the site won't load for me and I haven't seen the heatsink, let me just say: HOLY CRAP THAT'S HUGE!
Really, I think the difference is that they (we) are the ones who said we'd never do it. We were supposed to welcome the tired, the weak, and the poor-- huddled masses and all-- and be a land of opportunity. But our history and our present show that it was a bunch of bullshit.
But they could protect us, if they'd just stop pissing off every other country in the world.
.sig I've seen floating around here about XML and violence; that has honestly become our mantra... "fight the possible threat of violence with more preemptive violence".
Look, when you call a peoples "barbaric and backwards" (to say nothing of a history of imperialism and crippling foreign economic policy), you're going to rattle some proverbial beehives. This whole "us and them" mentality that's emerged in the U.S. is frightening; this dehumanization of our enemies and its acceptance by our citizens is downright terrifying.
It reminds me of the
Repeat after me: Netscape, Is, Now, Just, A, Brand.
Or, for brevity: NINJA B!
Actually, that'd be a cool band name...
"Death to Pirates, the new single from Ninja B. Out now!"
Heck, more people die of AIDS everyday then during 9/11. But I guess nobody cares about that.
No, of course not. AIDS is for teh gheys and the poor African countries, why should we Americans give a shit about them?
Those subhuman Muslim extremists from Iraqistan hate freedom, and America stands for freedom. The events that transpired on 9/11 serve as a reminder that those godless heathens are fueled by blind hatred, so by golly, let's just blindly hate them right back!
Seriously though, several posts in this thread have reignited my e'er-dwindling hope for humanity. I know there are people whose eyes are open, I just don't know why they remain so immobile. It's time we accept that the system does not work, and that change must come from the outside (*note to Carnivore: I am not endorsing terrorism*).
We need to open people's eyes-- to remind them that there are better ways to live than our current state of existence. Poverty and suffering, or ignorance and complacency is unacceptable.
Damnit, now I'm all riled up.
note: I know Carnivore is a (supposedly) defunct EMAIL scanner.