It's assholes like you who put GWB in the White House TWICE! Please name just ONE thing that has improved in the US since he was elected. Can't think of one? No wonder. The economy is in the shitter and the deficit is through the roof (he started with at Clinton surplus!), we are bogged down in two wars, the world hates us, terrorism is more of a threat than ever, gas is running over 2 bux per gallon, your freedoms and privacy are rapidly eroding, global warming continues, despite Bush's denials. Jobs? Sure there are jobs...if you don't mind working part time at The Gap for minimum wage. Health Care? It is becomming outrageously expensive and covers less and less.
It boggles my mind how people like you continue to make excuses for this collossal idiot.
But one of the best arguments I have against all death penalty (including murder) would be in the case of the conviction of an innoncent person. This speaks for itself. To avoid killing one innoncent person is worth not having the death penaltly at all.
I agree. We must protect the monsters in our society in order to protect ourselves and our children from the possibility of an unjust conviction and execution.
I am not a perfect speller. Occasionally I may misplace a comma or semi-colon. It bothers me when I misspell a word on a forum or document that matters. (i.e. A report for work) It bothers me less, or not at all to make these minor errors in a forum like/.
When I am posting here, I am giving my opinion on a topic. The content is what is important. I feel this is the wrong forum for your 'corrections' and 'suggestions.' It breaks the flow of the discussion. It has nothing to do with the topic being discussed, and makes you sound like a show off intellectual.
Frankly, I really dont want your critique of my grammar and spelling skills. If the post is intelligible or the error changes the meaning of the post significantly, then there's your time to jump in with your corrections. Otherwise, it just seems arrogant that folks like you feel free to offer your unsolicited advice and expect me to appreciate it.
I agree 100%. I have 2 teenage daughters which use a Win2K box. I have set up thier accounts with restricted privliges since day 1. They complained at first, but it has protected the machine from malware nasties completely.
If they want to install software, no problem. Lets take a quick look at the EULA. This makes a great opportunity to teach them about hidden 'gotchas' in the software. They know now to scan the EULA for sections like 'Third Party Software' which must disclose what crap is going in with that cool screensaver or game.
This has worked great for my family for several years and I when I help friends set up new family computers, I always explain what the admin account is for and how to use it. I believe it is the single most effective practice for keeping nasties off your machine.
Most people don't know the difference between a $400 PC and an $800 one. The boxes look the same..Windows XP looks the same. They have no concept of a cheap motherboard or power supply. It appears to be the same computer (besides all those cryptic numbers and letters...mhgz..ram...cd-rw...wtf?)
Computers are marketed to the masses, implied that you just plug it in and go. No where in AOL or Microsoft's commercials does it say they will need to learn a new language, a new way of thinking, patches, firewalls, anti-virus, spyware scanners, etc.
And all they wanted was to check their email to see some new pics of the grand kids.
So please, if you're attending a school or a university, just remember we're trying to keep things running so you guys can learn something. It isn't a contest.
But it is a contest. Guess you've forgotten what it's like to be a kid. Unfortunately, your 'them against us' attitude is what makes it fun. I worked in the public schools and administered the computer lab for several years. I had the best luck by ignoring the harmless stuff, and recruiting the help of the geeks.
I am so disappointed in our leadership, which has allowed this death-happy tyrant to impose his will on all 300 million of us.
And I am so dissapointed in the millions of Americans that voted for him and returned him to office. This country can only blame ourselves for the mess we are in and I am ashamed of what we have done.
I use and love adblock. I also understand that ads help pay the bills for the websites I visit and enjoy. My general rule of thumb regarding ads is simple: If it moves, blinks, flashes, or annoys me in any way, I nuke the ad, block the server and never see it again. I usually don't block ads that just sit there quietly. I have even clicked on a few of google's textual, relevent, non intrusive ads.
Like most other issues, I feel the reasonable ground is a shade of grey and lies somewhere in the middle between black and white. (i.e. 'All ads are bad / all ads are good.')
After all the years of color coded nuttiness, expanding deficits, unanswerable administration, airline frisking, illegal detentions, balck bag searches. librarian browbeating and lies and obfuscations over what happened on 911 it is beyond belief that this more of the same will pass Congress.
Thats what I thought before the presidential election. I still cannot believe that a 'majority' of Americans voted for 4 more years of oppression and erosion of civil liberties, despite Bush's war, minipulation of the truth and outright lies.
The Republicans took this win as a vindication of their policies and a 'mandate' to accelerate them.
I hang my head when I think of what the voters in my country have done. I wonder if Bush supporters feel a twinge of concern for the monster they have created, or if they are so blinded by the stars and stripes wrapped around a cross that they trust the monster completely.
Older hardware and versions of Linux do often have trouble playing nice together, however a modern Linux distro and hardware should install without little or no grief.
Just yesterday I did a complete format and install of my favorite Linux flavor and it detected and installed all hardware and settings flawlessly. I was up and running, listening to music and installing updates (no reboot required!) in less than an hour.
You really can't compare the Linux distros of even a few years ago to the modern versions. The hardware support, user interface, tools, etc are all comparable or nearly so to Windows. Apt-get makes installing software a snap, no worries about dependencies or whatnot.
Then there is the Open Source philosophy which makes folks like me stick it out through the rough spots because there are deeper issues than 'Free as in Beer' or 'Is it Window's-like enough.
I see a storm coming in the computer/software industry. It is called hurricane Open Source and it's going to blow away the IT world and current business models. I choose to be a part of the new world in computing. And I believe that those who read the writing on the wall and learned Linux early will be the future employees in a world where the demand for MCSE's will be replaced by those expeienced in Linux.
"The only thing you're doing by divulging this information is saying "hey, I really hope someone fucks with her". Don't deny it, don't sugar coat it. Since that's the case, you are very much so morally wrong, if not legally wrong."
I might agree with you if MOG had not published the personal info of someone else first. Apparently, she feels there is nothing wrong with doing it, so save your moral outrage for someone who has reason to be offended.
You are correct that 90% of the earth is 'young.' Due to plate tectonics, rocks are constantly be created, morphed, destroyed and recreated as some other type of rock. This does not mean the earth has existed only as long as the age of some of the rocks. This is a perfect example of how creationists take science, and twist it to fit their philosophy and then claim they are being discriminated against when no one takes thier 'theories' seriously.
The sad thing is the students in the Kansas schools are graduating with a handicap compared to other graduates from around the world. The fact is that in the scientific community, evolution is a basic theory that much builds on. If you convince children that believing in evolution is optional, they will not be taken seriously outside of their little bubble of fundementalists. The evidence for evolution are clear and overwhelming. Ignorance is no legacy to leave your children.
I had the opposite experience with my son, who is now 22. He struggled all thorugh school. His test scores were low, despite he was a very bright kid. He got into a lot of trouble and drove his teachers crazy.
When he was 14 he was arrested by the police and placed on house arrest for six months. During that time he discovered my computer. He started doing some online gaming, and learned to hack the games (driving the companies nuts), his interest grew and he started taking classes at school, java, html, photoshop, etc.
All his academic scores began to climb, and he was considered the 'smart one' by his peers and teachers. He stopped getting into trouble and graduated with honors.
He just opened his own computer shop with some friends and is doing well.
I really believe computers 'saved' him by giving him something he was good at, forcing him to read and working out solutions to new problems.
I don't think computers make all kids dumb. I remember the same arguments about television and video games.
Perhaps it isn't the computers which make you dumb, but using them in non-challenging, mindless ways. You could say the same thing about anything.
"I agree, blocking cookies will not make annoying ads go away...
That's why I use adblock
However, you may have noticed that even adblock doesn't block Flash. The damn advertisers are using Flash to deliver the obnoxious flashing ads which we all hate and go to extreme lengths to block. They are even using Flash pop ups to get around the java based pop up blockers.
No ad-killing toolbox is complete without
Flashblock
My home computer that hasn't been backed up in ages: I smack my head until I pass out. When I wake up I smack some more. I gnash my teeth as I lament the demise of my Diablo2 level 46 druid! Oh and all the pictures of both my kids.
Don't harm yourself. Wouldn't you love to be like the 7% of computer users, including this guy who commit some act of violence on their computer? It won't fix the problem, but you feel much better afterwards.
i downloaded and ran one of the example packages and was pleased with the result. I'm running Deb and it autodetected dependencies and asked permission to get them, The package installation went flawlessly and the program was easy to find and ran smoothly afterward.
I hope this catches on with developers. Ive been using Linux for several years and I still sturggle with installing some packages. A simple, dependable, cross-platform installer will be a real relief for users and remove the last big barrier to widespread adoption of Linux.
My attitudes about Gun Control have changed over the years. I have come to believe that the greatest protection from an armed society is protection from our own government and the ability to rise up in rebellion when necessary.
The day may be coming when we will see the wisdom in such a law.
"I brought up the GPL violations because Slashdot also loves to post articles about those, and everyone starts talking about "stolen code" while professing that piracy isn't theft"
I agree that piracy is theft..but I believe we disagree on what 'piracy' is. Selling thousands of bootleg copies of WinXP or Brittney is piracy. Someone sitting at home, listening to music for his/her own pleasure and use is NOT piracy, although the RIAA and MPAA have tried to make them seem like the same thing.
You are obviously from the city, where the only deer you see are in zoos. Well, out here in Northern California the deer are so abundant they can be a nusience. More are killed on the roads and highways each year than by hunters. They are so used to people that they will happily lounge in your yard, eating your flowers, shrubs and the fruit from your trees. I know people who have given up trying to grow a garden because they are merely feeding the deer.
Get out of the city once in a while. You might find there are two sides to this story.
Is it just me, or does it seem a little dangerous to be lurking on city rooftops with a very realistic looking rifle, pointing it at nearby buildings? It seems like a good way to find yourself surrounded by very real rifles that fire very real bullets and they are not aiming at your Bluetooth!
Just because the music industry has changed the copyright rules to their advantage, doesn't mean downloaders are thieves. Unless I am copying the material and selling it for a profit, or claiming I am the artist, they have no leg to stand on!
People have been sharing music for as long as I remember. In the 60's My sister used a reel to reel to tape songs off the radio and make copies for her friends. I had a casetter recorder/player with two tape drives in the 70s which was specifically for copying tapes. The 80's brought us VCRs which were ruled as legal despite the attempt of the movie insustry to outlaw them. The 90s brought us file sharing and the RIAA.
You might buy the line that unless you pay for the music you are a pirate, but I remember the history, and I'm not doing anything that hasn't been done for the last 40 years and I don't feel guilty about it.
Slashdot Mirror
It's assholes like you who put GWB in the White House TWICE! Please name just ONE thing that has improved in the US since he was elected. Can't think of one? No wonder. The economy is in the shitter and the deficit is through the roof (he started with at Clinton surplus!), we are bogged down in two wars, the world hates us, terrorism is more of a threat than ever, gas is running over 2 bux per gallon, your freedoms and privacy are rapidly eroding, global warming continues, despite Bush's denials. Jobs? Sure there are jobs...if you don't mind working part time at The Gap for minimum wage. Health Care? It is becomming outrageously expensive and covers less and less.
It boggles my mind how people like you continue to make excuses for this collossal idiot.
But one of the best arguments I have against all death penalty (including murder) would be in the case of the conviction of an innoncent person. This speaks for itself. To avoid killing one innoncent person is worth not having the death penaltly at all.
I agree. We must protect the monsters in our society in order to protect ourselves and our children from the possibility of an unjust conviction and execution.
Unfortunately, the shockingly high number of innocents on death row proven by DNA testing shows the system doesn't work.
I am not a perfect speller. Occasionally I may misplace a comma or semi-colon. It bothers me when I misspell a word on a forum or document that matters. (i.e. A report for work) It bothers me less, or not at all to make these minor errors in a forum like /.
When I am posting here, I am giving my opinion on a topic. The content is what is important. I feel this is the wrong forum for your 'corrections' and 'suggestions.' It breaks the flow of the discussion. It has nothing to do with the topic being discussed, and makes you sound like a show off intellectual.
Frankly, I really dont want your critique of my grammar and spelling skills. If the post is intelligible or the error changes the meaning of the post significantly, then there's your time to jump in with your corrections. Otherwise, it just seems arrogant that folks like you feel free to offer your unsolicited advice and expect me to appreciate it.
I agree 100%. I have 2 teenage daughters which use a Win2K box. I have set up thier accounts with restricted privliges since day 1. They complained at first, but it has protected the machine from malware nasties completely.
If they want to install software, no problem. Lets take a quick look at the EULA. This makes a great opportunity to teach them about hidden 'gotchas' in the software. They know now to scan the EULA for sections like 'Third Party Software' which must disclose what crap is going in with that cool screensaver or game.
This has worked great for my family for several years and I when I help friends set up new family computers, I always explain what the admin account is for and how to use it. I believe it is the single most effective practice for keeping nasties off your machine.
Most people don't know the difference between a $400 PC and an $800 one. The boxes look the same..Windows XP looks the same. They have no concept of a cheap motherboard or power supply. It appears to be the same computer (besides all those cryptic numbers and letters ...mhgz..ram...cd-rw...wtf?)
Computers are marketed to the masses, implied that you just plug it in and go. No where in AOL or Microsoft's commercials does it say they will need to learn a new language, a new way of thinking, patches, firewalls, anti-virus, spyware scanners, etc.
And all they wanted was to check their email to see some new pics of the grand kids.
So please, if you're attending a school or a university, just remember we're trying to keep things running so you guys can learn something. It isn't a contest.
But it is a contest. Guess you've forgotten what it's like to be a kid. Unfortunately, your 'them against us' attitude is what makes it fun. I worked in the public schools and administered the computer lab for several years. I had the best luck by ignoring the harmless stuff, and recruiting the help of the geeks.
I am so disappointed in our leadership, which has allowed this death-happy tyrant to impose his will on all 300 million of us.
And I am so dissapointed in the millions of Americans that voted for him and returned him to office. This country can only blame ourselves for the mess we are in and I am ashamed of what we have done.
God Help the USA
I use and love adblock. I also understand that ads help pay the bills for the websites I visit and enjoy. My general rule of thumb regarding ads is simple: If it moves, blinks, flashes, or annoys me in any way, I nuke the ad, block the server and never see it again. I usually don't block ads that just sit there quietly. I have even clicked on a few of google's textual, relevent, non intrusive ads.
Like most other issues, I feel the reasonable ground is a shade of grey and lies somewhere in the middle between black and white. (i.e. 'All ads are bad / all ads are good.')
After all the years of color coded nuttiness, expanding deficits, unanswerable administration, airline frisking, illegal detentions, balck bag searches. librarian browbeating and lies and obfuscations over what happened on 911 it is beyond belief that this more of the same will pass Congress.
Thats what I thought before the presidential election. I still cannot believe that a 'majority' of Americans voted for 4 more years of oppression and erosion of civil liberties, despite Bush's war, minipulation of the truth and outright lies.
The Republicans took this win as a vindication of their policies and a 'mandate' to accelerate them.
I hang my head when I think of what the voters in my country have done. I wonder if Bush supporters feel a twinge of concern for the monster they have created, or if they are so blinded by the stars and stripes wrapped around a cross that they trust the monster completely.
Older hardware and versions of Linux do often have trouble playing nice together, however a modern Linux distro and hardware should install without little or no grief.
Just yesterday I did a complete format and install of my favorite Linux flavor and it detected and installed all hardware and settings flawlessly. I was up and running, listening to music and installing updates (no reboot required!) in less than an hour.
You really can't compare the Linux distros of even a few years ago to the modern versions. The hardware support, user interface, tools, etc are all comparable or nearly so to Windows. Apt-get makes installing software a snap, no worries about dependencies or whatnot.
Then there is the Open Source philosophy which makes folks like me stick it out through the rough spots because there are deeper issues than 'Free as in Beer' or 'Is it Window's-like enough.
I see a storm coming in the computer/software industry. It is called hurricane Open Source and it's going to blow away the IT world and current business models. I choose to be a part of the new world in computing. And I believe that those who read the writing on the wall and learned Linux early will be the future employees in a world where the demand for MCSE's will be replaced by those expeienced in Linux.
"he needs to slap his daughter and tell her to quit doing whatever the hell she's doin on her computer"
Wouldn't it be easier to just give her a restricted user account? Why would anyone give a teenager admin privliges?
"1000 free smilies? Sure and a cute screensaver too..and this cool game...gee where does all this spyware keep coming from?"
Carl Segan believed that time travel would never happen because there are no people from the future among us.
Or are there?
"The only thing you're doing by divulging this information is saying "hey, I really hope someone fucks with her". Don't deny it, don't sugar coat it. Since that's the case, you are very much so morally wrong, if not legally wrong."
I might agree with you if MOG had not published the personal info of someone else first. Apparently, she feels there is nothing wrong with doing it, so save your moral outrage for someone who has reason to be offended.
You are correct that 90% of the earth is 'young.' Due to plate tectonics, rocks are constantly be created, morphed, destroyed and recreated as some other type of rock. This does not mean the earth has existed only as long as the age of some of the rocks. This is a perfect example of how creationists take science, and twist it to fit their philosophy and then claim they are being discriminated against when no one takes thier 'theories' seriously.
The sad thing is the students in the Kansas schools are graduating with a handicap compared to other graduates from around the world. The fact is that in the scientific community, evolution is a basic theory that much builds on. If you convince children that believing in evolution is optional, they will not be taken seriously outside of their little bubble of fundementalists. The evidence for evolution are clear and overwhelming. Ignorance is no legacy to leave your children.
I had the opposite experience with my son, who is now 22. He struggled all thorugh school. His test scores were low, despite he was a very bright kid. He got into a lot of trouble and drove his teachers crazy.
When he was 14 he was arrested by the police and placed on house arrest for six months. During that time he discovered my computer. He started doing some online gaming, and learned to hack the games (driving the companies nuts), his interest grew and he started taking classes at school, java, html, photoshop, etc.
All his academic scores began to climb, and he was considered the 'smart one' by his peers and teachers. He stopped getting into trouble and graduated with honors.
He just opened his own computer shop with some friends and is doing well.
I really believe computers 'saved' him by giving him something he was good at, forcing him to read and working out solutions to new problems.
I don't think computers make all kids dumb. I remember the same arguments about television and video games.
Perhaps it isn't the computers which make you dumb, but using them in non-challenging, mindless ways. You could say the same thing about anything.
"I agree, blocking cookies will not make annoying ads go away... That's why I use adblock
However, you may have noticed that even adblock doesn't block Flash. The damn advertisers are using Flash to deliver the obnoxious flashing ads which we all hate and go to extreme lengths to block. They are even using Flash pop ups to get around the java based pop up blockers.
No ad-killing toolbox is complete without Flashblock
My home computer that hasn't been backed up in ages: I smack my head until I pass out. When I wake up I smack some more. I gnash my teeth as I lament the demise of my Diablo2 level 46 druid! Oh and all the pictures of both my kids.
Don't harm yourself. Wouldn't you love to be like the 7% of computer users, including this guy who commit some act of violence on their computer? It won't fix the problem, but you feel much better afterwards.
i downloaded and ran one of the example packages and was pleased with the result. I'm running Deb and it autodetected dependencies and asked permission to get them, The package installation went flawlessly and the program was easy to find and ran smoothly afterward.
I hope this catches on with developers. Ive been using Linux for several years and I still sturggle with installing some packages. A simple, dependable, cross-platform installer will be a real relief for users and remove the last big barrier to widespread adoption of Linux.
My attitudes about Gun Control have changed over the years. I have come to believe that the greatest protection from an armed society is protection from our own government and the ability to rise up in rebellion when necessary.
The day may be coming when we will see the wisdom in such a law.
"I brought up the GPL violations because Slashdot also loves to post articles about those, and everyone starts talking about "stolen code" while professing that piracy isn't theft"
I agree that piracy is theft..but I believe we disagree on what 'piracy' is. Selling thousands of bootleg copies of WinXP or Brittney is piracy. Someone sitting at home, listening to music for his/her own pleasure and use is NOT piracy, although the RIAA and MPAA have tried to make them seem like the same thing.
but not default OpenBSD installs
/. yesterday for being 'stale' and 'out of date'.
and not Debian, which was trashed on
You are obviously from the city, where the only deer you see are in zoos. Well, out here in Northern California the deer are so abundant they can be a nusience. More are killed on the roads and highways each year than by hunters. They are so used to people that they will happily lounge in your yard, eating your flowers, shrubs and the fruit from your trees. I know people who have given up trying to grow a garden because they are merely feeding the deer.
Get out of the city once in a while. You might find there are two sides to this story.
Is it just me, or does it seem a little dangerous to be lurking on city rooftops with a very realistic looking rifle, pointing it at nearby buildings? It seems like a good way to find yourself surrounded by very real rifles that fire very real bullets and they are not aiming at your Bluetooth!
Just because the music industry has changed the copyright rules to their advantage, doesn't mean downloaders are thieves. Unless I am copying the material and selling it for a profit, or claiming I am the artist, they have no leg to stand on!
People have been sharing music for as long as I remember. In the 60's My sister used a reel to reel to tape songs off the radio and make copies for her friends. I had a casetter recorder/player with two tape drives in the 70s which was specifically for copying tapes. The 80's brought us VCRs which were ruled as legal despite the attempt of the movie insustry to outlaw them. The 90s brought us file sharing and the RIAA.
You might buy the line that unless you pay for the music you are a pirate, but I remember the history, and I'm not doing anything that hasn't been done for the last 40 years and I don't feel guilty about it.