Who knows what they may decide to use it for? That's the scary part. This is similar to the original EULA for MS Passport, which was dropped after someone actually read the EULA and publicized it.
Unless you are one of those rare few that read softwares EULA and TOS than how can you be sure you haven't already assigned similar rights to any number of companies by installing their software?
I read a study a few years back which vaguely supports your theory, but in regards to video games. The theory goes that video games are more geared towards boys (fast cars, guns, swords) and therefore, boys are more likely to be exposed to and master technology at an early age than girls.
Many girls have grown up with little experience with computers outside of computer lab at school, while her brother may have been hacking away in the basement, but probably started out playing video games.
I have several sites with first page rankings on Google. Not all are linked heavily from other pages. I don't believe Google bases page rankings solely on number of linked pages. I think the submit form is simply to get their spiders to index your page. After that, content is king.
If your page has worthwhile content, important key words woven into your opening paragraph or two on your index page, and of course keywords and good descriptive meta tags you can achieve a good ranking in most of the search engines. But of all, content is what is important.
When I worked at a local high school, one of the favorite items for students to steal was the mouse balls. I have no idea what they did with them, but the disappeared regularly.
A few years later, when working at a computer shop, a high school teacher called to ask if they could order just the mouse balls.
I guess some things never change.
Question to all recent high school students: what the hell did you do with all those mouse balls?
Or having moving parts. "Sissors make the list, a knife does not."
On another note, I was surprised I didn't see a x86 computer there. MS may have grown into the 900 lb. gorilla, but DOS/Win 95 brought computers into millions of homes and led to the whiz-bang machine you are reading this on right now.
Not based on mythology, but established principals of serving the 'Agenda' and making huge piles of cash. Examples:
The war in Iraq. Sold as a fight against WMDs, terrorists, and to spread democacry. (Take your pick) Reality: revenge for his daddy's unfinished business and an oil grab.
Medicare Reform: Sold as a way to help the elderly pay for outrageous prescription costs. Reality: A huge gift to Pharmacutical Companies and HMO's. Squash the push to allow Americans to get their medicines from Canada or create any kind of meaningful health care reform.
The 'Forest Protection Act': Sold as a way to protect the forests of the Western US from the terrible fires of last summer. Reality: Rolls back the laws to the 'Bad old Days' of the Reagan years when western forests were decimated by massive clear cuts which still bear the scars today, 20 years later.
Social Security Reform: Sold as a way to 'Save Social Security from going bust'. Reality: Sucks more money out of the system, making it more likely to fail. Opens the door to large finacial institutions and insurance companies to a slice of the Social Security Pie. Puts the system at risk for everyone. Increases the deficit by trillions of dollars.
Energy Policy: Sold as a way to allow the free and reliable movement of electrical power from region to region. Reality: A huge scam by Texas power companies to choke off power to California and extort huge piles of cash (17 BILLION DOLLARS) from it's citizens. Vice President Cheney is still fighting out with the courts to keep the (public) records of those meeting secret.
I could go on and on. It seems every time Bush says he is doing something to help you, the real goal has little to do with helping YOU and lots to do with serving the Republican Agenda and making Republican contributers lots of money.
Ha! I saw a kid do this while attempting to check his mail at a High School I was working at. The shock nearly knocked him out of his chair and his friends had a great time teasing him about it.
...many of them are unable to tell the difference between typing something into a search engine, and typing something into an address box.
I see this all the time, even with people who seem tech-savvy enough to know better. I don't know how many times I've heard, "I typed 'blahblah.com into AOL Search and it wasn't there!" I don't know why this bugs me so much. I give up trying to explain the difference. I guess they are less likely to wind up at one of the scam sites as in the article.
How come no ones asking why Bush is pushing so hard for this? The real goal of this 'reform' charade is to siphon off huge amounts of money into big investment and insurance companies. They have been searching for a way to get their hands on some of it for years, and thanks to Bush, it might just happen.
The fund is still solvent after 70 years because it has been tightly controlled and could only be invested in treasury bonds. Slow growing, but the safest investment in the world.
The last few years wild ride on the stock market and the massive fraud by the financial institutions should prove that many of these companies cannot be trusted with your money. This is the same Administration that gave us Enron and WorldCom.
But that didn't stop Reagan from taking credit for it. Actually, it was the Pope who brought down the Soviet Union.
Here's some history you won't hear on Fox:
Poland was first. It started with a strike by the dockworkers, led by an unknown man named Lech Walesa. They struk for the right to form a union. This was unheard of in Soviet Bloc countries. The protest spread and soon the entire country was in the streets, wanting to be a part of this new 'union' called "Solidarity".
The Soviets didn't like this at all, and had their tanks massed at the border, threatening to invade to 'bring order.' The world held it's collective breath. What would Gorbechav do?
The Pope declared that if the Soviets invaded his homeland, he would remove the crown of St. Peter (the symbol of the papacy) and return to Poland to fight alongside his brothers.
The Soviets were forced to back off. Poland fell from the Soviet grasp and the rest of Eastern Europe soon followed.
Reagan takes credit for what he didn't earn. The Pope takes no credit and he changed the world.
God, I'm tired of the "big spending liberal" stereotype. What will it take to kill it? For the past 20 years or so, the facts have proven differently. The biggest deficits have been run up under Republican Administrations, both of which campaigned on 'fiscal conservatism' and face it, Clinton took Regan/Bush's mess, balanced the budget, and left with a SURPLUS. (Which Bush Jr. promptly blew and dropped us in a bigger hole than ever.) Don't blame the 'War on Terrorism' for this economic debacle, blame the stupid war in Iraq, which has NOTHING to do with terrorism and everything to do with Bushs visions of granduer.
And brace yourself for Bush v. 3.0...They are preparing Jeb Bush for a Whitehouse run in 2008. There are visions of a Bush dynasty afloat. God help us.
At a computer store where I used to work, an elderly lady bought a new computer and took it home. Shortly thereafter she called complaining it didn't work. Tech support suggested she try clicking on "My Computer".
sound: 'tink' 'tink' "Nothings happening!"
Tech support politely asks, "excuse me ma'am, what are you doing?"
She replies, "Isn't this one of those touch screen things like they have at the bank?"
You not only deciphered his 'ramblings' but bothered to list each error and the correct spelling for each word. Face it. You live for this shit. For your amusement, heres a spelling/grammar message board who may appreciate your 'wisdom': http://lene.proboards15.com/index.cgi
Now the rest of us want to get back to bashing the US for...er..what was it this time?
"Apparently those deadasses couldn't be bothered to pick up a phone and call every person in southeast Asia to warn them."
Its not just the USGS that didn't warn people. Every seismic station in the world must have registered the earthquake and Internet sites update this stuff continuously. People all over the world must have known this earthquake occured and I'm sure there were thousands who knew that a tsunami may strike.
I think the problem is that is was really no ones job to send a warning. Tens of thousands of people have died because everyone assumed it was someone elses responsibility to get the word out.
I can't remember any kind of mine, actually. Pretty mine-free over here.
As a lucky inhabitant of the Sierra Nevada foothills, home to the (original) California 49ers, we have lots of old mines in the forests around here. In fact when out hiking, you have to be careful you don't accidently fall into one.
I expect if the we have warning before the 'big one' hits, my family and I will be safely holed up somewhere, ready to repopulate the world.
When was the last time you read an EULA? Yes, theres legal gibberish in there, but a reasonably competent person can make out the important details. Most are pretty standard. In fact, these companies are counting on folks like you to be so put off that even geeks don't read them.
Sample EULA: Theres a few paragraphs about not decompiling it, reselling it, etc. A few paragraphs about export restrictions. Some blah blah about them not being responsible for damage to your computer or data. That stuff is pretty straightforward. The other stuff usually comes next, like sections on 'third party software' (aka spyware). Look for sections on Copyright Protection (often Windows DRM, bundled with most cd/dvd buring software and other media software these days.) There are many more 'gotchas' in EULAs. From absurdly restrictive seat requirements to what opinions you may express publicly about the software. A savvy computer user will evaluate the benefits verses the restrictions. I have refused to install many programs after reading it.
Well, there ya go. An EULA in plain English. Actually, why don't you start reading them for yourself? They are not as intimidating as they seem, and after a while you can just scan them, and the 'gotchas' stand out.
Reasonable people can have concerns about the election results without being complete whackos.
Reading this affidavit, I remember the odd disparity between exit polling and the offical results. It also seemed like an interesting coinicidence that Bush won Florida and Ohio and the election, with 51%, the number which the software was designed to produce.
I wonder if it is possible that the compromised source code (if it existed) is still on the voting machines. Wouldn't a savvy election-thief remove the evidence after the election?
On the twelfth day of Geekmas my True Geek gave to me...
12 O'Reilly handbooks.
11 cups of caffeine.
10 Help Desk persons screaming.
9 Linux distributions.
8 viral virii.
7 routers routing.
6 Geeks a coding.
5 Handsprings!
4 SDRAM chips.
3 PS2s.
2 Xboxes.
and
a real working Bluetooth device.
While attempting to install a (defective) Netgear router, I spent quite a while on the phone with tech support. The call center was obviously in India, judging by the accent of the operator and the voices of those in the backgound. I wonder how much time might have been saved if I hadn't had to repeat simple things over and over (like the spelling of come common American-English terms) or how much time I spent saying, "Excuse me..could you repeat that?". It seems a shame that a company based out of a city not 200 miles from me, sends my questions half way around the world to be answered. Outsourcing may be cheaper for the company, but not necessarily more efficient.
It also occured to me that these guys doing tech support for Netgear (and other computer hardware companies) must get a lot of calls from geeks here in America whose jobs they have taken. I wonder how much shit they have to take from these guys.
We can't just keep going around the Solar system bashing things up that's not ours!
It has been suspected for some time, and recently proven, that this comet is harboring WMDs and needs to be dealt with before it becomes a threat. Pictures and documents have been leaked to the press that proves this to be true. The comet also tried to purchase uranium from some shady African arms dealers.
We have given this comet every chance to comply and now we have no choice but to take decisive action.
Re:It feels good to vote in New York...
on
Buggy Voting Machines
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Ever since I was a kid, my mom has been taking me into the voting booth (either to teach me the importance of voting, or for lack of babysitting). This year I voted for the first time, and it felt great. I don't mean emotionally, I mean physically. When I pulled the levers and flipped the switches, I was actually convinced that my vote counted. It was the neatest feeling.
Thank You!
I have always been one of those Moms that dragged the kids to the polls on election day. We have lively family discussions before the election on the candidates and propositions. I felt the kids needed to understand the issues and why it was important to be an informed voter. I wanted them to see that voting isn't hard or scary. Thank you so much for your post. And be sure to continue the tradition when you have children of your own.
Re:Does /. want endorsements from the NY Times?
on
Buggy Voting Machines
·
· Score: -1, Troll
Because it's irrelevent. Bush sent our troops into a war based on lies, but of course could not be bothered to go to war himself. It is no coincidence that 'ALL' GWB records are missing from his Nat'l Guard duty. (Do you realize how hard it would be to loose ALL your military records, when they generate tons of paperwork and everything is recorded in triplicate and stored in different locations?)
Kerry vounteered for active duty and recieved kudos from the gov't for it. His records are open for examination. No one really cares when he was discharged. The facts are clear. Bush is a lying hyprocrite who doesn't mind sending our sons, daughters, fathers and mothers to their possible deaths, when he pulled every string in the book to avoid dangerous service. At least Kerry understands what it means to send people to war.
No matter what little tid bits you can dig up about Kerry, nothing compares to Bush's lies, deciet and the deaths of thousands of people, both Iraqi and American. So grab at your little excuses. They mean nothing.
Slashdot Mirror
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
Done.
Who knows what they may decide to use it for? That's the scary part. This is similar to the original EULA for MS Passport, which was dropped after someone actually read the EULA and publicized it.
Unless you are one of those rare few that read softwares EULA and TOS than how can you be sure you haven't already assigned similar rights to any number of companies by installing their software?
I read a study a few years back which vaguely supports your theory, but in regards to video games. The theory goes that video games are more geared towards boys (fast cars, guns, swords) and therefore, boys are more likely to be exposed to and master technology at an early age than girls.
Many girls have grown up with little experience with computers outside of computer lab at school, while her brother may have been hacking away in the basement, but probably started out playing video games.
I have several sites with first page rankings on Google. Not all are linked heavily from other pages. I don't believe Google bases page rankings solely on number of linked pages. I think the submit form is simply to get their spiders to index your page. After that, content is king.
If your page has worthwhile content, important key words woven into your opening paragraph or two on your index page, and of course keywords and good descriptive meta tags you can achieve a good ranking in most of the search engines. But of all, content is what is important.
When I worked at a local high school, one of the favorite items for students to steal was the mouse balls. I have no idea what they did with them, but the disappeared regularly.
A few years later, when working at a computer shop, a high school teacher called to ask if they could order just the mouse balls.
I guess some things never change.
Question to all recent high school students: what the hell did you do with all those mouse balls?
Or having moving parts. "Sissors make the list, a knife does not."
On another note, I was surprised I didn't see a x86 computer there. MS may have grown into the 900 lb. gorilla, but DOS/Win 95 brought computers into millions of homes and led to the whiz-bang machine you are reading this on right now.
Not based on mythology, but established principals of serving the 'Agenda' and making huge piles of cash. Examples:
The war in Iraq. Sold as a fight against WMDs, terrorists, and to spread democacry. (Take your pick)
Reality: revenge for his daddy's unfinished business and an oil grab.
Medicare Reform: Sold as a way to help the elderly pay for outrageous prescription costs.
Reality: A huge gift to Pharmacutical Companies and HMO's. Squash the push to allow Americans to get their medicines from Canada or create any kind of meaningful health care reform.
The 'Forest Protection Act': Sold as a way to protect the forests of the Western US from the terrible fires of last summer.
Reality: Rolls back the laws to the 'Bad old Days' of the Reagan years when western forests were decimated by massive clear cuts which still bear the scars today, 20 years later.
Social Security Reform: Sold as a way to 'Save Social Security from going bust'.
Reality: Sucks more money out of the system, making it more likely to fail. Opens the door to large finacial institutions and insurance companies to a slice of the Social Security Pie. Puts the system at risk for everyone. Increases the deficit by trillions of dollars.
Energy Policy: Sold as a way to allow the free and reliable movement of electrical power from region to region.
Reality: A huge scam by Texas power companies to choke off power to California and extort huge piles of cash (17 BILLION DOLLARS) from it's citizens. Vice President Cheney is still fighting out with the courts to keep the (public) records of those meeting secret.
I could go on and on. It seems every time Bush says he is doing something to help you, the real goal has little to do with helping YOU and lots to do with serving the Republican Agenda and making Republican contributers lots of money.
www.hotmale.com...
Ha! I saw a kid do this while attempting to check his mail at a High School I was working at. The shock nearly knocked him out of his chair and his friends had a great time teasing him about it.
...many of them are unable to tell the difference between typing something into a search engine, and typing something into an address box.
I see this all the time, even with people who seem tech-savvy enough to know better. I don't know how many times I've heard, "I typed 'blahblah.com into AOL Search and it wasn't there!" I don't know why this bugs me so much. I give up trying to explain the difference. I guess they are less likely to wind up at one of the scam sites as in the article.
How come no ones asking why Bush is pushing so hard for this? The real goal of this 'reform' charade is to siphon off huge amounts of money into big investment and insurance companies. They have been searching for a way to get their hands on some of it for years, and thanks to Bush, it might just happen.
The fund is still solvent after 70 years because it has been tightly controlled and could only be invested in treasury bonds. Slow growing, but the safest investment in the world.
The last few years wild ride on the stock market and the massive fraud by the financial institutions should prove that many of these companies cannot be trusted with your money. This is the same Administration that gave us Enron and WorldCom.
Always look for the man behind the curtain.
But that didn't stop Reagan from taking credit for it. Actually, it was the Pope who brought down the Soviet Union.
Here's some history you won't hear on Fox:
Poland was first. It started with a strike by the dockworkers, led by an unknown man named Lech Walesa. They struk for the right to form a union. This was unheard of in Soviet Bloc countries. The protest spread and soon the entire country was in the streets, wanting to be a part of this new 'union' called "Solidarity".
The Soviets didn't like this at all, and had their tanks massed at the border, threatening to invade to 'bring order.' The world held it's collective breath. What would Gorbechav do?
The Pope declared that if the Soviets invaded his homeland, he would remove the crown of St. Peter (the symbol of the papacy) and return to Poland to fight alongside his brothers.
The Soviets were forced to back off. Poland fell from the Soviet grasp and the rest of Eastern Europe soon followed.
Reagan takes credit for what he didn't earn. The Pope takes no credit and he changed the world.
God, I'm tired of the "big spending liberal" stereotype. What will it take to kill it? For the past 20 years or so, the facts have proven differently. The biggest deficits have been run up under Republican Administrations, both of which campaigned on 'fiscal conservatism' and face it, Clinton took Regan/Bush's mess, balanced the budget, and left with a SURPLUS. (Which Bush Jr. promptly blew and dropped us in a bigger hole than ever.) Don't blame the 'War on Terrorism' for this economic debacle, blame the stupid war in Iraq, which has NOTHING to do with terrorism and everything to do with Bushs visions of granduer.
And brace yourself for Bush v. 3.0...They are preparing Jeb Bush for a Whitehouse run in 2008. There are visions of a Bush dynasty afloat. God help us.
At a computer store where I used to work, an elderly lady bought a new computer and took it home. Shortly thereafter she called complaining it didn't work. Tech support suggested she try clicking on "My Computer".
sound: 'tink' 'tink' "Nothings happening!"
Tech support politely asks, "excuse me ma'am, what are you doing?"
She replies, "Isn't this one of those touch screen things like they have at the bank?"
Mouse? Whats a mouse?
You said:
"If you won't make an effort to write clearly then I won't waste my time trying to decipher your ramblings."
And you also said,
unfortunatly = unfortunately
charactor = character
Unbeatible = unbeatable
Gheto = ghetto
loosing = losing
push = pushed
You not only deciphered his 'ramblings' but bothered to list each error and the correct spelling for each word. Face it. You live for this shit. For your amusement, heres a spelling/grammar message board who may appreciate your 'wisdom':
http://lene.proboards15.com/index.cgi
Now the rest of us want to get back to bashing the US for...er..what was it this time?
"Apparently those deadasses couldn't be bothered to pick up a phone and call every person in southeast Asia to warn them."
Its not just the USGS that didn't warn people. Every seismic station in the world must have registered the earthquake and Internet sites update this stuff continuously. People all over the world must have known this earthquake occured and I'm sure there were thousands who knew that a tsunami may strike.
I think the problem is that is was really no ones job to send a warning. Tens of thousands of people have died because everyone assumed it was someone elses responsibility to get the word out.
I can't remember any kind of mine, actually. Pretty mine-free over here.
As a lucky inhabitant of the Sierra Nevada foothills, home to the (original) California 49ers, we have lots of old mines in the forests around here. In fact when out hiking, you have to be careful you don't accidently fall into one. I expect if the we have warning before the 'big one' hits, my family and I will be safely holed up somewhere, ready to repopulate the world.
When was the last time you read an EULA? Yes, theres legal gibberish in there, but a reasonably competent person can make out the important details. Most are pretty standard. In fact, these companies are counting on folks like you to be so put off that even geeks don't read them.
Sample EULA: Theres a few paragraphs about not decompiling it, reselling it, etc. A few paragraphs about export restrictions. Some blah blah about them not being responsible for damage to your computer or data. That stuff is pretty straightforward. The other stuff usually comes next, like sections on 'third party software' (aka spyware). Look for sections on Copyright Protection (often Windows DRM, bundled with most cd/dvd buring software and other media software these days.) There are many more 'gotchas' in EULAs. From absurdly restrictive seat requirements to what opinions you may express publicly about the software. A savvy computer user will evaluate the benefits verses the restrictions. I have refused to install many programs after reading it.
Well, there ya go. An EULA in plain English. Actually, why don't you start reading them for yourself? They are not as intimidating as they seem, and after a while you can just scan them, and the 'gotchas' stand out.
Reasonable people can have concerns about the election results without being complete whackos.
Reading this affidavit, I remember the odd disparity between exit polling and the offical results. It also seemed like an interesting coinicidence that Bush won Florida and Ohio and the election, with 51%, the number which the software was designed to produce.
I wonder if it is possible that the compromised source code (if it existed) is still on the voting machines. Wouldn't a savvy election-thief remove the evidence after the election?
Be warned, even Rome fell.
Correct, however it took thousands of years. Using your analogy, the world should be under the foot of the US for another 1800 years or so.
Might as well get comfortable...its going to be a long show.
Or perhaps the murder of dozens of prisoners during torture at Abu Gharib:
But it's different for Christian religious zealots. Jesus is on our side!
From Geek.com
...
On the twelfth day of Geekmas my True Geek gave to me
12 O'Reilly handbooks.
11 cups of caffeine. 10 Help Desk persons screaming.
9 Linux distributions.
8 viral virii.
7 routers routing.
6 Geeks a coding.
5 Handsprings!
4 SDRAM chips.
3 PS2s.
2 Xboxes.
and
a real working Bluetooth device.
While attempting to install a (defective) Netgear router, I spent quite a while on the phone with tech support. The call center was obviously in India, judging by the accent of the operator and the voices of those in the backgound. I wonder how much time might have been saved if I hadn't had to repeat simple things over and over (like the spelling of come common American-English terms) or how much time I spent saying, "Excuse me..could you repeat that?". It seems a shame that a company based out of a city not 200 miles from me, sends my questions half way around the world to be answered. Outsourcing may be cheaper for the company, but not necessarily more efficient.
It also occured to me that these guys doing tech support for Netgear (and other computer hardware companies) must get a lot of calls from geeks here in America whose jobs they have taken. I wonder how much shit they have to take from these guys.
We can't just keep going around the Solar system bashing things up that's not ours!
It has been suspected for some time, and recently proven, that this comet is harboring WMDs and needs to be dealt with before it becomes a threat. Pictures and documents have been leaked to the press that proves this to be true. The comet also tried to purchase uranium from some shady African arms dealers.
We have given this comet every chance to comply and now we have no choice but to take decisive action.
Ever since I was a kid, my mom has been taking me into the voting booth (either to teach me the importance of voting, or for lack of babysitting). This year I voted for the first time, and it felt great. I don't mean emotionally, I mean physically. When I pulled the levers and flipped the switches, I was actually convinced that my vote counted. It was the neatest feeling.
Thank You!
I have always been one of those Moms that dragged the kids to the polls on election day. We have lively family discussions before the election on the candidates and propositions. I felt the kids needed to understand the issues and why it was important to be an informed voter. I wanted them to see that voting isn't hard or scary. Thank you so much for your post. And be sure to continue the tradition when you have children of your own.
Because it's irrelevent. Bush sent our troops into a war based on lies, but of course could not be bothered to go to war himself. It is no coincidence that 'ALL' GWB records are missing from his Nat'l Guard duty. (Do you realize how hard it would be to loose ALL your military records, when they generate tons of paperwork and everything is recorded in triplicate and stored in different locations?)
Kerry vounteered for active duty and recieved kudos from the gov't for it. His records are open for examination. No one really cares when he was discharged. The facts are clear. Bush is a lying hyprocrite who doesn't mind sending our sons, daughters, fathers and mothers to their possible deaths, when he pulled every string in the book to avoid dangerous service. At least Kerry understands what it means to send people to war.
No matter what little tid bits you can dig up about Kerry, nothing compares to Bush's lies, deciet and the deaths of thousands of people, both Iraqi and American. So grab at your little excuses. They mean nothing.