Yes, it's convenient and allows tracking our accounts better... BUT... If our financial institutions insist on running something as insecure as Windows and also insist that our residential interface uses Windows, then security of our accounts is NOT one of their primary concerns. I have repeatedly emailed corporations that insist on customer Windows usage to inform them of the risks and limitations they impose on their customers. Some improve, some do not. I avoid doing business with the latter.
"...i'm often surprised by what the characters do - like real people. they have motivations and emotions and aren't always perfectly rational "
Plus the times they are completely rational, but in a totally unexpected direction or manner. Firefly's CG, special effects, and production were good, but you're right -- it was the character development that addicted us. So many arresting personal quirks and offbeat futuretalk sayings. We need Firefly restored to continue the story.
I personally don't give a hoot about Red or Blue. Tek matters should be attended by tech savvy people, not political hacks. We really don't need our technical standards set by people worried about which version will provide the best sound bite (or byte), the most favorable spin, or provide the biggest donations to a particular party. Just send the most professionally qualified people. If they are truly professional, they will decide the tech matters on a tech basis, not politically, either way. This smacks of some hidden political agenda being impressed on the tech sector for someone's financial and political benefit. The comment by the administration's flack nailed it as being done to ensure positive spin and PR for the presidency.
As responsible utility workers our job is to protect public safety and our ratepayer's investment in the infrastructure. While random vandalism has always been a problem, today organized attempts at mayhem are becoming the greater threat. Lawsuits are NOT the driving force behind restricting sensitive data. Rather, we have the responsibility, and the mandate, to prevent acts of terrorism or sabotage. Restricting access to critical data is one (of many) measures employed to secure our energy, water, and transportation systems. Throughout the USA, agencies are performing risk analyses of their facilities. BTW: free risk categorization and analysis software is a big help to us in this process. Many people do not realize that there are often more dollars invested under the streets than above them. However, much more than dollars is at stake in today's terror prone world. None of us wish to provide an open door for those bent on harming our patrons. Locked doors and restricted access are an unfortunate necessity in today's threat ridden world.
At this point, who knows where it might hit? According to estimated time of impact some are predicting the eastern hemisphere. But what happens if the object grazes our atmosphere, slows, and has its trajectory altered by Earth's gravity? Take that slim possibility to it's extreme, and our homeworld gains a new moonlet. Right now, all we have are probabilities, and the human mind doesn't handle ambiguity well. We all want to know if and when it will kill us. Yet we blithely ignore the mundane daily events that are more likely to kill us before an asteroid does.
One thought on taking it to the top: As we say in the wastewater trade, 'Shit runs downhill'. Putting pressure on the legislators, bureau heads, or departmental directors only makes life more miserable for the people actually trying to do the work at lower levels. Career bureacrats and politicians (at least the ones with enough brains to survive) have a variety of means for passing the buck on down the line. A large part of the problem is the 'don't make waves' corporate culture. No ripples, no trouble, and especially no negative publicity. The same malady also exists in the private sector if the link between productivity and survival isn't strong enough.
IANAE (I Am Not An Engineer), nor am I up to date on current thermoelectric devices, but my understanding is that these devices are not very effiicient. If so, that would be strike two against them when used in battery operated systems. Expert commentary would be appreciated.
National Guard? Been there, done that. Vietnam? Been there, done that. Lost friends and schoolmates in combat? Ditto. It's 25 year old history; nations and people have changed since then. As a Vet, I was not, and am not, insulted by Kerry's testimony against unethical behavior during a conflict spanning Eisenhower-Kennedy-Johnson-Nixon. As wartime soldiers, some of us did good, some did bad, and most of us did both during our tours. I don't recall any of our ranks attaining sainthood while in country. Kerry testified about the bad. If the bad doesn't get reported, it becomes the worst. Abu-Ghraib and Watergate come to mind. It would be a darker world, had they gone unexposed.
The Bush administration has enough shortcomings today, without having to waste time on George W's AWOL status from stateside weekend drills several decades ago.
Our troops were destroying the Taliban and Al-Queda like a pack of terriers ripping up a nest of rats. Our chickenhawk Commander and his chums diverted our attention from the snake infested rock pile to go after an ugly toad in the swamp. When your are up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember that your original purpose was to drain the swamp. George says 'Bring it on!' and the caskets come home. So there our troops stay, spread thin, for the duration. Now, they've been there and done that, too. They have my full support and sympathy. Something I cannot, in good conscience, give the current administration.
Subsidy or not, why should our tax system encourage increasing the population of an increasingly resource limited planet?
Today, it would make more sense to have a population neutral policy of no perks for siring more offspring, or even a population adverse policy that increases taxes to offset the increased costs to society of other people's kidz.
Of course I'm a boomer-geezer, so more new taxpayers will help offset the looming dismantling of Social Security being pushed by conservatives and libertarians. I may not see a dime from the SS I paid into, but at least my widowed-housewife 92 year old mom has been able to survive on it.
My childhood home had 3 generations to help each other. Today's household is more likely to have half a generation trying to make ends meet in an age of increasing cultural flux.
We can't go back to the good old days (and their own set of problems), but we surely need to work out some basic solutions for creating and maintaining a stable, healthy existence for people around the globe. As the world shrinks, the famines, epidemics, and wars keep getting closer to our own blessed homeland. Moreso every day, their problems are becoming our problems. And the more people, the more problems.
It makes no sense to encourage, subsidize, or tax-break for a larger population base -- unless you are a politician.
From the article:
"After dinner, you'll have your pick of any TV show or movie ever made, available instantly on your wall-screen TV.
(Micropayments will work flawlessly: you'll be able to access any premium information off the expanded, full-motion-video Web, with the creator compensated automatically.)"
Any payments to the creators of intellectual property may be micro, but you can predict that corresponding payments to the RIAA, MPAA, or their descendents will be MACRO.
There will be even more lawyers than our society is burdened with today, and the gatekeepers will be even more militant about taking their pound of flesh first.
Starving artists, raped consumers, fat corporations -- nothing is likely to change for the better.
As a resident of Idaho, I can see why Amazon would play their 'shell game' here. Idaho government is controlled by business and has a history of anti-consumer, anti-worker, and anti-education legislation. Neoconservatism and a overwhelmingly Republican legislature ensure that corporations will have a free hand to do business however they see fit. Many Idahoans like to posture as independent minded conservatives, but Idaho's laws and economy are of, by, and for business. A2Z was probably welcomed here with open arms 'Lookit the jobs!' without any concern about what the purpose or end results of their activities would be. And this in a state heavily influenced by religion. But then again that's just another business these days.
While a variety of manufacturers are deep into MarketSpeak, nano* promises major change; for good and bad.
Safety-wise vehicles can have better integrity and more biofriendly interiors, enhancing both crash resistance and occupant protection. Hard outside & soft inside taken to the next level.
Other threads have alluded to driver incompetence and obstinance, but nano* can help us reach the state of cars that travel safely to the occupant's destination on autopilot.
Currently nano* is little more than a buzzword. As nano* evolves it will branch in directions and devices we have yet to comprehend. Nano* in the sense of wildcard (*) character.
'Apparently John Ashcroft can't tell a weapons lab from an art installation. '
What else would one expect from John Ashcroft:
He can't tell art ( bare breasted statue of Justice )
from porn -- put a blue blanket over her!
He felt she was to tittilating (to him).
Don't know where mom got them, but when I moved her stuff out of the assisted living facility she had several synthetic sponges with a slit in them. They were hollow for utilizing the soap slivers. Works great, & terrific lather. If anyone finds a source, please post for the rest of us skinflints.
As a non-analyst linux enthusiast:
It appears few of us noticed the stumbles in the writing style.
The article is interesting, and is generating a reasonable amount of worthy comment, but the lapses of syntax are distracting to the perfectionists among us.
The creative ability is there -- some course work in writing, or additional editing, would make a top-notch product.
Most of the people paying for analytical reports can recognize good writing.
Perhaps the author was more informal, or hurried, in getting this out to the/. masses.
Personally, I'm looking forward to more articles by her.
It's great to see Linux and the people writing about it grow.
As feared, the discussion is drifting off into the fringes of flame.
It appears that the OS debate often becomes a philosophical, almost religious, determination to push our own 'good' OS over any of the other 'heathen' systems.
For the present we prefer Linux, and have been happy enough with Mandrake to stick with it.
We honestly, and objectively, cannot say the same for the Win98 we were using before.
We are amazed about not having to constantly upgrade antivirus software.
We are appreciative of the many SOHO apps that are included as part of a distro selling for about $40 US.
For security, stability, and economy we have found Linux to be a better choice than MS or Mac.
Microsoft's security track record and their propensity for escalating product lock-ins has turned us away from them as a consumer friendly source.
And speaking of source, as in 'open source', Linux code is there for inspection and, if you desire, tweaking.
With MS we were locked down and locked out.
Seems only hackers and MS have access.
No flames were needed for us migrate to something different from Win; just a need for reliable email and web access.
Egads!
Aliens, Wal-Martians, an organized plot to dominate earth; good thing someone is sounding the alarm.
And to think " I married a monster from outer space " .
Little did I realize she was part of a nefarious plot to overthrow man. Now I understand why she is always trying to control everything I do. Good thing I found out about this. I'll just wear my tinfoil pyramid hat to bed.
That'll stop her alien Wal-Martian brain beams from doing further damage. Tomorrow we storm Bentonville.
Not off topic -- just off planet.;-)
Strange bedfellows: BestBuy, DMCA, and/.
The two previous posts got 'flamebait' and 'zero karma' for telling it like it is.
The posts may not have been new, trendy, or clever enough for the moderator, but they pretty much reflect the facts in today's legalistic culture, sad to say.
Check out Catherine Crier's book: "The Case Against Lawyers" for a topical and well researched analysis.
IANAL, neither am I a coder.
I found Catherine Crier's book "The Case Against Lawyers" to be an understandable (to us mere mortals) treatise on what is dysfunctional in our legal/political system. She also suggests some patches to make the system more user friendly, secure, and reliable. Read that as more understandable to laymen, resistant to hacking by the powerful, rich, and connected, and more consistent in providing justice to each of us.
Existing legal tomes are about as comprehensible as MS spaghetti code. Need I say more?
You're right, I gotta agree.
Barstool lawyers can make any kind of snake oil claim, while Bar Association lawyers have to follow some degree of legally accepted procedures.
The problem is that so many blatant scams are 'all perfectly legal'.
They have been conceived or polished by creative lawyers to conform with laws written by other lawyers who serve in, or lobby to, our legislatures.
And often for the benefit of lawyers.
Many cultures have been ruled by an elite priesthood who held sway over every facet of their society's existence.
Afghanistan had its taliban.
Europe had its Holy Roman Empire.
The USA has its legal system.
Of, by, or for the people, it's not.
To enter the judicial cathedral without a legal priest by your side is usually foolish, and sometimes fatal. The entire system is convoluted and constipated. 'Do NOT call list' overrulings, the OJ debacle, SCO, RIAA, and all the financial scandals, show how low our system of so-called 'justice' has sunk.
Catherine Crier's book "The case against lawyers" make some interesting points.
Chris at LockerGnome seemed to have a subscription oriented perspective when he was promoting it on his sites. I personally have been happy with plain text email newsletters, and can always selectively pull up the html at will. I have had no problem with spam, probably because I am cautious about what I sites click on and what information I release. BTW, thanks to Linux I received only 2 SoBig variants that slipped through our cable providers MS servers.
My initial excitement about RSS quickly faded when Chris' main focus became the commercial / provider side of the service as opposed to the consumer / recipient side.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, it's convenient and allows tracking our accounts better...
BUT...
If our financial institutions insist on running something as insecure as Windows and also insist that our residential interface uses Windows, then security of our accounts is NOT one of their primary concerns.
I have repeatedly emailed corporations that insist on customer Windows usage to inform them of the risks and limitations they impose on their customers.
Some improve, some do not.
I avoid doing business with the latter.
That last sentence is a classic in its own right.
A perfect analogy and a new perspective.
Well done.
For an engineer's analysis:
"The Bottomless Well:
The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy"
by Peter W. Huber,Mark P. Mills.
Available at all the usual book outlets.
"...i'm often surprised by what the characters do - like real people. they have motivations and emotions and aren't always perfectly rational "
Plus the times they are completely rational, but in a totally unexpected direction or manner.
Firefly's CG, special effects, and production were good, but you're right -- it was the character development that addicted us.
So many arresting personal quirks and offbeat futuretalk sayings.
We need Firefly restored to continue the story.
I personally don't give a hoot about Red or Blue.
Tek matters should be attended by tech savvy people, not political hacks.
We really don't need our technical standards set by people worried about which version will provide the best sound bite (or byte), the most favorable spin, or provide the biggest donations to a particular party.
Just send the most professionally qualified people.
If they are truly professional, they will decide the tech matters on a tech basis, not politically, either way.
This smacks of some hidden political agenda being impressed on the tech sector for someone's financial and political benefit.
The comment by the administration's flack nailed it as being done to ensure positive spin and PR for the presidency.
I'm new to all this, but isn't that a typo above? .Net..."?
Shouldn't that read
"...Microsoft's floundering
As responsible utility workers our job is to protect public safety and our ratepayer's investment in the infrastructure.
While random vandalism has always been a problem, today organized attempts at mayhem are becoming the greater threat.
Lawsuits are NOT the driving force behind restricting sensitive data.
Rather, we have the responsibility, and the mandate, to prevent acts of terrorism or sabotage.
Restricting access to critical data is one (of many) measures employed to secure our energy, water, and transportation systems.
Throughout the USA, agencies are performing risk analyses of their facilities.
BTW: free risk categorization and analysis software is a big help to us in this process.
Many people do not realize that there are often more dollars invested under the streets than above them.
However, much more than dollars is at stake in today's terror prone world.
None of us wish to provide an open door for those bent on harming our patrons.
Locked doors and restricted access are an unfortunate necessity in today's threat ridden world.
At this point, who knows where it might hit?
According to estimated time of impact some are predicting the eastern hemisphere.
But what happens if the object grazes our atmosphere, slows, and has its trajectory altered by Earth's gravity?
Take that slim possibility to it's extreme, and our homeworld gains a new moonlet.
Right now, all we have are probabilities, and the human mind doesn't handle ambiguity well.
We all want to know if and when it will kill us.
Yet we blithely ignore the mundane daily events that are more likely to kill us before an asteroid does.
Point & Click Linux, by Roblimo
-- includes Simply Mepis CD
-- includes DVD video of GUI rudiments
-- 270 pages of Mepis usability HowTo
Bought my gift copy @ Walmart.com
for a budding noob at work.
Tested it myself, liked what I found.
Next year I buy him beer!
Looks like an effective way to turn MS
prisoners into Open Source advocates.
The book -- not the beer!
Well maybe that too.
One thought on taking it to the top:
As we say in the wastewater trade,
'Shit runs downhill'.
Putting pressure on the legislators, bureau heads, or departmental directors only makes life more miserable for the people actually trying to do the work at lower levels.
Career bureacrats and politicians (at least the ones with enough brains to survive) have a variety of means for passing the buck on down the line.
A large part of the problem is the 'don't make waves' corporate culture.
No ripples, no trouble, and especially no negative publicity.
The same malady also exists in the private sector if the link between productivity and survival isn't strong enough.
IANAE (I Am Not An Engineer), nor am I up to date on current thermoelectric devices, but my understanding is that these devices are not very effiicient.
If so, that would be strike two against them when used in battery operated systems.
Expert commentary would be appreciated.
National Guard? Been there, done that.
Vietnam? Been there, done that.
Lost friends and schoolmates in combat? Ditto.
It's 25 year old history; nations and people have changed since then.
As a Vet, I was not, and am not, insulted by Kerry's testimony against unethical behavior during a conflict spanning Eisenhower-Kennedy-Johnson-Nixon.
As wartime soldiers, some of us did good, some did bad, and most of us did both during our tours.
I don't recall any of our ranks attaining sainthood while in country.
Kerry testified about the bad.
If the bad doesn't get reported, it becomes the worst.
Abu-Ghraib and Watergate come to mind.
It would be a darker world, had they gone unexposed.
The Bush administration has enough shortcomings today, without having to waste time on George W's AWOL status from stateside weekend drills several decades ago.
Our troops were destroying the Taliban and Al-Queda like a pack of terriers ripping up a nest of rats.
Our chickenhawk Commander and his chums diverted our attention from the snake infested rock pile to go after an ugly toad in the swamp.
When your are up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember that your original purpose was to drain the swamp.
George says 'Bring it on!' and the caskets come home.
So there our troops stay, spread thin, for the duration.
Now, they've been there and done that, too.
They have my full support and sympathy.
Something I cannot, in good conscience, give the current administration.
Subsidy or not, why should our tax system encourage increasing the population of an increasingly resource limited planet? Today, it would make more sense to have a population neutral policy of no perks for siring more offspring, or even a population adverse policy that increases taxes to offset the increased costs to society of other people's kidz. Of course I'm a boomer-geezer, so more new taxpayers will help offset the looming dismantling of Social Security being pushed by conservatives and libertarians. I may not see a dime from the SS I paid into, but at least my widowed-housewife 92 year old mom has been able to survive on it. My childhood home had 3 generations to help each other. Today's household is more likely to have half a generation trying to make ends meet in an age of increasing cultural flux. We can't go back to the good old days (and their own set of problems), but we surely need to work out some basic solutions for creating and maintaining a stable, healthy existence for people around the globe. As the world shrinks, the famines, epidemics, and wars keep getting closer to our own blessed homeland. Moreso every day, their problems are becoming our problems. And the more people, the more problems. It makes no sense to encourage, subsidize, or tax-break for a larger population base -- unless you are a politician.
From the article: "After dinner, you'll have your pick of any TV show or movie ever made, available instantly on your wall-screen TV. (Micropayments will work flawlessly: you'll be able to access any premium information off the expanded, full-motion-video Web, with the creator compensated automatically.)" Any payments to the creators of intellectual property may be micro, but you can predict that corresponding payments to the RIAA, MPAA, or their descendents will be MACRO. There will be even more lawyers than our society is burdened with today, and the gatekeepers will be even more militant about taking their pound of flesh first. Starving artists, raped consumers, fat corporations -- nothing is likely to change for the better.
As a resident of Idaho, I can see why Amazon would play their 'shell game' here. Idaho government is controlled by business and has a history of anti-consumer, anti-worker, and anti-education legislation. Neoconservatism and a overwhelmingly Republican legislature ensure that corporations will have a free hand to do business however they see fit. Many Idahoans like to posture as independent minded conservatives, but Idaho's laws and economy are of, by, and for business. A2Z was probably welcomed here with open arms 'Lookit the jobs!' without any concern about what the purpose or end results of their activities would be. And this in a state heavily influenced by religion. But then again that's just another business these days.
While a variety of manufacturers are deep into MarketSpeak, nano* promises major change; for good and bad. Safety-wise vehicles can have better integrity and more biofriendly interiors, enhancing both crash resistance and occupant protection. Hard outside & soft inside taken to the next level. Other threads have alluded to driver incompetence and obstinance, but nano* can help us reach the state of cars that travel safely to the occupant's destination on autopilot. Currently nano* is little more than a buzzword. As nano* evolves it will branch in directions and devices we have yet to comprehend. Nano* in the sense of wildcard (*) character.
'Apparently John Ashcroft can't tell a weapons lab from an art installation. ' What else would one expect from John Ashcroft: He can't tell art ( bare breasted statue of Justice ) from porn -- put a blue blanket over her! He felt she was to tittilating (to him).
Don't know where mom got them, but when I moved her stuff out of the assisted living facility she had several synthetic sponges with a slit in them. They were hollow for utilizing the soap slivers. Works great, & terrific lather. If anyone finds a source, please post for the rest of us skinflints.
As a non-analyst linux enthusiast: It appears few of us noticed the stumbles in the writing style. The article is interesting, and is generating a reasonable amount of worthy comment, but the lapses of syntax are distracting to the perfectionists among us. The creative ability is there -- some course work in writing, or additional editing, would make a top-notch product. Most of the people paying for analytical reports can recognize good writing. Perhaps the author was more informal, or hurried, in getting this out to the /. masses.
Personally, I'm looking forward to more articles by her.
It's great to see Linux and the people writing about it grow.
As feared, the discussion is drifting off into the fringes of flame. It appears that the OS debate often becomes a philosophical, almost religious, determination to push our own 'good' OS over any of the other 'heathen' systems. For the present we prefer Linux, and have been happy enough with Mandrake to stick with it. We honestly, and objectively, cannot say the same for the Win98 we were using before. We are amazed about not having to constantly upgrade antivirus software. We are appreciative of the many SOHO apps that are included as part of a distro selling for about $40 US. For security, stability, and economy we have found Linux to be a better choice than MS or Mac. Microsoft's security track record and their propensity for escalating product lock-ins has turned us away from them as a consumer friendly source. And speaking of source, as in 'open source', Linux code is there for inspection and, if you desire, tweaking. With MS we were locked down and locked out. Seems only hackers and MS have access. No flames were needed for us migrate to something different from Win; just a need for reliable email and web access.
Egads! Aliens, Wal-Martians, an organized plot to dominate earth; good thing someone is sounding the alarm. And to think " I married a monster from outer space " . Little did I realize she was part of a nefarious plot to overthrow man. Now I understand why she is always trying to control everything I do. Good thing I found out about this. I'll just wear my tinfoil pyramid hat to bed. That'll stop her alien Wal-Martian brain beams from doing further damage. Tomorrow we storm Bentonville. Not off topic -- just off planet. ;-)
Strange bedfellows: BestBuy, DMCA, and /.
The two previous posts got 'flamebait' and 'zero karma' for telling it like it is.
The posts may not have been new, trendy, or clever enough for the moderator, but they pretty much reflect the facts in today's legalistic culture, sad to say.
Check out Catherine Crier's book: "The Case Against Lawyers" for a topical and well researched analysis.
IANAL, neither am I a coder. I found Catherine Crier's book "The Case Against Lawyers" to be an understandable (to us mere mortals) treatise on what is dysfunctional in our legal/political system. She also suggests some patches to make the system more user friendly, secure, and reliable. Read that as more understandable to laymen, resistant to hacking by the powerful, rich, and connected, and more consistent in providing justice to each of us. Existing legal tomes are about as comprehensible as MS spaghetti code. Need I say more?
You're right, I gotta agree. Barstool lawyers can make any kind of snake oil claim, while Bar Association lawyers have to follow some degree of legally accepted procedures. The problem is that so many blatant scams are 'all perfectly legal'. They have been conceived or polished by creative lawyers to conform with laws written by other lawyers who serve in, or lobby to, our legislatures. And often for the benefit of lawyers. Many cultures have been ruled by an elite priesthood who held sway over every facet of their society's existence. Afghanistan had its taliban. Europe had its Holy Roman Empire. The USA has its legal system. Of, by, or for the people, it's not. To enter the judicial cathedral without a legal priest by your side is usually foolish, and sometimes fatal. The entire system is convoluted and constipated. 'Do NOT call list' overrulings, the OJ debacle, SCO, RIAA, and all the financial scandals, show how low our system of so-called 'justice' has sunk. Catherine Crier's book "The case against lawyers" make some interesting points.
Chris at LockerGnome seemed to have a subscription oriented perspective when he was promoting it on his sites. I personally have been happy with plain text email newsletters, and can always selectively pull up the html at will. I have had no problem with spam, probably because I am cautious about what I sites click on and what information I release. BTW, thanks to Linux I received only 2 SoBig variants that slipped through our cable providers MS servers. My initial excitement about RSS quickly faded when Chris' main focus became the commercial / provider side of the service as opposed to the consumer / recipient side.