The biggest idiocy perpetrated in this incident was by the people who didn't think far enough ahead to anticipate that this was going to happen
That's just paranoid raving BS -- see a neurologist about that reflexive knee jerk. People should not be expected to forsee ridiculous over-reaction. Fact is, those in charge in Boston are the sole idiots here (though some at the Cartoon Network people who appologized, paid money or quit are also idiots for caving in so easily). See for example: Cartoon Network publicity stunt sparks panic in Boston -- but not here
From the Seattle PI article:
"To us, they're so obviously not suspicious," said King County sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart. "They're not suspicious devices or packages. We don't consider them dangerous."
The Associated Press reported that road workers in Woodinville found the figures, which are an advertising gimmick for a late-night TV show on the Cartoon Network. Urquhart could not confirm where the obscene-gestured whatsits were found.
"I haven't actually seen them; I don't know how many there are or where they were found," Urquhart said. "I just know they're lighted cartoon figures. This is a joke. I really don't know the promotional point."
Interesting, it didn't ask me to register while I had noscript on -- I just went straight to the content. As soon as I allowed the site to run scripts, it asked me to login and didn't show content.
In the sense that all religions should be respected, that's pure BS. While I personally feel no religions should be treated with any more special respect than other purveyors of escapism, scientology deserves special derision because of their ridiculously litigious practices and destructive capability both to memembers and rational others.
Wouldn't a copyright violation be plagarism? A patent violation could technically be 100% your own work, its just that the patent holder got a patent and others did not.
Ya beat me to it. I suppose this is a way in which "news" sites can cut back on reporters yet still generate content which gets them search results -- simply republish old news 8-12 months later. In this way, we're not only doomed to repeat history, we're doomed to read about it twice (at least).
I want to second this and to be clear, the advice is: avoid proprietary drivers -- they suck
I too learned this the hard way after I bought a Lexmark Optra S 1625 laser printer for my office some years back. I thought "cool -- it has linux driver". Little did I know. That bastard has sucked more time out of me than I'd care to remember with it's POS proprietary driver. In contrast, my HP Laserjet 4L worked instantly and flawlessly with the OS driver, as does my Brother HL-1440 which I use at home. It's a good idea to look at the Linux Printer Compatabability List before buying a printer to use with a linux system and ignore any device with a proprietary driver no matter what the review says. Yes, this reduces the number of printers you can choose from, but if you stick to devices with an OS driver, it makes the printer setup little more than a point and click exercise.
And of course there's Seton Hall Law School's report: http://law.shu.edu/news/guantanamo_report_final_2_ 08_06.pdf (pdf)
Two notable factoids: only 5% were captured by US forces. Secondly, we were paying a $4285 reward per head. Pakistan delivered quite a few and with a per capita income = $720 (that's almost 6 years of pay as a reward for captured prisoners), how likely is it that there was no fraud? Can we talk negative probabilities here? Any realistic person would know there's a 100% chance innocents got nabbed for cash.
The point about zoning -- fine them the normal fine for a violation. But the cost of overreacting is NOT part of the usual fine and those responsible for that cost should bear it (hint: it's the city and the cops, not the advertiser).
Except these didn't even look like movie bombs (let alone real ones). They look like light up signs or a Lite Brite. What's really hilarious is that the Mayor called them a "hoax". They would only be a hoax if they were trying to look like bombs. Mayor is obviously a mouth breather.
That's just silly. If you are going to hide a bomb, you aren't going to intentionally light it up to draw attention. That sounds like some James Bond plot devive, not real life.
I'm using mostly CFLs now and I've had good and bad experiences. I've found that the ones marketed as "natural daylight" are way to green for me -- the light is just painful. But the cooler (is that right?) ones are great. They've also improved a lot. As you mention, flicker is a non-issue and I'm pretty hyper-sensitive to flicker of any kind. The fact is, most of the flicker I see is from non-cfl fancy sunk-in lights on dimmer switches.
Whatever. Being pedantic won't change the fact that if you rely on light bulbs to provide heat, you are relying on an inefficient heat distribution system because of the lousy placement position of light bulbs. This whole argument that regular bulbs are great because they also heat your home is really flawed: they heat when you want to cool, and they heat in an innefficient manner.
CFLs work with dimmer switches. I know I've seen them at Home Depot. And of course, there's this from GE's faq
To use a compact fluorescent bulb on a dimmer switch, you must buy a bulb that's specifically made to work with dimmers (check the package). GE makes a dimming compact fluorescent light bulb (called the GE Longlife Plus Soft White Energy Saving Bulb) that is specially designed for use with dimming switches. We don't recommend using regular compact fluorescent bulbs with dimming switches, since this can shorten bulb life. (Using a regular compact fluorescent bulb with a dimmer will also nullify the bulb's warranty.)
Using lights as heaters is silly. Heat rises. Most lights are at least halfway up the wall -- floor level lights are very rare. Besides, were talking CA here, and while significant parts of the state have 4 seasons, a lot of the population is located from LA to San Diego where cooling is more of an issue than heating. Seriously, would someone in Maine leave their refrigerator door open all day to cool the house in winter (not that it would work because the cooling elements release heat back into the house -- but play along here)? Why would someone in a hot clime intentionally use lights to heat their house in the summer?
My experience is the same (it works fine). I downloaded it and stuck it in my home dir. Using a terminal, I moved the SL dir, ran./secondlife and then stayed up till 5:00 am. My desktop is Edgy Eft with an older nvidia card. It connects to a router which connects to an old computer acting as a firewall, and from there to the internet. The linux client worked fine for me all night, never crashing. Too bad in a way because I'm beat today.
The parody site operator of getafirstlife.com should reject this letter immediately. How many companies in the future will start referring to this action as a basis to stop "fair use"?
Wow. Layoff the paranoia pipe a bit. Everyone knows that parody is OK. It has been for years. Companies have been parodied on Saturday Night Live since the stoner age. If they were gonna get the fair use provisions relating to parody changed, they would have done it already.
Secondly, if we want companies to be good citizens and respectful of individual's rights, should not also individuals respect companies when the company does something right? I do. I went to second life from the first life page and signed up for an account. Who woulda thought they actually have a linux version (alpha) for the game?
What I see is a company that is not full of pricks, plus they supply a linux version of the game. Isn't that what (we linux users at least) have been saying would be great? I say that's worthy of my support so I flipped them a few bucks.
Between you and the non-informative parent post up there somewhere ("ask nice or I'll just tell you to google"), I'm awfully glad I don't use windows and don't have to go to windows support boards. Most linux geeks seem much better about being helpful (they may chide someone gently about doing their homework, but then provide the answer anyway). "RTFM" is really uncommon.
Slashdot Mirror
From the Seattle PI article:
He bring over samples for the superbowl? Sounds like you're still buzzing.
To avoid prosecution or lawsuit, don't download copyrighted material unless you have pemissioin.
Interesting, it didn't ask me to register while I had noscript on -- I just went straight to the content. As soon as I allowed the site to run scripts, it asked me to login and didn't show content.
What the heck? Are you trying to ruin my uptime???
It needs to be in this order:
1-Set up space colony.
2-Send up scientologists.
3-Send up air.
In the sense that all religions should be respected, that's pure BS. While I personally feel no religions should be treated with any more special respect than other purveyors of escapism, scientology deserves special derision because of their ridiculously litigious practices and destructive capability both to memembers and rational others.
Wouldn't a copyright violation be plagarism? A patent violation could technically be 100% your own work, its just that the patent holder got a patent and others did not.
Ya beat me to it. I suppose this is a way in which "news" sites can cut back on reporters yet still generate content which gets them search results -- simply republish old news 8-12 months later. In this way, we're not only doomed to repeat history, we're doomed to read about it twice (at least).
I want to second this and to be clear, the advice is: avoid proprietary drivers -- they suck
I too learned this the hard way after I bought a Lexmark Optra S 1625 laser printer for my office some years back. I thought "cool -- it has linux driver". Little did I know. That bastard has sucked more time out of me than I'd care to remember with it's POS proprietary driver. In contrast, my HP Laserjet 4L worked instantly and flawlessly with the OS driver, as does my Brother HL-1440 which I use at home. It's a good idea to look at the Linux Printer Compatabability List before buying a printer to use with a linux system and ignore any device with a proprietary driver no matter what the review says. Yes, this reduces the number of printers you can choose from, but if you stick to devices with an OS driver, it makes the printer setup little more than a point and click exercise.
Or perhaps MS partnered with ATI because ATI has infamous linux support while nVidia's linux support is pretty good.
Don't bother. GP is a brainwashed idiot.
_ 08_06.pdf (pdf)
Even the Pentagon says only about 10% will face trial because of a lack of evidence: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15361740/
And of course there's Seton Hall Law School's report: http://law.shu.edu/news/guantanamo_report_final_2
Two notable factoids: only 5% were captured by US forces. Secondly, we were paying a $4285 reward per head. Pakistan delivered quite a few and with a per capita income = $720 (that's almost 6 years of pay as a reward for captured prisoners), how likely is it that there was no fraud? Can we talk negative probabilities here? Any realistic person would know there's a 100% chance innocents got nabbed for cash.
The point about zoning -- fine them the normal fine for a violation. But the cost of overreacting is NOT part of the usual fine and those responsible for that cost should bear it (hint: it's the city and the cops, not the advertiser).
+1 insightful (with a dose of humor). Wish I had mods.
Except these didn't even look like movie bombs (let alone real ones). They look like light up signs or a Lite Brite. What's really hilarious is that the Mayor called them a "hoax". They would only be a hoax if they were trying to look like bombs. Mayor is obviously a mouth breather.
That's just silly. If you are going to hide a bomb, you aren't going to intentionally light it up to draw attention. That sounds like some James Bond plot devive, not real life.
I'm using mostly CFLs now and I've had good and bad experiences. I've found that the ones marketed as "natural daylight" are way to green for me -- the light is just painful. But the cooler (is that right?) ones are great. They've also improved a lot. As you mention, flicker is a non-issue and I'm pretty hyper-sensitive to flicker of any kind. The fact is, most of the flicker I see is from non-cfl fancy sunk-in lights on dimmer switches.
Whatever. Being pedantic won't change the fact that if you rely on light bulbs to provide heat, you are relying on an inefficient heat distribution system because of the lousy placement position of light bulbs. This whole argument that regular bulbs are great because they also heat your home is really flawed: they heat when you want to cool, and they heat in an innefficient manner.
Using lights as heaters is silly. Heat rises. Most lights are at least halfway up the wall -- floor level lights are very rare. Besides, were talking CA here, and while significant parts of the state have 4 seasons, a lot of the population is located from LA to San Diego where cooling is more of an issue than heating. Seriously, would someone in Maine leave their refrigerator door open all day to cool the house in winter (not that it would work because the cooling elements release heat back into the house -- but play along here)? Why would someone in a hot clime intentionally use lights to heat their house in the summer?
My experience is the same (it works fine). I downloaded it and stuck it in my home dir. Using a terminal, I moved the SL dir, ran ./secondlife and then stayed up till 5:00 am. My desktop is Edgy Eft with an older nvidia card. It connects to a router which connects to an old computer acting as a firewall, and from there to the internet. The linux client worked fine for me all night, never crashing. Too bad in a way because I'm beat today.
Secondly, if we want companies to be good citizens and respectful of individual's rights, should not also individuals respect companies when the company does something right? I do. I went to second life from the first life page and signed up for an account. Who woulda thought they actually have a linux version (alpha) for the game?
What I see is a company that is not full of pricks, plus they supply a linux version of the game. Isn't that what (we linux users at least) have been saying would be great? I say that's worthy of my support so I flipped them a few bucks.
Between you and the non-informative parent post up there somewhere ("ask nice or I'll just tell you to google"), I'm awfully glad I don't use windows and don't have to go to windows support boards. Most linux geeks seem much better about being helpful (they may chide someone gently about doing their homework, but then provide the answer anyway). "RTFM" is really uncommon.
That should be DHMO -- you link to a typo squater. The real link is: http://www.dhmo.org/