Or let's say that you kindly RTFA and, in particular, this part: "It may be considered sufficient to publish (the reply) or make available a link to it"(emphasis mine).
The troublesome point is that it may be sufficient to publish the reply or make available a link to it. I would assume that a court would have to decide which was sufficient in cases where the original publisher & respondent can't agree on how to post the reply.
I'm sure an aggrieved "victim" could come up with plenty of reasons why the large file would have to be posted at the original publisher's site. Their first one would likely be, "Why should I have to pay for the bandwidth to disseminate my reply to the publisher's reckless & malfeasant criticism of me?" In short, the respondent would offer exactly the same reason the original publisher wouldn't want it on his/her site.
Another impossible-to-implement rule for the Internet. But if the recommendation passes into law, it might be a boon for hosting services not based in the EU. "Use our friendly blog-hosting service & avoid troublesome European equal-time laws!"
There have been cornstarch-based packing noodles available for over 10 years. When I was still teaching, several biological supply companies shipped orders packed in those things. It was kinda fun to put a handful in a beaker, pour some water over them & watch them dissolve. Okay, it was fun about twice.
Microsoft's decision creates a conundrum for Mac users seeking maximum compatibility. Many Web sites are designed to work best or, in some cases, only with Internet Explorer. Although Apple has worked hard to gain compatibility with the vast majority of sites, it is not clear what the effect will be from the most commonly used browser abandoning the Mac market.
OK, like it or not, Mac is dying. And Micro$oft is gonna put a bullet in its head. It has nothing to do with admitting that Safari is a better browser. If that logic really applied, Microsoft would have killed the Palm-sized/CE/PPC operating system du jour years ago... By pulling MSIE for Mac, Micro$oft is simply telling Mac users, "If you want to access a bunch of sites, you're going to have to get a Windows box."
MSIE may have 97% of the browser market, but what kind of "market" is it when the product is free? I've always been Netscape-centric & that's just the "corporate standard" at our house. My wife, who is not computer savvy, made this comment when she had to use MSIE to access a site: "This Explorer thing is CHEESY. It just feels cheap & thin after using Netscape." She should be getting paid big bucks by CNET for her opinions, IMO!
So be careful where you place your geocache, consider who might be watching and what conclusions they might jump to.
I don't know all the "rules" for the geocaching game, but it would seem that labelling the cache or putting it in a package that permitted easy inspection or even informing those responsible for the area of the activity ought to be pretty high on the list.
I'm just recalling when I was younger & working as a field biologist, we often hung some rather strange-looking contraptions in creeks & rivers. We always made sure there was an ID tag on the device explaining what it was & why it was important...
Good words to live by. The vast majority of people will be conscientious if they are asked (or trained as kids) to be conscientious.
I'm confused why a park would want to restrict a harmless & educational pastime (geocaching). Anything that takes folks into parks is more likely to increase their awareness & appreciation of the need for outdoor recreational areas. Those are the folks who will pay taxes to support parks. So in a sense, park officials that would prohibit geocaching are simply shooting themselves in the glutes.
Well, I opened my s-mail this morning & had my annual pledge card from the Boy Scouts of America. Then I open Slashdot & see that the BSA is conducting a study of software piracy. Talk about cognitive dissonance!
Must be all those 12-17 yr old boys working on their computer merit badges...
I mean, take a look at the interstate highway system.
LOL! You haven't ridden I-20 from Jackson to Vicksburg!
Anyway, the feds dole money out to the states for that maintenance work & the states either bid things out properly (which is rare) or they let the jobs to political cronies. And THAT is my biggest objection to federal-run infrastructure: it ends up being flopped to the state level for administration & that produces a wild mixed of results. Of course, it lets senators & congressmen brag about how much pork they're bringing home AND reward their political supporters without things getting too "direct."
But keep in mind, I am an advocate of anarchy in general;-D
If one lives within the magic couple of miles of the telco central office, as I do, and in a town where the cable company can't even get their nonpremium channels working, as I do, one appreciates DSL. As I do.
I've had DSL running for 15 months in a VERY SMALL southern town. Except once when Micro$oft Internet Exploiter decided to quit communicating with my router's configuration screen, I've had zero problems. And that problem was in no way related to the DSL service.
The biggest drawback for cable modem users is more than likely going to be the expertise level of the average cable company tech. Remember, cable companies hire guys who can operate a bucket truck but who couldn't make the cut at the power or phone company (where the benefits are MUCH better;-)
... or maybe it's the weather, or something like that... But:
You want us to fix that rat's-nest of wires behind your house? That will be $2000. It works, so we won't fix it unless you pay for it.
Tells me you were cursed with a tech who didn't take much pride in workmanship. When the Bellsouth tech installed the junction box for my DSL, he did probably the prettiest wiring job I could possibly have asked for. Even re-routed my TV cable, ground lines, etc. so it looked nicer & more organized. When he had the bud box at the road open, it was the same way. In our brief conversation, it was easy to tell that the kid was *proud* to work for the phone company.
Of course, I live in a very small town, so it's highly likely that I'll see that guy at the hardware store or WalMart or wherever. So he does a little extra neat work so I'll think better of him. Or maybe our town just has a terrically "A.R." tech. Either way, it's the way it ought to be.
I've often wondered how a DSL "remarketer" (local ISP) that basically sells a service that is physically provided by the telco can hope to be competitive & profitable.
When I was DSL shopping last year, I found two local ISPs that were charging $15-20/mo more for the exact same service that the telco was advertising. AND the ISPs still had to wait for the telco to set up the line at the central office, etc. Meanwhile, the telco gave me an immediate $5/mo discount because I already had several "premium services" (e.g., caller ID, call waiting, etc) on my voice line.
Now, when you got to the point about the government owning the infrastructure, THAT'S where we disagree. I think the government should promote private sector development of infrastructure through tax incentives & grants (as it does now), but I see no way that government could afford to be innovative & aggressive about developing said infrastructure.
...But did you say a pair of Microsofties was advocating the use of Linux Beowulfs for research?
June 3 - Microsoft announces the Window FUBAR management software for Linux Beowulf clusters. According to the EULA, anyone running a Linux Beowulf cluster without WinFUBAR will be subject to criminal prosecution...
... at the same time they make their products more "secure"? Well, I guess the 2nd part of my question answered the first -- ain't neither one gonna happen...
We just performed a technical audit for a Catholic school, as in REAL charity work. It was interesting to find out that Microsoft sponsors technical seminars for educational leaders and even gave them all laptops. The trade-off? Microsoft managed to convince them that the future of computing in schools was hand-held devices (which of course they could conveniently supply). Can you imagine elementary and middle school kids being given ANY sort of hand-held?
At the risk of being called a Palm evangelist & triggering a whole 'nother holy war, this was one of the points I was trying to make in the original post. During our "Mentor" training, the MS trainer spent an inordinate amount of time promoting their handheld OS du jour. I can't recall which "palm-sized" version it was, but I believe it may have been one of the first WinCE's. Of course, it was obsolete (along with all its apps) within a year with no backward compatibility. This was an hour that could have been spent looking at Access, which was the topic on the agenda.
Of course, Palm does pretty much the same thing to promote their products in the education arena, except that they don't hide their spiels in the guise of being training for desktop apps.
At what point should a "corporate promotion" not be considered "charitable" for tax purposes?
The educational licenses are heavily discounted. This makes good business sense for MS. Schools teach a particular office suite in their secretarial studies & basic computer literacy classes. This drives adoption of that suite in the workplace, where the educational discounts do not apply.
Educational site licenses are a lot cheaper than you think. Although the lump sum looks big, when you divide it out by enrollment, it's really inexpensive -- less than $10 a head.
Microsoft has discontinued the "Mentor" program, but it took everything a big step farther. Groups of teachers were treated to high quality training to use MS products, given free copies of Office & other goodies, etc., in exchange for a commitment to do in-service training for other teachers. And those Mentor training sessions were one continual promotion for Microsoft. I once sat thru an Access session & enjoyed 45 minutes of proselytizing for Windows CE. What that had to do with Access is beyond me. But I'm sure a couple of folks ran out & bought "palm-sized PCs" because of it...
Somebody mod this guy up!
on
IT at the CIA
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
ROTFL!
Unfortunately/. isn't giving me any karma to dole out today, or you'd get a few points!
So let me change my original assertion to:
Government intelligence is an oxymoron!
Anyone know what percentage of a university tuition actually goes towards eduction (professor salaries, equpment) these days?
Salaries remain the #1 expenditure item in most institutions' Education & General budget. At my institution, salaries account for 75-80% of the total education & general budget, with approximately half the budget going to instructors' salaries. Instructional supplies & equipment add another 10-15% to the total, so instruction alone accounts for about 60-65% of the budget. (Operation of libraries, physical plant & student services offices aren't included in this amount.)
We already assess a "technology fee." Revenues are used to fund new computer labs, upgrades for existing labs, network infrastructure, and other expenses directly attributable to instruction. These monies aren't used for administrative functions. If we were to implement a music-for-pay system, it would most likely have to be tacked onto dorm fees, since commuter students are much less likely to be running Kazaa in an open lab (although some undoubtedly do). However, I do not foresee my institution going to such a service.
This past fall term, we actually had to shut off internet access to our dorms to free up enough bandwidth to make some mandatory state and federal file transfers and to allow access to our administrative system by admissions & financial aid offices during regular working hours. It's difficult to explain to a student that their financial aid check is late because they hogged the bandwidth while stealing movies!
I would view the pay-for-music service as a way of controlling bandwidth more than a money-maker or a legal response to the copyright issue.
Re:Civilian not Military
on
IT at the CIA
·
· Score: 1
It is a cicilian organisation.
The Mafia is a Sicilian organization.
The CIA is no more "civilian" than I believe everything the US government tells me. If it walks like a duck & quacks like a duck, it doesn't matter if it tells you it's a dog.
(1) Disguise a vital DLL in your program as one of the myriad spyware proggies you piggy-back into your installation. That way, anyone running AdAware or a similar clean-up program has a high probability of clobbering your program & having to download another copy.
(2) Issue an update every few days & equip your program with an auto-updater. This is easy to do by just changing the various spyware proggies you're including.
(3) Count every banner ad you serve as a "download".
(4) Lie like hell. This isn't tough if you're already running without ethics.
"Military Intelligence" is an oxymoron
on
IT at the CIA
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I know it's a cliché, but it's true.
I agree with the poster down the page who opined that what the CIA needs is more people in the field. Look around the typical IT department & ask yourself, "Are these geeks the kind of folks I want providing vital information to the guys who have their fingers on the nuclear button?"
It's pretty obvious -- regardless of your position on operation Iraqi "Freedom" -- that electronic surveillance is not very reliable without plenty of dirty on-the-ground spying. Another way to put it is "Where are all those WMDs?" We saw the "pictures"...
Just my observation (YMMV), but it often appears that "standards" seem to be introduced to deprecate existing practice or to codify increased complexity.
Consider the current "advance" from HTML to XHTML proposed by W3C. Is this an advance? At one time, anybody could write a valid HTML page with a text edit using a minimum of tags. If the person happened to use some "proprietary extension," that part of the code was simply not rendered properly in browsers that didn't support that extension. But a person could write a perfectly valid, cross platform web page using a basic set of tags & attributes.
If we look toward XHMTL, the person would not be able to produce a single page but would have to use HTML and a stylesheet, just to reproduce what worked perfectly well with the tag-extension system. Presumably, XHTML will weed out a lot of hobbyists & force the rest to buy increasingly expensive software to manage the development process.
Take a look at the prices for W3C membership. The "standards body" thus becomes dominated by "the industry" (which has reasons for wanting to promote increasingly expensive development tools) & academe (which has reasons for wanting all web page authors to have to enroll in its classes).
Yes, without standards we get stuck in a Tower of Babel. But the trend to increasingly complicated standards & wholesale deprecation of accepted practice reeks of being more than a bit self-serving to those who can afford membership in the "standards bodies"...
Or to be a fuzz more complex, I live in MS, which has no spam law that I know of, but my web host is in CA. The email from that account averages over a dozen UCEs per legitimate message.
Thanks to MailWasher & obfuscated mailto's on my pages that's dropping, but I still wonder if the CA law applies since my mail is routed via Los Angeles.
Slashdot Mirror
The troublesome point is that it may be sufficient to publish the reply or make available a link to it. I would assume that a court would have to decide which was sufficient in cases where the original publisher & respondent can't agree on how to post the reply.
I'm sure an aggrieved "victim" could come up with plenty of reasons why the large file would have to be posted at the original publisher's site. Their first one would likely be, "Why should I have to pay for the bandwidth to disseminate my reply to the publisher's reckless & malfeasant criticism of me?" In short, the respondent would offer exactly the same reason the original publisher wouldn't want it on his/her site.
Another impossible-to-implement rule for the Internet. But if the recommendation passes into law, it might be a boon for hosting services not based in the EU. "Use our friendly blog-hosting service & avoid troublesome European equal-time laws!"
My point is that this is hardly breaking news.
MSIE may have 97% of the browser market, but what kind of "market" is it when the product is free? I've always been Netscape-centric & that's just the "corporate standard" at our house. My wife, who is not computer savvy, made this comment when she had to use MSIE to access a site: "This Explorer thing is CHEESY. It just feels cheap & thin after using Netscape." She should be getting paid big bucks by CNET for her opinions, IMO!
I don't know all the "rules" for the geocaching game, but it would seem that labelling the cache or putting it in a package that permitted easy inspection or even informing those responsible for the area of the activity ought to be pretty high on the list.
I'm just recalling when I was younger & working as a field biologist, we often hung some rather strange-looking contraptions in creeks & rivers. We always made sure there was an ID tag on the device explaining what it was & why it was important...
I'm confused why a park would want to restrict a harmless & educational pastime (geocaching). Anything that takes folks into parks is more likely to increase their awareness & appreciation of the need for outdoor recreational areas. Those are the folks who will pay taxes to support parks. So in a sense, park officials that would prohibit geocaching are simply shooting themselves in the glutes.
Must be all those 12-17 yr old boys working on their computer merit badges...
LOL! You haven't ridden I-20 from Jackson to Vicksburg!
Anyway, the feds dole money out to the states for that maintenance work & the states either bid things out properly (which is rare) or they let the jobs to political cronies. And THAT is my biggest objection to federal-run infrastructure: it ends up being flopped to the state level for administration & that produces a wild mixed of results. Of course, it lets senators & congressmen brag about how much pork they're bringing home AND reward their political supporters without things getting too "direct."
But keep in mind, I am an advocate of anarchy in general ;-D
I've had DSL running for 15 months in a VERY SMALL southern town. Except once when Micro$oft Internet Exploiter decided to quit communicating with my router's configuration screen, I've had zero problems. And that problem was in no way related to the DSL service.
The biggest drawback for cable modem users is more than likely going to be the expertise level of the average cable company tech. Remember, cable companies hire guys who can operate a bucket truck but who couldn't make the cut at the power or phone company (where the benefits are MUCH better ;-)
You want us to fix that rat's-nest of wires behind your house? That will be $2000. It works, so we won't fix it unless you pay for it.
Tells me you were cursed with a tech who didn't take much pride in workmanship. When the Bellsouth tech installed the junction box for my DSL, he did probably the prettiest wiring job I could possibly have asked for. Even re-routed my TV cable, ground lines, etc. so it looked nicer & more organized. When he had the bud box at the road open, it was the same way. In our brief conversation, it was easy to tell that the kid was *proud* to work for the phone company.
Of course, I live in a very small town, so it's highly likely that I'll see that guy at the hardware store or WalMart or wherever. So he does a little extra neat work so I'll think better of him. Or maybe our town just has a terrically "A.R." tech. Either way, it's the way it ought to be.
I can't help it if I'm lucky...
I've often wondered how a DSL "remarketer" (local ISP) that basically sells a service that is physically provided by the telco can hope to be competitive & profitable.
When I was DSL shopping last year, I found two local ISPs that were charging $15-20/mo more for the exact same service that the telco was advertising. AND the ISPs still had to wait for the telco to set up the line at the central office, etc. Meanwhile, the telco gave me an immediate $5/mo discount because I already had several "premium services" (e.g., caller ID, call waiting, etc) on my voice line.
Now, when you got to the point about the government owning the infrastructure, THAT'S where we disagree. I think the government should promote private sector development of infrastructure through tax incentives & grants (as it does now), but I see no way that government could afford to be innovative & aggressive about developing said infrastructure.
June 3 - Microsoft announces the Window FUBAR management software for Linux Beowulf clusters. According to the EULA, anyone running a Linux Beowulf cluster without WinFUBAR will be subject to criminal prosecution...
... at the same time they make their products more "secure"? Well, I guess the 2nd part of my question answered the first -- ain't neither one gonna happen...
At the risk of being called a Palm evangelist & triggering a whole 'nother holy war, this was one of the points I was trying to make in the original post. During our "Mentor" training, the MS trainer spent an inordinate amount of time promoting their handheld OS du jour. I can't recall which "palm-sized" version it was, but I believe it may have been one of the first WinCE's. Of course, it was obsolete (along with all its apps) within a year with no backward compatibility. This was an hour that could have been spent looking at Access, which was the topic on the agenda.
Of course, Palm does pretty much the same thing to promote their products in the education arena, except that they don't hide their spiels in the guise of being training for desktop apps.
At what point should a "corporate promotion" not be considered "charitable" for tax purposes?
Educational site licenses are a lot cheaper than you think. Although the lump sum looks big, when you divide it out by enrollment, it's really inexpensive -- less than $10 a head.
Microsoft has discontinued the "Mentor" program, but it took everything a big step farther. Groups of teachers were treated to high quality training to use MS products, given free copies of Office & other goodies, etc., in exchange for a commitment to do in-service training for other teachers. And those Mentor training sessions were one continual promotion for Microsoft. I once sat thru an Access session & enjoyed 45 minutes of proselytizing for Windows CE. What that had to do with Access is beyond me. But I'm sure a couple of folks ran out & bought "palm-sized PCs" because of it...
Unfortunately /. isn't giving me any karma to dole out today, or you'd get a few points!
So let me change my original assertion to: Government intelligence is an oxymoron!
Salaries remain the #1 expenditure item in most institutions' Education & General budget. At my institution, salaries account for 75-80% of the total education & general budget, with approximately half the budget going to instructors' salaries. Instructional supplies & equipment add another 10-15% to the total, so instruction alone accounts for about 60-65% of the budget. (Operation of libraries, physical plant & student services offices aren't included in this amount.)
We already assess a "technology fee." Revenues are used to fund new computer labs, upgrades for existing labs, network infrastructure, and other expenses directly attributable to instruction. These monies aren't used for administrative functions. If we were to implement a music-for-pay system, it would most likely have to be tacked onto dorm fees, since commuter students are much less likely to be running Kazaa in an open lab (although some undoubtedly do). However, I do not foresee my institution going to such a service.
This past fall term, we actually had to shut off internet access to our dorms to free up enough bandwidth to make some mandatory state and federal file transfers and to allow access to our administrative system by admissions & financial aid offices during regular working hours. It's difficult to explain to a student that their financial aid check is late because they hogged the bandwidth while stealing movies!
I would view the pay-for-music service as a way of controlling bandwidth more than a money-maker or a legal response to the copyright issue.
The Mafia is a Sicilian organization.
The CIA is no more "civilian" than I believe everything the US government tells me. If it walks like a duck & quacks like a duck, it doesn't matter if it tells you it's a dog.
(2) Issue an update every few days & equip your program with an auto-updater. This is easy to do by just changing the various spyware proggies you're including.
(3) Count every banner ad you serve as a "download".
(4) Lie like hell. This isn't tough if you're already running without ethics.
I agree with the poster down the page who opined that what the CIA needs is more people in the field. Look around the typical IT department & ask yourself, "Are these geeks the kind of folks I want providing vital information to the guys who have their fingers on the nuclear button?"
It's pretty obvious -- regardless of your position on operation Iraqi "Freedom" -- that electronic surveillance is not very reliable without plenty of dirty on-the-ground spying. Another way to put it is "Where are all those WMDs?" We saw the "pictures"...
Consider the current "advance" from HTML to XHTML proposed by W3C. Is this an advance? At one time, anybody could write a valid HTML page with a text edit using a minimum of tags. If the person happened to use some "proprietary extension," that part of the code was simply not rendered properly in browsers that didn't support that extension. But a person could write a perfectly valid, cross platform web page using a basic set of tags & attributes.
If we look toward XHMTL, the person would not be able to produce a single page but would have to use HTML and a stylesheet, just to reproduce what worked perfectly well with the tag-extension system. Presumably, XHTML will weed out a lot of hobbyists & force the rest to buy increasingly expensive software to manage the development process.
Take a look at the prices for W3C membership. The "standards body" thus becomes dominated by "the industry" (which has reasons for wanting to promote increasingly expensive development tools) & academe (which has reasons for wanting all web page authors to have to enroll in its classes).
Yes, without standards we get stuck in a Tower of Babel. But the trend to increasingly complicated standards & wholesale deprecation of accepted practice reeks of being more than a bit self-serving to those who can afford membership in the "standards bodies"...
Again, my .02. YMMV. WWFD?
Thanks to MailWasher & obfuscated mailto's on my pages that's dropping, but I still wonder if the CA law applies since my mail is routed via Los Angeles.
Anybody got three measures of barley for a denarius? And what's a denarius?
... Alligator mississippiensis is not a parasite. Gator computerensis is.
So, is it "F-sharp", "F-octothorpe", "F-pound", "F-number", or "F-tic-tac-toe"?
One thing I know for certain: "F--- Micro$oft"!
Hash by any other name would probably still get you high...