Yipee! Won't we all be safe once the "civilized world" is protected from the barbarians? Why, the "bad people" won't even be able to shoot at usat all, let alone support the "terror-ists" with their insidious "terror-ism".
So, lets review. 'Predator' unmanned aircraft armed with Hellfire missles for patrol and attacks, lasers to shoot down artillery (and you know bullets are coming soon), Star Wars V2 to protect us from missiles, and any country that tries to develop anything we don't like gets a "regime change".
Yeah, I can't see why the rest of the world hates the west, can you? We turn war into a fuckin' video game, and relegate them to attacking us with swords while riding their camels.
I know it's the natural evolution of war, but it also seems like the natural evolution of capitalism applied to the battlefield. He with the most money to make the best toys wins, and he who doesn't hopes for an aid package to be sent to his widow.
Of course, we might get charitable in a few years and let them have some low powered lasers, but only if they attach them to the sharks... I mean, come on, is it too much to ask for some sharks with frickin lasers on their heads?
I think it's time for some sugar... rants like this could be dangerous... nice Echelon, niiiice Echelon.
Hm, maybe I should get a book on lasers from the librar
"Significant performance lag" is relative. If you want to game on your tablet, then yeah, it's not the best. If you're like most people, it's just a supercharged PDA with wireless net access and a really big screen. Given that that's the most likely target demographic, extra long battery life and lighter weight are well worth a performance lag that most users won't notice.
Yeah, but who the hell wants a tablet PC with a 2 hour battery life? Crusoes kick ass for power consumption and heat output, which makes it last longer and weigh less. If I wanted a full-speed, full-feature portable computer, I'd get a laptop. Tablets aren't meant to be that (yet).
If I wasn't having trouble accessing the site, I'd give you some hard numbers, but I'm quite sure that the last time I checked a Crusoe was roughly the same price as desktop Celerons or Durons. I do recall from THG that portable P4 2.2 Gigs go for over $500 when bought in bulk.
Transmeta should have realized a long time ago that they couldn't break into the laptop market (which is where they seem to have been trying to go). What Intel doesn't monopolize, AMD jumps on with greater resources than Transmeta could hope for (Hammer notwithstanding).
The MS Tablet PC could be the best thing to happen to Transmeta. MS isn't exactly happy with the major box brands offering *nix, and inside rumours say debate over whether security should be hardware or software have put a good dent in MS/Intel relations. By going Transmeta, MS can get a good price on a suitable processor (not megapowered like the portable P4's, but perfect for the job), which means more tablets running MS software, they get a bigger say in the design of the tablet, and the poke Intel in the ass and say "Don't push your luck, big guy, we don't need you as much as you want to believe."
And in the end, the result is just as good for open source on the tablet platform, because cheap tablets with a big company behind them will get a strong push into the marketplace, give OpenSource developers a reason to write for the tablet.
I say, Go Transmeta! (hey, wasn't that a catchphrase from an 80's kids show?)
Damn, can you spell "bias"? I know that most/. write-ups have a bit of spin, but sheesh! At least give people the chance to think differently before you label them extremists.
And yes, I have my doubts (uh oh, just earned -1 Troll for that), but they don't have anything to do with waving flags or radiation. They revolve more around the doctored photos (where the crosshatches are covered by the image, when the crosshatches were etched on the lens), the obvious multiple light sources (when you look at the shadows, you can clearly see several different angles of shadows, suggesting more than one light source0 [and no, stars are not bright enough to cast shadows, even in space], and also the shadow effect (wherein objects and people standing in complete shadow were completely visible, even though technically, with only one light source and little to no reflective surface, they should have been completely dark).
Now, I'm not saying I firmly believe in the hoax, but I do find it odd that questions like these are never answered, while the easy ones are, and the rest put down to "conspiracy nuts". While I'm as much of a space nut as the next/.er, I still choose to think instead of believe. Why don't you?
It happened so quickly. It was just the other day when I'd given a handful of spare change to the bum on the street corner. I didn't even notice what he looked like, but his face was plastered on the evening news, along with pictures of the bus he'd blown up. They'd traced his movements for the day quickly, using facial recognition with the cameras on the lamp posts. They followed back to the purchase of the last pieces of the bomb, and then further back, to me. Carnivore showed them the liberal bias in my emails, Echelon revealed my calls to family in the middle east, and the library records they ordered showed the books I'd taken out for my Middle Eastern History studies course.
They were at my door right after dinner. I didn't get a chance to say anything before the tazer dropped me. I vaguely recall the agents keeping everyone in their apartments as the movers came in. All my possesions were to be sold to repay the victims. I was whisked away.
No-one knows I'm here now. Anyone who talks about my absence could be picked up as a co-conspirator. I hadn't seen a soul in months, until this afternoon. I was dragged from my cell, down huge rows of cells, packed with people who looked as scared as I did. We waited in line with many other prisoners and guards, as we were ushered in one by one. My turn came. A small, drab courtroom greeted me. Lady Liberty smiled down on me, covered in dust and cobwebs. There were no public, no media, not even a court reporter. A judge glanced briefly in a folder, then asked me my plea. "To what?", I asked. The prosecutor pipped up; "Objection. That's classified". The judge nodded. "Your plea is entered as 'Not Guilty'. Mr Prosecutor, your case?" The lines were recited in a decidedly bored tone, as if they'd done this exact exchange all day. "We cannot reveal our sources, Your Honour, but we assure you we are certain of his guilt." The judge nodded. "Guilty, then. Next."
The guards were teasing me again, today. They have games between themselves, about which prisoner will scream, which will run. I've found out that the charge of "Aiding a terrorist" is pretty common here. The only question is how my death sentence will be carried out. They seem to favour hanging, this week...
This fiction brought to you by the United States of America. Just don't tell anyone you read it here.
"Awww, fuck, man, you can do that? Shit! I better stop AIM-ing about my secret fantasy to rape small goats... ummm, ok, I can get out of this, I'll just insult the parent. Yeah, that'll work! Ok, lemme get the checklist out... fag, luzer, unimaginative.... ok, I think I can work with this..."
If you're going to be a bitter little AC, at least do a better job of hiding the fact that you didn't think of it first, k?
Ok, putting aside all the microshit, here's an honest question relating to everyones fear of the SP3 EULA:
Does anyone know how MS remote access is going to work, and what firewalls/routers/etc would be able to block it? After all, they say they get to do it, not that we have to make it easy for them.
And no, "upgrade to SuSe" is not a firewall, "format c:" is not a router, and any references to "Stephen King dead", beowulf clusters, or 3: Profit! will necessitate me hunting you down and plucking your eyeballs out with rusty spoons.
Where in the flaming levels of hell did you get that brilliant nugget?
First off, the dialer was configured by our American client. Secondly, it was transparent to everyone, from callers on up, and thirdly, if you wanted to indicate that you didn't want intrusion into your life, then maybe you should have let intelligence intrude into your head and signed up on all the various no-call lists (cost: free) instead of wasting your good money on something that doesn't work anyways (cost: not free).
And also for the record, the only reason the client added the delay was by fluke, given the bad phone lines from Canada to the States sometimes. It was only after a while that we started noticing the old "I have a TeleZapper, it's illegal for you to call me" speech popping up.
Ya see, I agree with you, but I find java does the same thing. Perhaps you recall a few years ago, when java and javascript were everywhere... people seemed to have contests to find the most innane thing they could turn into java. And while I avoid flash and refuse to use or learn it, it does have it's uses. What I was annoyed at was the people who posted "flash sucks!" without anything else to say. If it was just a few of them, or if it was put in with viable comments, that would be fine, but 30 of them in a row ticked me off. If I was the creator of the site, I'd hope for some insight from a front-page slashdotting, not hearing how I must rape small goats because my front page is flash.
That said, I agree it blows. I want a plain text version with ALT text. If I'm feeling generous, I may allow you to use frames. (remember when web pages had, like 7 different frames? damn, those were the days). Change your front page to a pretty picture, and link to your flash and your text.
Damn, now I'm nostalgic... remember the little gifs that said "Lynx Unfriendly"? I loved the irony....
Hot glue, solder and a ton of cussing. The furby has been mounted.
That is soooo wrong!
And a lil PS to all the whiny bitches complainin' bout the site. Boo freakin hoo, cry me a river. Flash may suck, but so did Java, and that didn't stop everyone from mounting it like a rabid dog, eh? Stop yer complainin' and enjoy some resonably-decent mods, wouldya?
I used to manage a market research call centre (before i got smart and went back to my geek roots), and we used the same type of predictive dialer that telemarketers use. Funny thing about the telezappers, et al, they only emit a short tone... very short.
SET pickupdelay +2
Problem solved. We used to laugh at the people who wasted their money on those things, and then sputtered and fumed at us that we shouldn't be able to get through. Truth is, those things may work for 30-40% of your telemarketing calls, but thats it. Other things, like the delay it can take for the phone lines to connect, also shorten the tone to the point where it stops before the dialer believes you're out of service. But adding a delay before it picks up if by far the most common ploy.
The other thing people don't realize is that direct callers don't have one big list of numbers that they constantly whittle down. Most do as we did, randomly generating phone numbers, then filtering out the numbers on the no-call list and in cell-phone domains. If your phone gets marked as out-of-order, it will still go back on a list with that same company within a week... they expect your number to be used by someone else quite quickly. And no, just because the company that does sell number lists thinks you're out of order, doesn't mean that they'll never try again. Think of the math... how many people have only had their phone number for a few years? How many people get new phones everyday?
And, before I left, I heard a wonderful tidbit... the list-sellers may soon set up auto-dial systems that do nothing but call the numbers marked as disconnected. If they ever get anything but that tone (say, because you're on the phone), you go back on the active list, with a little mark next to it that will bias the ranking of your number so that it won't be marked out-of-service for a very long time. It costs them nothing to keep trying your number.
And yes, for the record, even though I was doing good things (making all those pretty commercials you see on TV and all those shiny ads in the magazines), I still feel dirty sometimes =)
Does anyone else notice a trend going on here? Unmanned planes flown by remote control, missiles that can be fired from hundreds of miles away, stealth bombers that can fly halfway around the world to do their work and come back, a laser missile shield to protect your country, and now laser weapons that can blow shit up from dozens of miles away...
If I were paranoid, I'd deduce that the goal of the US military is to be able to blow other countries up without committing any troops (at least until all thats left is a private in a foxhole wondering where all the pretty lights came from), to be able to protect their vast stocks of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and at the same time, to ensure that no other country can have them.
"You don't scare us, Yankee dogs! We have the bomb!"
bzzzzzzzzzzap!
"Uh, we had the bomb, but thats ok, we'll build another!"
bzzzzzzzap!
"Uh, ok, we have no real buildings left in our country now, but you better not try to invade us, we have friends with big missiles!"
*points up at orbiting defense satillites*
"Uh, ok, so we can't shoot at you, but if you try to invade, we'll fight to the death!"
*nuclear and chemical missiles come crashing down by the dozens*
"Hm, so we can't fight back, no one else can fight back, no one can build the weapons you have because if they do you blow them up, and now you stand unopposed to force your will upon the world." ...
"Would you like fries with that?"
... did they remember to remove the spyware and phone-home code before they released the source...err, sorry, "Secret Blueprint"? (you have to RTA to get that)
Hey, I have a fabulous idea to solve the evils of internet business creating deficits and starving the children:
Try balancing your budget!
I mean, sheesh, really, how hard a concept is that? Now, before you charge for that reply button saying that it's impossible, I point out that I live in Alberta. We used to have a multibillion-$ deficit and no end in sight, but we voted in competent financial leadership, and turned it around. Now we routinely post a $1B surplus, have a $17B trust fund for "rainy days", and will have the entire deficit paid off in a few more years. Add to that our free health care, 0% (yes, ZERO) provincial tax, copius social programs (school, welfare, etc), and somehow i fail to feel sympathy for states running $600 billion dollar deficits every year. I wouldn't be asking what we could tax next, I'd be asking why these jackasses were still in office.
And yes, to answer your next question, it was kinda hard... we lost or had cutbacks in alot of programs that we'd gotten used to having for free.. and it's still going on. But the money we save from interest payments on our debt means that we'll be able to reinvest in a few years. And with 1/10 of the entire country living here, yes, we have lost our fair share of business to internet commerce.
Ok,/rant off, but still, sheesh, how can you people put up with that kind of fiscal management? We elected the right people, passed a non-revokable law that said "No budget deficits, ever, for any reason", and that was that. The question isn't why shouldn't you tax IC, but why do you have the need to?
Also, if you bothered to RTFA, take the budget deficits for the state, and subtract the "claimed" losses from IC. Doesn't balance out to 0, eh?
Actually, I personally believe that you should be able to sue for however much you want (it doesn't seem to matter what amount you ask for anyways, a judge or jury decides how much you get). I do believe, however, that lawyers should have a limit as to how much they can charge. Why is it that you can have salary caps in the NBA and NFL, but not in the courts designed to keep your citizens free?
There are a few things here which speak loads about the US business/legal model (and no, this isn't meant to be US bashing)
- Someone can get granted a patent for doing something that's already being done at the time of the filing. It may not hold up, but it provides ammunition for lawsuits, and isn't that enough for most people? Enter the almighty dollar.
- It takes years to get a patent. During this time, the "innovative" thing you've thought of becomes commonplace, and by the time you actually have the patent, other people have gotten so rich off the idea that they can sue you into the ground.
- People are so afraid of lawsuits and lawyers that they're willing to hand over good money to avoid your countrys' legal system, regardless of whether they're wrong or right. Doesn't that say enough right there?
And, for the obligitory joke, I now intend to file a patent for "stuff", which will "facilitate doing things in some manner", for the purpose of "getting things done, via this stuff paridigm." My revolutionary "stuff" lawsuit will ensure that no-one can ever again do "things" without my express, written consent. And, further, I plan to use my newfound economic power to push for digital copyright restrictions to be placed on "stuff", to ensure that the "things" facilitated by unlicensed copies of my "stuff" cannot be completed. Then, when everything is running on licensed copies of my "stuff", I will the AutoUpdate feature authorized in my "stuff DCP" EULA to sneak in fixes that will not let "stuff" work without calling home to tell me what "things" it is doing. And then, finally, I will take my fortune, close the company, and shut down the server, ensuring that "stuff" cannot call home to report its' "things", and making all the "stuff" shut down across the US.
Then, maybe, with no "things" to do or "stuff" to do them with, all the idiots who made this mess will get their "heads" out of their "ass" and start using their "brains".
For those who are curious, the actual story goes something like this: Early explorers needed something to call the country, so they asked their Indian guides what they called "this place they live". The Indians thought they were asking where they lived, and of course, replied "Our village". Hence, this country is named "The Village", or "Canada". I, for one, think it's fitting.
No word yet on whether the guide actually said "Our village, numbnuts! Where the f*ck do you think?"
Microsoft is definitely not known for their internal security," he says, citing undocumented macros in some Microsoft programs, which can be accessed by those who know the right combination of keystrokes.
So, let me get this straight. Easter eggs are now security threats? Whats next, a law to protect us from the evils of hidden credits or secret photos of the programmers?
Hmm, funny. When I read "cow-towing", I got the distinct impression of loincloth-wearing men of the future, roped up like a team of horses, pulling around a sled with a Cow-Overlord on it, being whipped mercilessly by it's Robo-Servant.
Of course, that would presuppose that the first intelligent robots will decide that cows are the supreme form of life on the planet, and swear allegence to them. And everyone knows that's really, really silly.... it'll be the dolphins.... can you swim?
The scene: A tense operating room. The patient lies on the table, cut open from stem to stern. The nurses watch intently as the doctor begins to cut...
Doctor: Now, lesse, I just snip this here and... -=gush spout pour=- whoops! It never did that before!
Nurse: Doctor! You've severed the artery! Quickly, do something!
Doctor: No, no, it's no problem. Just hit F5 for me, would you?
Nurse: ??!??
Doctor: Now, someone else open me up a new window so I can check the online medical help, and we'll be just fine.
Nurse: &%*#%^!^@#!!!
Patient: Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...
Lets face it, how much do non-geeks understand "digital encryption"? To answer that question, look at how many people have DRM still turned on in Media Player... heck, how many people know it turns itself back on with patches? How many people care? As much as we geeks would like to believe that the majority of the consumer base is techno-savy, the truth is they're still a bunch of AOL using, Compaq buying, Windows-only cow-sumers.
I wish it weren't so, but it is... so the question becomes, why did MS decide to do this? Answers:
- Creates more media coverage for the launch of a new XP version and HP machine. How much of the cNet article covered the issue, and how much talked about the new machine?
- Converts a few wanna-be geeks to the MS side (almost typed "dark side"... oopsie). They browse around, see the link, think MS is on their side, and decide that the MicroSerfs can't be all *that* bad.
- Offsets flashback from Palladium and Media Player DRM. "Hey, look, we aren't kowtowing, we fought back for YOU!". It also provides ammo for people who are going to go pro-MS when the next argument about DRM comes to town.
- Gives the geeks at 1 Microsoft Way (yes, there still are a few) some small sense of victory over the Corporate Drones (tm)
- Lets MS test the leash on the **AA. They do this, then wait and see. If the AA's come after them, then MS gets to "fight for the little guy" in a court battle they'd likely win, gets lots of publicity, and gets a boost to their image. If the AA's don't do anything, MS gets to claim a small victory, and maybe in 6 months they take another small step forward towards opt-in instead of opt-out on DRM in Windows.
Lets face it, the decision is mostly win-win for MS, and the great news is that Joe Average, who didn't give a rats ass about DRM for this new PC, has only heard "Microsoft bows to consumers, does what they want", not "Microsoft plans to restrict digital recordings more than analog". He reads the ad...err...article, thinks how nice this lil toy would be... *and*, MS tests out the strength of it's bond with HPaq. This little "change of heart" should show PDQ whether MS can count on HPaq to be a friend or foe... and given the new "WalMart PC" and it's butt-ugly linuxesque interface, MS needs to know who it's friends are.
Game, set, match, MS. Bill may have a bad haircut, but he doesn't hire idiots.
On a related note, have you seen the new WalMart PC's? If Linus had a grave, he'd be rolling in it!
Slashdot Mirror
Yipee! Won't we all be safe once the "civilized world" is protected from the barbarians? Why, the "bad people" won't even be able to shoot at usat all, let alone support the "terror-ists" with their insidious "terror-ism".
So, lets review. 'Predator' unmanned aircraft armed with Hellfire missles for patrol and attacks, lasers to shoot down artillery (and you know bullets are coming soon), Star Wars V2 to protect us from missiles, and any country that tries to develop anything we don't like gets a "regime change".
Yeah, I can't see why the rest of the world hates the west, can you? We turn war into a fuckin' video game, and relegate them to attacking us with swords while riding their camels.
I know it's the natural evolution of war, but it also seems like the natural evolution of capitalism applied to the battlefield. He with the most money to make the best toys wins, and he who doesn't hopes for an aid package to be sent to his widow.
Of course, we might get charitable in a few years and let them have some low powered lasers, but only if they attach them to the sharks... I mean, come on, is it too much to ask for some sharks with frickin lasers on their heads?
I think it's time for some sugar... rants like this could be dangerous... nice Echelon, niiiice Echelon.
Hm, maybe I should get a book on lasers from the librar
NO CARRIER
"Significant performance lag" is relative. If you want to game on your tablet, then yeah, it's not the best. If you're like most people, it's just a supercharged PDA with wireless net access and a really big screen. Given that that's the most likely target demographic, extra long battery life and lighter weight are well worth a performance lag that most users won't notice.
Why not? It gives the illusion of competition, while they have solid control of the companys' future. It's no different than their 'support' of Apple.
Yeah, but who the hell wants a tablet PC with a 2 hour battery life? Crusoes kick ass for power consumption and heat output, which makes it last longer and weigh less. If I wanted a full-speed, full-feature portable computer, I'd get a laptop. Tablets aren't meant to be that (yet).
If I wasn't having trouble accessing the site, I'd give you some hard numbers, but I'm quite sure that the last time I checked a Crusoe was roughly the same price as desktop Celerons or Durons. I do recall from THG that portable P4 2.2 Gigs go for over $500 when bought in bulk.
Transmeta should have realized a long time ago that they couldn't break into the laptop market (which is where they seem to have been trying to go). What Intel doesn't monopolize, AMD jumps on with greater resources than Transmeta could hope for (Hammer notwithstanding).
The MS Tablet PC could be the best thing to happen to Transmeta. MS isn't exactly happy with the major box brands offering *nix, and inside rumours say debate over whether security should be hardware or software have put a good dent in MS/Intel relations. By going Transmeta, MS can get a good price on a suitable processor (not megapowered like the portable P4's, but perfect for the job), which means more tablets running MS software, they get a bigger say in the design of the tablet, and the poke Intel in the ass and say "Don't push your luck, big guy, we don't need you as much as you want to believe."
And in the end, the result is just as good for open source on the tablet platform, because cheap tablets with a big company behind them will get a strong push into the marketplace, give OpenSource developers a reason to write for the tablet.
I say, Go Transmeta!
(hey, wasn't that a catchphrase from an 80's kids show?)
Damn, can you spell "bias"? I know that most /. write-ups have a bit of spin, but sheesh! At least give people the chance to think differently before you label them extremists.
/.er, I still choose to think instead of believe. Why don't you?
And yes, I have my doubts (uh oh, just earned -1 Troll for that), but they don't have anything to do with waving flags or radiation. They revolve more around the doctored photos (where the crosshatches are covered by the image, when the crosshatches were etched on the lens), the obvious multiple light sources (when you look at the shadows, you can clearly see several different angles of shadows, suggesting more than one light source0 [and no, stars are not bright enough to cast shadows, even in space], and also the shadow effect (wherein objects and people standing in complete shadow were completely visible, even though technically, with only one light source and little to no reflective surface, they should have been completely dark).
Now, I'm not saying I firmly believe in the hoax, but I do find it odd that questions like these are never answered, while the easy ones are, and the rest put down to "conspiracy nuts". While I'm as much of a space nut as the next
This fiction brought to you by the United States of America. Just don't tell anyone you read it here.
If you're going to be a bitter little AC, at least do a better job of hiding the fact that you didn't think of it first, k?
Baaaa....
Ok, putting aside all the microshit, here's an honest question relating to everyones fear of the SP3 EULA:
Does anyone know how MS remote access is going to work, and what firewalls/routers/etc would be able to block it? After all, they say they get to do it, not that we have to make it easy for them.
And no, "upgrade to SuSe" is not a firewall, "format c:" is not a router, and any references to "Stephen King dead", beowulf clusters, or 3: Profit! will necessitate me hunting you down and plucking your eyeballs out with rusty spoons.
Slowly.
Where in the flaming levels of hell did you get that brilliant nugget?
First off, the dialer was configured by our American client. Secondly, it was transparent to everyone, from callers on up, and thirdly, if you wanted to indicate that you didn't want intrusion into your life, then maybe you should have let intelligence intrude into your head and signed up on all the various no-call lists (cost: free) instead of wasting your good money on something that doesn't work anyways (cost: not free).
And also for the record, the only reason the client added the delay was by fluke, given the bad phone lines from Canada to the States sometimes. It was only after a while that we started noticing the old "I have a TeleZapper, it's illegal for you to call me" speech popping up.
Thanks for playing.
Ya see, I agree with you, but I find java does the same thing. Perhaps you recall a few years ago, when java and javascript were everywhere... people seemed to have contests to find the most innane thing they could turn into java. And while I avoid flash and refuse to use or learn it, it does have it's uses.
What I was annoyed at was the people who posted "flash sucks!" without anything else to say. If it was just a few of them, or if it was put in with viable comments, that would be fine, but 30 of them in a row ticked me off. If I was the creator of the site, I'd hope for some insight from a front-page slashdotting, not hearing how I must rape small goats because my front page is flash.
That said, I agree it blows. I want a plain text version with ALT text. If I'm feeling generous, I may allow you to use frames. (remember when web pages had, like 7 different frames? damn, those were the days). Change your front page to a pretty picture, and link to your flash and your text.
Damn, now I'm nostalgic... remember the little gifs that said "Lynx Unfriendly"? I loved the irony....
Ok, I'll go away now =)
That is soooo wrong!
And a lil PS to all the whiny bitches complainin' bout the site. Boo freakin hoo, cry me a river. Flash may suck, but so did Java, and that didn't stop everyone from mounting it like a rabid dog, eh? Stop yer complainin' and enjoy some resonably-decent mods, wouldya?
SET pickupdelay +2
Problem solved. We used to laugh at the people who wasted their money on those things, and then sputtered and fumed at us that we shouldn't be able to get through. Truth is, those things may work for 30-40% of your telemarketing calls, but thats it. Other things, like the delay it can take for the phone lines to connect, also shorten the tone to the point where it stops before the dialer believes you're out of service. But adding a delay before it picks up if by far the most common ploy.
The other thing people don't realize is that direct callers don't have one big list of numbers that they constantly whittle down. Most do as we did, randomly generating phone numbers, then filtering out the numbers on the no-call list and in cell-phone domains. If your phone gets marked as out-of-order, it will still go back on a list with that same company within a week... they expect your number to be used by someone else quite quickly. And no, just because the company that does sell number lists thinks you're out of order, doesn't mean that they'll never try again. Think of the math... how many people have only had their phone number for a few years? How many people get new phones everyday?
And, before I left, I heard a wonderful tidbit... the list-sellers may soon set up auto-dial systems that do nothing but call the numbers marked as disconnected. If they ever get anything but that tone (say, because you're on the phone), you go back on the active list, with a little mark next to it that will bias the ranking of your number so that it won't be marked out-of-service for a very long time. It costs them nothing to keep trying your number.
And yes, for the record, even though I was doing good things (making all those pretty commercials you see on TV and all those shiny ads in the magazines), I still feel dirty sometimes =)
If I were paranoid, I'd deduce that the goal of the US military is to be able to blow other countries up without committing any troops (at least until all thats left is a private in a foxhole wondering where all the pretty lights came from), to be able to protect their vast stocks of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and at the same time, to ensure that no other country can have them.
"You don't scare us, Yankee dogs! We have the bomb!"
...
bzzzzzzzzzzap!
"Uh, we had the bomb, but thats ok, we'll build another!"
bzzzzzzzap!
"Uh, ok, we have no real buildings left in our country now, but you better not try to invade us, we have friends with big missiles!"
*points up at orbiting defense satillites*
"Uh, ok, so we can't shoot at you, but if you try to invade, we'll fight to the death!"
*nuclear and chemical missiles come crashing down by the dozens*
"Hm, so we can't fight back, no one else can fight back, no one can build the weapons you have because if they do you blow them up, and now you stand unopposed to force your will upon the world."
"Would you like fries with that?"
Actually, I'm sure the military men who died defending his right to choose are glad he had the balls to do so.
... did they remember to remove the spyware and phone-home code before they released the source...err, sorry, "Secret Blueprint"? (you have to RTA to get that)
Hey, I have a fabulous idea to solve the evils of internet business creating deficits and starving the children:
/rant off, but still, sheesh, how can you people put up with that kind of fiscal management? We elected the right people, passed a non-revokable law that said "No budget deficits, ever, for any reason", and that was that. The question isn't why shouldn't you tax IC, but why do you have the need to?
Try balancing your budget!
I mean, sheesh, really, how hard a concept is that? Now, before you charge for that reply button saying that it's impossible, I point out that I live in Alberta. We used to have a multibillion-$ deficit and no end in sight, but we voted in competent financial leadership, and turned it around. Now we routinely post a $1B surplus, have a $17B trust fund for "rainy days", and will have the entire deficit paid off in a few more years. Add to that our free health care, 0% (yes, ZERO) provincial tax, copius social programs (school, welfare, etc), and somehow i fail to feel sympathy for states running $600 billion dollar deficits every year. I wouldn't be asking what we could tax next, I'd be asking why these jackasses were still in office.
And yes, to answer your next question, it was kinda hard... we lost or had cutbacks in alot of programs that we'd gotten used to having for free.. and it's still going on. But the money we save from interest payments on our debt means that we'll be able to reinvest in a few years. And with 1/10 of the entire country living here, yes, we have lost our fair share of business to internet commerce.
Ok,
Also, if you bothered to RTFA, take the budget deficits for the state, and subtract the "claimed" losses from IC. Doesn't balance out to 0, eh?
Actually, I personally believe that you should be able to sue for however much you want (it doesn't seem to matter what amount you ask for anyways, a judge or jury decides how much you get). I do believe, however, that lawyers should have a limit as to how much they can charge. Why is it that you can have salary caps in the NBA and NFL, but not in the courts designed to keep your citizens free?
There are a few things here which speak loads about the US business/legal model (and no, this isn't meant to be US bashing)
- Someone can get granted a patent for doing something that's already being done at the time of the filing. It may not hold up, but it provides ammunition for lawsuits, and isn't that enough for most people? Enter the almighty dollar.
- It takes years to get a patent. During this time, the "innovative" thing you've thought of becomes commonplace, and by the time you actually have the patent, other people have gotten so rich off the idea that they can sue you into the ground.
- People are so afraid of lawsuits and lawyers that they're willing to hand over good money to avoid your countrys' legal system, regardless of whether they're wrong or right. Doesn't that say enough right there?
And, for the obligitory joke, I now intend to file a patent for "stuff", which will "facilitate doing things in some manner", for the purpose of "getting things done, via this stuff paridigm." My revolutionary "stuff" lawsuit will ensure that no-one can ever again do "things" without my express, written consent. And, further, I plan to use my newfound economic power to push for digital copyright restrictions to be placed on "stuff", to ensure that the "things" facilitated by unlicensed copies of my "stuff" cannot be completed. Then, when everything is running on licensed copies of my "stuff", I will the AutoUpdate feature authorized in my "stuff DCP" EULA to sneak in fixes that will not let "stuff" work without calling home to tell me what "things" it is doing. And then, finally, I will take my fortune, close the company, and shut down the server, ensuring that "stuff" cannot call home to report its' "things", and making all the "stuff" shut down across the US.
Then, maybe, with no "things" to do or "stuff" to do them with, all the idiots who made this mess will get their "heads" out of their "ass" and start using their "brains".
10 DO end_rant; GOTO end
For those who are curious, the actual story goes something like this: Early explorers needed something to call the country, so they asked their Indian guides what they called "this place they live". The Indians thought they were asking where they lived, and of course, replied "Our village". Hence, this country is named "The Village", or "Canada". I, for one, think it's fitting.
No word yet on whether the guide actually said "Our village, numbnuts! Where the f*ck do you think?"
So, let me get this straight. Easter eggs are now security threats? Whats next, a law to protect us from the evils of hidden credits or secret photos of the programmers?
Chicken Little only has to be right once.
Hmm, funny. When I read "cow-towing", I got the distinct impression of loincloth-wearing men of the future, roped up like a team of horses, pulling around a sled with a Cow-Overlord on it, being whipped mercilessly by it's Robo-Servant.
... it'll be the dolphins. ... can you swim?
Of course, that would presuppose that the first intelligent robots will decide that cows are the supreme form of life on the planet, and swear allegence to them. And everyone knows that's really, really silly.
Lets face it, how much do non-geeks understand "digital encryption"? To answer that question, look at how many people have DRM still turned on in Media Player... heck, how many people know it turns itself back on with patches? How many people care? As much as we geeks would like to believe that the majority of the consumer base is techno-savy, the truth is they're still a bunch of AOL using, Compaq buying, Windows-only cow-sumers.
I wish it weren't so, but it is... so the question becomes, why did MS decide to do this? Answers:
- Creates more media coverage for the launch of a new XP version and HP machine. How much of the cNet article covered the issue, and how much talked about the new machine?
- Converts a few wanna-be geeks to the MS side (almost typed "dark side"... oopsie). They browse around, see the link, think MS is on their side, and decide that the MicroSerfs can't be all *that* bad.
- Offsets flashback from Palladium and Media Player DRM. "Hey, look, we aren't kowtowing, we fought back for YOU!". It also provides ammo for people who are going to go pro-MS when the next argument about DRM comes to town.
- Gives the geeks at 1 Microsoft Way (yes, there still are a few) some small sense of victory over the Corporate Drones (tm)
- Lets MS test the leash on the **AA. They do this, then wait and see. If the AA's come after them, then MS gets to "fight for the little guy" in a court battle they'd likely win, gets lots of publicity, and gets a boost to their image. If the AA's don't do anything, MS gets to claim a small victory, and maybe in 6 months they take another small step forward towards opt-in instead of opt-out on DRM in Windows.
Lets face it, the decision is mostly win-win for MS, and the great news is that Joe Average, who didn't give a rats ass about DRM for this new PC, has only heard "Microsoft bows to consumers, does what they want", not "Microsoft plans to restrict digital recordings more than analog". He reads the ad...err...article, thinks how nice this lil toy would be... *and*, MS tests out the strength of it's bond with HPaq. This little "change of heart" should show PDQ whether MS can count on HPaq to be a friend or foe... and given the new "WalMart PC" and it's butt-ugly linuxesque interface, MS needs to know who it's friends are.
Game, set, match, MS. Bill may have a bad haircut, but he doesn't hire idiots.
On a related note, have you seen the new WalMart PC's? If Linus had a grave, he'd be rolling in it!