As somebody who has been falsely accused of shoplifting (it was called in by somebody other than the store employee, and required a call from the store owner to get the fake call-in quashed) and was harried on the phone by cops, as well as having them show up and "chat" with my family. All this without even calling the store to see if a theft had actually taken place
The cop on the phone went so far as to tell me I was on camera, even though he wouldn't let me come in to see if I matched the person on video (I later found out from the store owner that cameras were non-recording surveillance only), and spent quite a lot of time trying to nail me using lies and various other tactics that probably could have resulted in a nice lawsuit on my part, had I recorded the call.
When the police were called the store owner, they simply went away. No apology, nothing.
This is one of a few various incidents that have me at a loss of respect for police. Yes, there are both good and bad cops. Unfortunately though, even good cops can get tunnel-vision and end up pursuing innocents in a misguided attempt to fight crime.
I wonder if there's a toolbar for firefox allowing you to disable/enable JS on certain sites, or perhaps one that allows you to disable certain JS calls (like the mouse-disabling ones). If not, maybe I'll write one.
Long distance: Calling cards are cheap, mind you, but sometimes it's simpler to text
Textual or memory info: If somebody reads me out an address, I have to find a pen and paper, write it down etc. For addresses, I usually get them to text it. Then it's in my phone for good
Noisy environments: If you're in a loud bar/etc, a text message is a lot easier to understand and doesn't need to be punctuated with *CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?*
Beating a child is wrong. Beating would generally be instantiated because the parent loses control, and at that point is has gone beyond displine to become a release a frustations upon the child by an adult.
Punishing a child is instantiated because other controls on the child have failed (aka the kid is out of control). While it is hard to keep a clear head with an out-of-control child, you should not use heavy physical punishment until you have yourself under control.
The hardest part might actually be finding the time to control your own inner anger (at the misbehaving child) but still give out punishment in a period when it can be associated with the negative actions of the child.
I've reported plenty if idiots back in the days that I played WC-III, and say them happily floating around being f**ktards without any consequence. Some of these people even managed to get names like ChinxSukBalls without getting banned by Blizzard.
Blizzard does not care about game quality unless it prevents the amount of money they have rolling in. It's been this way since Starcraft.
Perhaps what the games need is a player-rating system. If you have a guy who is rated as a jerk on a RTS, you can choose to exclude him from games. In the MMO's, have an interface to indicate how the guy is being a jerk, and with enough unique bad criteria block his account (or have it submitted for blocking).
And who would you alert? Do you have a hotline number to the secret service?
I doubt that calling 9-1-1 would get you anywhere before shit hit the fan. By the time you've indicated you want to talk to the cops, then giving your personal details, sat on hold, and waiting to be connected through the presidential aircraft would be a smoking ruin, or the bad-guys would already be full of bullets.
Also, doesn't hair help protect again cancer to some extent? A bald head may be getting a bit more in the way of UV rays and sunburn than a fully haired one.
Actually, as far as my memories of Doom go, it was the fact that you could play multiplayer at all. Other prior FPS games didn't have this ability to my knowledge.
I'm not sure exactly which chipset I have on my laptop, but I'll check into that when I get home (it was listed as one the driver should support, though). Did you have any special instructions you followed to get it working that you could share with us?
Yeah, that part if a little annoying. Not a big issue for somebody who's a long-term linux user, potential big-time pain in the butt (even with wizards) for out-of-the-box newbies.
However, there is a Broadcom driver in the newer kernels. I haven't had any luck at all getting the stupid thing to work though. Can anyone else comment on whether it works for them? Maybe one day it will be included, working, in the new liveCD's
I've always been impressed that you had the technical acumen to show up regularly here on slashdot, as well as to seek the advice from those here who have a more detailed technical knowledge. The **AA may have bucketloads of money, but it just goes to show that it doesn't always work when a community works together, and a lawyer is smart enough to use the resources of "the people" instead of an overpriced, overpomped "expert."
People often have commented on slashdot "so what are we going to do except bitch about it." The fact is, however, that there are quite a few field experts here (IT, legal, etc), and when we work together to share knowledge and fight against the idiocy that goes on in today's courtroom, we can make a difference. Possibly a much bigger difference than the whole "boycott" movement.
Fighting for what you believe in, for freedom, or against oppression has never been easy. Fighting for your rights, or what is right, has never been easy, especially when the alternatives were popular at the time
I remember reading through one of these trials awhile ago. It was a loooooong excerpt, but quite interesting.
Now my memory might just be a little off, but didn't this supposed expert also take all of *15 minutes* to examine the evidence given to him. Did he not also neglect to log various items that indicated that infringing material was not on the drive. His attitude was that he didn't find what I was looking for, so I didn't record anything, rather than recording that there was a lack of infringing material found.
Weren't there allowances for interoperability in patents? I can't remember if it was patent law or not, but I remember that interoperability was strictly allowed under certain regulations/laws.
Do you feel safer with your kids in an environment where one of the faculties has made a conscious decision that he is willing to kill?
Often the most dangerous situations for any species involve getting between a mother and its offspring. Should it be considered bad that mother's therefore are willing to kill to protect their young? Why would it seem worse if a teacher were willing to kill to protect innocent students?
Yes, it would make me safer. I certainly wouldn't be willing to kill for self-gain, but in a situation where somebody I loved was in danger and I had the means to save them, it wouldn't be such a hard decision for me. If another were in the same situation, I think I'd feel plenty safe knowing that a mentally-stable individual was willing to protect those around him/her.
...maybe that law has to have a special amendment?
I'm not a huge fan of firearms myself, but I wouldn't consider it completely irrational that perhaps one or more well-trusted members of the faculty have training and access for firearms, which would be kept in an accessible but secure location.
There are a lot of things to trust. Not just the possibility of media in your brain, but things like
a) Putting ideas in your head: brainwashing
b) Wiping ideas from your head: memory-erasure
c) Swiping ideas from your head: You think contracts that say "we own what you think" in terms of IP/ideas are bad, wait until they can lift them right from your brain
While the thought of direct-interface with machines is pretty cool, the thought of involving other humans with their own agendas is scary when you consider the possibility in direct-to-brain contact.
Yeah, we're actually starting to warm up fairly well around here. Actually, winter did hang around into April, but it was extremely sporadic and weird weather (with +14 to +18 one day, and snowing heavily the next few). It's around +20c here now, but just the other day it snowed in a nearby city at a slightly higher altitude...
I think the best description I could give for the weather is... weird. Winter comes a bit later, and while it had a certain period of being really cold it wasn't as bad as those I had when I was young. It does hang around a bit later, but rather than a gradual warming it seems to flip between winter and summer type weather for about a month before finally settling on summer. Spring seems to have gone entirely, or at least the spring-ish weather was remarkably short this year.
Here in BC, Canada, we're having our forests killed off by the "mountain pine beetle." While this is a recurring pest, it seems that this time around it's a lot worse than previous. One of the main things that can kill the bugs in a big hurry is a sudden cold snap to about -40c for about 3-5 days. Winters have been milder and shorter lived these last few years though, so the beetle is continuing on. I've heard that Eastern Canada is starting to suffer from something similar with "Pine Wasp" (I'll take the beetles, thanks).
Add to that the issue of beehives being killed off by strange bacteria that seems to proliferate better in the warmer weather, the marked increase in allergy issues locally (according my doctor, and he indicated that it was partly due to the warm, dry weather here), and I'd agree that there are a lot of ways that global warming is not making life better in terms of disease, parasites, and pests...
Actually, creative and many other larger companies seem to follow the idealogy that it's better to get a product out the door, and then drop proper support for it as soon as the next one hits the shelves. Is it really that time-consuming or difficult to port a driver for "card X" when they've already figured out how to work the Vista security model for "card Y?" No, but it's not worth Creative's time when they could be selling newer stuff to customers.
Creative, and many others, have never been good at re-porting old stuff. Smaller companies often seem to do better at this, perhaps because they have less products overally and less new, superduperubercard releases (so they support the older ones a little better). Of course, the issue with many of these companies possibly being semi-nonexistent nowadays does arise.
There are some users that I'm sure would comment that I am extremely friendly and helpful. Actually, probably quite a lot of my users, as I do enjoy interacting with them and discussion various issues (partly to be social, partly to avoid recurrence).
The people that might find me antisocial are:
The ones that assume lunchtime is Q&A period: I generally avoid on-site lunches for this reason. I like to eat too, and I like to relax/read during my break. If it's 12:05pm, and I've got a book in my hand and a sandwich partly in my mouth... I will not be friendly when it comes to answering questions, especially if they're annoying non-work-related (home) ones.
With the above. When you've watched me work through lunch and it's not 1:30/2:30 and I've not yet eaten or had a break... it should not be particularly surprising that I don't want to check out your "little issue" when I'm done
Do-it yourselfers: Staff that display a certain amount of technical knowledge combined with restraint are great! If a user can fix minor problems for himself and others then that makes my job easier. If the same user accidentally makes a mistake, no biggie. However, the users that are gutting their computers, installing unauthorized/illegal software, and other such things... grrrr
Impatience: Everyone wants their stuff fixed first. Quite often one user will be (literally) breathing down my neck while I'm up to my elbows in another issue/machine. Patience and personal space are important things.
Circumvention: We have a "ticket" system. We have a huge amount of users/systems. For non-emergencies (server down Vs "My printer defaults are wrong") it does not help to circumvent the situation by calling me directly. It is less helpful to call my supervisor. This causes other people to be PO'ed at me for being diverted from their (usually equally if not more important), legitimate tickets. It makes me PO'ed at you. It also means I have no ticket to close indicating all is done, and no tickets letting management track that I've actually been working.
Following instructions, and being a little independent: There are the occasional users that need to be told constantly how to deal with a particular scenario. They aren't stupid, as they demonstrate an intricate knowledge of their own domain, but somehow manage to forget simply instructions on how to fix annoying issues. For example, if the server has been down (lengthy power outage, or more recent at one site, drive replacement), reboot your machine before calling for help and requiring a 30 minute drive. (some site are up to a 2h15m drive).
See, the above make me seem pretty grumpy, right? But the truth is that most days are fairly pleasant for both myself and (judging from feedback) for my "clients." However, there are always a few people that can magically manage to rain on a sunny day. Secretaries are often both the best and the worst. Some are obviously in their job because of wonderful PR skills, and manage to be extremely friendly, and, more refreshingly, honest (they can admit when they have messed something up, or don't know how something works). They also often have candies on their desks:-)
But trust me, anyone can have a bad mood after being 2-3h late for lunch and when running a full day without breaks.
Much as I'm not a huge fan of cumbersome protection methods, this one doesn't seem too bad and might actually be useful for some things. While I haven't heard about huge issues in regards to movie DVD's being stolen, I've regularly seen shelled cases of game DVD's at WalMart etc (the DVD is removed, thus circumventing the anti-theft RFID on the case, which is left empty on a shelf somewhere). Since your average game is about 2-3x the cost of a movie, this might be somewhat useful as a protection against "thieving kids" in that market.
Slashdot Mirror
As somebody who has been falsely accused of shoplifting (it was called in by somebody other than the store employee, and required a call from the store owner to get the fake call-in quashed) and was harried on the phone by cops, as well as having them show up and "chat" with my family. All this without even calling the store to see if a theft had actually taken place
The cop on the phone went so far as to tell me I was on camera, even though he wouldn't let me come in to see if I matched the person on video (I later found out from the store owner that cameras were non-recording surveillance only), and spent quite a lot of time trying to nail me using lies and various other tactics that probably could have resulted in a nice lawsuit on my part, had I recorded the call.
When the police were called the store owner, they simply went away. No apology, nothing.
This is one of a few various incidents that have me at a loss of respect for police. Yes, there are both good and bad cops. Unfortunately though, even good cops can get tunnel-vision and end up pursuing innocents in a misguided attempt to fight crime.
In firefox (don't have an IE to test it on at the moment)
Edit-->Preferences
Content
[ ] Enable JavaScript (uncheck)
Right-click allowed!
I wonder if there's a toolbar for firefox allowing you to disable/enable JS on certain sites, or perhaps one that allows you to disable certain JS calls (like the mouse-disabling ones). If not, maybe I'll write one.
Texts are also good for:
Long distance: Calling cards are cheap, mind you, but sometimes it's simpler to text
Textual or memory info: If somebody reads me out an address, I have to find a pen and paper, write it down etc. For addresses, I usually get them to text it. Then it's in my phone for good
Noisy environments: If you're in a loud bar/etc, a text message is a lot easier to understand and doesn't need to be punctuated with *CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?*
Beating a child is wrong. Beating would generally be instantiated because the parent loses control, and at that point is has gone beyond displine to become a release a frustations upon the child by an adult.
Punishing a child is instantiated because other controls on the child have failed (aka the kid is out of control). While it is hard to keep a clear head with an out-of-control child, you should not use heavy physical punishment until you have yourself under control.
The hardest part might actually be finding the time to control your own inner anger (at the misbehaving child) but still give out punishment in a period when it can be associated with the negative actions of the child.
I've reported plenty if idiots back in the days that I played WC-III, and say them happily floating around being f**ktards without any consequence. Some of these people even managed to get names like ChinxSukBalls without getting banned by Blizzard.
Blizzard does not care about game quality unless it prevents the amount of money they have rolling in. It's been this way since Starcraft.
Perhaps what the games need is a player-rating system. If you have a guy who is rated as a jerk on a RTS, you can choose to exclude him from games. In the MMO's, have an interface to indicate how the guy is being a jerk, and with enough unique bad criteria block his account (or have it submitted for blocking).
And who would you alert? Do you have a hotline number to the secret service?
I doubt that calling 9-1-1 would get you anywhere before shit hit the fan. By the time you've indicated you want to talk to the cops, then giving your personal details, sat on hold, and waiting to be connected through the presidential aircraft would be a smoking ruin, or the bad-guys would already be full of bullets.
Also, doesn't hair help protect again cancer to some extent? A bald head may be getting a bit more in the way of UV rays and sunburn than a fully haired one.
Well, as fruit flies might demonstrate... having free will doesn't oppose the possibility that one can have a teeny tiny brain.
Actually, as far as my memories of Doom go, it was the fact that you could play multiplayer at all. Other prior FPS games didn't have this ability to my knowledge.
Because they were suspended for making them based on their schools?
I'm not sure exactly which chipset I have on my laptop, but I'll check into that when I get home (it was listed as one the driver should support, though). Did you have any special instructions you followed to get it working that you could share with us?
Yeah, that part if a little annoying. Not a big issue for somebody who's a long-term linux user, potential big-time pain in the butt (even with wizards) for out-of-the-box newbies.
However, there is a Broadcom driver in the newer kernels. I haven't had any luck at all getting the stupid thing to work though. Can anyone else comment on whether it works for them? Maybe one day it will be included, working, in the new liveCD's
I've always been impressed that you had the technical acumen to show up regularly here on slashdot, as well as to seek the advice from those here who have a more detailed technical knowledge. The **AA may have bucketloads of money, but it just goes to show that it doesn't always work when a community works together, and a lawyer is smart enough to use the resources of "the people" instead of an overpriced, overpomped "expert."
:-)
People often have commented on slashdot "so what are we going to do except bitch about it." The fact is, however, that there are quite a few field experts here (IT, legal, etc), and when we work together to share knowledge and fight against the idiocy that goes on in today's courtroom, we can make a difference. Possibly a much bigger difference than the whole "boycott" movement.
It's always nice to have you on our side NYCL
Fighting for what you believe in, for freedom, or against oppression has never been easy. Fighting for your rights, or what is right, has never been easy, especially when the alternatives were popular at the time
I remember reading through one of these trials awhile ago. It was a loooooong excerpt, but quite interesting.
Now my memory might just be a little off, but didn't this supposed expert also take all of *15 minutes* to examine the evidence given to him. Did he not also neglect to log various items that indicated that infringing material was not on the drive. His attitude was that he didn't find what I was looking for, so I didn't record anything, rather than recording that there was a lack of infringing material found.
Weren't there allowances for interoperability in patents? I can't remember if it was patent law or not, but I remember that interoperability was strictly allowed under certain regulations/laws.
Do you feel safer with your kids in an environment where one of the faculties has made a conscious decision that he is willing to kill?
Often the most dangerous situations for any species involve getting between a mother and its offspring. Should it be considered bad that mother's therefore are willing to kill to protect their young? Why would it seem worse if a teacher were willing to kill to protect innocent students?
Yes, it would make me safer. I certainly wouldn't be willing to kill for self-gain, but in a situation where somebody I loved was in danger and I had the means to save them, it wouldn't be such a hard decision for me. If another were in the same situation, I think I'd feel plenty safe knowing that a mentally-stable individual was willing to protect those around him/her.
...maybe that law has to have a special amendment?
I'm not a huge fan of firearms myself, but I wouldn't consider it completely irrational that perhaps one or more well-trusted members of the faculty have training and access for firearms, which would be kept in an accessible but secure location.
There are a lot of things to trust. Not just the possibility of media in your brain, but things like
a) Putting ideas in your head: brainwashing
b) Wiping ideas from your head: memory-erasure
c) Swiping ideas from your head: You think contracts that say "we own what you think" in terms of IP/ideas are bad, wait until they can lift them right from your brain
While the thought of direct-interface with machines is pretty cool, the thought of involving other humans with their own agendas is scary when you consider the possibility in direct-to-brain contact.
Yeah, we're actually starting to warm up fairly well around here. Actually, winter did hang around into April, but it was extremely sporadic and weird weather (with +14 to +18 one day, and snowing heavily the next few). It's around +20c here now, but just the other day it snowed in a nearby city at a slightly higher altitude...
I think the best description I could give for the weather is... weird. Winter comes a bit later, and while it had a certain period of being really cold it wasn't as bad as those I had when I was young. It does hang around a bit later, but rather than a gradual warming it seems to flip between winter and summer type weather for about a month before finally settling on summer. Spring seems to have gone entirely, or at least the spring-ish weather was remarkably short this year.
Here in BC, Canada, we're having our forests killed off by the "mountain pine beetle." While this is a recurring pest, it seems that this time around it's a lot worse than previous. One of the main things that can kill the bugs in a big hurry is a sudden cold snap to about -40c for about 3-5 days. Winters have been milder and shorter lived these last few years though, so the beetle is continuing on. I've heard that Eastern Canada is starting to suffer from something similar with "Pine Wasp" (I'll take the beetles, thanks).
Add to that the issue of beehives being killed off by strange bacteria that seems to proliferate better in the warmer weather, the marked increase in allergy issues locally (according my doctor, and he indicated that it was partly due to the warm, dry weather here), and I'd agree that there are a lot of ways that global warming is not making life better in terms of disease, parasites, and pests...
Actually, creative and many other larger companies seem to follow the idealogy that it's better to get a product out the door, and then drop proper support for it as soon as the next one hits the shelves. Is it really that time-consuming or difficult to port a driver for "card X" when they've already figured out how to work the Vista security model for "card Y?" No, but it's not worth Creative's time when they could be selling newer stuff to customers.
Creative, and many others, have never been good at re-porting old stuff. Smaller companies often seem to do better at this, perhaps because they have less products overally and less new, superduperubercard releases (so they support the older ones a little better). Of course, the issue with many of these companies possibly being semi-nonexistent nowadays does arise.
Yes, been there done that.
Especially since they invariable attempt to startup the conversation with "Are you busy right now?"
No, I'm just lugging this 40-50lbs of equipment up the stairs because I wanted to work out a bit...
The people that might find me antisocial are:
See, the above make me seem pretty grumpy, right? But the truth is that most days are fairly pleasant for both myself and (judging from feedback) for my "clients." However, there are always a few people that can magically manage to rain on a sunny day. Secretaries are often both the best and the worst. Some are obviously in their job because of wonderful PR skills, and manage to be extremely friendly, and, more refreshingly, honest (they can admit when they have messed something up, or don't know how something works). They also often have candies on their desks
But trust me, anyone can have a bad mood after being 2-3h late for lunch and when running a full day without breaks.
Much as I'm not a huge fan of cumbersome protection methods, this one doesn't seem too bad and might actually be useful for some things. While I haven't heard about huge issues in regards to movie DVD's being stolen, I've regularly seen shelled cases of game DVD's at WalMart etc (the DVD is removed, thus circumventing the anti-theft RFID on the case, which is left empty on a shelf somewhere). Since your average game is about 2-3x the cost of a movie, this might be somewhat useful as a protection against "thieving kids" in that market.