> I might just as well die as go under the knife of someone who wouldn't have to suffer any consequences for gross negligence or incompetence.
Man, I'm hungry. I think I'll get a hamburger tonight.
Google for Fooburger - find 100 threads on USENET, slashburger.com and burger5hin.com from people complaining of food poisoning, roach shit in the salad, and the only beer on tap being Budweiser.
Google for Barburger - two complaints, one from a guy who drank too much Guinness.
God damn this free market.
I might just as well starve as go to a burger joint where the chef doesn't have to suffer any consequences for groce negligence or incompetence.
> It really becomes "pay or die".
> What would you do if you needed heart surgery ?
What would you expect your doctor (or a pre-med student) to do if you tell him he can't make a living performing heart surgery?
And when thousands of people faced with that possibility do the rational thing, namely switch their career to cab driving, selling their body for crack, or going into law school, how do you propose to get your heart surgery then?
> The Indian legal system is congested, and corrupt. Money talks. Judges can be bought, clerks must be bought to get things moving. Personal suits take years to hit the courthouse, and then rarely are decided by the merits, but by whose lawyers made the best offers along the way.
And this is different from the US system... how?
Oh, right. The merits of the case don't matter in either side of the border, but the defendant gets screwed even harder than the plaintiff. Therefore, at least you can get medical treatment in India.
> 3 out of 5 things regarding the equasion for Murphy's Law are easily manipulated. Put the right man ( skilled ) with the right experience ( frequency ) on the right job with plenty of time. ( urgency )
And no matter how urgent your need to try the calculator might be, the probability that the ever-lovin' fuck will have been slashdotted out of it by the time you get there, is equal to one.
> I wrote a "conquer the galaxy" game in UCSD Pascal when I was 19. Such fun, dealing with overlays to fit it in the 64k of my Apple ][+. I never sold it, alas, so dreams of become a rich game programmer never panned out.
At least one guy did. Wizardry was done in UCSD Pascal. Even in 1980, it surprised the hell out of me to see a commercial game done like that.
> Take a deep breath and repeat this phrase many times until it sinks in: public key encryption.
We're not talking about FTP or HTTP over TCP/IP, we're talking about the sort of thing Ballmer wants to use in order to turn the operating system into a subscription service.
In that world, if you don't control the remote server, you also don't control the client software that puts the data on the server.
> All you would need is a simple flash memory device with your private key on it. Only you know your passwords and passphrases. Thus, you could put anything you wanted on that big server in the sky and never worry.
Never mind the fact that no online storage system intended for the general public is going to support strong encryption in the first place.
The point is that if you don't control the client, your private key is compromised the instant you plug it into the device.
> I keep my really sensitive information on clay tablets buried in the back yard. I hear they're good for at least 10,000 years, and can never be hacked into over the internet.
Getting the girlfriend to hold still long enough for the plaster to set so I could cast a set of solid brass b00bies was another matter entirely.
> Could it just be that a lot of people who were prolific in downloading mp3's now have most of the songs they want?
Quite possibly. The first year you discover MP3, you get everything you always wanted, but could never find on CD. The second year, you go back to your first-year tracks, realize that 128/Xing sounds like ass, and redownload them at 192/LAME. The third year, you fill in the blanks.
And you have a music archive that (as long as you remember to do offsite backup of the hard drive) will be with you for the rest of your life. No DRM. No worries about companies going under. No worries about the DRM or playback software being available on whatever OS you're using in 2018. Ever.
> > Explain females to the slashdot crowd in 4 minutes, and I'll give the winner a copy of Duke Nukem Forever
> >Females: Those shapely things that always move *away* from you.
And to keep this on topic:...turning redder as you attempt to engage them in a discussion of special relativity at keg parties.
> Robert Jordan could then include the exact same material, give or take a few words, in the sequel, and the third in the series and so on, and he could carry on putting out the same book under a different title over and over again.
Could be worse.
CRUNCHBERRIES OF GOR!
Because it's the crunchberry's joyous duty to be crushed betwee, oh, fuck it.
> > will run out and buy the three Baroque cycle books
> >
Run? I thought people who read Slashdot more sort of...waddled...
"Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen a angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what they say if they had." - Linus Torvalds
> Even if this is possible, and doable in the near future, there will definitely be laws put out to regulate this sort of thing. The same thing is true for those subliminal advertising gimmicks where they pop up a picture of something for a split second and let your subconscious register it. There are laws governing that and there will be laws governing this too.
> > That being said: You are getting sleeeeeepppy. Loooook at the preeety ligghts on my siiiitteeee. You waaaannntt to buyyyy myyy wireless frooog.You waaaanntt to buyyy the froooogg!!
So we before adjusting the phase coil emitters on our tinfoil hat and running away into the swamp, we can wait until we see the legislation that prohibits using the technology for commercial purposes, but claims that the First Amendment right to free expression requires that political parties be permitted to use it.
> > > There is a simple solution to Florida's dilemma about how to determine which ex-felons are permitted to vote
> > > That's easy - a literacy test.
> > literacy tests were originally among the ways that black folks were prevented from voting in the South after the Civil War. Back when all blacks were slaves, it wasn't a problem. Once they were freed, things like poll taxes (most blacks were poor), literacy tests (most blacks couldn't read), and grandfather clauses (you could only vote if your grandfather could -- yeah, right) were used to prevent blacks from voting.
Well, it's been six generations since then. I wonder, if they put in a "literacy" test in place of the "not a felon" test, and the NAACP still went ballistic about disenfranchisement... would the ACLU sue the NAACP for being a bunch of racists for assuming that blacks can't read?:)
> Findy 'Furby' in that list completely destroyed the very little amount of credibility it had.
It also tells you roughly when that version of the list was created. Because Furbies contain embedded electronic devices, and because Furbies communicate with each other, they fell under the rules for bringing in portable electronic communications devices -- and were declared a no-no in secure areas. (Which makes sense; someone could hide a bug in a Furby and it would be nontrivial for the Furby owner or the security personnel to detect it on visual inspection.)
The fact that I remember that story in the context of the word "Furby" and "the list", probably makes me a threat too.
Here's an interesting game we could play someday: Flash every item on that list, one item per second, to the subject. Using {mumble, if it's not on the list, it's an old version of the list} technology, count the number of times the subject recognizes a term. The more keywords you recognize in the context of the list, the more of a potential threat you are.
Even if the keywords are bogus, it indicates that you've been reading things you shouldn't. (Which would make for an interesting metagame: someone who hits on only the.mil/.gov keywords might be legit. Someone who hits on only the tinfoil keywords can be fed any disinformation you want. Someone who hits differently on the.mil/.gov keywords and the tinfoil keywords can be fed disinformation, and is potentially far more useful, but you've got to be doubly careful about what kinds of disinfo you feed him.)
> int candidate_1_count;
> if (vote==candidate_1)
> candidate_1_count++;
> >
On an 32-bit machine, this will count up to 2 billion votes before the counter rolls over and goes negative. On a 16-bit machine, 32,000 votes. On an 8-bit machine, 127 votes.
So, if I'm a Democrat, I'll make sure to put 16-bit versions of this machine in precincts such as East Buttfuck, Texas, which has a popuation of around 25000.
Likewise, if I'm a Republican, I'll put a 16-bit version of this machine in inner city areas with populations ranging from 18000 to 50000.
And if I'm really smart, I'll change the sizeof() an int to 15 or 17 depending on the number of votes I want to count, and the number I want to overflow. Spinning it to computer-illiterate civic officials would be as simple as having my salesguy say either "Because you have more people to count up, you get the 17-bit version. It's one better than the 16-bit version, but we can offer it to you at the same price", or "We'll let you save $500 per unit by going to the 15-bit version, which is suitable for smaller districts such as yours."
> > "Jar-Jar was so bad that it made the Ewoks look like fucking Shaft"
> >I hope you're happy. I'll never be able to watch Shaft again without imagining an Ewok playing the role:).
Who's the furry private dick
That's a sex machine to all the chicks?
WICKET!
Yub dammmn nub!
Coatee cha tu goo (Shaft!)
coatee cha tu doo (Shaft!)
coatee cha tu too (Shaft!)
Allay loo ta nuv!
> I sense a growing religious-based governing mentality. We have the Muslim uprising and the Christian right wing in the USA. I believe religion was created to unite people in a common and good cause but it is now being twisted around to divide people and in doing so its extremism sees science and the scientific method as a threat to its faith-based foundations.
You forgot the new-age spiritualist left wing. There's a reason why John "Biggest Douche in the Universe" Edward's Crossing Over is popular, and it's not just the few remaining skeptics tuning in for 15 minutes to see if we can beat him to the cold reading punch by predicting his lines in advance.
"There is a place with four suns in the sky - red, white, blue, and yellow; two of them are so close together that they touch, and star-stuff flows between them. I know of a world with a million moons. I know of a sun the size of the Earth - and made of diamond... The universe is vast and awesome, and for the first time we are becoming part of it." - Carl Sagan
But naw, that's too cold and rational to be interesting. I just want to know that, umm, my energies are in balance with my aura, and, umm, here's some money, can you flush out my toxins? Toxins come from science, 'cuz science is bad, mmkay?.
Required reading: Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World, in which he explores why most humans (Christian rightists, New-agey leftists, and butcher-god-worshipping Muslim nihilists alike) prefer pseudoscience to the real thing.
>...please don't spend any time thinking about how you could do anything that might lead to a DECENT candidate for presidency being available next around. > >
In fact, just forget to vote alltogether, not like your vote counts, right?;)
I dunno, I'd think that being able to hack the best-hidden trapdoor into the voting system would make your vote count for quite a bit!
> Okay admit it. How many of you read that as "free homeland security software" and were about ready to burn down sourceforge to find the programmer who created this? Fess up! I know you're out there!
I didn't read it that way... but even if I did, what's the problem?
If my camera system records everyone coming into, or leaving, my building, and something nasty happens in my building, I can walk to the remote server, yank the drives, and take them to the nearest police station.
Imagine if every street corner had this. Because there's no aggregation and cross-linking, and because control over what happens to the information remains with the person operating the ZoneMinder (because the ZoneMinder runs on your hardware), there's no way that your weekly runs to the grocery store for a case of beer are going to make it to your insurance company.
But all of a sudden, the odds of the neighborhood car theft or home invasion gang getting caught go from one in a thousand to one in ten. Even if it's not your home that got hit, your camera might have the winning lottery ticket on it.
Slashdot Mirror
Man, I'm hungry. I think I'll get a hamburger tonight.
Google for Fooburger - find 100 threads on USENET, slashburger.com and burger5hin.com from people complaining of food poisoning, roach shit in the salad, and the only beer on tap being Budweiser.
Google for Barburger - two complaints, one from a guy who drank too much Guinness.
God damn this free market.
I might just as well starve as go to a burger joint where the chef doesn't have to suffer any consequences for groce negligence or incompetence.
> What would you do if you needed heart surgery ?
What would you expect your doctor (or a pre-med student) to do if you tell him he can't make a living performing heart surgery?
And when thousands of people faced with that possibility do the rational thing, namely switch their career to cab driving, selling their body for crack, or going into law school, how do you propose to get your heart surgery then?
And this is different from the US system... how?
Oh, right. The merits of the case don't matter in either side of the border, but the defendant gets screwed even harder than the plaintiff. Therefore, at least you can get medical treatment in India.
Funny. When I read the article, I had exactly the same sentiment, but for the opposite reason:
"As long as humans build/program the machines, the machines will fail/crash before they can kill too many people" :)
And no matter how urgent your need to try the calculator might be, the probability that the ever-lovin' fuck will have been slashdotted out of it by the time you get there, is equal to one.
At least one guy did. Wizardry was done in UCSD Pascal. Even in 1980, it surprised the hell out of me to see a commercial game done like that.
We're not talking about FTP or HTTP over TCP/IP, we're talking about the sort of thing Ballmer wants to use in order to turn the operating system into a subscription service.
In that world, if you don't control the remote server, you also don't control the client software that puts the data on the server.
> All you would need is a simple flash memory device with your private key on it. Only you know your passwords and passphrases. Thus, you could put anything you wanted on that big server in the sky and never worry.
Never mind the fact that no online storage system intended for the general public is going to support strong encryption in the first place.
The point is that if you don't control the client, your private key is compromised the instant you plug it into the device.
Getting the girlfriend to hold still long enough for the plaster to set so I could cast a set of solid brass b00bies was another matter entirely.
Quite possibly. The first year you discover MP3, you get everything you always wanted, but could never find on CD. The second year, you go back to your first-year tracks, realize that 128/Xing sounds like ass, and redownload them at 192/LAME. The third year, you fill in the blanks.
And you have a music archive that (as long as you remember to do offsite backup of the hard drive) will be with you for the rest of your life. No DRM. No worries about companies going under. No worries about the DRM or playback software being available on whatever OS you're using in 2018. Ever.
>
>Females: Those shapely things that always move *away* from you.
And to keep this on topic: ...turning redder as you attempt to engage them in a discussion of special relativity at keg parties.
..but the Estate of Francis Gary Powers wants royalties!
I'm a moderate. Shoot both groups!
Could be worse.
CRUNCHBERRIES OF GOR!
Because it's the crunchberry's joyous duty to be crushed betwee, oh, fuck it.
>
> Run? I thought people who read Slashdot more sort of...waddled...
"Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen a angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what they say if they had."
- Linus Torvalds
>
> That being said: You are getting sleeeeeepppy. Loooook at the preeety ligghts on my siiiitteeee. You waaaannntt to buyyyy myyy wireless frooog.You waaaanntt to buyyy the froooogg!!
So we before adjusting the phase coil emitters on our tinfoil hat and running away into the swamp, we can wait until we see the legislation that prohibits using the technology for commercial purposes, but claims that the First Amendment right to free expression requires that political parties be permitted to use it.
Hell, I didn't even know I owned a swamp.
4. ??? 5. Voter registrations!
>
> > That's easy - a literacy test.
>
> literacy tests were originally among the ways that black folks were prevented from voting in the South after the Civil War. Back when all blacks were slaves, it wasn't a problem. Once they were freed, things like poll taxes (most blacks were poor), literacy tests (most blacks couldn't read), and grandfather clauses (you could only vote if your grandfather could -- yeah, right) were used to prevent blacks from voting.
Well, it's been six generations since then. I wonder, if they put in a "literacy" test in place of the "not a felon" test, and the NAACP still went ballistic about disenfranchisement... would the ACLU sue the NAACP for being a bunch of racists for assuming that blacks can't read? :)
It also tells you roughly when that version of the list was created. Because Furbies contain embedded electronic devices, and because Furbies communicate with each other, they fell under the rules for bringing in portable electronic communications devices -- and were declared a no-no in secure areas. (Which makes sense; someone could hide a bug in a Furby and it would be nontrivial for the Furby owner or the security personnel to detect it on visual inspection.)
The fact that I remember that story in the context of the word "Furby" and "the list", probably makes me a threat too.
Here's an interesting game we could play someday: Flash every item on that list, one item per second, to the subject. Using {mumble, if it's not on the list, it's an old version of the list} technology, count the number of times the subject recognizes a term. The more keywords you recognize in the context of the list, the more of a potential threat you are.
Even if the keywords are bogus, it indicates that you've been reading things you shouldn't. (Which would make for an interesting metagame: someone who hits on only the .mil/.gov keywords might be legit. Someone who hits on only the tinfoil keywords can be fed any disinformation you want. Someone who hits differently on the .mil/.gov keywords and the tinfoil keywords can be fed disinformation, and is potentially far more useful, but you've got to be doubly careful about what kinds of disinfo you feed him.)
> if (vote==candidate_1)
> candidate_1_count++;
>
> On an 32-bit machine, this will count up to 2 billion votes before the counter rolls over and goes negative. On a 16-bit machine, 32,000 votes. On an 8-bit machine, 127 votes. So, if I'm a Democrat, I'll make sure to put 16-bit versions of this machine in precincts such as East Buttfuck, Texas, which has a popuation of around 25000.
Likewise, if I'm a Republican, I'll put a 16-bit version of this machine in inner city areas with populations ranging from 18000 to 50000.
And if I'm really smart, I'll change the sizeof() an int to 15 or 17 depending on the number of votes I want to count, and the number I want to overflow. Spinning it to computer-illiterate civic officials would be as simple as having my salesguy say either "Because you have more people to count up, you get the 17-bit version. It's one better than the 16-bit version, but we can offer it to you at the same price", or "We'll let you save $500 per unit by going to the 15-bit version, which is suitable for smaller districts such as yours."
Throughout my entire life, I was able not to create Jar Jar Binks.
>
>I hope you're happy. I'll never be able to watch Shaft again without imagining an Ewok playing the role
Who's the furry private dick
That's a sex machine to all the chicks?
WICKET!
Yub dammmn nub!
Coatee cha tu goo (Shaft!)
coatee cha tu doo (Shaft!)
coatee cha tu too (Shaft!)
Allay loo ta nuv!
You forgot the new-age spiritualist left wing. There's a reason why John "Biggest Douche in the Universe" Edward's Crossing Over is popular, and it's not just the few remaining skeptics tuning in for 15 minutes to see if we can beat him to the cold reading punch by predicting his lines in advance.
"There is a place with four suns in the sky - red, white, blue, and yellow; two of them are so close together that they touch, and star-stuff flows between them. I know of a world with a million moons. I know of a sun the size of the Earth - and made of diamond... The universe is vast and awesome, and for the first time we are becoming part of it."
- Carl Sagan
But naw, that's too cold and rational to be interesting. I just want to know that, umm, my energies are in balance with my aura, and, umm, here's some money, can you flush out my toxins? Toxins come from science, 'cuz science is bad, mmkay?.
Required reading: Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World, in which he explores why most humans (Christian rightists, New-agey leftists, and butcher-god-worshipping Muslim nihilists alike) prefer pseudoscience to the real thing.
>
> In fact, just forget to vote alltogether, not like your vote counts, right?
I dunno, I'd think that being able to hack the best-hidden trapdoor into the voting system would make your vote count for quite a bit!
STALLMAN-BALMER 2008!
And the other guy "has a plan!" So either way, nothing to worry about!
I didn't read it that way... but even if I did, what's the problem?
If my camera system records everyone coming into, or leaving, my building, and something nasty happens in my building, I can walk to the remote server, yank the drives, and take them to the nearest police station.
Imagine if every street corner had this. Because there's no aggregation and cross-linking, and because control over what happens to the information remains with the person operating the ZoneMinder (because the ZoneMinder runs on your hardware), there's no way that your weekly runs to the grocery store for a case of beer are going to make it to your insurance company.
But all of a sudden, the odds of the neighborhood car theft or home invasion gang getting caught go from one in a thousand to one in ten. Even if it's not your home that got hit, your camera might have the winning lottery ticket on it.