Why is there never any retaliation against the companies that produce this software?
Years ago a friend was following another car down the interstate at a high rate of speed. A cop pulled up behind them and turned on his flashers. My buddy hit the brakes; the other guy hit the gas. The cop pulled my buddy over and wrote him a ticket. Buddy asked cop why he didn't go after the other guy, who was obviously avoiding arrest. Cop's reply: I was only going to be able to get one of you and you were the easiest.
Law enforcement is always going to go after the low-hanging fruit first. That means the "DVD Jons" and the Dmitry Sklyarovs - the little guys of the world - not the corporations, not organized crime, not even the savvy spammers who are able to do a fair job of covering their tracks.
As the old joke goes, when the bear is chasing the two of us, I don't have to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun ~you~.
Re:Hurray for Movie Technology!
on
ILM's Datacenter
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American audiences especially just go looking for explosion sequences and CGI in the annual summer action flick hunt.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Okay, CGI of explosions is bad, though. Stuff should get really blown up. Big stuff, not just models. It's the American way!
-- One of the Red Team's entries completed the last portion (the hardest portion) of the course with its main sensor non-functional -- it was stuck pointed 90 degrees to the side. This argues even more strongly that the Red Team's vehicles weren't doing much route-finding and were pretty much just following GPS waypoints.
Your point is certainly valid, but also consider that a robot with backup systems that rely on totally different strategies will have a better chance of success when (not "if") something goes wrong.
The "just following GPS waypoints" strategy got it across the finish line, albeit in second place. At least it finished.
I never understood what the big deal is with privacy.
Two hundred and some years ago some guys got all fed up with how they were being treated and so they wrote to the king, "When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to throw off the political bonds that have connected them with another..." Well, it turns out that the king wasn't all that gracious about the whole thing and there was a lot of killing and other "lashing out" kinds of behaviors.
Our boys finally prevailed and they realized that any government (even their new government) can fall into this same oppressive mindset, so they put some things in their new constitution that might either prevent oppression altogether, or at least provide a means for citizens to throw off oppression if it occurs.
One of those things is privacy. Our boys knew that if King George had been able to station a soldier in every private home, their little revolution would never have gotten off the ground.
We hear a lot of the phrase, "Who cares, I've got nothing to hide." Let's put the shoe on the other foot and ask, "If the government is doing such a good job of protecting us and not oppressing anyone, why should they fear their citizens having a lot of privacy?" In other words, the government's desire to "station a soldier" in eveyone's computer might indicate that they feel they should have something to fear.
...no easy access to pharmeceuticals to those not in the middle and high income brackets.
Oh, come on! Poor people in the USA have access to some of the newest drugs out there. So new in fact, that they're still in beta test! It's just the older, proven drugs that are priced out of their reach.
I have noticed download license terms to the effect that "You are permitted to use this downloaded copy on only one PC. You are not permitted to redistribute it."
So, if I want to use one download for my five PCs, I can't. Nor can I give a copy (on CD-R) to a relative who has slow dial-up access.
It's stupid, IMHO, but if you click "I Accept" then you are supposed to honor your agreement.
Well of course you have to set knock standards for the users -
User knock codes must be changed every 30 days. User knock codes must use at least three different knuckles.
User knock codes must contain at least one upper-case and one lower-case knock.
Use knock codes must not contain repeated digits.
User knock codes may not be all-numeric.
Pay no attention to the fact that the thing has a numeric-only keypad.
She informed me that there are specific State laws (in the US) that exempt libraries from copyright laws. That is why you can go to your local library and borrow a CD-ROM game or tax software or whatever, install it on your computer and use it until you have to return the CD-ROM. Even if the software doesn't check for the presence of the CD, you are morally obliged to delete it after you return the CD.
If the **IA wants to try to repeal these State laws, they are gonna get shushed into oblivion!
I love how the "Lab" in the picture looks a whole lot like a kitchen.
Hmmm... and did you ever notice how pictures of the Betty Crocker Kitchens look suspiciously like labs? Now, I'm not normally drawn to conspiracy theories, but...
Example: you can envision putting a magnet on your fridge. It sticks until you take it off. Put a piece of paper on your fridge, it just slides to the ground. The magnet has to exert force all the time to keep itself from falling, right? What if we could harness this incessant force somehow?
You know, I think you may be on to something... a suction cup sticks to a window in much the same way! We all know that suction cups work on the principle of "vacuum" (and we're not talking sweepers, here). Outer space is full of this "vacuum" stuff. If we could get some investors to back us, we could build a space ship that could go out and collect all this free "vacuum" and bring it back to Earth.
"...for a whopping 0.005 Watts of power, leaving an unmagnetized lump of metal. Impressed?"
Well, what if we got all of the people in all of the countries the whole world over to put aside their differences and join hands (while holding one of these things, uh, maybe between their knees or something) and we could power the whole world for a day!
Most companies brief their customers (under non-disclosure) about upcoming products before they are announced to the public. Especially large customers like Apple.
I'd wager that Apple knew about this long before they decided to switch.
In 1752 there was an adjustment of 11 (or maybe 12 days) when they standardized the calendar.
Geo. Washington made a big deal of it and celebrated his birthday 11 days later, but then he was of a rigid military mind. Ben was more of a "Renaissance man" and wasn't nearly as anal.
We're listening to you, our loyal Slashdot audience. You said, "Stop Slashdotting small, defenseless sites, you big meanies!" And so we have.
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Okay, so I'm Mister Not-as-stupid-as-the-govt-would-like-to-believe Terrorist and I need a license number. Do I just make one up? No. I find a vehicle that's broken down and use its number. Or, I find a suitable vehicle and disable it, then use its number. I don't want to steal the actual plates because the owner would report that. He won't report that his car/truck won't start this morning, however, and hopefully I'll need only a few hours to do my dastardly deeds.
*shakes head* What part of "Duh!" do the bureaucrats not understand?
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Years ago a friend was following another car down the interstate at a high rate of speed. A cop pulled up behind them and turned on his flashers. My buddy hit the brakes; the other guy hit the gas. The cop pulled my buddy over and wrote him a ticket. Buddy asked cop why he didn't go after the other guy, who was obviously avoiding arrest. Cop's reply: I was only going to be able to get one of you and you were the easiest.
Law enforcement is always going to go after the low-hanging fruit first. That means the "DVD Jons" and the Dmitry Sklyarovs - the little guys of the world - not the corporations, not organized crime, not even the savvy spammers who are able to do a fair job of covering their tracks.As the old joke goes, when the bear is chasing the two of us, I don't have to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun ~you~.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Okay, CGI of explosions is bad, though. Stuff should get really blown up. Big stuff, not just models. It's the American way!Your point is certainly valid, but also consider that a robot with backup systems that rely on totally different strategies will have a better chance of success when (not "if") something goes wrong.
The "just following GPS waypoints" strategy got it across the finish line, albeit in second place. At least it finished.Two hundred and some years ago some guys got all fed up with how they were being treated and so they wrote to the king, "When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to throw off the political bonds that have connected them with another..." Well, it turns out that the king wasn't all that gracious about the whole thing and there was a lot of killing and other "lashing out" kinds of behaviors.
Our boys finally prevailed and they realized that any government (even their new government) can fall into this same oppressive mindset, so they put some things in their new constitution that might either prevent oppression altogether, or at least provide a means for citizens to throw off oppression if it occurs.One of those things is privacy. Our boys knew that if King George had been able to station a soldier in every private home, their little revolution would never have gotten off the ground.
We hear a lot of the phrase, "Who cares, I've got nothing to hide." Let's put the shoe on the other foot and ask, "If the government is doing such a good job of protecting us and not oppressing anyone, why should they fear their citizens having a lot of privacy?" In other words, the government's desire to "station a soldier" in eveyone's computer might indicate that they feel they should have something to fear.They would know best, after all.
Voice of God: Bastard? If I had wanted a father, I would have created one for myself.
Voice of God, (walking away shaking head): Whiners. I gave them Light... I gave them Lightning... I gave them Bud Light... Bunch a' whiners...
Oh, come on! Poor people in the USA have access to some of the newest drugs out there. So new in fact, that they're still in beta test! It's just the older, proven drugs that are priced out of their reach.
(Don't mod this "funny", mod it "sad, but true".)Dude! That whole post was quite profound.
Props!When he's done the balance will be zero. C'mon, you don't need Quickbooks to be able to reconcile that yourself.
So, if I want to use one download for my five PCs, I can't. Nor can I give a copy (on CD-R) to a relative who has slow dial-up access.
It's stupid, IMHO, but if you click "I Accept" then you are supposed to honor your agreement.Call your local Girl Scout leader.
Maybe it's just the close proximity to the Monty Python poll, but my immediate mental flash was:
Mooooooo... "RUN AWAY! RUN AWAAAY!.... Thud!User knock codes must be changed every 30 days.
Pay no attention to the fact that the thing has a numeric-only keypad.User knock codes must use at least three different knuckles.
User knock codes must contain at least one upper-case and one lower-case knock.
Use knock codes must not contain repeated digits.
User knock codes may not be all-numeric.
All I saw was "Blah blah blah blah blah breasts blah blah blah blah breasts blah blah ..."
(Sometimes I have trouble concentrating on what I'm reading a my mind drifts a little. Usually towards sex.)So the article was about converging cleavage, right? What's the problem?
So that's why Deep Thought forgot the question! It was turned off for all those millennia while it worked on the answer.
She informed me that there are specific State laws (in the US) that exempt libraries from copyright laws. That is why you can go to your local library and borrow a CD-ROM game or tax software or whatever, install it on your computer and use it until you have to return the CD-ROM. Even if the software doesn't check for the presence of the CD, you are morally obliged to delete it after you return the CD.
If the **IA wants to try to repeal these State laws, they are gonna get shushed into oblivion![wait for it...]
Windows Vista !!
Bill Gates will be so pleased.Hmmm... and did you ever notice how pictures of the Betty Crocker Kitchens look suspiciously like labs? Now, I'm not normally drawn to conspiracy theories, but...
You know, I think you may be on to something... a suction cup sticks to a window in much the same way! We all know that suction cups work on the principle of "vacuum" (and we're not talking sweepers, here). Outer space is full of this "vacuum" stuff. If we could get some investors to back us, we could build a space ship that could go out and collect all this free "vacuum" and bring it back to Earth.
We'd solve all of our energy problems!Well, what if we got all of the people in all of the countries the whole world over to put aside their differences and join hands (while holding one of these things, uh, maybe between their knees or something) and we could power the whole world for a day!
Wouldn't that be special?I'd wager that Apple knew about this long before they decided to switch.
In 1752 there was an adjustment of 11 (or maybe 12 days) when they standardized the calendar.
Geo. Washington made a big deal of it and celebrated his birthday 11 days later, but then he was of a rigid military mind. Ben was more of a "Renaissance man" and wasn't nearly as anal.(It's the Sportka vs. pigeon commercial that was making the rounds last year.)
IIRC, that was one of the speed settings on the Heart of Gold's throttle lever.
Here's the deal: We publish a story without any links and you get to search for TFA. (Of course, many Slashdotters who never read TFA will see no difference, but it does cut down on the mindless link clicking by those who are just bored.)
This new Slashdot feature is available to both subscribers and non-subscribers, but subscribers get to start searching first!.
*shakes head* What part of "Duh!" do the bureaucrats not understand?