Using them for support is tolerable, depending on how well moderated the forums are.
It's more than tolerable. It's often the quickest way around any immediate problem. I've long been into the habit of (having hit a snag in any particular application) hitting Google with "stinky-finger-program error #nnnnn" and looking for forum entries. The combo is usually very helpful. I no longer want to wade through the documentation unless it relates to something I know I'll use every day.
Okay, so reform is needed. But what's the solution, though?
Easy. In many countries, certainly in Europe and Australasia the SSN or equivalent has no value as identification. All loan applications, credit card applications, opening of bank accounts are completed only after valid ID has been seen. All the US has to do is bring in a similar requirement and you cut the legs from under the most widespread and obvious scams.
I'm not saying this will solve all problems, but it at least closes the front door to the thieves. The fact that the US has been unwilling to introduce such a requirement sort of implies (to my suspicious mind, at least) a degree of collusion with the scammers.
Doesn't your junk mail come with pre-paid envelopes? Just put all the junk mail through a shredder, then stuff it all into the envelope and post it back to them at their expense. If enough people did this, the whole machine would grind to a halt...
The first computer I worked with (a Burroughs B3700) had a master console (which they called a SPO, sor "Supervisory Printer Operator") which was like a big, clunky teletype. The keys were so stiff, not even God would have been able to touch-type on that thing. So I, and who knows how many others, learned a sort of heavy-handed thump-type involving both thumbs and the first two fingers of each hand.
The only evolution in technique came about when we had glass teletypes and started using that new-fangled TECO, and later EMACS. Then I started to use my little finger...
OK, so I'm not a super-fast typist (somewhere in the region of 100 wpm) but the point is, I spend a lot more time thinking than writing anyway. And as far as I'm concerned, that's the way it should be.
Until then its my Marantz 8b, chinese 7c knockoff, a smokin' hot solder iron and a whole lot of DIY (diyaudio.com)
I got talked (against my better judgement) by my wife into getting a 5-CD changer, despite the fact that I have a perfectly nice NAD single drive. At the time, the best option that fit my budget was the Marantz CC4300. That machine is a godawful piece of shit, and it has soured me towards Marantz ever since. They'll never make another sale to me.
Yeah, I've seen (and heard) CAT-5 used, and the effect was not good. In fact, it was significantly worse than the awful lampshade cable a lot of shops still supply.
However, you don't have to break the bank to get good quality audio cables. The entry-level Tara Labs cables, for instance, are quite affordable, and you get a distinct improvement on the sound quality. After that, the law of diminishing returns seems to apply, and you have to spend more and more for less perceptible signal quality. And, I guess, the most expensive cables might only be of any use in a sound system that costs more than your house.
it's much more effective to just do somthing & pretend they're brilliant when they send out a memo informing everyone that they've devoloped a new procedure.
Or just set up a bouncer, with a message like "Your email has been intercepted by a lameness filter. Do not attempt to re-send..."
I hadn't realised until I saw that image that Apple apparently have some sort of partnership with Hewlett-Packard in production of these gadgets. Maybe I've just been living in a barrel.:-|
Does anybody have any figures for read times for flash memory vs. the disk drives? Not that I personally have any use for video, but I'm curious as to whether this is a limitation...
I haven't checked out dimensions or costs yet, but this would be a nice way to increase the usefulness of my 6GB iPod mini. Yes, I know I could just buy a higher capacity model, but I can't really afford it.
On second thoughts, on that last criterion, I should probably leave it alone in case I fuck it up...:-|
but my experience is that flamebait/troll/offtopic ratings are generally accurate.
This is probably true. I don't know what proportion of mod points get metamoderated, or how/. selects posts for metamoderation, but my experience is that I rarely see more than one comment out of ten that are moderated inaccurately.
Anyway, getting back to the point, Toyota's claim to 55 miles per gallon isn't that special. My old Morris Minor that I had back in the '70s would comfortably do 50 mpg.
What's more, I was able to do a complete overhaul of the beast with a very much standard toolbox. I can guarantee that the modern machine would require a bunch of electronic gizmos that no bush mechanic would ever be able to afford or find space for.
Living with OS X is closer to a living in a well furnished hotel than a home - pushing a general grand unified field theory of what consititutes 'useability' over user customisation. You can't grow into OS X - in the sense of making yourself at home - so much become good at using it as it is found.
Looks like whoever moderated your post as "Troll" happens to be a Mac fanboy.
Your argument, however, is valid. I've been fairly accustomed to setting up my Linux or BSD boxes the way I like them, and from time to time I backtrack and try out other possibilities to see if there happens to be something that might work better.
Whenever I'm working on a Mac, I find it frustrating that the interface just does not allow you to customise it that much. I often have the feeling Apple are saying "You will think outside the box in the way WE tell you to, dammit!".
A case in point is their awful, awful windowing system, which by default will pop up a window of the exact size calculated to show you the least useful amount of whatever you're looking at. So you have to use your mouse/trackpad and click or drag it up to a usable size. And no sir, you may NOT have a hotkey to maximise the window, because that's not how you're supposed to work with OS X...
That's nothing. In Poland, when you hurt burglar that broke into your house, he can sue you and win. If you hit him with bat and break his arm, you are going to jail (sometimes longer than him).
This state of affairs prevails in a number of countries. Seems to me that the simple solution is to make damn sure the burglar dies. He can't sue you then.
I can go for months wondering why I hang about on Slashdot, since the place so often seems to be populated with rednecks, and you've just made it worthwhile.
...and it would pop up a window every time I logged in that said the browser was unsupported.
Strange. I've had a lot of contact with WebCT at my university since 2001, and I've never seen that message (or any other, for that matter) about Firefox come up. Maybe the IT guys at my campus configured it out...
I had to look this up too, since my own recollection (from the early fourteenth century) of blackboards is of large, black-painted surfaces at the end of what was known as a classroom. Peripherals consisted of wooden-backed dusters and slender sticks of calcium carbonate. Both doubled as ammunition for pedagogues to apply, with varying degrees of accuracy, to unruly or inattentive pupils.
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Using them for support is tolerable, depending on how well moderated the forums are.
It's more than tolerable. It's often the quickest way around any immediate problem. I've long been into the habit of (having hit a snag in any particular application) hitting Google with "stinky-finger-program error #nnnnn" and looking for forum entries. The combo is usually very helpful. I no longer want to wade through the documentation unless it relates to something I know I'll use every day.
and the use of the word "pray" in a legal document, at least in the American legal system, does not imply communications with a religious deity.
That's good.
Because, otherwise, my first question would be "Is that full-duplex or half-duplex?"
;-)
I knew a Texan once. He was so big that when he died, no-one could make a big enough coffin to bury him in.
:-D
So they gave him an enema, and buried him in a shoe-box...
*ducks*
Here in Australia, there is no legal redress against telemarketers, but there is one thing you can do:
Just ask them to hold the line for a moment, then walk away from the phone.
Works well for me. These guys only ever think to call my home phone, and I never use that for outgoing calls, so it doesn't hurt me...
Okay, so reform is needed. But what's the solution, though?
Easy. In many countries, certainly in Europe and Australasia the SSN or equivalent has no value as identification. All loan applications, credit card applications, opening of bank accounts are completed only after valid ID has been seen. All the US has to do is bring in a similar requirement and you cut the legs from under the most widespread and obvious scams.
I'm not saying this will solve all problems, but it at least closes the front door to the thieves. The fact that the US has been unwilling to introduce such a requirement sort of implies (to my suspicious mind, at least) a degree of collusion with the scammers.
Doesn't your junk mail come with pre-paid envelopes? Just put all the junk mail through a shredder, then stuff it all into the envelope and post it back to them at their expense. If enough people did this, the whole machine would grind to a halt...
The first computer I worked with (a Burroughs B3700) had a master console (which they called a SPO, sor "Supervisory Printer Operator") which was like a big, clunky teletype. The keys were so stiff, not even God would have been able to touch-type on that thing. So I, and who knows how many others, learned a sort of heavy-handed thump-type involving both thumbs and the first two fingers of each hand.
The only evolution in technique came about when we had glass teletypes and started using that new-fangled TECO, and later EMACS. Then I started to use my little finger...
OK, so I'm not a super-fast typist (somewhere in the region of 100 wpm) but the point is, I spend a lot more time thinking than writing anyway. And as far as I'm concerned, that's the way it should be.
I think you just outlined the reason Bose is successful...
Like "No highs, No lows, You know it's Bose"?
Heh. Curmudgeons of the world untie! :-P
Until then its my Marantz 8b, chinese 7c knockoff, a smokin' hot solder iron and a whole lot of DIY (diyaudio.com)
I got talked (against my better judgement) by my wife into getting a 5-CD changer, despite the fact that I have a perfectly nice NAD single drive. At the time, the best option that fit my budget was the Marantz CC4300. That machine is a godawful piece of shit, and it has soured me towards Marantz ever since. They'll never make another sale to me.
Yeah, I've seen (and heard) CAT-5 used, and the effect was not good. In fact, it was significantly worse than the awful lampshade cable a lot of shops still supply.
However, you don't have to break the bank to get good quality audio cables. The entry-level Tara Labs cables, for instance, are quite affordable, and you get a distinct improvement on the sound quality. After that, the law of diminishing returns seems to apply, and you have to spend more and more for less perceptible signal quality. And, I guess, the most expensive cables might only be of any use in a sound system that costs more than your house.
it's much more effective to just do somthing & pretend they're brilliant when they send out a memo informing everyone that they've devoloped a new procedure.
Or just set up a bouncer, with a message like "Your email has been intercepted by a lameness filter. Do not attempt to re-send..."
:-P
I hadn't realised until I saw that image that Apple apparently have some sort of partnership with Hewlett-Packard in production of these gadgets. Maybe I've just been living in a barrel. :-|
Does anybody have any figures for read times for flash memory vs. the disk drives? Not that I personally have any use for video, but I'm curious as to whether this is a limitation...
I haven't checked out dimensions or costs yet, but this would be a nice way to increase the usefulness of my 6GB iPod mini. Yes, I know I could just buy a higher capacity model, but I can't really afford it.
:-|
On second thoughts, on that last criterion, I should probably leave it alone in case I fuck it up...
but my experience is that flamebait/troll/offtopic ratings are generally accurate.
/. selects posts for metamoderation, but my experience is that I rarely see more than one comment out of ten that are moderated inaccurately.
This is probably true. I don't know what proportion of mod points get metamoderated, or how
Gees people, stop seeing evil everywhere, there's enough already that we don't need to paint the world as COMPLETELY depressing!
While you apparently prefer your head in the sand, I am reminded of the old saying that:
Just because you imagine an enemy behind every bush, it doesn't necessarily follow that you're wrong.
Be careful, car analogies are bad enough, don't start everybody off on football analogies...
Anyway, getting back to the point, Toyota's claim to 55 miles per gallon isn't that special. My old Morris Minor that I had back in the '70s would comfortably do 50 mpg.
What's more, I was able to do a complete overhaul of the beast with a very much standard toolbox. I can guarantee that the modern machine would require a bunch of electronic gizmos that no bush mechanic would ever be able to afford or find space for.
Living with OS X is closer to a living in a well furnished hotel than a home - pushing a general grand unified field theory of what consititutes 'useability' over user customisation. You can't grow into OS X - in the sense of making yourself at home - so much become good at using it as it is found.
Looks like whoever moderated your post as "Troll" happens to be a Mac fanboy.
Your argument, however, is valid. I've been fairly accustomed to setting up my Linux or BSD boxes the way I like them, and from time to time I backtrack and try out other possibilities to see if there happens to be something that might work better.
Whenever I'm working on a Mac, I find it frustrating that the interface just does not allow you to customise it that much. I often have the feeling Apple are saying "You will think outside the box in the way WE tell you to, dammit!".
A case in point is their awful, awful windowing system, which by default will pop up a window of the exact size calculated to show you the least useful amount of whatever you're looking at. So you have to use your mouse/trackpad and click or drag it up to a usable size. And no sir, you may NOT have a hotkey to maximise the window, because that's not how you're supposed to work with OS X...
That's nothing. In Poland, when you hurt burglar that broke into your house, he can sue you and win. If you hit him with bat and break his arm, you are going to jail (sometimes longer than him).
This state of affairs prevails in a number of countries. Seems to me that the simple solution is to make damn sure the burglar dies. He can't sue you then.
I can go for months wondering why I hang about on Slashdot, since the place so often seems to be populated with rednecks, and you've just made it worthwhile.
Well said.
Has no one produced software to process a scanned image of a punchcard and translate it into a data file? Color me surprised if not . . .
I would be surprised. Anybody who knows his punch-cards can read them by eyeball much quicker than he can scan them.
Hell, it's been 27 years since I last had to do that as part of my job, but I could still do it if I had to.
...and it would pop up a window every time I logged in that said the browser was unsupported.
Strange. I've had a lot of contact with WebCT at my university since 2001, and I've never seen that message (or any other, for that matter) about Firefox come up. Maybe the IT guys at my campus configured it out...
What is Blackboard?
I had to look this up too, since my own recollection (from the early fourteenth century) of blackboards is of large, black-painted surfaces at the end of what was known as a classroom. Peripherals consisted of wooden-backed dusters and slender sticks of calcium carbonate. Both doubled as ammunition for pedagogues to apply, with varying degrees of accuracy, to unruly or inattentive pupils.