A guy I knew bought a used PC from the Town Hall. The people there didn't even attempt to delete the files. All kinds of personal information about properties, taxes, etc. was still there for easy point and click browsing. No skilz needed at all. (He's a carpenter, not a computer guy.)
If this company owns the G in Gmail, who owns the E in Email? And how long before some company buys up the whole alphabet, forcing us to use Kanji or pay royalties? Better yet, how long before the letter M is stricken from the alphabet by a disgusted judge somewhere after a long trademark dispute?
Of course, we could still use the letter, but we would have to always refer to it as the "letter formerly known as M."
think it is criminal act for a company to destroy *my* property because they didn't like what I was using it for
Seem to recall that in some state where radar detectors are (or were) illegal, state troopers used to destroy the illegal devices on the spot, when found. But later on, this was challenged in court as punishment without due process, and won.
Allowing this summary punishment seems to send the message that vigilantism is OK, so long as you are a big company. The same behavior on the part of individuals (such as defacing a website whose political views you don't like) usually gets them some quiet time behind bars.
If it's anything like all the auto compasses I've owned, it'll dry up in a month, or when the warranty runs out. I wonder if there's a Visine for that.
I'm sure MS didn't want to play Xbox 2 to Sony's Playstation 3. Thus Xbox 360, even though we KNOW it's really an Xbox 2, gives the feeling of being on par with the PS3. And I'm sure the next Xbox will be labeled Xbox 4, or similar.
Ah, marketing...
BADGER BADGER BADGER
on
Top 10 Web Fads
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Mushroom Mushroom. A Snake A Snake!! Ohh its a snake!!
Umm, maninizing woman? Manizing woman? Womanizing woman would be a lesbian, something (so far) Starbuck is not. And the actress for Starbuck seems to resemble the original actor for Starbuck, both in appearance and mannerisms, in a sisterly way.
saying something that wasn't asked for (not answering the question)
I see that a lot when any public figure is being interviewed. I love to see them keep on heatin' up the room with their breath when the interviewer says, "No, once again, you didn't answer the question. Did you fellate that intern, Senator?" It's like they know we know they aren't answering the question, but that's just how the game is played.
As to the PC crap, I was "politically corrected" once. I was calling this tech support line about some problem with a computer, and I wanted to speak with the tech who I had started with, didn't remember his name, but remembered he was male. I got some woman on the line. Conversation something like this:
Me: I need to speak with the tech assigned to this case. Do you have his name?
Tech: I can look it up. And, you know, it could be a woman.
Me: Not unless she has a really deep voice. I've already spoken to the gentleman.
Tech: Oh.
Please cease and desist from using the word "douchebaggery" since I own the trademark to this (including, but not limited to, dipthong, the word and the punctuation mark). Consequences for non-compliance include calling you on the phone at 3am and screaming shrilly and incoherently, followed soon, on your front doorstep, by a flaming bag of poo.
These tools have helped democratize content creation...
The MPAA, by attempting to game our democratic system, proves their contempt for democracy except as it can be manipulated towards their own end. They are typical of people who think that civil rights are great, so long as the same civil rights can be denied to their enemies.
One (not very good) fix to this gaming, short of outlawing rider bills, would be to require that riders be submitted a minimum of 30 days before any vote. I'm sure however that would never happen.
loading up NYTimes.com results in two cookies trying to be set by NYTimes.com itself and THREE for ads: ad.doubleclick.net (ALWAYS evil), altfarm.mediaplex.com, and s0b.bluestreak.com.
Does anybody publish a list of the scummy 3rd party cookies these sites support? For instance, going to Best Buy requires me to enable 3rd party cookies for Hitbox, or no soup for you. As a result, I just don't use Best Buy's site.
I think publicizing this information would embarass these companies.
I think of selling virtual properties as more of a service than as a tangible product. If I spend 13 hours killing rabbits to level up to gain the Sword of Swat, then selling the Sword of Swat is just another way of saying I'm selling my 13 hours of work to gain the Sword of Swat.
Selling intangible property is more similar to offering to shovel somebody's driveway for cash, than to selling your old stereo. That the item is neither tangible nor permanent makes it no less legitimate. (However, I would never pay real money for RTS property.)
At least something good came out of it. Hate to think what she thought of Wizard of Oz, though. Seems like so many extremely religious types get hypersensitive about the media, thinking everything is a seditious conspiracy to corrupt themselves and their children. Some spiral down into armed camps which growl at the world (don't drink the koolaid), while waiting for Doomsday.
Somehow, I don't think this is what Jesus had in mind.
The reason people stick with Wintel is because "everyone else uses it", and "all the software is available for it"
And when DRM locks down the Wintel so tight that all "the software available for it" is no longer (nudge-nudge-wink-wink) available the same way it used to be, somebody will move in with a system which is not so locked down. If this doesn't happen, it means the market is artificially manipulated.
Way back when companies were still trying to own the whole computer industry by themselves, they wanted everything to be proprietary, no interoperability. They wanted to trap their customers into their system. This backfired on many of them, resulting in pissed-off once-bitten twice-shy customers.
Now it's the same story, only writ larger: accept DRM or no soup for you. Be one of our large accepted group of corporations, or be banished to the fringe with Linux and so on...
In any informed free market it would. Imagine how many cars with speed governors set at 65mph would sell. As long as this "feature" was not government-mandated, all the other car manufacturers (who chose not to include a governor) would be eating this one company's lunch. The free market would force this company to remove the governor or go out of business. While this company could bitch and moan about how immoral their customers are to break the speed limit, the reality is that nobody wants a governor in their vehicle.
However, if all the chip manufacturers get together and decide to include DRM exclusively, the choices left to the consumer are limited: continue to use older DRM-less tech, or wait (hopefully) for a new chip manufacturing company to start up and buck the status quo.
Such getting-together by chip manufacturers would smack of anti-competitive and anti-consumer behavior, but I doubt the Justice Dept. would do anything about it.
Against evil forces
Singing, "Whiskey for our geeks, beer for their horses!" --Toby Keith (not without some modifications, that is, I mean... um, the lyrics, not Toby Keith... oh, shut up)
What are the phishers going to do anyway? Complain to the FBI that some bad person took down their fake bank? Heh, probably...
These vigilantes better watch out, though. Law enforcement has a way of coming down harder on people who make them look like they're not doing their jobs, whether that's true or not, and especially if it's true.
we will stop trying to organize our data with a tree metaphor
The tree metaphor is a remnant of the filing cabinet days. It needs to go.
Imagine that, for example, you have some objects, and you wish to organize them by shape and color. You could create top level folders: round, square, and triangular. Under each of these folders you might have orange, blue, and green.
It would be equally valid to organize by color then by shape. Either way, you end up creating a lot of folders at the lowest folder level. Much better that each object have attributes upon which you can search: show me all objects that are triangular and orange, or, all objects that are round and not blue. Important thing here is that these attribute dimensions are essentially independent of each other, and do not suggest a hierarchical structure, such as say dogs (top folder) and breeds of dogs (collie, spaniel, terrier, etc.)
I don't think that the tree metaphor is going away anytime soon. People like their metaphors. But there are better ways to organize large collections of stuff than by using a concept which predates computer technology.
Slashdot Mirror
How appropriate for /.
A guy I knew bought a used PC from the Town Hall. The people there didn't even attempt to delete the files. All kinds of personal information about properties, taxes, etc. was still there for easy point and click browsing. No skilz needed at all. (He's a carpenter, not a computer guy.)
Of course, we could still use the letter, but we would have to always refer to it as the "letter formerly known as M."
Seem to recall that in some state where radar detectors are (or were) illegal, state troopers used to destroy the illegal devices on the spot, when found. But later on, this was challenged in court as punishment without due process, and won.
Allowing this summary punishment seems to send the message that vigilantism is OK, so long as you are a big company. The same behavior on the part of individuals (such as defacing a website whose political views you don't like) usually gets them some quiet time behind bars.
The other message: justice is not blind.
My lysdexia is really acting up today...
If it's anything like all the auto compasses I've owned, it'll dry up in a month, or when the warranty runs out. I wonder if there's a Visine for that.
Still, it'd be a distraction from the game, and annoying. So they'd better make it sexy and funny.
I'm sure MS didn't want to play Xbox 2 to Sony's Playstation 3. Thus Xbox 360, even though we KNOW it's really an Xbox 2, gives the feeling of being on par with the PS3. And I'm sure the next Xbox will be labeled Xbox 4, or similar.
Ah, marketing...
It took weeks to get that out of my head. For your head asploding pleasure: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/badgers.php
Shoulda made the top 10.
Umm, maninizing woman? Manizing woman? Womanizing woman would be a lesbian, something (so far) Starbuck is not. And the actress for Starbuck seems to resemble the original actor for Starbuck, both in appearance and mannerisms, in a sisterly way.
I see that a lot when any public figure is being interviewed. I love to see them keep on heatin' up the room with their breath when the interviewer says, "No, once again, you didn't answer the question. Did you fellate that intern, Senator?" It's like they know we know they aren't answering the question, but that's just how the game is played.
As to the PC crap, I was "politically corrected" once. I was calling this tech support line about some problem with a computer, and I wanted to speak with the tech who I had started with, didn't remember his name, but remembered he was male. I got some woman on the line. Conversation something like this:
Me: I need to speak with the tech assigned to this case. Do you have his name?
Tech: I can look it up. And, you know, it could be a woman.
Me: Not unless she has a really deep voice. I've already spoken to the gentleman.
Tech: Oh.
Please cease and desist from using the word "douchebaggery" since I own the trademark to this (including, but not limited to, dipthong, the word and the punctuation mark). Consequences for non-compliance include calling you on the phone at 3am and screaming shrilly and incoherently, followed soon, on your front doorstep, by a flaming bag of poo.
"Dead dogs reanimated. Your dog wants brains."
The MPAA, by attempting to game our democratic system, proves their contempt for democracy except as it can be manipulated towards their own end. They are typical of people who think that civil rights are great, so long as the same civil rights can be denied to their enemies.
One (not very good) fix to this gaming, short of outlawing rider bills, would be to require that riders be submitted a minimum of 30 days before any vote. I'm sure however that would never happen.
Does anybody publish a list of the scummy 3rd party cookies these sites support? For instance, going to Best Buy requires me to enable 3rd party cookies for Hitbox, or no soup for you. As a result, I just don't use Best Buy's site.
I think publicizing this information would embarass these companies.
Selling intangible property is more similar to offering to shovel somebody's driveway for cash, than to selling your old stereo. That the item is neither tangible nor permanent makes it no less legitimate. (However, I would never pay real money for RTS property.)
At least something good came out of it. Hate to think what she thought of Wizard of Oz, though. Seems like so many extremely religious types get hypersensitive about the media, thinking everything is a seditious conspiracy to corrupt themselves and their children. Some spiral down into armed camps which growl at the world (don't drink the koolaid), while waiting for Doomsday.
Somehow, I don't think this is what Jesus had in mind.
they have my BFG-9000. Railgun. Bah.
I'm half crazy all for the love of you.
And when DRM locks down the Wintel so tight that all "the software available for it" is no longer (nudge-nudge-wink-wink) available the same way it used to be, somebody will move in with a system which is not so locked down. If this doesn't happen, it means the market is artificially manipulated.
Way back when companies were still trying to own the whole computer industry by themselves, they wanted everything to be proprietary, no interoperability. They wanted to trap their customers into their system. This backfired on many of them, resulting in pissed-off once-bitten twice-shy customers.
Now it's the same story, only writ larger: accept DRM or no soup for you. Be one of our large accepted group of corporations, or be banished to the fringe with Linux and so on...
Same thing can be said about a woman with no teeth.
In any informed free market it would. Imagine how many cars with speed governors set at 65mph would sell. As long as this "feature" was not government-mandated, all the other car manufacturers (who chose not to include a governor) would be eating this one company's lunch. The free market would force this company to remove the governor or go out of business. While this company could bitch and moan about how immoral their customers are to break the speed limit, the reality is that nobody wants a governor in their vehicle.
However, if all the chip manufacturers get together and decide to include DRM exclusively, the choices left to the consumer are limited: continue to use older DRM-less tech, or wait (hopefully) for a new chip manufacturing company to start up and buck the status quo.
Such getting-together by chip manufacturers would smack of anti-competitive and anti-consumer behavior, but I doubt the Justice Dept. would do anything about it.
Just 4 of my favorite forces of Nature.
What are the phishers going to do anyway? Complain to the FBI that some bad person took down their fake bank? Heh, probably...
These vigilantes better watch out, though. Law enforcement has a way of coming down harder on people who make them look like they're not doing their jobs, whether that's true or not, and especially if it's true.
The tree metaphor is a remnant of the filing cabinet days. It needs to go.
Imagine that, for example, you have some objects, and you wish to organize them by shape and color. You could create top level folders: round, square, and triangular. Under each of these folders you might have orange, blue, and green.
It would be equally valid to organize by color then by shape. Either way, you end up creating a lot of folders at the lowest folder level. Much better that each object have attributes upon which you can search: show me all objects that are triangular and orange, or, all objects that are round and not blue. Important thing here is that these attribute dimensions are essentially independent of each other, and do not suggest a hierarchical structure, such as say dogs (top folder) and breeds of dogs (collie, spaniel, terrier, etc.)
I don't think that the tree metaphor is going away anytime soon. People like their metaphors. But there are better ways to organize large collections of stuff than by using a concept which predates computer technology.