But apparently, "cracked" == "hacked" == "flamed" is now true:
Richter's company had been "flamed" -- attacked by a shadowy group of vigilantes who have taken to harassing spammers using just about any means they can dream up.
Thank you, mass media for yet again misinterpreting and destroying the lingo. Goddamnit, you're making it worse than hip-hop!
Probably the law should be extended to all public servents, including fire fighters and social workers. As another poster commented, though, there is a perception issue with police. I don't think anyone thinks that shooting fire fighters could be part of a good game, and it's a bit pathetic that shooting police officers is considered part of a good game.
I'm not sure I understand here...fire fighters and social workers aren't armed. Their jobs don't include killing people. Why would they be involved in a game whose theme was a revolt against an overwhelming and oppressive authority?
It should not matter whether or not I assault an officer or non-officer. If found guilty, I should serve the same sentence, otherwise it qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment. Likewise, a game should be banned/restricted based on violent content, not violent content specifically directed at the state or ruling class. Having an exception here is yet another symptom of the rampant corruption of our audaciously self-serving government.
Almost as alarming as the law is the fact that the designers of video games are so completely out of creativity that they have to resort to something as disgusting as shooting law enforcement officers. Is there truly nothing more interesting or fun that they can come up with for new video games?
How is shooting law enforcement officers any more disgusting than shooting anyone else? I find it inappropriate for you (or Washington state) to make an exception here. The worth of the life of a cop is no greater than that of another human being. Assault is assault and murder is murder, simulated or otherwise. There should be no distinction in the eyes of the law.
It seems that with today's advances in technology, the only way we can account for the loss of privacy in a Free society is to grant access to projects like this and TIA to everyone.
That's right, everyone. If the government can look at my entire purchase history, I should be able to look at the purchase histories of everyone employed by the government.
The only way all this crap will work acceptably is if I can spy on my government just as effectively as it can spy on me.
More lawyer scum looking for a quick buck. If you don't like a product, don't buy it.
If I were the plaintiffs, I'd want some serious reduction of lawyer compensation on the boiler-plate documents. There's no way a law firm should earn millions for search/replace...especially when it's not even done right.
When was the last time a cashier counted back your change. They usually give whatever the computer tells them. Counting back change is a lost art. There is no question that these unusual coin values would be more difficult. Ease in making change isn't simply number of coins given back.
During freshman year, I used to work as a bag-boy at the neighborhood grocery store. About once a year, the power would go out during business hours for about an hour. It was fun to be at work during that time since all the bag-boys-and-girls (who were typically the youngest people working in the store and most of them were still in school) would get to switch places with the checkers. They were typically much quicker than their out-of-practice adult counterparts at simple addition and making change by hand.
By running or executing Fizzer software (the Software), the owner of the machine used to run or execute the Software (the User) implicitly agrees to these terms, which include, but are not limited to....
And yet 90% of the net is still using IE? Why? Because features like that don't matter to Joe User. IE is "good enough", and inertia wins. They can't be bothered to upgrade.
Way, way, WAAAY off-topic here, but 80%-90% of the net is using IE because nearly 100% of the browsing is done from desktops of which 80%-90% have Windows and IE installed from the seller/distributor/factory. I.E., it's the default. Since there is friction in changing the default settings (especially when it comes to installing a different browser), most people don't do it. That's why there are so many MS-specific worms out there...they take advantage of insecure default settings* which most people don't change.
*Like the very existence of Internet Explorer itself.
Your vision of jpeg or turing-test challenge-response systems for email is simply frightening. Its holds promise of an ever escalating C-R war with spammers, perhaps ultimately destroying the convenience of email.
Not really, unless you're constantly receiving e-mail from new sources on a daily basis. Most of the legitimate mail I get comes from known sources (mailing lists, my friends/colleagues, service notices from my ISP, etc.).
I don't see it being that much more difficult than having to know and then dial someone's extension # after dialing a 7-10 digit phone number, or having to de-activate caller ID blocking before calling certain phone numbers.
<RantOnWhyIThinkTMDAShouldBeUbiquitous>
If people are really that lazy/stupid, do you really want them sending you e-mail? I know there are going to be like 600 replies about people's grandmothers, but I'm not interested in grandmothers (mine or anyone else's) using the Internet if it's painful for them. Hell, life is short (shorter for them), and they probably have much better things to do than sit in front of yet another screen and incur the pains of rapidly changing technology if they don't want to.
Want to talk to your grandmother? Call her up or write her a letter (trust me, she'll eat it up). Upset that you can't forward her all your e-mail jokes or send her a picture via your cell-phone? Send her a real photograph or complain to someone who cares.
Idiot-proof technology isn't a right. Hell, it isn't even fun a lot of the time...even for those of us who live it. Really, I'm serious: if this whole Internet thing pains you...don't use it. You're not missing much. Let your kids figure it out and then have them help you just like they do when you want to program your VCR. It will be fun, and you'll get to spend more time with your kids. People have been without this technology for most of recorded history and they've done just fine.
If you're forced to use it, ask whoever's forcing you to help. There are plenty of teachers out there. Good ones, too. You'd be surprised how effectively you can learn a new subject with a proper introduction.
Personally, I put some of the blame on over-commercialization. The goal isn't to create a compelling cartoon, its to create a marketing opportunity. Any more, a cartoon isn't a sucess unless it comes bundled with everything from action figures to its own cereal.
The Marvel Productions/Hasbro/Transformers franchise was one of the most popular and successful of these efforts when I was growing up G.I.-Joe was another one (He-Man to a lesser degree). I actually believe there was at one time at least one breakfast cerial dedicated to on of these.
I know that all of the above plotlines and toys had to do with (sometimes deadly) conflict, but it just seemed that there was a lot more imagination involved in playing with Transformers when the backstory (of why they existed in the first place and why they were at odds) was only given an occasional teaser in the show. Or what was behind Cobra Commander's mask or why was Destro's head silver or when was Teela going to finally get naked and make out with the Sorceress? Yes, it generated more profits by stringing kids along (like adults are strung along in soap operas), but it was fun.
I just don't see the same kind of thing with Sponge-Bob.
In particular, their Windows development tools and office suite still completely outclass the OS equivalents.
I have to call bullshit on this one. Microsoft development tools (i.e., those sold by Microsoft) are, contrary to popular religion, not the cat's hind end. I'm a developer and I've found that Visual Studio.NET and Source Safe and nearly every other MS "product" I try is the most ridiculously bloated and cumbersome tool imaginable. I really can't understand how people use them to do real work.
The GNU/OpenSource/POSIX LIDE or Loosely Integrated Development Environment (e.g., autoconf, automake, make, gcc, etc.), however, is standardized for nearly every platform now (yes, including Mac OS X and Windows) and Just Makes Sense(tm). By this I mean these are good, simple and extremely flexible tools which are configurable to work the way you do (not work you the way its developers want to). If I see another god-damned fscking "IDE" which "tightly" (meaning inflexibly) integrates to a broken source control system like CVS or VSS and doesn't easily allow me to drop-in my own replacement like Subversion or Perforce, I'm going to vomit.
By the way, these are also the same tools which are used to teach computer science and programming courses in Universities across the world (at least for now). Graduate with a BS in computer Science and chances are, unless you came from a crack-pot or sell-out operation, you are already trained in their use and can develop software for nearly every popular platform on the planet.
As far as office products are concerned, I'm not a publisher, but I do write a fair amount of documentation and give a number of presentations annually, and I find that OpenOffice 1.0.1 (distributed with RedHat 8.0) is more than sufficient for my needs and is being improved at an amazing rate. In fact, our entire office (business and technical staff alike) uses it without complaint.
You mentioned that tivoli's storage manager requires IE but a quick look at their product info page [ibm.com] indicats that they support HP/UX,linux,Solaris and other clients and if that is the case then their web software must work with other web clients.
Be wary of any application which requires a certain browser for an interface (IE, Mozilla or otherwise).
Browser-specific sites are bad, but apps are worse.
Opting out? How can I opt out? Will there be a big warnng box upon install that says, "Check this box if you wish to opt out of using secutiry features." Or will it be turned on by default and installed already when Joe User buys a new PC? Will it be easy to turn off?
Check here to opt out of using security features.*
*Note: in order to contact Microsoft(tm) customer support or be able to play Microsoft(tm) media using your Microsoft(tm) personal computer running Genuine Microsoft(tm) Software on Microsoft(tm) Trusted Hardware and Peripherals on the Microsoft(tm) Internet, this box must be checked.
yeah...gives knew meaning to shitty net connection.
Finally...an application worthy of Microsoft's technical expertise!
I just hope they don't let their marketing and legal expertise influence their next initiative. If that happens, we'll probably end up with a terminal that can be conveniently used to surf the net...while raping other people for money.
... Examples are vim, emacs, word, mozilla.... The problem is that he has probably run across the GUIs for kde and gnome and many of the unix GUIs that are out there, where keybord shortcuts are an after thought.
The problem with emacs is that everything but the keyboard shortcuts were an afterthought....;-)
space channel 5 isn't exactly new..... this is frivolity... also, I don't see the resemblence.
Except that, according to the story, "The singer further claims that between May and July 2000 Sega asked to license her likeness, image and name for the games for roughly $15,000, but she declined." If this is true, then Sega thought it was close enough to seek a license....
Then again, maybe why you don't see the resemblance now is because Sega was forced to change the game...which of course would make the lawsuit a little opportunistic.
Speaking of which, doesn't establishing a Bill of Rights seem like a little more pressing of an issue in a recently-toppled government than copyright protections?
2) You've used the word 'overweight'.... The girl is just fine, she's nowhere near over-weight.
You are correct. Overweight was a very poor word choice in retrospect.
Honestly, I followed the link, and came back to slashdot, at which time, all I could remember was large breasts. In my mind, these were over average in size. I must have attributed this characteristic to the rest of her, because I honestly couldn't remember anything but breasts until I went back to revisit the link after seeing your post.
I think I'm going to start an advertising campaign called, "how's the family," or, "wanna go get lunch," or maybe, "have a good weekend," and see how many people I can ruin with frivolous lawsuits who are just trying to get by making a living doing something they're passionate about. C'mon! Who's with me?
+1 Interesting? Did I miss something? How is some overweight naked amature a "good example of Sanos implementation together with the description of APIs and server-side architecture"?
I really hope this doesn't slip through on Meta-Moderation....
Monster has removed all resumes with Arab-sounding names
Well, at least it was aptly named.... Does that mean that Monster can't post EOE (equal opportunity employer) job listings anymore? Personally, I can tell you that our company won't be doing any recruiting through Monster.com for the next several years (at least), if ever.
That being said, to all the Muslims, Shi'ites, Sunnis, Bahai or anyone else who has recently had a resume removed from Monster.com or similar listing because of your linguistic, geographical or religious affliations: If you're talented, passionate, team-oriented and looking to move to a new Internet technology company in the Bay Area in the coming months, please send resumes directly to my e-mail address. We'll be happy to circumvent the outrageous recuiting fees to acquire new talent, regardless of origin.
Slashdot Mirror
Junk Mail != Spam.
But apparently, "cracked" == "hacked" == "flamed" is now true:
Richter's company had been "flamed" -- attacked by a shadowy group of vigilantes who have taken to harassing spammers using just about any means they can dream up.
Thank you, mass media for yet again misinterpreting and destroying the lingo. Goddamnit, you're making it worse than hip-hop!
I'm really anxious to see what comes next....
Probably the law should be extended to all public servents, including fire fighters and social workers. As another poster commented, though, there is a perception issue with police. I don't think anyone thinks that shooting fire fighters could be part of a good game, and it's a bit pathetic that shooting police officers is considered part of a good game.
I'm not sure I understand here...fire fighters and social workers aren't armed. Their jobs don't include killing people. Why would they be involved in a game whose theme was a revolt against an overwhelming and oppressive authority?
It should not matter whether or not I assault an officer or non-officer. If found guilty, I should serve the same sentence, otherwise it qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment. Likewise, a game should be banned/restricted based on violent content, not violent content specifically directed at the state or ruling class. Having an exception here is yet another symptom of the rampant corruption of our audaciously self-serving government.
This also has a very disturbing effect of promoting a police state. It is unhealthy to fail to question authority, especially when there's an widespread institutionalized cap on its intelligence.
Simulated murder is the same as real murder? Are you fsking insane?
You misunderstood my comment. Simulated murder of a cop is no more unjust than simulated murder of another human being.
Almost as alarming as the law is the fact that the designers of video games are so completely out of creativity that they have to resort to something as disgusting as shooting law enforcement officers. Is there truly nothing more interesting or fun that they can come up with for new video games?
How is shooting law enforcement officers any more disgusting than shooting anyone else? I find it inappropriate for you (or Washington state) to make an exception here. The worth of the life of a cop is no greater than that of another human being. Assault is assault and murder is murder, simulated or otherwise. There should be no distinction in the eyes of the law.
Checks and balances is the key.
It seems that with today's advances in technology, the only way we can account for the loss of privacy in a Free society is to grant access to projects like this and TIA to everyone.
That's right, everyone. If the government can look at my entire purchase history, I should be able to look at the purchase histories of everyone employed by the government.
The only way all this crap will work acceptably is if I can spy on my government just as effectively as it can spy on me.
More lawyer scum looking for a quick buck. If you don't like a product, don't buy it.
If I were the plaintiffs, I'd want some serious reduction of lawyer compensation on the boiler-plate documents. There's no way a law firm should earn millions for search/replace...especially when it's not even done right.
When was the last time a cashier counted back your change. They usually give whatever the computer tells them. Counting back change is a lost art. There is no question that these unusual coin values would be more difficult. Ease in making change isn't simply number of coins given back.
During freshman year, I used to work as a bag-boy at the neighborhood grocery store. About once a year, the power would go out during business hours for about an hour. It was fun to be at work during that time since all the bag-boys-and-girls (who were typically the youngest people working in the store and most of them were still in school) would get to switch places with the checkers. They were typically much quicker than their out-of-practice adult counterparts at simple addition and making change by hand.
Viruses should put EULA's on them!
By running or executing Fizzer software (the Software), the owner of the machine used to run or execute the Software (the User) implicitly agrees to these terms, which include, but are not limited to....
And yet 90% of the net is still using IE? Why? Because features like that don't matter to Joe User. IE is "good enough", and inertia wins. They can't be bothered to upgrade.
Way, way, WAAAY off-topic here, but 80%-90% of the net is using IE because nearly 100% of the browsing is done from desktops of which 80%-90% have Windows and IE installed from the seller/distributor/factory. I.E., it's the default. Since there is friction in changing the default settings (especially when it comes to installing a different browser), most people don't do it. That's why there are so many MS-specific worms out there...they take advantage of insecure default settings* which most people don't change.
*Like the very existence of Internet Explorer itself.
Your vision of jpeg or turing-test challenge-response systems for email is simply frightening. Its holds promise of an ever escalating C-R war with spammers, perhaps ultimately destroying the convenience of email.
Not really, unless you're constantly receiving e-mail from new sources on a daily basis. Most of the legitimate mail I get comes from known sources (mailing lists, my friends/colleagues, service notices from my ISP, etc.).
I don't see it being that much more difficult than having to know and then dial someone's extension # after dialing a 7-10 digit phone number, or having to de-activate caller ID blocking before calling certain phone numbers.
<RantOnWhyIThinkTMDAShouldBeUbiquitous>
If people are really that lazy/stupid, do you really want them sending you e-mail? I know there are going to be like 600 replies about people's grandmothers, but I'm not interested in grandmothers (mine or anyone else's) using the Internet if it's painful for them. Hell, life is short (shorter for them), and they probably have much better things to do than sit in front of yet another screen and incur the pains of rapidly changing technology if they don't want to.
Want to talk to your grandmother? Call her up or write her a letter (trust me, she'll eat it up). Upset that you can't forward her all your e-mail jokes or send her a picture via your cell-phone? Send her a real photograph or complain to someone who cares.
Idiot-proof technology isn't a right. Hell, it isn't even fun a lot of the time...even for those of us who live it. Really, I'm serious: if this whole Internet thing pains you...don't use it. You're not missing much. Let your kids figure it out and then have them help you just like they do when you want to program your VCR. It will be fun, and you'll get to spend more time with your kids. People have been without this technology for most of recorded history and they've done just fine.
If you're forced to use it, ask whoever's forcing you to help. There are plenty of teachers out there. Good ones, too. You'd be surprised how effectively you can learn a new subject with a proper introduction.
</RantOnWhyIThinkTMDAShouldBeUbiquitous>
Personally, I put some of the blame on over-commercialization. The goal isn't to create a compelling cartoon, its to create a marketing opportunity. Any more, a cartoon isn't a sucess unless it comes bundled with everything from action figures to its own cereal.
The Marvel Productions/Hasbro/Transformers franchise was one of the most popular and successful of these efforts when I was growing up G.I.-Joe was another one (He-Man to a lesser degree). I actually believe there was at one time at least one breakfast cerial dedicated to on of these.
I know that all of the above plotlines and toys had to do with (sometimes deadly) conflict, but it just seemed that there was a lot more imagination involved in playing with Transformers when the backstory (of why they existed in the first place and why they were at odds) was only given an occasional teaser in the show. Or what was behind Cobra Commander's mask or why was Destro's head silver or when was Teela going to finally get naked and make out with the Sorceress? Yes, it generated more profits by stringing kids along (like adults are strung along in soap operas), but it was fun.
I just don't see the same kind of thing with Sponge-Bob.
In particular, their Windows development tools and office suite still completely outclass the OS equivalents.
.NET and Source Safe and nearly every other MS "product" I try is the most ridiculously bloated and cumbersome tool imaginable. I really can't understand how people use them to do real work.
I have to call bullshit on this one. Microsoft development tools (i.e., those sold by Microsoft) are, contrary to popular religion, not the cat's hind end. I'm a developer and I've found that Visual Studio
The GNU/OpenSource/POSIX LIDE or Loosely Integrated Development Environment (e.g., autoconf, automake, make, gcc, etc.), however, is standardized for nearly every platform now (yes, including Mac OS X and Windows) and Just Makes Sense(tm). By this I mean these are good, simple and extremely flexible tools which are configurable to work the way you do (not work you the way its developers want to). If I see another god-damned fscking "IDE" which "tightly" (meaning inflexibly) integrates to a broken source control system like CVS or VSS and doesn't easily allow me to drop-in my own replacement like Subversion or Perforce, I'm going to vomit.
By the way, these are also the same tools which are used to teach computer science and programming courses in Universities across the world (at least for now). Graduate with a BS in computer Science and chances are, unless you came from a crack-pot or sell-out operation, you are already trained in their use and can develop software for nearly every popular platform on the planet.
As far as office products are concerned, I'm not a publisher, but I do write a fair amount of documentation and give a number of presentations annually, and I find that OpenOffice 1.0.1 (distributed with RedHat 8.0) is more than sufficient for my needs and is being improved at an amazing rate. In fact, our entire office (business and technical staff alike) uses it without complaint.
You mentioned that tivoli's storage manager requires IE but a quick look at their product info page [ibm.com] indicats that they support HP/UX,linux,Solaris and other clients and if that is the case then their web software must work with other web clients.
Be wary of any application which requires a certain browser for an interface (IE, Mozilla or otherwise).
Browser-specific sites are bad, but apps are worse.
Opting out? How can I opt out? Will there be a big warnng box upon install that says, "Check this box if you wish to opt out of using secutiry features." Or will it be turned on by default and installed already when Joe User buys a new PC? Will it be easy to turn off?
Check here to opt out of using security features.*
*Note: in order to contact Microsoft(tm) customer support or be able to play Microsoft(tm) media using your Microsoft(tm) personal computer running Genuine Microsoft(tm) Software on Microsoft(tm) Trusted Hardware and Peripherals on the Microsoft(tm) Internet, this box must be checked.
What's an ACL?
Access Control Layer
I think.
yeah...gives knew meaning to shitty net connection.
Finally...an application worthy of Microsoft's technical expertise!
I just hope they don't let their marketing and legal expertise influence their next initiative. If that happens, we'll probably end up with a terminal that can be conveniently used to surf the net...while raping other people for money.
but our so-called liberties are being whittled away
Clear-cut is probably more accurate.
... Examples are vim, emacs, word, mozilla.... The problem is that he has probably run across the GUIs for kde and gnome and many of the unix GUIs that are out there, where keybord shortcuts are an after thought.
;-)
The problem with emacs is that everything but the keyboard shortcuts were an afterthought....
Don't mod this post up...mod the parent up. For the lazy:
Deelite
Space Channel 5
space channel 5 isn't exactly new..... this is frivolity... also, I don't see the resemblence.
Except that, according to the story, "The singer further claims that between May and July 2000 Sega asked to license her likeness, image and name for the games for roughly $15,000, but she declined." If this is true, then Sega thought it was close enough to seek a license....
Then again, maybe why you don't see the resemblance now is because Sega was forced to change the game...which of course would make the lawsuit a little opportunistic.
...in a country without the Bill of Rights...
Speaking of which, doesn't establishing a Bill of Rights seem like a little more pressing of an issue in a recently-toppled government than copyright protections?
2) You've used the word 'overweight'.... The girl is just fine, she's nowhere near over-weight.
You are correct. Overweight was a very poor word choice in retrospect.
Honestly, I followed the link, and came back to slashdot, at which time, all I could remember was large breasts. In my mind, these were over average in size. I must have attributed this characteristic to the rest of her, because I honestly couldn't remember anything but breasts until I went back to revisit the link after seeing your post.
Ready for my -1 OffTopic mods now....
I think I'm going to start an advertising campaign called, "how's the family," or, "wanna go get lunch," or maybe, "have a good weekend," and see how many people I can ruin with frivolous lawsuits who are just trying to get by making a living doing something they're passionate about. C'mon! Who's with me?
+1 Interesting? Did I miss something? How is some overweight naked amature a "good example of Sanos implementation together with the description of APIs and server-side architecture"?
I really hope this doesn't slip through on Meta-Moderation....
Monster has removed all resumes with Arab-sounding names
Well, at least it was aptly named.... Does that mean that Monster can't post EOE (equal opportunity employer) job listings anymore? Personally, I can tell you that our company won't be doing any recruiting through Monster.com for the next several years (at least), if ever.
That being said, to all the Muslims, Shi'ites, Sunnis, Bahai or anyone else who has recently had a resume removed from Monster.com or similar listing because of your linguistic, geographical or religious affliations: If you're talented, passionate, team-oriented and looking to move to a new Internet technology company in the Bay Area in the coming months, please send resumes directly to my e-mail address. We'll be happy to circumvent the outrageous recuiting fees to acquire new talent, regardless of origin.