That commercial **really** creeps out my wife. She doesn't shop at Wal-Mart anymore because of it. (Because WM is pushing the hardest for RFID in consumer packaging.)
If I can't get a job after you fire me because I know your trade secrets, my price just went up and I need something uin my employment contract like tenure. This will happen through organized labor, you mark my words. They have a long history of dealing with employers that pull crap like this, they have a boatload of legal precedence behind thm and they have been looking for a way to regain relevance because their membership has been in decline in the US since the (at least) the eighties.
/Not saying I'm a big union fan, or that I think it's a good idea, I'm just saying they have an opportunity here.
Unfortunately, I think your point is going to be lost on some people.
While the article certainly has a point in pointing out the problem, at least in this scenario the criminal has to hit his targets old school: manually and one-at-a-time. This is a time-consuming, slow process that forces them to be in the geographic neighborhood of their victims.
I am more concerned about security privacy issues with data stored online, where you can hack a database 3,000 miles away and get 10 million PINs in an afternoon. Now *that's* an increase in productivity.
I think DM had the greatest spellcasting system ever, and Underworld (except for the typically Ultima-an "run an errand for the lackey" storyline) was a blast, too.
Students prefer interdisciplinary majors, where the programming skills are combined with solid scientific backgrounds in biotech, chemistry or business.
Oh, yeah, I can understand that you can get **solid** **scientific** training in business. That's why businessmen are so rational and always rely on evidence and.... AWW, CRAP, I JUST CAN'T SAY IT, NOT EVEN WITH MY IRONYMETER TURNED UP TO ELEVEN!!!
P.S. Biotech and Chemistry aren't really bastians of science, either.
P.P.S. If you weren't trained as a physicist, you aren't going to get that joke.
The other thing to keep in mind is that (unlike patents), US law requires to to defend your trademark or you lose it. Therefore, I also think this is a good idea. What does Microsoft charge to let you use "Microsoft Windows" or what does SCO/Novell charge to let you use "UNIX" in the name of your product? I bet LMI is charging quite a bit less.
OK - if you had to go back to school, would YOU want to use paper and pencil to write rough drafts? Would you want to go back to writing your final papers in ink? Would you want to use the Reader's Guide to go find MAGAZINE articles relevant to a topic you are studying? OR better yet - go to the photocopier to make copies of a map you will redraw for a geography report on Iceland (and you found a whole ONE BOOK on that country in your library)?
You know what happened while I was doing all that the first time through? My education. Education today isn't nearly manual enough. There subtlety to be found in repetition, doing things the long way, executing the steps yourself instead of consuming a result without doing your own analysis. Wax on, wax off young grasshopper. Besides, it is **DIFFICULT** to commit a felony with a pencil and paper. You pretty much have to walk into a bank and slide a note to the teller that reads "This is a stickup."
Why should we force kids to use outdated technology at school when they have the latest in their homes?
If I could convince their parents of it, I'd tell them to do the same at home. Part of the reason they can't talk to their kids is that they're too busy being distracted by blinkyboxes.
Somebody remind me... Exactly *why* is it we demand the presence of computers in public schools?
Oh, yeah. It's because school boards don't know what they are doing. The only reason you need computers in schools before college is to teach programming. All other uses just lead to distraction.
Furthermore, even if they gave up their.com domain names, who would want them? Seriously! Can you imagine "barelylegal.com" referring to anything else other than what it is? Maybe it could be some kind of riceboy nearly-out-of-spec car modification site or maybe even a community forum for close-to-outlaw renegade broadcast radio antennas, but would YOU be able to take that sort of thing seriously knowing what you know?
For those not in the know, they're an IE-only way of appending data to the end of the HTML doc and the using DOM and javascript to use that data to fill in form fields in the document. If you remember typing in BASIC programs from magazines in the 80's, it's a lot like the BASIC READ...DATA statement combo, or you can think of it like a really slick hack for doing an XML stylesheet transformation without using XSLT. (In both cases, XML data + Form layout produce HTML, but data islands are like creating the form first and dropping the data in later instead of transforming the data to wrap the form formatting around it like an XSLT.)
Just by using XDIs, you can assure that only IE platforms can use your site. Sure you can do the same thing in other ways, but some programmers choose not to. Pick your own reasons why.
It's simple supply & demand, really; the additional restrictions make the technology less desireable, which means the price has to come down to compensate. Let's say Sony wants to sell fully DRM'd self-destructing one-time-use HiDef BluRay movies at WalMart. At $20 apiece, they can frickin' eat my shorts. At $1 each, I'm a customer because it's better than PPV and rentals.
The only thing we (customers) can really do is not buy it (literally) which will force this whole DRM/Fair Use thing to work itself out in the marketplace.
I'm not talking about a single dramatic event such as a boycott (which will almost certainly happen and which almost certainly won't work), but rather over time they'll push a few customers out of the market here, then they'll push a few more customers out of the market there and pretty soon they aren't moving as many units as they need to. Oh, they're making great margins on the units they are moving, but volume *will* *suffer*. Count on it.
After blaming the lost revenue on a myriad of non-existant causes (including "phantom" piracy that isn't really happening because their DRM really is working), they will hopefully come around to realize that fair-use circulation gives them more value in exposure than they lose to piracy, just like the software business did 20 years ago.
That or we'll just give up on them and cut them entirely out of the loop -- a few of us customers out here are pretty good at making music, tv and movies all on our own without a big studio telling us how to do it.
All the DRM in the universe is useless if it causes the cash flow to stagnate.
Good point - I have to say that to some extent, I agree with you. I mean, there's quite a contrast between Jennifer Government and Farenheit 451. I don't want to pick on Mr. Barry ('cause this is only his second book), but in my opinion, he relies a bit too much on swearing for dialog (that's what I hate about Elmore Leonard), the characters are kinda flat and it really doesn't take long at all to turn into a standard crime thriller. Despite all that, though, he still shows promise in that the concept is interesting enough to warrant a reading anyway.
It's a crime drama/thriller set in a future where People take the name of the company they work for as their surname (John Nike, Ken Wal-Mart, etc.); and customer loyalty cards and brand recognition inpsire riots, war and murder.
I read it the same month I read Farenheit 451, (which might be the single best book I ever read.)
*THAT* was a fun month for paranoia, I can tell you.
All y'all that haven't read those two books need to go out and do so IMMEDIATELY. Thank you, Public Library for having them on the shelves.
In a lot of cases, I know exactly what it would take - support for XML data islands. I know, I know, the stock answer is that you should be doing that as an XML style sheet, so it's not a missing feature of Mozilla. The problem is when the app that requires data islands is owned by someone else who has not the time, the resources or the incentive to rewrite their app to do it "the right way" instead.
Besides, it seems to me that it should be possible to implement via a plugin, no? I mean, google for "mozilla xml data islands" and you'll find forum posts and articles going back to 2000 asking for this, so howscome nobody's tried to do it yet?
Slashdot Mirror
That commercial **really** creeps out my wife. She doesn't shop at Wal-Mart anymore because of it. (Because WM is pushing the hardest for RFID in consumer packaging.)
Next stop?
UNIONIZATION!
If I can't get a job after you fire me because I know your trade secrets, my price just went up and I need something uin my employment contract like tenure. This will happen through organized labor, you mark my words. They have a long history of dealing with employers that pull crap like this, they have a boatload of legal precedence behind thm and they have been looking for a way to regain relevance because their membership has been in decline in the US since the (at least) the eighties.
Unfortunately, I think your point is going to be lost on some people.
While the article certainly has a point in pointing out the problem, at least in this scenario the criminal has to hit his targets old school: manually and one-at-a-time. This is a time-consuming, slow process that forces them to be in the geographic neighborhood of their victims.
I am more concerned about security privacy issues with data stored online, where you can hack a database 3,000 miles away and get 10 million PINs in an afternoon. Now *that's* an increase in productivity.
Dungeon Master and Ultima Underworld.
I think DM had the greatest spellcasting system ever, and Underworld (except for the typically Ultima-an "run an errand for the lackey" storyline) was a blast, too.
<BR>Elite/Elite Plus -- The greatest game(s) ever written.<BR><BR>
P.S. This should be a poll.<BR>
Ha-ha!
People write things down in books because it's permanent.
People write things down online because it's not.
Students prefer interdisciplinary majors, where the programming skills are combined with solid scientific backgrounds in biotech, chemistry or business.
Oh, yeah, I can understand that you can get **solid** **scientific** training in business. That's why businessmen are so rational and always rely on evidence and
P.S. Biotech and Chemistry aren't really bastians of science, either.
P.P.S. If you weren't trained as a physicist, you aren't going to get that joke.
The other thing to keep in mind is that (unlike patents), US law requires to to defend your trademark or you lose it. Therefore, I also think this is a good idea. What does Microsoft charge to let you use "Microsoft Windows" or what does SCO/Novell charge to let you use "UNIX" in the name of your product? I bet LMI is charging quite a bit less.
/golf clap....
Well done, indeed.
By contrast, you can now buy a Dell PC for $299.
OK - if you had to go back to school, would YOU want to use paper and pencil to write rough drafts? Would you want to go back to writing your final papers in ink? Would you want to use the Reader's Guide to go find MAGAZINE articles relevant to a topic you are studying? OR better yet - go to the photocopier to make copies of a map you will redraw for a geography report on Iceland (and you found a whole ONE BOOK on that country in your library)?
You know what happened while I was doing all that the first time through? My education. Education today isn't nearly manual enough. There subtlety to be found in repetition, doing things the long way, executing the steps yourself instead of consuming a result without doing your own analysis. Wax on, wax off young grasshopper. Besides, it is **DIFFICULT** to commit a felony with a pencil and paper. You pretty much have to walk into a bank and slide a note to the teller that reads "This is a stickup."
Why should we force kids to use outdated technology at school when they have the latest in their homes?
If I could convince their parents of it, I'd tell them to do the same at home. Part of the reason they can't talk to their kids is that they're too busy being distracted by blinkyboxes.
Somebody remind me... Exactly *why* is it we demand the presence of computers in public schools?
Oh, yeah. It's because school boards don't know what they are doing. The only reason you need computers in schools before college is to teach programming. All other uses just lead to distraction.
Dude, give it up. The published paper is how the dudes on the Nobel committee (like everyone else) knew the work had been done.
Anyone know of a good Zebra shipping company I can invest in? They're gonna need a lot of Zebras.
Ummm, no. Einstein's NP was for his paper on the photoelectric effect. Read your source again.
Furthermore, even if they gave up their
Three words: XML Data Islands.
For those not in the know, they're an IE-only way of appending data to the end of the HTML doc and the using DOM and javascript to use that data to fill in form fields in the document. If you remember typing in BASIC programs from magazines in the 80's, it's a lot like the BASIC READ...DATA statement combo, or you can think of it like a really slick hack for doing an XML stylesheet transformation without using XSLT. (In both cases, XML data + Form layout produce HTML, but data islands are like creating the form first and dropping the data in later instead of transforming the data to wrap the form formatting around it like an XSLT.)
Just by using XDIs, you can assure that only IE platforms can use your site. Sure you can do the same thing in other ways, but some programmers choose not to. Pick your own reasons why.
It's simple supply & demand, really; the additional restrictions make the technology less desireable, which means the price has to come down to compensate. Let's say Sony wants to sell fully DRM'd self-destructing one-time-use HiDef BluRay movies at WalMart. At $20 apiece, they can frickin' eat my shorts. At $1 each, I'm a customer because it's better than PPV and rentals.
The only thing we (customers) can really do is not buy it (literally) which will force this whole DRM/Fair Use thing to work itself out in the marketplace.
I'm not talking about a single dramatic event such as a boycott (which will almost certainly happen and which almost certainly won't work), but rather over time they'll push a few customers out of the market here, then they'll push a few more customers out of the market there and pretty soon they aren't moving as many units as they need to. Oh, they're making great margins on the units they are moving, but volume *will* *suffer*. Count on it.
After blaming the lost revenue on a myriad of non-existant causes (including "phantom" piracy that isn't really happening because their DRM really is working), they will hopefully come around to realize that fair-use circulation gives them more value in exposure than they lose to piracy, just like the software business did 20 years ago.
That or we'll just give up on them and cut them entirely out of the loop -- a few of us customers out here are pretty good at making music, tv and movies all on our own without a big studio telling us how to do it.
All the DRM in the universe is useless if it causes the cash flow to stagnate.
I didn't say they weren't profiling, I said they didn't use loyalty cards. I can't cram all possible related insights into two lines, ya know.
Good point - I have to say that to some extent, I agree with you. I mean, there's quite a contrast between Jennifer Government and Farenheit 451. I don't want to pick on Mr. Barry ('cause this is only his second book), but in my opinion, he relies a bit too much on swearing for dialog (that's what I hate about Elmore Leonard), the characters are kinda flat and it really doesn't take long at all to turn into a standard crime thriller. Despite all that, though, he still shows promise in that the concept is interesting enough to warrant a reading anyway.
Regretably, the fact that Wal-Mart doesn't use loyalty cards is one of the few admirable things about them.
Anyone here ever read Jennifer Govenment by Max Barry?
It's a crime drama/thriller set in a future where People take the name of the company they work for as their surname (John Nike, Ken Wal-Mart, etc.); and customer loyalty cards and brand recognition inpsire riots, war and murder.
I read it the same month I read Farenheit 451, (which might be the single best book I ever read.)
*THAT* was a fun month for paranoia, I can tell you.
All y'all that haven't read those two books need to go out and do so IMMEDIATELY. Thank you, Public Library for having them on the shelves.
Does this mean U.K. employers need to worry about a mass exodus from the I.T. field, or is this just normal griping?"
I dunno... It's impossible to tell without CONTROL GROUPS, which is why research based upon the principles of the scientific method has them.
In a lot of cases, I know exactly what it would take - support for XML data islands. I know, I know, the stock answer is that you should be doing that as an XML style sheet, so it's not a missing feature of Mozilla. The problem is when the app that requires data islands is owned by someone else who has not the time, the resources or the incentive to rewrite their app to do it "the right way" instead.
Besides, it seems to me that it should be possible to implement via a plugin, no? I mean, google for "mozilla xml data islands" and you'll find forum posts and articles going back to 2000 asking for this, so howscome nobody's tried to do it yet?
Perspective: 10 million is probably about what they spent to get that fetid, stinking Lindsay Lohan CD on the air.
You wanna punish them meaningfully? Hack their personal radios so all they can listen to is that for six years --they'll stop.