The bank or CMHC hires an independant appraiser, not you. Appraisers are licensed and governed under strict rules for this very reason. I had no choice in the appraisal, but I had confidence that it would value for the price I paid, which it did.
If there is enough evidence for a "civil registry" that a person is a sex offender then why isn't there enough evidence to proceed to trial or for a civil suit? It sounds like Ohio simply wants to lower the bar on burden of proof to a case of "he says, she says". This system sounds utterly ripe for abuse and mismanagement. Why is it that people are trying to find ways around the justice system that we've established after nearly 200 years of jurisprudence? It can't be that difficult to convict suspected child molesters when the evidence is there. Our system of justice has grown out of almost 2000 years of fine tuning. If you don't have the evidence to convict someone or file a civil suit then maybe it's not there to begin with.
On a related note, the Supreme Court of Canada decided a case this year of a woman studying to be a social worker in university that was falsly accused of being a child molester after her professor became "suspicious" of a paper she submitted on juvenile sex offenders that contained an appendix of graphic accounts of child molestation written in the first person. The professor felt that the first person narrative of the appendix constituted an admission of guilt to child molestation and contacted the program director who forwarded the appendix to Child Protection Services and the RCMP. Without going into the whole sordid story, suffice to say that the young lady was red flagged by CPS and the RCMP, dropped out of the social workers study she was undertaking on advice from the university (because she was red flagged, but the university did not tell her that), went almost three years without knowing she was a suspected child molester and upon discovering that she had a file that was red flagged, filed suit against the university. Up to this point absolutely no investigation had taken place. NONE. Just a suspicion of guilt from a professor at a university without any evidence of any kind. A jury found in her favor and she was awarded a large sum. The university appealed and won, and the young lady then appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. By a miracle the SCOC took the case and found unanimously in her favor, establishing an important precedent. The university eventually did apologize, but there was outrage across Canada that this incident even occured. False accusations can and do happen.
Another common fraud is to buy a run-down house for 75k. Get some building permits, then sell it to someone else for 100k. Get some building permits, then sell it to someone else for 150k. Get some building permits, then sell it to someone else for 200k.
Then, get a mortgage on the property for 175k. The bank/mortgage lender sees all these transactions documenting the increase in the value of the house, and in the overheated housing market, doesn't want to lose the business. Lots of people do this legitimately - buy a run-down house, fix it up, and sell.
Of course, none of the transactions were real, the house was being bought & sold between the same group of people, and it is still the same run-down house worth 75k. People tend to have less sympathy for the bank, they usually say the bank should have sent a home inspector to examine the property.
Which is why mortgage holders and morgage insurance companies like CMHC and Genstar, at least here in Calgary, are now requiring that a professional appraise the property before the conclusion of the transaction. That is what happened to me just recently after I bought a condo. My offer reflected fair market value and was slightly over the asking price on a year old condo and CMHC still insisted on an appraisal.
I read almost two years ago that Calgary was the leading city in Canada for mortgage fraud because prices were rising so rapidly that banks and insurance companies just accepted inflated prices as a matter of course. After losing a ton of money, they began to require appraisals as well as moving to something called the "Western Protocol" when closing a mortgage. The Western Protocol does away with title insurance as unscrupulous lawyers were apparently aware that in most mortgage fraud cases banks were pursuing claims against the title insurers while the lawyers were getting away scot free. That is how my lawyer explained it to me, at least.
If ISPs can selectively "throttle" Bit Torrent downloads what is to stop them from throttling child porn, hate sites, drug transactions, etc. Doesn't this fly in the face of the "safe harbor" legislative provision that ISPs are not responsible for the content on their networks? I think if someone were to point this out it might give the ISPs pause if their precious safe harbor provisions were in danger.
I know TFA is from the Inquirer, not the most authoritive source of news, but I recall reading something on a game web site back in June from a Sony insider that stated there was more bad news than just a drop in Cell processor speed from 3.5 to 3.2 GHz and hinted that there was a problem with RSX speeds as well. Regardless, a drop of 50 MHz sounds worse than it really is, but Sony can hardly afford any more bad publicity.
I guess we'll know soon enough if the report is bunk or not...
If you read his entire post these questions were asked during an examination of his laptop, and I imagine they are routine questions for a customs agent.
I am more concerned about the customs agent's assertion that he alone gets to decide what is permitted into Canada, considering we had a landmark case that was decided by the Supreme Court on that very matter.
Exactly, then jurisdictions that have mandated an open document format have no excuse not to use Office. Office can than compete based on its feature set, ease of use and overall productivity and not due to file format lock-in. That isn't the Microsoft way, though.
And while I haven't tried the new "ribbon" based Office interface, based on screenshots alone the new interface seems to be an improvement. I can understand the complaint that the ribbon method of displaying all of the contextual options takes up a lot of space, but it does seem more usable than a toolbar of cryptic icons.
Same here, as a Canadian I am mystified...
on
Diebold Flops in Alaska
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· Score: 2, Interesting
As as Canadian I am mystified by what seems to be a complete lack of outrage regarding the accuracy and transparency of electronic voting systems. You'd think with all the controversy of the last two presidential elections that Americans would sit up and take notice, but it doesn't appear to be.
We have an almost quaint system of voting here that requires only a few paid volunteers, some paper ballots and a pencil. It's quaintness is offset by its efficiency; I have never waited more than a minute or two to vote and the results are known within a few hours after the election. I believe the UK and many other European nations follow a similar system. There is no reason why a process like this would not work in the United States, save for the almost religious reverence for technology, as all the votes are counted within minutes of the polls closing, whether it be in a city as large as Toronto or as small as Dumbfuck, Saskatchewan. I know it's not as sexy as a flashing machine, but it's transparent, verifiable, and relatively fool proof.
If I was a teenager I would only agree to use the device if my parents agreed to put one in their vehicles as well; put everyone in "the circle of trust". I doubt that would go down well with the parents.
This device also undermines the development of a teenagers ethical sense in that they are no longer responsible to themselves in making driving decisions now that the machine is making that decision for them. At some point in a person's life the parents have to let go and leave their child to learn to be responsible to themselves. Hopefully those lessons have been learned under the guidance of a parent, but machines like this one simply delay that lesson until the device is removed and the child begins to learn on their own. It's like alcohol consumption. When I was around twelve my parents began to allow a drink of wine at Christmas and holidays. Gradually, I was permitted a beer and eventually, around sixteen or so, my dad and I would have a beer fairly regulary after a hard day working in the yard, cutting down trees, or whatever. When I got to university at 19 and was legally allowed to drink, my friends would get crazy drunk and I would laugh and call them retards.
Parents like to think they're protecting their children with devices like this, but it's like sending a soldier to war without ever handling a rifle.
I am too lazy for Google for a link, but apparently the time between the start of manufacture of the 360 and the launch was a scant 69 days. I think we all know how well that went. With under 90 days until the PS3 launch in Japan and North America I am not at all confident that Sony can produce the 2 million units they expect to be ready for launch.
I think Nintendo might steal significant thunder from Sony if PS3 shortages are a drastic as I expect by offering the Wii in quantity with the quality and quantity of launch titles that are anticipated. If a parent walks into a store around Christmas asks for a PS3 only to hear that it's out of stock looks at the Wii, the breadth of launch titles, the comparitive price, the innovative control style, the name Nintendo and the fact that it's in stock, well then maybe Nintendo can clean the floor with Sony. I hope NIntendo realizes this. Anyone who doubts that it might happen need only look at the success of the DS versus the PSP.
Here in Canada Bell ExpressVu is essentialy the Dish Network Canada. In fact, I believe that was the original name before it was changed. As such, they rely on Dishnet for all their receiver technolgy including receiver software, as I understand it. I wonder how this will affect ExpressVu customers given that I have a Dishnet 510 PVR, branded as an ExpressVu model 5900, if at all. I guess in the long run the solution is going to involve a lot of money from Dishnet changing hands to Tivo. There is no way that Dishnet will let the situation stand and perhaps they're about to get their ass handed to them much like RIM with the Blackberry.
I fly quite a bit in Canada and would never check my laptop, iPod, digital camera or anything else valuable as I would be afraid of theft more than damage. I've never had a theft, but I have heard horror stories from people, mainly international travelers, that have returned home only to find a video camera, liquor, jewelery or some other item stolen from checked luggage.
I do have a friend that works on the ramp, as it's called, stowing and retrieving bags from aircraft. He told me that theft isn't a problem domestically because they're watched so carefully with video cameras and security, but most importantly they just don't have the time or opportunity to pull someone's bag aside and rifle through it. He said international flights are a different story as bags are checked hours before the flight actually leaves, but he still doesn't think it's a big problem. I won't take my chances though and will continue to carry my digital/video camera and laptop onboard.
I thought that you could browse and purchase anything available in the marketplace with an Xbox Live Silver account? Yep, I was right. From xbox.com:
Easy to Try Silver-level access is free of charge for all Xbox 360 owners (except those who have previously been banned from Xbox Live and Korean users under the age of 14)--there's no reason not to try it, even if you're just the slightest bit curious. It's an instant membership that's only a few clicks away. (Note that there is a limit to the number of Silver level signups per console.)
Xbox Live Arcade and Marketplace You'll find the the Xbox Live Arcade in the Marketplace, where you can purchase great casual arcade games like the classic Galaga or the smash hit Bejeweled. Just download them to Xbox 360, and they're yours to play again and again. They're perfect for casual gamers or anyone who loves great game play.
So you DO NOT need a Gold account to purchase Xbox arcade games from the marketplace, just to play multiplayer. That makes sense. With respect to browsing and purchasing arcade games, the Xbox and Wii on-line service looks indentical. You will pay to play on-line with Xbox Live though.
I've been receiving strange spam messages in the last few weeks containing a ficticious name in the subject line and then a single word in the message body, such as "OK", "cloud" or "door". It's really weird and there isn't an image attachment like most of the spam I've been getting lately so I don't see the point. Perhaps spammers are trying to train Bayesian filters with junk or attempting dictionary like attacks on mail servers to see what words get through and which do not.
The latest trick in the spam arsenal seems to be a crack at social engineering with emails that purport to be from Ebay, Bank of America or whatnot. If you click on the link, and the URL isn't even close to the purported source of the email, it takes you to the spammers web site where the actual marketing is done. Only the truly retarted would click on these links as I would hope that even the most neophyte of web users would know not to follow the links.
Given all the new tricks spammers seem to have up their sleeves, I doubt that spam is done yet, as much as I'd like it to be.
Combining MySpace with Google takes "I'm Feeling Lucky" to a whole new level.
Ang how long before Google lets users "customize" their Google home page into an illiterate pile of horseshit featuring blaring Boy Band background "music", with hot pink on orange text all on top of some weird, annoying Anime/Sailor Moon/rice mobile backround?
I continue to have problems copying and pasting in web pages within Firefox, and it's not due to some malware that is usually attributed to the problem as I have checked, re-checked and triple checked. It happens at the oddest times and sometimes the copy/paste function works and at other times it does not. I know it was supposed to be fixed two releases ago, but I continue to have problems and it's not just me as my mom has the same problem.
Firefox also seems to be a huge memory hog, but I gratefully put up with that given that I have had zero security problems since switching completely to Firefox last summer.
Excerpt from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:
10.Everyone has the right on arrest or detention
(a)to be informed promptly of the reasons therefor;
(b)to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right; and
(c)to have the validity of the detention determined by way of habeas corpus and to be released if the detention is not lawful.
At the very least they have to tell you that you may retain a lawyer and, if I am not mistaken, the Supreme Court has ruled they must also tell you that you have the right to remain silent. I don't know where you get this idea that the police in Canada don't have to tell you your rights, you see them do it all the time on the Canadian version of Cops.
I had to call in to Telus Internet service to address a problem and was asked my secret questions. Being the flippant ass I am, Telus (I think was Telus, it might be Bell Expressvu) let's you type your own secret question and answers so I took the liberty of coming up with some, ah, inappropriate questions and answers. Needless to say, the support agent on the line started to giggle when she had to read my secret questions:
Question: How do I masturbate in the shower? Answer: With my SpongeBob SquarePants friend.
Question: What is the most sexually satisfying farm animal? Answer: The Llama.
I am not sure who was more embarrassed, me or the agent as I had forgotten that I even made up those questions in the first place.
Between problems with the magnetic power connector not working properly, the discoloration of the case, to problems with the trackpad and now this noise issue the Macbook doesn't sound like a very well engineered machine.
Mac laptops always seem to have these fucked up problems. I have a friend who used to do third party Mac warranty fulfilment and said there were there numerous problems with the Firewire connectors and a fire issue with the power adaptors on the Powerbook that Apple refused to acknowledge or solve. He recommended that if you were ever bought a Mac laptop to ensure that your also bought a third party warranty to cover all the things that Apple does not.
They are so going to piss off legions of Hulkamaniacs out there by suing Hogan. I hope Hogan grabs the MPAA in a headlock and performs a legal suplex on them!
If every American can pay income tax using the same form then they can certainly vote in the same manner. I understand that the actual ballot will contain different names, parties and referendum/state level questions depending upon the district, but that doesn't mean election officials, ballots, voting machines, operation and execution of the election can't operate under nation wide standardized rules and regulations under an independent federal agency. It is in part a FEDERAL election after all. Walking into a polling station in Nebraska should involve exactly the same mechanisms as voting in Kentucky, or Vermont or wherever. *sigh* I know what I am suggesting is probably unrealistic, but I really don't understand how Americans tolerate an election system where every county, never mind state, seems to do things there own way. Maybe election reform is something better left to the individual states and I do understand that some states are much better than others at running their own elections.
As far as voting machines go, what did they do before eleciton machines? Ten times the population also means they have ten times as many people to count the votes. I don't think what we accomplish in Canada on election night is really all that incredible (no witicism intended) having worked at a polling station in the last federal election (and you meet a lot smart, hot girls!).
Well, it sounds like a great idea, but as the article points out the weakness of moving to a system based more on popular vote is the belief that cities will end up holding the balance of power, which in the current system is held by states with the largest numbers of Electoral College votes. As a Canadian I can understand a lot of the criticisms of the Electoral College system as it shares a number of similarities to the "first past the post" system we use to elect our Parliament. It's also the antithesis to the concept that the United States is a union of sovereign states bound by a collective will.
While the Electoral College has its weaknesses I do think it's a fair compromise, but if I was American I'd be far more concerned with the actual administration of the election as from my point of view the management appears not only intransparent but downright corrupt. We're talking about a federal election here and while I understand that many Americans are loathe to see more federal power, I don't understand why there isn't a federal election agency that actually operates, not just oversees, the election as we have here in Canada. Every aspect of our federal election is overseen by an nonpartisan, independant agency called appropriately enough, Elections Canada. From the hiring of elections officers to the counting of the ballots and administrating recounts, if necessary, the rules and system are exactly the same right acrosss the country in every riding (district) in every province. The system is designed to be as transparent and self correcting as humanly possible. It just boggles my mind that Americans tolerate the level of intransparency, corruption, partisanship, confusion and outright politicising of their election system. I don't think it's asking a lot for someone in Ohio to vote with confidence knowing that their citizen counterparts in Florida are voting with the same system and the same checks and balances.
I won't even get into electronic/touch screen voting machines, which are not used in provincal or federal elections in Canada.
Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
-- Will Rogers
I just finished the book In Praise of Slow and while it wasn't an earth shattering read at first, it dawned on my just how much time I waste speeding through tasks and life that I never really do anything at all, or rather, never really enjoy them at all. All these frustrations in this thread about self serve checkouts, manned checkouts, beeping machines, machines that don't beep, etc. seem to highlight the need to just slow down and realize that maybe thirty seconds of your life dealing with the idiosyncracies of a self checkout machine is just not worth raising your blood pressure over. I am not trying to get all Zen on people here, but learning to savor moments of your life, even frustrating moments, will do a lot more to enrich your life than trying to find ways to add thirty seconds to the end of a day you never enjoyed and won't remember.
Standing in line at a long checkout? Read one of the magazines, get lost in thought, or, and I know this will scare many a geek, strike up a conversation with one of your linemates. You're not going anywhere for the time being, so enjoy it. Enjoy these little moments to yourself. Since few Slashdotters ever read this far into a comment, I say if it makes you feel any better plan the gangland style murder of the idiot in front of you, the cashier, store management, whomever, in intricate detail and that time will slide by with nary a worrisome thought. Then, head over to the firearms section of the store and supply yourself with a high powered rifle and plenty of ammunition. On your way out of the store, take note of the imbecile's description and make, model and license plate of their vehicle. See? That stress is melting away.
My boss is pissed. The cut scenes we've been working on for the last few months are almost done and he's screaming: it's not enough! I need more cut scenes! More cut scenes! I was hoping to get around to the gameplay controls, or adding save points, but I guess we'll be working on more cut scenes. I don't blame him though, Final Fantasy is about the experience and gamers are demanding a deeper, more satisfying game experience and that means more unskippable cut scenes, and by golly, that's what they're going to get. Cut scenes, full speed ahead!
Slashdot Mirror
Mmmm, the Wii water IS warm. And golden, just like beer.
The bank or CMHC hires an independant appraiser, not you. Appraisers are licensed and governed under strict rules for this very reason. I had no choice in the appraisal, but I had confidence that it would value for the price I paid, which it did.
If there is enough evidence for a "civil registry" that a person is a sex offender then why isn't there enough evidence to proceed to trial or for a civil suit? It sounds like Ohio simply wants to lower the bar on burden of proof to a case of "he says, she says". This system sounds utterly ripe for abuse and mismanagement. Why is it that people are trying to find ways around the justice system that we've established after nearly 200 years of jurisprudence? It can't be that difficult to convict suspected child molesters when the evidence is there. Our system of justice has grown out of almost 2000 years of fine tuning. If you don't have the evidence to convict someone or file a civil suit then maybe it's not there to begin with.
On a related note, the Supreme Court of Canada decided a case this year of a woman studying to be a social worker in university that was falsly accused of being a child molester after her professor became "suspicious" of a paper she submitted on juvenile sex offenders that contained an appendix of graphic accounts of child molestation written in the first person. The professor felt that the first person narrative of the appendix constituted an admission of guilt to child molestation and contacted the program director who forwarded the appendix to Child Protection Services and the RCMP. Without going into the whole sordid story, suffice to say that the young lady was red flagged by CPS and the RCMP, dropped out of the social workers study she was undertaking on advice from the university (because she was red flagged, but the university did not tell her that), went almost three years without knowing she was a suspected child molester and upon discovering that she had a file that was red flagged, filed suit against the university. Up to this point absolutely no investigation had taken place. NONE. Just a suspicion of guilt from a professor at a university without any evidence of any kind. A jury found in her favor and she was awarded a large sum. The university appealed and won, and the young lady then appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. By a miracle the SCOC took the case and found unanimously in her favor, establishing an important precedent. The university eventually did apologize, but there was outrage across Canada that this incident even occured. False accusations can and do happen.
Another common fraud is to buy a run-down house for 75k. Get some building permits, then sell it to someone else for 100k. Get some building permits, then sell it to someone else for 150k. Get some building permits, then sell it to someone else for 200k.
Then, get a mortgage on the property for 175k. The bank/mortgage lender sees all these transactions documenting the increase in the value of the house, and in the overheated housing market, doesn't want to lose the business. Lots of people do this legitimately - buy a run-down house, fix it up, and sell.
Of course, none of the transactions were real, the house was being bought & sold between the same group of people, and it is still the same run-down house worth 75k. People tend to have less sympathy for the bank, they usually say the bank should have sent a home inspector to examine the property.
Which is why mortgage holders and morgage insurance companies like CMHC and Genstar, at least here in Calgary, are now requiring that a professional appraise the property before the conclusion of the transaction. That is what happened to me just recently after I bought a condo. My offer reflected fair market value and was slightly over the asking price on a year old condo and CMHC still insisted on an appraisal.
I read almost two years ago that Calgary was the leading city in Canada for mortgage fraud because prices were rising so rapidly that banks and insurance companies just accepted inflated prices as a matter of course. After losing a ton of money, they began to require appraisals as well as moving to something called the "Western Protocol" when closing a mortgage. The Western Protocol does away with title insurance as unscrupulous lawyers were apparently aware that in most mortgage fraud cases banks were pursuing claims against the title insurers while the lawyers were getting away scot free. That is how my lawyer explained it to me, at least.
If ISPs can selectively "throttle" Bit Torrent downloads what is to stop them from throttling child porn, hate sites, drug transactions, etc. Doesn't this fly in the face of the "safe harbor" legislative provision that ISPs are not responsible for the content on their networks? I think if someone were to point this out it might give the ISPs pause if their precious safe harbor provisions were in danger.
I know TFA is from the Inquirer, not the most authoritive source of news, but I recall reading something on a game web site back in June from a Sony insider that stated there was more bad news than just a drop in Cell processor speed from 3.5 to 3.2 GHz and hinted that there was a problem with RSX speeds as well. Regardless, a drop of 50 MHz sounds worse than it really is, but Sony can hardly afford any more bad publicity.
I guess we'll know soon enough if the report is bunk or not...
If you read his entire post these questions were asked during an examination of his laptop, and I imagine they are routine questions for a customs agent.
I am more concerned about the customs agent's assertion that he alone gets to decide what is permitted into Canada, considering we had a landmark case that was decided by the Supreme Court on that very matter.
Exactly, then jurisdictions that have mandated an open document format have no excuse not to use Office. Office can than compete based on its feature set, ease of use and overall productivity and not due to file format lock-in. That isn't the Microsoft way, though.
And while I haven't tried the new "ribbon" based Office interface, based on screenshots alone the new interface seems to be an improvement. I can understand the complaint that the ribbon method of displaying all of the contextual options takes up a lot of space, but it does seem more usable than a toolbar of cryptic icons.
As as Canadian I am mystified by what seems to be a complete lack of outrage regarding the accuracy and transparency of electronic voting systems. You'd think with all the controversy of the last two presidential elections that Americans would sit up and take notice, but it doesn't appear to be.
We have an almost quaint system of voting here that requires only a few paid volunteers, some paper ballots and a pencil. It's quaintness is offset by its efficiency; I have never waited more than a minute or two to vote and the results are known within a few hours after the election. I believe the UK and many other European nations follow a similar system. There is no reason why a process like this would not work in the United States, save for the almost religious reverence for technology, as all the votes are counted within minutes of the polls closing, whether it be in a city as large as Toronto or as small as Dumbfuck, Saskatchewan. I know it's not as sexy as a flashing machine, but it's transparent, verifiable, and relatively fool proof.
If I was a teenager I would only agree to use the device if my parents agreed to put one in their vehicles as well; put everyone in "the circle of trust". I doubt that would go down well with the parents.
This device also undermines the development of a teenagers ethical sense in that they are no longer responsible to themselves in making driving decisions now that the machine is making that decision for them. At some point in a person's life the parents have to let go and leave their child to learn to be responsible to themselves. Hopefully those lessons have been learned under the guidance of a parent, but machines like this one simply delay that lesson until the device is removed and the child begins to learn on their own. It's like alcohol consumption. When I was around twelve my parents began to allow a drink of wine at Christmas and holidays. Gradually, I was permitted a beer and eventually, around sixteen or so, my dad and I would have a beer fairly regulary after a hard day working in the yard, cutting down trees, or whatever. When I got to university at 19 and was legally allowed to drink, my friends would get crazy drunk and I would laugh and call them retards.
Parents like to think they're protecting their children with devices like this, but it's like sending a soldier to war without ever handling a rifle.
I am too lazy for Google for a link, but apparently the time between the start of manufacture of the 360 and the launch was a scant 69 days. I think we all know how well that went. With under 90 days until the PS3 launch in Japan and North America I am not at all confident that Sony can produce the 2 million units they expect to be ready for launch.
I think Nintendo might steal significant thunder from Sony if PS3 shortages are a drastic as I expect by offering the Wii in quantity with the quality and quantity of launch titles that are anticipated. If a parent walks into a store around Christmas asks for a PS3 only to hear that it's out of stock looks at the Wii, the breadth of launch titles, the comparitive price, the innovative control style, the name Nintendo and the fact that it's in stock, well then maybe Nintendo can clean the floor with Sony. I hope NIntendo realizes this. Anyone who doubts that it might happen need only look at the success of the DS versus the PSP.
Here in Canada Bell ExpressVu is essentialy the Dish Network Canada. In fact, I believe that was the original name before it was changed. As such, they rely on Dishnet for all their receiver technolgy including receiver software, as I understand it. I wonder how this will affect ExpressVu customers given that I have a Dishnet 510 PVR, branded as an ExpressVu model 5900, if at all. I guess in the long run the solution is going to involve a lot of money from Dishnet changing hands to Tivo. There is no way that Dishnet will let the situation stand and perhaps they're about to get their ass handed to them much like RIM with the Blackberry.
I fly quite a bit in Canada and would never check my laptop, iPod, digital camera or anything else valuable as I would be afraid of theft more than damage. I've never had a theft, but I have heard horror stories from people, mainly international travelers, that have returned home only to find a video camera, liquor, jewelery or some other item stolen from checked luggage.
I do have a friend that works on the ramp, as it's called, stowing and retrieving bags from aircraft. He told me that theft isn't a problem domestically because they're watched so carefully with video cameras and security, but most importantly they just don't have the time or opportunity to pull someone's bag aside and rifle through it. He said international flights are a different story as bags are checked hours before the flight actually leaves, but he still doesn't think it's a big problem. I won't take my chances though and will continue to carry my digital/video camera and laptop onboard.
I thought that you could browse and purchase anything available in the marketplace with an Xbox Live Silver account? Yep, I was right. From xbox.com:
Easy to Try
Silver-level access is free of charge for all Xbox 360 owners (except those who have previously been banned from Xbox Live and Korean users under the age of 14)--there's no reason not to try it, even if you're just the slightest bit curious. It's an instant membership that's only a few clicks away. (Note that there is a limit to the number of Silver level signups per console.)
Xbox Live Arcade and Marketplace
You'll find the the Xbox Live Arcade in the Marketplace, where you can purchase great casual arcade games like the classic Galaga or the smash hit Bejeweled. Just download them to Xbox 360, and they're yours to play again and again. They're perfect for casual gamers or anyone who loves great game play.
So you DO NOT need a Gold account to purchase Xbox arcade games from the marketplace, just to play multiplayer. That makes sense. With respect to browsing and purchasing arcade games, the Xbox and Wii on-line service looks indentical. You will pay to play on-line with Xbox Live though.
I've been receiving strange spam messages in the last few weeks containing a ficticious name in the subject line and then a single word in the message body, such as "OK", "cloud" or "door". It's really weird and there isn't an image attachment like most of the spam I've been getting lately so I don't see the point. Perhaps spammers are trying to train Bayesian filters with junk or attempting dictionary like attacks on mail servers to see what words get through and which do not.
The latest trick in the spam arsenal seems to be a crack at social engineering with emails that purport to be from Ebay, Bank of America or whatnot. If you click on the link, and the URL isn't even close to the purported source of the email, it takes you to the spammers web site where the actual marketing is done. Only the truly retarted would click on these links as I would hope that even the most neophyte of web users would know not to follow the links.
Given all the new tricks spammers seem to have up their sleeves, I doubt that spam is done yet, as much as I'd like it to be.
Combining MySpace with Google takes "I'm Feeling Lucky" to a whole new level.
Ang how long before Google lets users "customize" their Google home page into an illiterate pile of horseshit featuring blaring Boy Band background "music", with hot pink on orange text all on top of some weird, annoying Anime/Sailor Moon/rice mobile backround?
I continue to have problems copying and pasting in web pages within Firefox, and it's not due to some malware that is usually attributed to the problem as I have checked, re-checked and triple checked. It happens at the oddest times and sometimes the copy/paste function works and at other times it does not. I know it was supposed to be fixed two releases ago, but I continue to have problems and it's not just me as my mom has the same problem.
Firefox also seems to be a huge memory hog, but I gratefully put up with that given that I have had zero security problems since switching completely to Firefox last summer.
Excerpt from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:
10.Everyone has the right on arrest or detention
(a)to be informed promptly of the reasons therefor;
(b)to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right; and
(c)to have the validity of the detention determined by way of habeas corpus and to be released if the detention is not lawful.
At the very least they have to tell you that you may retain a lawyer and, if I am not mistaken, the Supreme Court has ruled they must also tell you that you have the right to remain silent. I don't know where you get this idea that the police in Canada don't have to tell you your rights, you see them do it all the time on the Canadian version of Cops.
I had to call in to Telus Internet service to address a problem and was asked my secret questions. Being the flippant ass I am, Telus (I think was Telus, it might be Bell Expressvu) let's you type your own secret question and answers so I took the liberty of coming up with some, ah, inappropriate questions and answers. Needless to say, the support agent on the line started to giggle when she had to read my secret questions:
Question: How do I masturbate in the shower?
Answer: With my SpongeBob SquarePants friend.
Question: What is the most sexually satisfying farm animal?
Answer: The Llama.
I am not sure who was more embarrassed, me or the agent as I had forgotten that I even made up those questions in the first place.
Between problems with the magnetic power connector not working properly, the discoloration of the case, to problems with the trackpad and now this noise issue the Macbook doesn't sound like a very well engineered machine.
Mac laptops always seem to have these fucked up problems. I have a friend who used to do third party Mac warranty fulfilment and said there were there numerous problems with the Firewire connectors and a fire issue with the power adaptors on the Powerbook that Apple refused to acknowledge or solve. He recommended that if you were ever bought a Mac laptop to ensure that your also bought a third party warranty to cover all the things that Apple does not.
They are so going to piss off legions of Hulkamaniacs out there by suing Hogan. I hope Hogan grabs the MPAA in a headlock and performs a legal suplex on them!
Go Hulkster!
If every American can pay income tax using the same form then they can certainly vote in the same manner. I understand that the actual ballot will contain different names, parties and referendum/state level questions depending upon the district, but that doesn't mean election officials, ballots, voting machines, operation and execution of the election can't operate under nation wide standardized rules and regulations under an independent federal agency. It is in part a FEDERAL election after all. Walking into a polling station in Nebraska should involve exactly the same mechanisms as voting in Kentucky, or Vermont or wherever. *sigh* I know what I am suggesting is probably unrealistic, but I really don't understand how Americans tolerate an election system where every county, never mind state, seems to do things there own way. Maybe election reform is something better left to the individual states and I do understand that some states are much better than others at running their own elections.
As far as voting machines go, what did they do before eleciton machines? Ten times the population also means they have ten times as many people to count the votes. I don't think what we accomplish in Canada on election night is really all that incredible (no witicism intended) having worked at a polling station in the last federal election (and you meet a lot smart, hot girls!).
Well, it sounds like a great idea, but as the article points out the weakness of moving to a system based more on popular vote is the belief that cities will end up holding the balance of power, which in the current system is held by states with the largest numbers of Electoral College votes. As a Canadian I can understand a lot of the criticisms of the Electoral College system as it shares a number of similarities to the "first past the post" system we use to elect our Parliament. It's also the antithesis to the concept that the United States is a union of sovereign states bound by a collective will.
While the Electoral College has its weaknesses I do think it's a fair compromise, but if I was American I'd be far more concerned with the actual administration of the election as from my point of view the management appears not only intransparent but downright corrupt. We're talking about a federal election here and while I understand that many Americans are loathe to see more federal power, I don't understand why there isn't a federal election agency that actually operates, not just oversees, the election as we have here in Canada. Every aspect of our federal election is overseen by an nonpartisan, independant agency called appropriately enough, Elections Canada. From the hiring of elections officers to the counting of the ballots and administrating recounts, if necessary, the rules and system are exactly the same right acrosss the country in every riding (district) in every province. The system is designed to be as transparent and self correcting as humanly possible. It just boggles my mind that Americans tolerate the level of intransparency, corruption, partisanship, confusion and outright politicising of their election system. I don't think it's asking a lot for someone in Ohio to vote with confidence knowing that their citizen counterparts in Florida are voting with the same system and the same checks and balances.
I won't even get into electronic/touch screen voting machines, which are not used in provincal or federal elections in Canada.
Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
-- Will Rogers
I just finished the book In Praise of Slow and while it wasn't an earth shattering read at first, it dawned on my just how much time I waste speeding through tasks and life that I never really do anything at all, or rather, never really enjoy them at all. All these frustrations in this thread about self serve checkouts, manned checkouts, beeping machines, machines that don't beep, etc. seem to highlight the need to just slow down and realize that maybe thirty seconds of your life dealing with the idiosyncracies of a self checkout machine is just not worth raising your blood pressure over. I am not trying to get all Zen on people here, but learning to savor moments of your life, even frustrating moments, will do a lot more to enrich your life than trying to find ways to add thirty seconds to the end of a day you never enjoyed and won't remember.
Standing in line at a long checkout? Read one of the magazines, get lost in thought, or, and I know this will scare many a geek, strike up a conversation with one of your linemates. You're not going anywhere for the time being, so enjoy it. Enjoy these little moments to yourself. Since few Slashdotters ever read this far into a comment, I say if it makes you feel any better plan the gangland style murder of the idiot in front of you, the cashier, store management, whomever, in intricate detail and that time will slide by with nary a worrisome thought. Then, head over to the firearms section of the store and supply yourself with a high powered rifle and plenty of ammunition. On your way out of the store, take note of the imbecile's description and make, model and license plate of their vehicle. See? That stress is melting away.
My boss is pissed. The cut scenes we've been working on for the last few months are almost done and he's screaming: it's not enough! I need more cut scenes! More cut scenes! I was hoping to get around to the gameplay controls, or adding save points, but I guess we'll be working on more cut scenes. I don't blame him though, Final Fantasy is about the experience and gamers are demanding a deeper, more satisfying game experience and that means more unskippable cut scenes, and by golly, that's what they're going to get. Cut scenes, full speed ahead!