> I do not have any optomism whatsoever that our government will ever recover from its current despicable state
Well, it's been at least as despicable before, and still risen up to less despicable. Take McCarthyism, for example.
I sure wish I had paid more attention to history, 'cause the process for lifting up the quality of government is probably already illustrated in the past.
But I also believe that it's a see-saw, and we're on the downward swing right now.
Sure, the controller in the pacemaker is protected, but what about the leads? Don't they form a nice little antenna that's connected directly to the heart? If there was a power surge large enough to fry the heart at the attachment point, would the heart still receive the pacing signal?
> Punch card ballots seem to be usable without major problem everywhere > but Florida. Let them have the electronic voting machines > if they want
Florida is the fourth largest state in electoral votes. If their election is corrupted (particularly if it's corrupted from outside their state), most of the other states effectively lose their franchise in the selection of the president.
That's why each state, but particularly the large ones, has to have honest elections when selecting the president. Otherwise, it's all a sham.
(And this term, it is a documented, bona-fide sham.)
Slashdot Mirror
Good point; if we wanted to break the key to somebody's crypted code, we just put up a web bug on a pr0n site and wait for their cpu's to come to us.
5096 bit keys, here I come.
when the next dozen Microsoft "critical vulnerabilities" come out.
Who wants to bet that Microsoft gets some kind of exemption from the revocation of licenses due to poor design and coding?
I was attracted to T.T.M. by an NPR review, comparing MR TAMBORINE MAN!!!! to Marlon Brando's STELLAAAAAAA!
I'm not sleepy.
Quoth the article: "Try looking at the diagonal line on the hood of the car."
Hah.
> The survey only covers 15 companies.
> That doesn't seem very reassuring to me.
Yeah, and a Slashdot survey is the height of statistical accuracy, NOT.
Sadly, our Apollos (which are living on cannibalized parts) didn't die.
Y2K death would've been the perfect excuse to pry cold, dead fingers from them.
> It's a good thing these guys aren't on the real IE dev team.
Hmmmm. Just how clever _is_ the real IE dev team ?????
Perhaps you mean "can't understate."
Where did this "can't underestimate" idiom come from? Must have been nucular radiation.
"... and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ..."
Have a look at Noam Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent."
Et tu, NPR, et tu?
Announcer: "Send _your_ questions to Dr. Science! Remember, he's not a real doctor."
Dr. Science: "That's right. I have a MASTER's degree."
Announcer: "In...Science!"
> > "There does not seem to be any way to gracefully undo such errors"
> They wouldn't have to be gracefully undone,
> if there was a simple check to gracefully prevent them from being made.
Or they could be ungracefully undone.
It's a graceless situation.
Vega was the source of the extraterrestrial signal in Carl Sagan's "Cosmos."
"Dogs Flew Space Ships!"
"The Aztecs Invented The Vacation!"
"Men And Women Are The Same Sex!"
"Our Forefathers Took Drugs!"
"Your Brain Is Not The Boss!"
Yes, That's Right, Folks.....
"Everything You Know Is Wrong!"
> On Monday, December 5
What year is that? In 2003, December 5 is a Friday.
> I do not have any optomism whatsoever that our government will ever recover from its current despicable state
Well, it's been at least as despicable before, and still risen up to less despicable. Take McCarthyism, for example.
I sure wish I had paid more attention to history, 'cause the process for lifting up the quality of government is probably already illustrated in the past.
But I also believe that it's a see-saw, and we're on the downward swing right now.
> If Google decided to change its algorithms ... I imagine that such a move would result in many people seeking other search engines soon enough.
I'm already seeking other search engines.
Even when I'm searching for information about, say, physics or mathematics, Google's first page is always full of vendors.
I suspect they're changing their algorithm to get the likes of me to come back.
> Bzzt, wrong. Copyrights do eventually expire ...
Over Mickey Mouse's dead body.
In the USA, California congressmen will just keep extending the copyright. The Supreme Court says they can.
> when you are on the boundary between the two texts and hit the backspace key,
;-)
You get ^H, of course.
Unless you `stty erase backwards`
Q: Is it possible to have a clean organized grown-up home, without throwing everything away?
A: Yes
Q: Is it possible to have a clean organized grown-up home, without throwing anything away?
A: No
I like to be able to fly on an airplane to visit my family or get work-related training.
I start to wonder how much I can participate in the public debate without being turned away at the airport.
Sure, the controller in the pacemaker is protected, but what about the leads? Don't they form a nice little antenna that's connected directly to the heart? If there was a power surge large enough to fry the heart at the attachment point, would the heart still receive the pacing signal?
While secret voting is important to prevent the buying of votes, it's not as important as preventing the stuffing of the ballot box.
To sway an election, lots of votes would have to be bought. That's a lot of victims that know they were victimized.
To stuff a ballot box, very few people need to know about the crime. And they're not victims.
One secret is much, much harder to keep than the other.
> Punch card ballots seem to be usable without major problem everywhere
> but Florida. Let them have the electronic voting machines
> if they want
Florida is the fourth largest state in electoral votes. If their election is corrupted (particularly if it's corrupted from outside their state), most of the other states effectively lose their franchise in the selection of the president.
That's why each state, but particularly the large ones, has to have honest elections when selecting the president. Otherwise, it's all a sham.
(And this term, it is a documented, bona-fide sham.)
> And why did it have to be a virus. Why not a cute little kitten or something?
Because PETA won't tar and feather you for killing a virus.
> We don't have anonymous or secret agencies enforcing laws and arresting people, ie, a secret police force.
Yes, as a matter of fact, in the U.S.A., we do have this.
And it's so much easier when you can rig an election.