May I recommend something? Get a service oriented part time job. That way you'll actually get to leave home occasionally, earn money, enjoy interaction with people, and provide your community with services that people need. Volunteer work would be a nice idea as well.
I know that additional work doesn't sound all that appealing, but you'll have the advantage of not actaully needing the job, so your attitude can be more focused on doing a good job to help others rather than just collecting a paycheck. You'd be surprised at the enormous sense of satisfaction you can get from being helpful to your community.
There are at least two controls on every car radio. One of them changes the station, and the other turns it off. You can also opt to bring your own pre-recorded tunes on cassette or CD if your car's audio has the capability. As a last resort, you may try whistling a cheerful tune.
Now there is the uncomfortable environment that I didn't anticipate from my original post: Canned music in department/grocery stores. The employees in those environments have no choice but to listen to music played overhead. On the one hand I think this is an obvious mind control tactic used by their evil employer, but on the other hand, no one is forcing them to work in those places even when jobs are scarce and money is tight.
Here's my question (which is not fully answered in their FAQ): if they (music company executives) are currently using the algorithm to screen submissions for their "hitability", can we (people who listen to music) use the same algorithm to reject recycled tunes and encourage originality?
I really hate to even remotely sound like I'm going to defend the music industry, but: Why don't you decide for YOURSELF without any help from your peers or technology as to the merits of the music? All music is just noise unless it is appreciated by a human being. Think for yourself, and don't let the media industry, your friends, your government, or anyone tell you who you are ever again.
I admit that using an algorithm to determine whether a song gets air time or not is a pretty sucky way to do business, but no one is forcing you to listen to a "Clear Channel" type station in the first place.
I think 911-protection is keeping a lot of us from switching...
Define "a lot". I personally wouldn't switch unless I could realize meaningful cost savings, and would not sacrifice reliability. Quite frankly, I don't consider any home computer to be reliable simply because it has to broad a range of tasks.
If I didn't have 911, I could just as easily tape a list of important numbers to my phone, or program them into the phone's memory.
Fire - 555-BURN
Police - 555-OINK
Medical - 555-KWAK
Beer - 555-BURP
See? Print it out and stick it onto your telephony. Your chances of getting the help you need are now just as good as anyone with 911 access.
*For those outside the US, 911 is the magical number you call and theoretically you're supposed to get help. In reality, they just send over a man with a gun who's got more emotional baggage and a bigger chip on his shoulder than you do.
Oh for certain! I'm a bit tense over this one, especially after reading this. Personally I'd prefer it if our President wouldn't engage in such risky behaviour. I find it hard to believe that his cabinet has kept him so sheltered that he doesn't realize he's made a lot of people from other nations very angry.
It's been awhile since either the U.S. or the U.K. got riled enough to kill their politicians. I figure both countries are past 'D' and on their way to 'E' right about now. It remains to be seen if the process isn't short-circuited because today's proles are a bunch of bleeding cowards.
I agree with your 'A' through 'G' analysis.I'm amazed that we're not on the verge of 'F'. Even more amazing is the fact that we're able to hold such a conversation without facing incarceration based on the laws like the one mentioned in this article.
Lord knows I don't want to knowingly inflict harm upon anyone, and using a concept such as "the law" seems like a pretty good way to clearly state rules that we can all generally agree upon to maintain order. But these new laws lack anything to do with defining right from wrong. They just appear to be willfully wrong.
At this point I wonder why anyone bother's to believe in governements that adopt these kinds of laws. Why do we continue to endure the insult? Why? Throughout the ages, men have faced tyrany after tyrany. You'd think we'd have a clue as to what one looks like by now.
But enough rhetoric... After actually reading the text of the law, I can honestly say it was not written to be clearly understood by the common man. If men cannot understand the laws set before them, how can they be expected to follow said laws?
An Exerpt:
"subsection (4) does not apply, but the Secretary of State may at any time refer the licence or licensing scheme to the Tribunal for a determination of whether the licence or licensing scheme is reasonable in the circumstances, or may notify the licensing body that he does not intend to refer it to the Tribunal."
Wow... I'm glad we got that cleared up. I always enjoy it when someone can intervene and change the rules whenever they see fit. It makes life so much more predictable. Corperate lawyers love this stuff, because it's easy to twist and turn into a favorable position for any barratry they wish to inflict.
I live in the US, so this law does not directly affect me, but it's still a global chilling effect on all the common people who are just trying to live comfortable lives without being nickle-and-dimed to death by corperations who feel they should be entitled to every portion of our lives.
I'm not sure that you have ever worked as a sales associate, and if so which comapny you worked for, so i wont jump to any conclusions...
I wasn't making the comment from my "previous sales-rep" POV. The comment was from a consumer POV. But yeah, I did retail sales for a period of time.
...my job, as a circuit city roadshop salesman
OK, I'll concede that's a pretty tough market anyway... Your "just-browsing" clientelle are probably (I can already feel the karma dropping) deadbeats who aren't worth the time and trouble. Ouch! But I see your point that it would be nice to be able to separate the cow-crap from the cash-cows. But it's not always clear as to which potential customer is the one that's worth focusing on. This is why you should not take to prejudice with customers.
Personally, I like to get a general overview of the available products before I ever make up my mind to purchase. Sometime's "Just browsing" means, "I want a moment to see what you have before I have to deal with a 'pushy salesman'".
If it makes you feel any better, I was a horrible salesman. That's why I'm not in sales anymore.;-) Even I wouldn't buy from me!
This is just a guess, but infrared is a line-of-site technology. I guess the creators had a last-minute revelation of what a horrid idea this could turn out to be if someone were to come up with a "collector" type technology that would sweep a crowd to gain intimate details about everyone at the event with no intention of ever personally talking to any of them.
Again... It's just a guess. I think the whole idea is just dreadful to begin with, but whatever floats your boat. (I certainly wouldn't pay for it.)
You know, this is probably why I don't ever make a purchase from some companies. The snooty "I want your commitment before you know the details" sales-rep is a total turn-off.
On the other hand, I can see the hot-chick bait standing out in front of her sucker-booth reprogramming her enhanced "lovegetty" to match every sap that's unlucky enough to fall into the trap.
His badge quivers with excitement, as he looks across and makes eye contact. She approaches and wraps her arms around him and beckons him to come over and sign on the dotted line. Heck... By the time it's all over, he won't realize that he's been duped, and she'll be moving on to the next lonely sap with too much faith in technology.
With all due respect, violent.ed, the potential customer is not an interuption of your work- It's the reason for it. Products that sell themselves don't need salespeople. A salesperson is there to bring in people who wouldn't otherwise have been willing to buy.
It's been my experience that people who are natural socializers don't need any help from technology in order to get together, and the socially inept couldn't peel themselves from the wall with all the power of a beowolf cluster.
Believe it or not, people actually have the inborn ability (instinct) to find compatible people around them. Adding this technology will only serve as a device to exclude undesireable contact moreso than to find desireable interaction.
"Oh sorry, I'm really only interested in people who, like myself, have intimate first hand knowledge of the X-Men's superpowers."
In the end, you will have the same groups interacting as they always have, and the ego stroking will show no deviation from what has been seen before. It will just be more efficient.
And for those guys looking for meaningful one night stands, you'll still be spending the night with your old friend "Rosie Palmer".
I'm not trolling. I've made the leap to Linux already so I haven't really kept up on MS Windows firewall issues, but I recall (in the not so distant past) using ZoneAlarm 2.1 as my preferred firewall. It seemed like it did a pretty good job back then. So what has changed? What's wrong with ZoneAlarm?
The caveat is that to train the machine you lots of data. Lots of interactions like you've posted. But with enough data, the machine does as well or even better than the meatbots. Which is nice, because those meatbots can then do something a bit less mind-numbing. This is what is happening with operator services calls right now.
Oh yes... The lovely operator services calls... Are they the ones that go like:
Your call is important to us. Please listen carefully as our menu options have changed. To hear this in espaniol, press or say 1. To be put on indefinite hold, press or say 2. To recieve irrelevant information that you already knew, press or say 3. To report a problem that is unrelated to this call, press or say 4. If you are currently recieving medical or disability benefits and would like some sympathy, press or say 5. If you forgot what you were calling about and need some extra time to think things over, press or say 6. To sign up for exciting offers from our bulk solicitors, press or say 7. To repeat these options press or say 8. To end this call, press or say 9. To speak with a live customer service representative, hang up and call our new unlisted customer support line. Please enter you selection now.
Yeah... ain't technology great? Imagine the power of a fast food drive through with the customer service that one has come to expect from their local telco.
So by that logic an infected computer attacking your computer and attempting to infect it with malicious code should be considered legal?
I agree that installing a security patch on the infected computer is probably not the best approach. I prefer the idea of blasting them off the internet with such a devistating counter attack that it will take the administrator(s) of the infected system days or even weeks to recover.
I dont know about you people, but even if I was infected by a worm, I'd rather not be hacked "just to clean up the infection"
Get a clue! If the honeypot system is trying to knock out your computer, you've already been hacked!!! Your computer has gone rogue! In fact, it's almost as bad as the dog jumping the fence and mauling people!
And don't give that sorry excuse: "so two wrongs make a right, eh?" That's no way to run the internet! The internet is supposed to attempt to fix itself when things break. If that means taking out the noise generated by a mad dog computer, then so be it!
Hey, it's not like your "infected" computer was doing you or your company much good at that point anyway, so the counter attack is irrelevant.
Since you people mentioned it, I changed my settings on Firebird so I could get the pop-up. I started taking the survey, but found it just got more and more mind-numbingly painful to try to read all their multiple choice options.
I gave up and shut off pop-up's again. It just wasn't as amusing as I had hoped.
Then again, no one ever accused a Microsoft drone of having a personality...;-)
<sigh>Time wise I thought I was the first to post that gag in here, but I've been modded redundant. I guess it was just a little too old a gag to be funny.</sigh>
All in all, it's still a fair question.
I guess it doesn't really matter though... I think the price is too big, and the core lacks a screen and is absolutely useless without plugging it into something bigger.
A better question would be, when is Duke^H^H^H^Hthe Oqo hitting the shelves, will it run Linux, and how much will it cost?
I've lost enough karma for one day... Time to take a nap.
"avoiding viruses, worms, and 'building apps that are as smart as Outlook."
I know I'm going to get slammed -5 redundant, but there are just so many things wrong with that statement.
Unless you are an MS zealot, the Outlook program was among the worst examples of a computer program. It was slow to start. It did a few different tasks, and it did them marginally. It took forever to shut down. It hogged resources so the whole system bogged down. It was dreadful!
This part is a bit off-topic, but back when I still used Windows, I recall installing Office, and it was an imparative to custom install only Word, Excel, Access, and Power Point. The default office install was a sure fire way to suck the life out of any PC.
BTW: Did anyone notice that the new Explorer looks suspiciously like a Mozilla skin?
Why don't you just shell out on a decent computer?
Oh, that's an easy one! I love buying new computers. This computer that I'm on now is a "Belchfire" computer with GHz to spare, and the one in the other room is an amazing little devil with a lot of spunk. But down in the basement is where my "server box" is. This is a computer I don't want to have to touch. I just want it to quietly do its job 24/7. The fact that it is an older technology doesn't prevent it from performing exactly the same as when it was a new technology.
Do I need to spend another $500 for yet another full featured PC when all I really wanted was a box that took care of a rather menial webserving task? No. I want a cheap reliable OS with staight-forward tools that will do their job in the dank darkness of my dungeon while I enjoy the cozy comfort up here in my living room.
Another point is that modern computers come with bells and whistles to entice consumers. These things can get in the way of straight forward tasks where a person isn't going to be there to respond. (Pop up dialogs, commercial offers, etc...)
And remember: There's no such thing as a stupid question. Only stupid people asking needless questions.;-)
I'm sorry you have such low regard for my concepts, but you were the one asking the questions, and I offered my answers. If you found them unsatisfactory, then I suggest you offer your own conclusions based on your enormous academic achievements at Oxford.;-) (Yes, quite impressive.)
Oh, sorry too if I got a bit snippy a few posts back. In any event, this thread is dead, and I'm moving on to less controversial topics... Perhaps maybe politics or religion...
It doesn't. The CMB is just a uniform sea of photons. The dipole effect can be explained with the speed of orbit as we travel around the galaxy. There is no need to explain away the background radiation. It's just there. To go into a whole "it's evidence of a really big bang" kind of rant really doesn't tickle my flute. The reasoning is too specious since we haven't been able to detect any real change from the 2.7 Kelvin initially detected. Call me in about 500 million years, and we'll observe what kind of change (if any) in the CMB has occurred. Personally, I am doubting there will be any change at all.
Slashdot Mirror
I know that additional work doesn't sound all that appealing, but you'll have the advantage of not actaully needing the job, so your attitude can be more focused on doing a good job to help others rather than just collecting a paycheck. You'd be surprised at the enormous sense of satisfaction you can get from being helpful to your community.
Now there is the uncomfortable environment that I didn't anticipate from my original post: Canned music in department/grocery stores. The employees in those environments have no choice but to listen to music played overhead. On the one hand I think this is an obvious mind control tactic used by their evil employer, but on the other hand, no one is forcing them to work in those places even when jobs are scarce and money is tight.
I really hate to even remotely sound like I'm going to defend the music industry, but: Why don't you decide for YOURSELF without any help from your peers or technology as to the merits of the music? All music is just noise unless it is appreciated by a human being. Think for yourself, and don't let the media industry, your friends, your government, or anyone tell you who you are ever again.
I admit that using an algorithm to determine whether a song gets air time or not is a pretty sucky way to do business, but no one is forcing you to listen to a "Clear Channel" type station in the first place.
Great... Now when the compter blows up, I'll get dysentery.
Define "a lot". I personally wouldn't switch unless I could realize meaningful cost savings, and would not sacrifice reliability. Quite frankly, I don't consider any home computer to be reliable simply because it has to broad a range of tasks.
If I didn't have 911, I could just as easily tape a list of important numbers to my phone, or program them into the phone's memory.
-
Fire - 555-BURN
-
Police - 555-OINK
-
Medical - 555-KWAK
-
Beer - 555-BURP
See? Print it out and stick it onto your telephony. Your chances of getting the help you need are now just as good as anyone with 911 access.*For those outside the US, 911 is the magical number you call and theoretically you're supposed to get help. In reality, they just send over a man with a gun who's got more emotional baggage and a bigger chip on his shoulder than you do.
Two words that scare the holy crap out of me, and a reason he needs to: President Cheney.
I'll breath easier when he's safely back on US soil.
Oh for certain! I'm a bit tense over this one, especially after reading this. Personally I'd prefer it if our President wouldn't engage in such risky behaviour. I find it hard to believe that his cabinet has kept him so sheltered that he doesn't realize he's made a lot of people from other nations very angry.
I agree with your 'A' through 'G' analysis.I'm amazed that we're not on the verge of 'F'. Even more amazing is the fact that we're able to hold such a conversation without facing incarceration based on the laws like the one mentioned in this article.
Lord knows I don't want to knowingly inflict harm upon anyone, and using a concept such as "the law" seems like a pretty good way to clearly state rules that we can all generally agree upon to maintain order. But these new laws lack anything to do with defining right from wrong. They just appear to be willfully wrong.
But enough rhetoric... After actually reading the text of the law, I can honestly say it was not written to be clearly understood by the common man. If men cannot understand the laws set before them, how can they be expected to follow said laws?
Wow... I'm glad we got that cleared up. I always enjoy it when someone can intervene and change the rules whenever they see fit. It makes life so much more predictable. Corperate lawyers love this stuff, because it's easy to twist and turn into a favorable position for any barratry they wish to inflict.
I live in the US, so this law does not directly affect me, but it's still a global chilling effect on all the common people who are just trying to live comfortable lives without being nickle-and-dimed to death by corperations who feel they should be entitled to every portion of our lives.
Where does this madness stop?
I wasn't making the comment from my "previous sales-rep" POV. The comment was from a consumer POV. But yeah, I did retail sales for a period of time.
OK, I'll concede that's a pretty tough market anyway... Your "just-browsing" clientelle are probably (I can already feel the karma dropping) deadbeats who aren't worth the time and trouble. Ouch! But I see your point that it would be nice to be able to separate the cow-crap from the cash-cows. But it's not always clear as to which potential customer is the one that's worth focusing on. This is why you should not take to prejudice with customers.
Personally, I like to get a general overview of the available products before I ever make up my mind to purchase. Sometime's "Just browsing" means, "I want a moment to see what you have before I have to deal with a 'pushy salesman'".
If it makes you feel any better, I was a horrible salesman. That's why I'm not in sales anymore. ;-) Even I wouldn't buy from me!
Again... It's just a guess. I think the whole idea is just dreadful to begin with, but whatever floats your boat. (I certainly wouldn't pay for it.)
On the other hand, I can see the hot-chick bait standing out in front of her sucker-booth reprogramming her enhanced "lovegetty" to match every sap that's unlucky enough to fall into the trap.
His badge quivers with excitement, as he looks across and makes eye contact. She approaches and wraps her arms around him and beckons him to come over and sign on the dotted line. Heck... By the time it's all over, he won't realize that he's been duped, and she'll be moving on to the next lonely sap with too much faith in technology.
With all due respect, violent.ed, the potential customer is not an interuption of your work- It's the reason for it. Products that sell themselves don't need salespeople. A salesperson is there to bring in people who wouldn't otherwise have been willing to buy.
Believe it or not, people actually have the inborn ability (instinct) to find compatible people around them. Adding this technology will only serve as a device to exclude undesireable contact moreso than to find desireable interaction.
"Oh sorry, I'm really only interested in people who, like myself, have intimate first hand knowledge of the X-Men's superpowers."
In the end, you will have the same groups interacting as they always have, and the ego stroking will show no deviation from what has been seen before. It will just be more efficient.
And for those guys looking for meaningful one night stands, you'll still be spending the night with your old friend "Rosie Palmer".
I'm not trolling. I've made the leap to Linux already so I haven't really kept up on MS Windows firewall issues, but I recall (in the not so distant past) using ZoneAlarm 2.1 as my preferred firewall. It seemed like it did a pretty good job back then. So what has changed? What's wrong with ZoneAlarm?
Anybody?
Oh yes... The lovely operator services calls... Are they the ones that go like:
Yeah... ain't technology great? Imagine the power of a fast food drive through with the customer service that one has come to expect from their local telco.
So by that logic an infected computer attacking your computer and attempting to infect it with malicious code should be considered legal?
I agree that installing a security patch on the infected computer is probably not the best approach. I prefer the idea of blasting them off the internet with such a devistating counter attack that it will take the administrator(s) of the infected system days or even weeks to recover.
And it never will be. Ever go through a drive through and successfully convey your order to the 17yo on the other end?
Get a clue! If the honeypot system is trying to knock out your computer, you've already been hacked!!! Your computer has gone rogue! In fact, it's almost as bad as the dog jumping the fence and mauling people!
And don't give that sorry excuse: "so two wrongs make a right, eh?" That's no way to run the internet! The internet is supposed to attempt to fix itself when things break. If that means taking out the noise generated by a mad dog computer, then so be it!
Hey, it's not like your "infected" computer was doing you or your company much good at that point anyway, so the counter attack is irrelevant.
I gave up and shut off pop-up's again. It just wasn't as amusing as I had hoped.
Then again, no one ever accused a Microsoft drone of having a personality...;-)
<sigh>Time wise I thought I was the first to post that gag in here, but I've been modded redundant. I guess it was just a little too old a gag to be funny.</sigh>
All in all, it's still a fair question.
I guess it doesn't really matter though... I think the price is too big, and the core lacks a screen and is absolutely useless without plugging it into something bigger.
A better question would be, when is Duke^H^H^H^Hthe Oqo hitting the shelves, will it run Linux, and how much will it cost?
I've lost enough karma for one day... Time to take a nap.
But does it run Linux?
I know I'm going to get slammed -5 redundant, but there are just so many things wrong with that statement.
Unless you are an MS zealot, the Outlook program was among the worst examples of a computer program. It was slow to start. It did a few different tasks, and it did them marginally. It took forever to shut down. It hogged resources so the whole system bogged down. It was dreadful!
This part is a bit off-topic, but back when I still used Windows, I recall installing Office, and it was an imparative to custom install only Word, Excel, Access, and Power Point. The default office install was a sure fire way to suck the life out of any PC.
BTW: Did anyone notice that the new Explorer looks suspiciously like a Mozilla skin?
Oh, that's an easy one! I love buying new computers. This computer that I'm on now is a "Belchfire" computer with GHz to spare, and the one in the other room is an amazing little devil with a lot of spunk. But down in the basement is where my "server box" is. This is a computer I don't want to have to touch. I just want it to quietly do its job 24/7. The fact that it is an older technology doesn't prevent it from performing exactly the same as when it was a new technology.
Do I need to spend another $500 for yet another full featured PC when all I really wanted was a box that took care of a rather menial webserving task? No. I want a cheap reliable OS with staight-forward tools that will do their job in the dank darkness of my dungeon while I enjoy the cozy comfort up here in my living room.
Another point is that modern computers come with bells and whistles to entice consumers. These things can get in the way of straight forward tasks where a person isn't going to be there to respond. (Pop up dialogs, commercial offers, etc...)
And remember: There's no such thing as a stupid question. Only stupid people asking needless questions. ;-)
Oh, sorry too if I got a bit snippy a few posts back. In any event, this thread is dead, and I'm moving on to less controversial topics... Perhaps maybe politics or religion...
Best regards.
It doesn't. The CMB is just a uniform sea of photons. The dipole effect can be explained with the speed of orbit as we travel around the galaxy. There is no need to explain away the background radiation. It's just there. To go into a whole "it's evidence of a really big bang" kind of rant really doesn't tickle my flute. The reasoning is too specious since we haven't been able to detect any real change from the 2.7 Kelvin initially detected. Call me in about 500 million years, and we'll observe what kind of change (if any) in the CMB has occurred. Personally, I am doubting there will be any change at all.