I am a Mac OS X user and recently read an interesting hint on the Mac OS X Hints website.
It appears that simply blocking sitefinder.versign.com leads to a rather unpleasant 'timeout' error in a browser: a long wait prior to a timeout is hardly better than an instant appearance of VeriSign's SiteFinder service.
However, one of the users, in the comments on the hint, noted that "[w]hen you type an incorrect URL, the Verisign DNS server actually returns an IP address, which is that of sitefinder-idn.verisign.com."
He continues, "Blocking the sitefinder-idn.verisign.com server in the manner recommended in this hint would save a fraction of a second but the main problem with this hint is that it suggests blocking the response when a far more efficient method would be to block the outgoing request. The system tells the browser that permission is denied for this request and the browser passes that information along immediately. Thus, the rule I use is:
sudo ipfw add 1170 deny tcp from any to 64.94.110.11 setup
I have been using this rule without any noticeable problems. Perhaps it might be of use to others?
Someone else owning your characters ...
on
Ask Neil Gaiman
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· Score: 1
Are all of the characters in the Sandman mythos that you wrote... both secondary and primary... entirely D.C.'s? D.C. owns Daniel, yes, but if you cared to, would you be able to write something involving, say, Fiddler's Green, Wanda, or any of the other members of the rich mythos you created over the years without getting D.C.'s okay?
And if it all ended up going to D.C., how did that feel, during the actual process of creating and giving them life? Did you have any regrets knowing that these secondary characters you were dreaming up would be beyond your control? What are your thoughts on corporations owning and controlling your creations? This is perhaps even more interesting with you given the prolonged situations you went through with Todd McFarlane...
How Your Works Connect to Each Other?
on
Ask Neil Gaiman
·
· Score: 1
Stephen King has hinted and in some cases outright said that many of his works are interconnected with his ongoing Dark Tower series, i.e., Rose Madder, Hearts in Atlantis, and about 40 million other references fans have picked up on. As a King fan (like you), I would have never picked up on them as I first read them, but now that King is beginning to draw things together, they're more visible. Does such interconnectedness exist between your tales, both inside and outside the Sandman mythos?
Re:quote from the article...
on
RIAA Bits
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· Score: 2, Funny
Best bet is just to lose the cloting altogether.:)
But then she could bleed to death in hours.
(And if you want to see Jolie nekkid, go rent Gia.)
You could always go visit Diary-X. Although if memory serves, he has some Slashdotting protection built in, so you may have to cut and paste that URL into a new window.
Smartass.:-) In all seriousness, I *remembered* that it does (although that certainly doesn't apply to Windows machines, it does come with the Unix installation for OS X as well as, I imagine, most Linux installs)... but couldn't remember, and a "man -k convert" wasn't exactly helpful. Google is oft more easy to get ahold of!
Re:More Google ...
on
Google Turns 5
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Re:More Google ...
on
Google Turns 5
·
· Score: 2, Informative
One thing that shouldn't be ignored is that it also does conversions. For instance, the other day, I wanted to know what 19,000 liters were in gallons. I typed "19000 liters in gallons," and it promptly converted it for me.
Back in late July, I submitted (and had rejected) this story:
Possible "Star Wars Kid" cameo in SW3? 10:30 PM -- Friday July 25 2003
WCityMike writes "One of Lucasfilm's official webcams caught the Lucasfilm crew watching the infamous "Star Wars Kid" video (who, coincidentally, just filed suit against the bullies at school who posted the video to the 'Net). Fourteen minutes into the feed, the crew held up a sign that said, "We Love Ghyslain. You Rock!! Jedi Kid." A moment later, she held up a sign that said, "Ghyslain 4 Episode 3? C'est possible, non?" Wouldn't it be hilarious if something originally intended to humiliate the kid instead landed him the role of his dreams? (Hey, if Lucas filmed N*SYNC in Clones... )
You know, entirely apart of the positions being fought about here, your particular line of argument is faulty. You're saying that unless you were actually living in Nazi Germany, you cannot have the ability to compare current conditions to it? That makes no sense. One does not need to have firsthand experience of something to be able to describe it and work with the idea in your mind. That discounts pretty much the entire concept of the written word as a method of communicating ideas, history, and experience. Yeesh.
Since the OS upgrade debate is being brought into this, let's just point out: many people aren't saying they want it free, they'd just appreciate a slight discount. Even a $30 upgrade discount'd bring the price down to $99, which is far more palatable... especially for 10.3, which from all accounts and purposes isn't going to have half the improvements that 10.2 did over 10.1. Hell, even the dreaded M$ offers upgrade pricing for their OS. Surely it's in Apple's interests...
I don't recall Apple ever advertising on-the-fly playlists as a feature for the old iPod. They didn't even talk about it until the new iPod came out.
The on-the-fly playlists and new games are features that are part of the new iPod only, and I'm pretty sure they'll never be added to the old iPod. That's just how it is.
I completely second this recommendation. The books are amazing (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6). And don't miss the ones she wrote that oriented more towards adults (1, 2).
There have been a number of good responses to my original post, so far, and fortunately none of them (yet) simply say, âoeStop whining!â, which was the prevalent response for people advocating an upgrade fee for Jaguar from Puma.
I do see a few people relying on âstraw manâ(TM) variants of what I said, though, so let me interject one thing to head off further remarks along that thread. For those of you who are making arguments that it is something that should be paid for: listen, Iâ(TM)m not opposing that statement. Apple puts way too much stuff in it for it to be free. (Although sometimes companiesarejustgenerous.)
Iâ(TM)m merely stating that there should be a slightly lessened amount for people who are not buying it new. Is Apple really going to get financially hurt from giving a discount of at least $30 (preferably $40-45) to existing users? I honestly donâ(TM)t think so, and in fact, I think itâ(TM)d help. Stuff over $100 is a much harder sell than stuff below $100 ⦠even if the upgrade fee brought it down to $99.95, itâ(TM)d probably sell disproportionately better.
And I very much suspect that if they continue this full-price scheme, theyâ(TM)re going to find their percentages of OS adoption will suffer in a few versions. Itâ(TM)s definitely not a foregone conclusion that Iâ(TM)ll be buying Panther, and if they pull this same stunt again with Ocelot, Bobcat, and PuddyTat ⦠well, my opinion (entirely that of a layman) is that their sales will suffer.
Panther will include a final X11 client for Unix-based applications, improved NFS/UFS, FreeBSD 5 innovations as well as support for popular Linux APIs, IPv6 and other important acronyms.
Integrated X11 is far different than "a final X11 client."
Aw, frickin' crud ...
on
Jaguar is Over
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Dear Mr. Jobs:
Iâ(TM)m not saying I donâ(TM)t want to pay you guys when you upgrade the OS. You guys put a lot of features in every release, and your staff deserves to get paid for it. Panther looks pretty damn cool, for the most part. Just do me a favor. Reward me, even with a paltry amount, for being a customer who likes to keep his OS up-to-date.
Knock $40 off the price and call it a $89 upgrade fee. Hell, even $30, and $99, would be somewhat palatable. Thatâ(TM)s really not that much to ask, considering the discounts one can find elsewhere on the OS after a few months.
Itâ(TM)s a bit more palatable than the pure psychological âoeF--K YOUâ of making me buy the operating system over and over and over again with every new release.
Longhorn users may be waiting until 2005 for their next release, but I doubt theyâ(TM)ll have spent $460 or $690 by that point on keeping their OS up to date.
Sincerely,
Quite Unpleased Customer Who's About to Get His Ass Handed to Him By Fellow Mac Loyalists for Even Daring to Question the Wielder of the Reality Distortion Field
P.S. To all those who decide to flame instead of intelligently reply... please use a flame more creative than "whiner." Obliged.
To an extent, I do have sympathy for this person. However, I don't agree to donate money to him. He and his father made a choice to settle, with all that entails. If they didn't want to shell out his life's savings, they could have contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and/or Public Citizen, to name a few. Asking the public to recoup their losses from a choice that they made is troublesome. I am fairly sure that most Slashdot commenters would have been far more willing to contribute to his legal defense costs.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't know if the price will be comparable, but Amazon has a list price of 450.99 pounds, which would be the equivalent of $748.50.
Took me a second, but for those who didn't place it, the parent's an altered quote from Samuel L. Jackson's character in Pulp Fiction.
I am a Mac OS X user and recently read an interesting hint on the Mac OS X Hints website.
It appears that simply blocking sitefinder.versign.com leads to a rather unpleasant 'timeout' error in a browser: a long wait prior to a timeout is hardly better than an instant appearance of VeriSign's SiteFinder service.
However, one of the users, in the comments on the hint, noted that "[w]hen you type an incorrect URL, the Verisign DNS server actually returns an IP address, which is that of sitefinder-idn.verisign.com."
He continues, "Blocking the sitefinder-idn.verisign.com server in the manner recommended in this hint would save a fraction of a second but the main problem with this hint is that it suggests blocking the response when a far more efficient method would be to block the outgoing request. The system tells the browser that permission is denied for this request and the browser passes that information along immediately. Thus, the rule I use is:
sudo ipfw add 1170 deny tcp from any to 64.94.110.11 setup
I have been using this rule without any noticeable problems. Perhaps it might be of use to others?
Are all of the characters in the Sandman mythos that you wrote ... both secondary and primary ... entirely D.C.'s? D.C. owns Daniel, yes, but if you cared to, would you be able to write something involving, say, Fiddler's Green, Wanda, or any of the other members of the rich mythos you created over the years without getting D.C.'s okay?
...
And if it all ended up going to D.C., how did that feel, during the actual process of creating and giving them life? Did you have any regrets knowing that these secondary characters you were dreaming up would be beyond your control? What are your thoughts on corporations owning and controlling your creations? This is perhaps even more interesting with you given the prolonged situations you went through with Todd McFarlane
Stephen King has hinted and in some cases outright said that many of his works are interconnected with his ongoing Dark Tower series, i.e., Rose Madder, Hearts in Atlantis, and about 40 million other references fans have picked up on. As a King fan (like you), I would have never picked up on them as I first read them, but now that King is beginning to draw things together, they're more visible. Does such interconnectedness exist between your tales, both inside and outside the Sandman mythos?
Best bet is just to lose the cloting altogether. :)
But then she could bleed to death in hours.
(And if you want to see Jolie nekkid, go rent Gia.)
You could always go visit Diary-X. Although if memory serves, he has some Slashdotting protection built in, so you may have to cut and paste that URL into a new window.
Smartass. :-) In all seriousness, I *remembered* that it does (although that certainly doesn't apply to Windows machines, it does come with the Unix installation for OS X as well as, I imagine, most Linux installs) ... but couldn't remember, and a "man -k convert" wasn't exactly helpful. Google is oft more easy to get ahold of!
Amusingly enough, the Google Calculator has read Douglas Adams.
It also knows smoots.
More fun here and here and here.
One thing that shouldn't be ignored is that it also does conversions. For instance, the other day, I wanted to know what 19,000 liters were in gallons. I typed "19000 liters in gallons," and it promptly converted it for me.
Possible "Star Wars Kid" cameo in SW3?
10:30 PM -- Friday July 25 2003
WCityMike writes "One of Lucasfilm's official webcams caught the Lucasfilm crew watching the infamous "Star Wars Kid" video (who, coincidentally, just filed suit against the bullies at school who posted the video to the 'Net). Fourteen minutes into the feed, the crew held up a sign that said, "We Love Ghyslain. You Rock!! Jedi Kid." A moment later, she held up a sign that said, "Ghyslain 4 Episode 3? C'est possible, non?" Wouldn't it be hilarious if something originally intended to humiliate the kid instead landed him the role of his dreams? (Hey, if Lucas filmed N*SYNC in Clones ... )
You might want to see if the effect this application produces (essentially inverting the gamma curve) assists you at all.
Eeek ... as a Chicagoan, I now stand shamed ... :)
Cheezborger, cheezborger, cheezborger. No Pepsi, Coke. No fries, cheeps.
:-)]
[Sorry, but as a Chicagoan, I had to add that to this thread. I was obligated to.
You know, entirely apart of the positions being fought about here, your particular line of argument is faulty. You're saying that unless you were actually living in Nazi Germany, you cannot have the ability to compare current conditions to it? That makes no sense. One does not need to have firsthand experience of something to be able to describe it and work with the idea in your mind. That discounts pretty much the entire concept of the written word as a method of communicating ideas, history, and experience. Yeesh.
Since the OS upgrade debate is being brought into this, let's just point out: many people aren't saying they want it free, they'd just appreciate a slight discount. Even a $30 upgrade discount'd bring the price down to $99, which is far more palatable ... especially for 10.3, which from all accounts and purposes isn't going to have half the improvements that 10.2 did over 10.1. Hell, even the dreaded M$ offers upgrade pricing for their OS. Surely it's in Apple's interests ...
I don't recall Apple ever advertising on-the-fly playlists as a feature for the old iPod. They didn't even talk about it until the new iPod came out.
The on-the-fly playlists and new games are features that are part of the new iPod only, and I'm pretty sure they'll never be added to the old iPod. That's just how it is.
That was his point. He was being sarcastic.
*whooooooooooooooooooooooosh*
I completely second this recommendation. The books are amazing (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6). And don't miss the ones she wrote that oriented more towards adults (1, 2).
(Actually, back when 10.3 was still codenamed Pinot, 10.4's codename was evidently Merlot.)
There have been a number of good responses to my original post, so far, and fortunately none of them (yet) simply say, âoeStop whining!â, which was the prevalent response for people advocating an upgrade fee for Jaguar from Puma.
I do see a few people relying on âstraw manâ(TM) variants of what I said, though, so let me interject one thing to head off further remarks along that thread. For those of you who are making arguments that it is something that should be paid for: listen, Iâ(TM)m not opposing that statement. Apple puts way too much stuff in it for it to be free. (Although sometimes companies are just generous.)
Iâ(TM)m merely stating that there should be a slightly lessened amount for people who are not buying it new. Is Apple really going to get financially hurt from giving a discount of at least $30 (preferably $40-45) to existing users? I honestly donâ(TM)t think so, and in fact, I think itâ(TM)d help. Stuff over $100 is a much harder sell than stuff below $100 ⦠even if the upgrade fee brought it down to $99.95, itâ(TM)d probably sell disproportionately better.
And I very much suspect that if they continue this full-price scheme, theyâ(TM)re going to find their percentages of OS adoption will suffer in a few versions. Itâ(TM)s definitely not a foregone conclusion that Iâ(TM)ll be buying Panther, and if they pull this same stunt again with Ocelot, Bobcat, and PuddyTat ⦠well, my opinion (entirely that of a layman) is that their sales will suffer.
You misunderestimated 'em, didn't ya?
Directly from Apple's Panther page:
Integrated X11 is far different than "a final X11 client."
> Don't mention it.
... ?
And the flame was
Dear Mr. Jobs:
... please use a flame more creative than "whiner." Obliged.
Iâ(TM)m not saying I donâ(TM)t want to pay you guys when you upgrade the OS. You guys put a lot of features in every release, and your staff deserves to get paid for it. Panther looks pretty damn cool, for the most part. Just do me a favor. Reward me, even with a paltry amount, for being a customer who likes to keep his OS up-to-date.
Knock $40 off the price and call it a $89 upgrade fee. Hell, even $30, and $99, would be somewhat palatable. Thatâ(TM)s really not that much to ask, considering the discounts one can find elsewhere on the OS after a few months.
Itâ(TM)s a bit more palatable than the pure psychological âoeF--K YOUâ of making me buy the operating system over and over and over again with every new release.
Longhorn users may be waiting until 2005 for their next release, but I doubt theyâ(TM)ll have spent $460 or $690 by that point on keeping their OS up to date.
Sincerely,
Quite Unpleased Customer Who's About to Get His Ass Handed to Him By Fellow Mac Loyalists for Even Daring to Question the Wielder of the Reality Distortion Field
P.S. To all those who decide to flame instead of intelligently reply
To an extent, I do have sympathy for this person. However, I don't agree to donate money to him. He and his father made a choice to settle, with all that entails. If they didn't want to shell out his life's savings, they could have contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and/or Public Citizen, to name a few. Asking the public to recoup their losses from a choice that they made is troublesome. I am fairly sure that most Slashdot commenters would have been far more willing to contribute to his legal defense costs.