I live in Madison, Wisconsin (biiiiiig college town, something like 40,000 students which is 20% of the city) and the buttons here are more effective than they were in my old city. I would say that they have a response time of five or six seconds on school days because hardly any students have cars (myself excluded). I can't say how well they work outside of the campus/Capitol neighborhoods, though. However, you find that drivers are much more cautious with respect to pedestrians in any case. Most slow down to 15 or 20 miles an hour (myself, buses and taxis excepting) if they see more than one person milling around the intersection. Most of the residents here used to go to school here, so I think they empathize. It gets so fucking cold here.
I've done a post similar to this in the past, but here goes.
When you pay the government taxes, the taxes are spent on things. Like, good things, like the fire department. Or health care for senior citizens. Or the police. Or the military (in the case of federal taxes, and it's disputable whether that's good). It's not like "the government" keeps it; the government cannot keep money in the same way that the government isn't gonna win the Super Bowl. The government isn't a person. The government isn't going to Maui on your dime. If you're alleging that government officials are embezzling money, I'd have to ask to see a lot of evidence, because there are a LOT of people, in the government and outside of it, tracing where the money is going. If you notice, Money spent on public services = Money given to cover these services + Amount of budget surpluses (this is actually a negative number in most cases) with no loss of cash.
You may say "Ah-ha! The surplus! There you are!" but historically there isn't a surplus and when there is, the government invests it for when there's a defecit OR just ends up spending more of it on public services. There isn't some sort of stash that politicians/bureaucrats are plundering. The parking lot of your state's Department of Revenue will attest to that.
I'm sitting here trying to imagine what a physical slashdotting would be like. I imagine we'd stand outside the building for a few minutes and then a few of us would start running into the building with arms pointed straight at the ground. Then several more would start going, yelling "frosty borscht" or whatever they're saying instead of "first post" these days. Then, everyone else would charge full-speed with maniacal grins, with a collective scream of incredibly lame "server's down" jokes. A force to be reckoned with, for sure.
It doesn't need to be released under the GPL to be okay. To define open source as GPL-only is somewhat stupid. Where's the tearing apart? Also, what seams? You're suggesting that there's some singular group that CAN be torn apart. Apache can do whatever the hell it wants, and probably will. To add some weak patent clause (and I read it, and I don't see any possible problem) is no big deal. I know you don't mean to panic-monger, so...don't do it.
Re:Scooby Snacks: Think of the butter...or the MJ
on
SCOoby Snacks
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· Score: 1
Have you guys ever noticed how much noise movie computers make? Every keystroke produces a liquid-sounding "bloop" or a high-pitched "BEEEP". I can't even stand when my computer makes a logoff noise. Movie computers are also far more dramatic - when the hacker gets into a system, red 10-cm high letters declare "ACCESS GRANTED!"
...actually. That part would be kinda cool. I'd feel like I'm actually accomplishing something whenever I log into Slashdot.
You said: I don't see how this could be useful to anyone, except maybe to help a Joe SixPack user learn a bit about how things work.
And the book review said, in its third paragraph:
The web page for the book at the publishers states that "The target reader is likely a twelve- or thirteen-year-old, who is just starting to get curious about what makes a computer work -- or an office worker who has been using computer applications for years, and would like to spend some time delving deeper into what makes them tick."
Everyone says that Dell uses shitty hardware, but I haven't noticed this at all. I dropped an old, metal answering machine (as in from the 80s) from about eight feet right on the mousepad and after I ran chkdsk or some similar program, the Inspiron (and hard drive, save a bit of free space) worked just fine, including the mousepad. I run Win2k on this computer, and I've had to restart this thing maybe four times in the past year, mainly due to a problem that the NVidia card has when I try to play some DOS games, which is to be halfway-expected since I'm running a post-DOS version of Windows. (The fact that I have an always-on notebook says something about heat management as well, I suppose; also, I haven't checked for an updated NVidia driver since I bought this computer, so the "shitty hardware" assertion is inaccurate here.) They also have prices on laptops that, last time I checked, aren't matched as far as major brands go. Every week or so, on their online store, they throw in a bunch of freebies and rebates as well.
Maybe I've just gotten lucky, and maybe their desktops aren't as hardy as their laptops.
I actually agree with your opinions of Social Security and Medicare. The only way those programs would ever work would be if the population remained constant, which seems unlikely due to immigration (note: I'm not against immigration either.) I'm a bleeding-heart liberal and actually consider myself a socialist, but those programs need to go. My point is, though, that it's not like the money magically disappears.
So you don't use roads? Water? Never used electricity in a rural area? Do you like seatbelts and the fact that automakers are required to install them? How about the fact that if you get laid off, you'll be able to eat three days later? Ever been to public school? Do you plan on, at some point in the future, being old and collecting welfare through Medicare/Social Security? No? Oh.
An interesting point, but you sound like a 13-year old cigarette smoker at a skate park in how you speak. But seriously, this is Slashdot, and obviously a science-oriented story, so what's with using anything but SI? At the very least, we could stick to torr/mmHg as it's metric-based, but I think the SI pressure unit is the Pascal.
Well, it's a local ISP with only two numbers - one for my city and one for the bordering city. It's called Quantum World. They make the bulk of their money through their internet cafe and catered (Doritos and Dew) D&D tournaments - two services I never used. So, if you live in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, there you are. As you may have guessed, they only offer dialup, but it's only $8/month, and pretty reliable as far as $8/month goes.
Some script on some server doesn't give a shit what you put down for a name and address. Make something up. Sign up an enemy. Be obscene in your falsification of data. Wallow in lies. You're lying to a computer. This will not come back to bite you in the ass.
Hell, my ISP has no idea what my real name is. I signed up in person and prepaid in cash. Let the New York Times "track" Chochi Gonzalez of Forest Park, Illinois, for example (that's what I am. Feel free to use it.)
Additionally, the NYT doesn't give a shit what web sites you look at. I doubt they're tracking you, especially for personal data; perhaps they'd want aggregate data, in which case you have nothing to fear anyway. You're in far more danger of letting the phone company know your real identity.
To further illustrate the abilities of our satellites: My house.
My house is the grayish thing that is across from the beginning of the east-west street in the middle of the photograph. As you can see, our backyard has lots of trees and to my northeast is a church. We also have above-ground phone lines, which is clearly visible. Please keep in mind that this is the technological abilities of Mapquest and that which the USGS has made publicly available; this is not a military satellite using secret technology. We also had full flyover rights with Iraq, so the pictures could be taken from several thousand feet away rather than from inner space.
The CIA did have satellite images of everything. We have awesome intelligence. We were, according to the administration, watching all their movements and could cite exact locations of their WMD.
Then the weapons inspectors asked for some help and we refused.
Then the war began and we had no idea where anything was.
The question: Did we for some reason stop using our surveillance when the war started (somehow this seems unlikely); did we never have satellite technology capable of monitoring Iraqi activities (Note: here's a satellite image of my neighborhood; or did the president lie to the entire world?
Slashdot Mirror
I thought Russia won the war in Europe, while we won the war in Asia. Go and be high and mighty to a bunch of Indonesians or something.
Well. To be ready. The same reason anyone does anything more than four seconds before the situation arises.
20% Overrated
10% Offtopic
Explain that! (In a funnier way than saying "rounding".)
I live in Madison, Wisconsin (biiiiiig college town, something like 40,000 students which is 20% of the city) and the buttons here are more effective than they were in my old city. I would say that they have a response time of five or six seconds on school days because hardly any students have cars (myself excluded). I can't say how well they work outside of the campus/Capitol neighborhoods, though. However, you find that drivers are much more cautious with respect to pedestrians in any case. Most slow down to 15 or 20 miles an hour (myself, buses and taxis excepting) if they see more than one person milling around the intersection. Most of the residents here used to go to school here, so I think they empathize. It gets so fucking cold here.
When you pay the government taxes, the taxes are spent on things. Like, good things, like the fire department. Or health care for senior citizens. Or the police. Or the military (in the case of federal taxes, and it's disputable whether that's good). It's not like "the government" keeps it; the government cannot keep money in the same way that the government isn't gonna win the Super Bowl. The government isn't a person. The government isn't going to Maui on your dime. If you're alleging that government officials are embezzling money, I'd have to ask to see a lot of evidence, because there are a LOT of people, in the government and outside of it, tracing where the money is going. If you notice, Money spent on public services = Money given to cover these services + Amount of budget surpluses (this is actually a negative number in most cases) with no loss of cash.
You may say "Ah-ha! The surplus! There you are!" but historically there isn't a surplus and when there is, the government invests it for when there's a defecit OR just ends up spending more of it on public services. There isn't some sort of stash that politicians/bureaucrats are plundering. The parking lot of your state's Department of Revenue will attest to that.
I'm sitting here trying to imagine what a physical slashdotting would be like. I imagine we'd stand outside the building for a few minutes and then a few of us would start running into the building with arms pointed straight at the ground. Then several more would start going, yelling "frosty borscht" or whatever they're saying instead of "first post" these days. Then, everyone else would charge full-speed with maniacal grins, with a collective scream of incredibly lame "server's down" jokes. A force to be reckoned with, for sure.
Hey Michael, if you've got something to say, either make a comment about it in the comments section OR write a fucking article.
It doesn't need to be released under the GPL to be okay. To define open source as GPL-only is somewhat stupid. Where's the tearing apart? Also, what seams? You're suggesting that there's some singular group that CAN be torn apart. Apache can do whatever the hell it wants, and probably will. To add some weak patent clause (and I read it, and I don't see any possible problem) is no big deal. I know you don't mean to panic-monger, so...don't do it.
Darlboros?
...actually. That part would be kinda cool. I'd feel like I'm actually accomplishing something whenever I log into Slashdot.
I don't see how this could be useful to anyone, except maybe to help a Joe SixPack user learn a bit about how things work.
And the book review said, in its third paragraph:
The web page for the book at the publishers states that "The target reader is likely a twelve- or thirteen-year-old, who is just starting to get curious about what makes a computer work -- or an office worker who has been using computer applications for years, and would like to spend some time delving deeper into what makes them tick."
Oh.
Bullshit. Their own website encourages you to keep your caps and use them for iTunes if you use iTunes and want to get "your own" music.
Some of your suspicions are confirmed in the freakin' article. In great detail, no less.
Dammit!
Maybe I've just gotten lucky, and maybe their desktops aren't as hardy as their laptops.
I actually agree with your opinions of Social Security and Medicare. The only way those programs would ever work would be if the population remained constant, which seems unlikely due to immigration (note: I'm not against immigration either.) I'm a bleeding-heart liberal and actually consider myself a socialist, but those programs need to go. My point is, though, that it's not like the money magically disappears.
So you don't use roads? Water? Never used electricity in a rural area? Do you like seatbelts and the fact that automakers are required to install them? How about the fact that if you get laid off, you'll be able to eat three days later? Ever been to public school? Do you plan on, at some point in the future, being old and collecting welfare through Medicare/Social Security? No? Oh.
You'd need a hatchet.
An interesting point, but you sound like a 13-year old cigarette smoker at a skate park in how you speak. But seriously, this is Slashdot, and obviously a science-oriented story, so what's with using anything but SI? At the very least, we could stick to torr/mmHg as it's metric-based, but I think the SI pressure unit is the Pascal.
Well, it's a local ISP with only two numbers - one for my city and one for the bordering city. It's called Quantum World. They make the bulk of their money through their internet cafe and catered (Doritos and Dew) D&D tournaments - two services I never used. So, if you live in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, there you are. As you may have guessed, they only offer dialup, but it's only $8/month, and pretty reliable as far as $8/month goes.
Some script on some server doesn't give a shit what you put down for a name and address. Make something up. Sign up an enemy. Be obscene in your falsification of data. Wallow in lies. You're lying to a computer. This will not come back to bite you in the ass.
Hell, my ISP has no idea what my real name is. I signed up in person and prepaid in cash. Let the New York Times "track" Chochi Gonzalez of Forest Park, Illinois, for example (that's what I am. Feel free to use it.)
Additionally, the NYT doesn't give a shit what web sites you look at. I doubt they're tracking you, especially for personal data; perhaps they'd want aggregate data, in which case you have nothing to fear anyway. You're in far more danger of letting the phone company know your real identity.
Oh wait.
My house is the grayish thing that is across from the beginning of the east-west street in the middle of the photograph. As you can see, our backyard has lots of trees and to my northeast is a church. We also have above-ground phone lines, which is clearly visible. Please keep in mind that this is the technological abilities of Mapquest and that which the USGS has made publicly available; this is not a military satellite using secret technology. We also had full flyover rights with Iraq, so the pictures could be taken from several thousand feet away rather than from inner space.
Then the weapons inspectors asked for some help and we refused.
Then the war began and we had no idea where anything was.
The question: Did we for some reason stop using our surveillance when the war started (somehow this seems unlikely); did we never have satellite technology capable of monitoring Iraqi activities (Note: here's a satellite image of my neighborhood; or did the president lie to the entire world?
"Help, I fell off the cliff!"
"And you didn't check for ice first? HA!"
In Soviet Russia, the swordfish does YOU!