>Slashdot, for instance, could have a contest to unbreak their fucking code by 10%.
I remember playing Call of Cthulhu many years ago and being told of the hideously deranging results of mere mortals who happened to gaze upon the unspeakable things that lurked in the dark places.
I beg you not to lead others down your insane and twisting path.
Well, one PC repair shop diagnosed the sabotage straight away and didn't charge a penny (let alone rummage through the porn):..AND AN HONEST FIRM'S QUICK FIX
Pix 4 in Shepherds Bush, West London, took their time to carefully examine our machine as we waited. They promptly discovered the loose chip, popped it back into place and told us with a smile there would be no charge.
A delighted spokesman for the business said: âoeWe are glad to be of service, you have to be very careful which repair companies you use these days.â
Thing is, these things are going on. It may not be all the time in all places but they have to power to touch anyone at any time the authorities decide to.
Take the new CRB checks for working with children or vulnerable adults. Allowed on that database are rumours and tittle-tattle which will stop a person from being able to do their job, have their chosen career or earn a living. No proof, no evidence, no trial, opportunity to mount a defence.
The Stasi would have wet their pants for the system we have here in the UK (which is under a seemingly constant program of expansion).
Agreed - selfishness doesn't mean taking personal gain or pleasure in itself, it means means taking gain/pleasure at someone else's expense.
In other words (in this context) the people who made the anti-rave laws because it was free culture that undermined the law-makers' capitalist gains in similar areas. I think it's a lot more complicated than that and is essentially good-ol' moral panic, culture-war and exploitation (using the law to bolster the stupid Daily Mail-reading panic-merchants).
As for what the GP says about Adam Curtis, his documentary "The Power of Nightmares" seems like an extremely well-researched documentary, with a quirky and entertaining style. I think, perhaps it offended the Neocon sensibilities of the GP a little too much with it's revelations.
I love how the 'goodnewseveryone' tag is being negated - and replaced by 'badnewseveryone' - by people who obviously don't understand that the phrase is supposed to be ironic and prescient of bad news.
Hand your nerd cards in at the door, please. You know who you are.
There is no cheaper upgrade version of Windows 7 in Europe. So, for Win7 Home Premium, it's either pay £50 now or... three times that much later on.
It seems that £50 is what people are willing to pay for a decent OS. More than willing to pay. Which suggests that the OS is overpriced and that if some form of competition were introduced, the price would plummet and MS would be unable to sell their new shiny OS for 150 clams without falling victim to that competition (assuming no dirty tricks and competition based on merit)... (yes... that's unrealsitic, of course).
Never mind the stupid IE issue the EU parliament is fussing over - get slapping Microsoft for price gouging and abusing their monopoly that way.
>Heroin is dangerous because it's addictive as all hell.
No. Heroin is a threat to a person's freedom because it's addictive. Heroin is DANGEROUS because it is illegal AND it has a low threshold of overdose.
Illegality means that there are no guarantees over purity which means that (ironically) a particularly pure batch of heroin can lead to a user overdosing after taking the same dose as they normally do (same dose but of a purer mix = death). That's dangerous, but wouldn't be happening if the user (however misguided) was able to source a guaranteed level of purity. The government could do this by legalising and regulating. It will not happen so long as the supply is in the hands of criminals. (And this is aside from tha harm caused by the loss of limbs, etc, to injecters of heroin because of the junk that is used to cut it).
The government's continuing war against drugs does nothing to minimise the harm of people who are caught by their addiction to heroin. In point of fact it is RESPONSIBLE for the majority of the harm caused.
Where heroin is able to be supplied legally, under prescription for instance, a user suffers no risk of overdose, unless it's through their own gross stupidity. They suffer no chance of blood-clots and the like through injecting cutting impurities (brick dust, ajax powder etc) and they do not need to inflict their addiction upon society by stealing to fund their habit. The danger to the user and to society is reduced. Enourmously.
In addition the addict can stabilise their life, maintain a job (assuming the assinine policy of drugs tests is not employed by their employer (if they can do their job OK, then it doesn't matter what they're smoking/injecting FFS)) and have a normal family life. In this state they can tackle their addiction and its underlying causes in a state of support and stability. A child gets its father or mother back, a family reclaims their son or daughter.
The addict can even use for the rest of their lives. Although this probably won't be considered ideal (at least in terms of their freedom from addiction) their will be few consequences for their health, since all of the major threats to their physical well-being come from the heroin being in the control of criminals.
It would be nice if the EU, instead of bitching about MS including Internet Explorer in their OS (leading to the ludicrous situation where they omit to include ANY browser with the win7 E version) did something about this blatant price gouging of european consumers.
If this isn't monopoly abuse, I don't know what is.
If anything, I'd say the author of Noscript has proved two things: one, that he is human and makes mistakes, and two, that he has the integrity of character to appologise for his mistakes and rectify them. Neither of which makes him any less trustworthy than anyone else.
Unless you're one of those people who believes that anyone less than perfect with a flawless record of behaviour deserves to be castigated for all time for their transgressions, i suggest you consider a concept called 'forgiveness' which, I believe is most appropriate where the transgressor shows genuine remorse. It seems applicable in this situation, but of course, I can only speak for myself.
(I don't know the guy & I use both noscript and adblock+ with easylist)
Alternative Suggestion (with added sociability): get a screensaver or application that constantly displays a progress bar.
When someone comes to ask to borrow your laptop say - I can't - it's processing files (pretend you're rendering massive 3D models/movies or something, I guess). Show them the progress bar graphic as proof.
And/or (as suggested elsewhere here) create a guest account and allow access as appropriate.
Also, if you're using Windows, I believe Microsoft have a free downloadable utility that effectivelty functions like GoBack used to - resetting the machine to a prior state after use.
Strange - I was engrossed in the story of Terminator - the driving forces, the emotional depth - the way the impending future and being hunted by killer robots weighed on the cahracters. I loved it. It *was* meditative and the characters made choices that felt true to their dilemma. It felt pretty solid and powerful to me, in a way virtually no other show has.
Now, Battlestar Galactica - there was a snooze-fest to be watched on fast forward. And I did.
The way I see it is that it's little different to a supermarket having competing brands of say, coffee in the same aisle, or shelf.
If Dowe Egberts want - or even pay to be next to Percol the fact that they SAY to the supermarket 'put us next to the Percol coffee' doesn't infringe Percol's trademark, and the resulting proximity doesn't create any confusion.
The search results are an on-the-fly aisle created on the use of a keyword. The keywords are sold simply to REFERENCE the competitor's product so that the 'aisle' can be created.
I don't think it's so much about trademark law or confusion as brand owners whining that a search for their trademark produces a list of results that is not exclusively about them! Oh my! Someone wanting to buy our trademarked product might be reminded that another competing product exists and might buy that instead!
In other words they're trying to stifle competition.
>>I told them plainly that I'm not in the habit of giving my ID to people just because they want it, especially fake cops who put money in box and get to play at being real cops.
>This quote from TFA strikes me as both taunting and smartass-y:
Strange; it strikes me as being insightful. Perhaps he thought they deserved to hear it because they were being all 'uppity-like'?
>They collect digital files of music they don't like, books they can't read, even pictures they don't understand, all for purposes of uploading them to thousands of strangers for the odd reason that it makes their dick grow to be such a big "contributor" to the "community"
There's nothing some people won't stoop to. Even, according to you - altruism!
The drive is not public, clearly, however, people have an implied right to walk accross your land to deliver something or knock on your door - so the police were just acting like a postman - delivering something to you by walking on to your property.
Exactly - much better if you observe a police officer attaching a GPS to your vehicle to drive to a truck stop, remove the device and attach it to a truck.... one that's going out of the state... or even better out of the country!
Much hilarity ensues as they keystone cops try to figure out what you're doing in Argentina.
I hope Apple realises that whereas it has tried to portray itself 'Apple' as hip and cool and trendy, actions like this are portraying it as something entirely different.
I mean, can you imagine the hip dude from the 'I'm an Apple' adverts rejecting or refusing to play a game because it has a reference to "underwire bras"?
Apple is declaring that it isn't in fact that person at all.
I think it's also pertinent (with regard to the people who run the company) that they'd rather have their product linked - through real-world usage - with torture and abuse, than with boobies and 'prurient materials'.
Slashdot Mirror
>Look up the definition of the word "error" and compare it with the definitions of the words "willful", "deliberate" and "intent".
See: error of judgement.
>Slashdot, for instance, could have a contest to unbreak their fucking code by 10%.
I remember playing Call of Cthulhu many years ago and being told of the hideously deranging results of mere mortals who happened to gaze upon the unspeakable things that lurked in the dark places.
I beg you not to lead others down your insane and twisting path.
NO GOOD CAN COME OF IT! NO GOOOD!
Well, one PC repair shop diagnosed the sabotage straight away and didn't charge a penny (let alone rummage through the porn): ..AND AN HONEST FIRM'S QUICK FIX
Pix 4 in Shepherds Bush, West London, took their time to carefully examine our machine as we waited. They promptly discovered the loose chip, popped it back into place and told us with a smile there would be no charge.
A delighted spokesman for the business said: âoeWe are glad to be of service, you have to be very careful which repair companies you use these days.â
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/07/22/probe-reveals-computer-technicians-paid-to-fix-computers-are-snooping-into-private-files-115875-21538222/
Thing is, these things are going on. It may not be all the time in all places but they have to power to touch anyone at any time the authorities decide to.
Take the new CRB checks for working with children or vulnerable adults. Allowed on that database are rumours and tittle-tattle which will stop a person from being able to do their job, have their chosen career or earn a living. No proof, no evidence, no trial, opportunity to mount a defence.
The Stasi would have wet their pants for the system we have here in the UK (which is under a seemingly constant program of expansion).
It's not a distortion.
Agreed - selfishness doesn't mean taking personal gain or pleasure in itself, it means means taking gain/pleasure at someone else's expense.
In other words (in this context) the people who made the anti-rave laws because it was free culture that undermined the law-makers' capitalist gains in similar areas. I think it's a lot more complicated than that and is essentially good-ol' moral panic, culture-war and exploitation (using the law to bolster the stupid Daily Mail-reading panic-merchants).
As for what the GP says about Adam Curtis, his documentary "The Power of Nightmares" seems like an extremely well-researched documentary, with a quirky and entertaining style. I think, perhaps it offended the Neocon sensibilities of the GP a little too much with it's revelations.
I love how the 'goodnewseveryone' tag is being negated - and replaced by 'badnewseveryone' - by people who obviously don't understand that the phrase is supposed to be ironic and prescient of bad news.
Hand your nerd cards in at the door, please. You know who you are.
There is no cheaper upgrade version of Windows 7 in Europe. So, for Win7 Home Premium, it's either pay £50 now or ... three times that much later on.
It seems that £50 is what people are willing to pay for a decent OS. More than willing to pay. Which suggests that the OS is overpriced and that if some form of competition were introduced, the price would plummet and MS would be unable to sell their new shiny OS for 150 clams without falling victim to that competition (assuming no dirty tricks and competition based on merit) ... (yes ... that's unrealsitic, of course).
Never mind the stupid IE issue the EU parliament is fussing over - get slapping Microsoft for price gouging and abusing their monopoly that way.
>Heroin is dangerous because it's addictive as all hell.
No. Heroin is a threat to a person's freedom because it's addictive. Heroin is DANGEROUS because it is illegal AND it has a low threshold of overdose.
Illegality means that there are no guarantees over purity which means that (ironically) a particularly pure batch of heroin can lead to a user overdosing after taking the same dose as they normally do (same dose but of a purer mix = death). That's dangerous, but wouldn't be happening if the user (however misguided) was able to source a guaranteed level of purity. The government could do this by legalising and regulating. It will not happen so long as the supply is in the hands of criminals. (And this is aside from tha harm caused by the loss of limbs, etc, to injecters of heroin because of the junk that is used to cut it).
The government's continuing war against drugs does nothing to minimise the harm of people who are caught by their addiction to heroin. In point of fact it is RESPONSIBLE for the majority of the harm caused.
Where heroin is able to be supplied legally, under prescription for instance, a user suffers no risk of overdose, unless it's through their own gross stupidity. They suffer no chance of blood-clots and the like through injecting cutting impurities (brick dust, ajax powder etc) and they do not need to inflict their addiction upon society by stealing to fund their habit. The danger to the user and to society is reduced. Enourmously.
In addition the addict can stabilise their life, maintain a job (assuming the assinine policy of drugs tests is not employed by their employer (if they can do their job OK, then it doesn't matter what they're smoking/injecting FFS)) and have a normal family life. In this state they can tackle their addiction and its underlying causes in a state of support and stability. A child gets its father or mother back, a family reclaims their son or daughter.
The addict can even use for the rest of their lives. Although this probably won't be considered ideal (at least in terms of their freedom from addiction) their will be few consequences for their health, since all of the major threats to their physical well-being come from the heroin being in the control of criminals.
This is easily doable.
Once you trim the earth reference down to "Mostly harmless".
It would be nice if the EU, instead of bitching about MS including Internet Explorer in their OS (leading to the ludicrous situation where they omit to include ANY browser with the win7 E version) did something about this blatant price gouging of european consumers.
If this isn't monopoly abuse, I don't know what is.
That, good sir, is complete horse shit.
(the inherent vulnerability in the equine metaphor)
If anything, I'd say the author of Noscript has proved two things: one, that he is human and makes mistakes, and two, that he has the integrity of character to appologise for his mistakes and rectify them. Neither of which makes him any less trustworthy than anyone else.
Unless you're one of those people who believes that anyone less than perfect with a flawless record of behaviour deserves to be castigated for all time for their transgressions, i suggest you consider a concept called 'forgiveness' which, I believe is most appropriate where the transgressor shows genuine remorse. It seems applicable in this situation, but of course, I can only speak for myself.
(I don't know the guy & I use both noscript and adblock+ with easylist)
>There should be some legislation that either forces companies to unlock your DRM'd content or give you back the money.
better idea - 'buyer beware': you buy DRMed stuff, be aware you can get hosed.
Result: nobody buys DRM stuff and it dies out. better to stamp it out than encourage it with 'rescue' legislation.
Translation: Buy DRM and suffer the consequences.
Alternative Suggestion (with added sociability): get a screensaver or application that constantly displays a progress bar. When someone comes to ask to borrow your laptop say - I can't - it's processing files (pretend you're rendering massive 3D models/movies or something, I guess). Show them the progress bar graphic as proof. And/or (as suggested elsewhere here) create a guest account and allow access as appropriate. Also, if you're using Windows, I believe Microsoft have a free downloadable utility that effectivelty functions like GoBack used to - resetting the machine to a prior state after use.
(appologies for self-reply)
Apparently it's the previews that are broken.
>A Zen Buddhist might look at it differently, though.
Heck, any Buddhist might look at it differently. Or agree. Or both. Or neither. :)
The phrase 'herding cats' springs to mind. Just as it should be.
This one thinks that prayer wheels are probably a bit silly, but they do look cool - 'rich and diverse cultural shiny stuff' and all that.
Not a patch on sorting out your own personal mind-junk, habits and general daftness*, though.
(*not the good daftness. Please leave that alone.)
(ps. why is proper formatting in plain text now broken? Can't put in a paragraph break to save my life!)
Strange - I was engrossed in the story of Terminator - the driving forces, the emotional depth - the way the impending future and being hunted by killer robots weighed on the cahracters. I loved it. It *was* meditative and the characters made choices that felt true to their dilemma. It felt pretty solid and powerful to me, in a way virtually no other show has.
Now, Battlestar Galactica - there was a snooze-fest to be watched on fast forward. And I did.
The way I see it is that it's little different to a supermarket having competing brands of say, coffee in the same aisle, or shelf.
If Dowe Egberts want - or even pay to be next to Percol the fact that they SAY to the supermarket 'put us next to the Percol coffee' doesn't infringe Percol's trademark, and the resulting proximity doesn't create any confusion.
The search results are an on-the-fly aisle created on the use of a keyword. The keywords are sold simply to REFERENCE the competitor's product so that the 'aisle' can be created.
I don't think it's so much about trademark law or confusion as brand owners whining that a search for their trademark produces a list of results that is not exclusively about them! Oh my! Someone wanting to buy our trademarked product might be reminded that another competing product exists and might buy that instead!
In other words they're trying to stifle competition.
>>I told them plainly that I'm not in the habit of giving my ID to people just because they want it, especially fake cops who put money in box and get to play at being real cops.
>This quote from TFA strikes me as both taunting and smartass-y:
Strange; it strikes me as being insightful. Perhaps he thought they deserved to hear it because they were being all 'uppity-like'?
>They collect digital files of music they don't like, books they can't read, even pictures they don't understand, all for purposes of uploading them to thousands of strangers for the odd reason that it makes their dick grow to be such a big "contributor" to the "community"
There's nothing some people won't stoop to. Even, according to you - altruism!
Bah ... humanity.
There is in the UK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_sterling#Legal_tender_and_regional_issues
The drive is not public, clearly, however, people have an implied right to walk accross your land to deliver something or knock on your door - so the police were just acting like a postman - delivering something to you by walking on to your property.
That would be my guess. IANAL.
Exactly - much better if you observe a police officer attaching a GPS to your vehicle to drive to a truck stop, remove the device and attach it to a truck .... one that's going out of the state ... or even better out of the country!
Much hilarity ensues as they keystone cops try to figure out what you're doing in Argentina.
I hope Apple realises that whereas it has tried to portray itself 'Apple' as hip and cool and trendy, actions like this are portraying it as something entirely different.
I mean, can you imagine the hip dude from the 'I'm an Apple' adverts rejecting or refusing to play a game because it has a reference to "underwire bras"?
Apple is declaring that it isn't in fact that person at all.
I think it's also pertinent (with regard to the people who run the company) that they'd rather have their product linked - through real-world usage - with torture and abuse, than with boobies and 'prurient materials'.