Similarly, how many bachelor geeks have spent two hours doing dishes on an emergency basis before an important client or, god forbid, a member of the opposite sex is due to arrive.
Ah, sexism at its best. Believe it or not, a number of my lady friends(ie, bachelorettes), have -exactly- the same problem. Folks, it ain't just guys who procrastinate cleaning up- women are just better at the last minute frenzied pickup:-)
Blender already has basic toon shading capabilities - it can render toon-style 'edges' on models, and with a bit of fiddling with textures and normal-dependent falloff gradient textures, you can get a reasonable result (as is on the left in this thumbnail image [blender3d.org], however this isn't dependent on light sources.
Excellent clarification- thank you.
It will take some time for developers to properly familiarise themselves with the huge amount of code in there, and start to re-organise it into something that facilitates an open-source model rather than the previous.
All the more reason to focus on "familiarizing" themselves with the code, and not adding new glitzy functionality. Adding -major- new features that rather dramatically change the direction of the software...well, that should be bottom of the priority list IMHO. Sorry, I still say their priorities are out of whack.
Maybe it's just me, but they seem to be rather confused between the "About Blender" pages, the Changelog, etc...2.2.7 specifically says cartoon shading doesn't work. "About Blender" says it does. Which is it, guys?
Then, note that a lot of file formats don't work on Linux- only Win + MacOS X. None of the plugins work in OS X yet...so on. It's beta quality stuff, like walking into a house and the owners keep telling you "no, don't open that door, it's not on the hinges!" or "watch your step" when you pass by the 3-foot hole in the floor. Oh, but look at the MARVELOUS sun porch they just finished!
See this all the time- developers working on the bright+shiny things, while leaving behind major, glaring problems. Guys, fix it up so existing stuff works, THEN add new toys. What good is a car that has a really sweet stereo setup, but only 3 wheels?
I get the distinct impression Blender developers have bitten off more than they can chew, but are back in the kitchen for dessert regardless...
Since you didn't manage to even spell "committee" correctly, I doubt it. I also doubt it since a google search on your name turns up bupkus.
I work for Apple
Hey, so does the other guy. Small world.
but this person is not on the commity.
I agree it's probably unlikely, but how would you know, given the only thing ID'ing the poster is an email address? You're not exactly "Mr. Credibility" posting as 'Anonymous Coward', either, bub.
there is only one member from the us. And her name is Tracy McNeal (she works for Xerox).
Well, that's funny, because I can't find any such person via Google, trying things like ' "Tracy McNeal" Xerox' or ' "Tracy McNeal" 802.11', or ' "Tracy McNeal" IEEE'. Go fish, bub. Oh, and I don't think Xerox makes any 802.11 equipment, although I could be wrong. A google search wasn't too helpful.
I work for Nokia
Oh? You just told us you worked for Apple. Pick a company, will you?
At Nintendo, we've been excited about clustering applications of game consoles as well, and we've pursued a active program of research within our company.
[snip!]
Samir Gupta, Ph.D
Head, New Technology Research Department
Nintendo Co Ltd. Kyoto, Japan
What I want to know is, how much resume spam do you get, now that you post on slashdot, saying(or perhaps claiming) you work for Nintendo's R&D?:-)
um, $$$ because it can kill you
on
Build Your Own ECG
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· Score: 4, Informative
Makes me wonder why medical care costs so much
Well, issues of "medical care" and "medical equipment" costs being two rather separate things(one of the biggest costs in medical care is liability insurance, probably followed by administrative overhead)...
...it might be because the expensive REAL version won't kill you when there's a lightning strike nearby, or when someone touches the case after building up a static charge, or something shorts out in the computer half...the list goes on. It only takes a few microamps to stop your heart- it's all in the path the current takes. Having those nice electrodes in the right places, making great electrical conduct with your skin...well, umm...you should get the picture.
Medical equipment is designed to be 'bulletproof' in almost every way- there's a standard, for example, for medical-rated Edison plugs and sockets.(Edison plug = US electrical plug). It's VERY heavy duty, makes really good contact, has excellent stress relief on the cord, etc...because something VERY important might be using it, like an artificial heart pump in an operating room, or a dosage machine for an IV, or a ventilator. The REAL version also can't crash or stop working- so, for example, if it has a computer, the instruction code, the chips...everything is heavily tested. Jokes aside, the Pentium math dividing bug is a perfect example of why you can't just use "anything" for medical equipment. What if that bug caused the heart monitor to display the wrong heart beat rate? Electronics used for medical equipment get a LOT more testing- lives are at stake. Same idea behind the MIL specs, although with MILSPEC stuff, the idea is more that the military really abuses the crap out of stuff ON TOP of similar concerns as medical stuff.
All of the above are why you often see these days disclaimers from chip makers that say "this device is not certified for use in life support equipment" and such. The statement often extends to industrial automation- "situations where malfunction may result in injury or death", stuff like that. Ie, "don't use this where if it screws up, it dumps 10 tons of molten steel on a bunch of steel workers' heads."
But in my own experience, Apple's focus is on CUSTOMER satisfaction, even at the expense of a sale of their own.
Bullshit. When my Powerbook 1400 came back a second or third time(I forget which) from Apple's repair center, still broken, I called Apple Client relations(instead of customer service.)
The woman actually yelled at me, and did absolutely nothing to resolve my problem.
Nothing changes- a friend bought an iBook, it took several days to get to her due to a weekend and ground shipping. Day she got it, Apple released the new iBook models. She called up to return the iBook, and they refused- why? It was over ten days...SINCE THEY SHIPPED IT, not since she recieved it...despite the Apples online store policy clearly stating it was based on date of RECIEPT BY CUSTOMER.
Apple has the sleaziest sales/return/refund policies. Apple has the worst tech support period- 90 days...and the warranty is pretty piss-poor too, at only one year. AppleCare is also FAR more expensive than most other extended warranties, and still doesn't include on-site service.
Re:Completely illegal in MA, and hence, at MIT
on
Shocking Clothing
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· Score: 1
It says that any device from which an electric current is directed to incapactitate someone is illegal
...and swinging your arm out at someone to shock them isn't directing the current? Save the ones that fire barbed electrodes, stun guns and other shocking devices don't shoot electric bolts- they require the user to practically touch it to the attacker. Same with the jacket. You're grasping at straws, trying to invent your own meaning of "directed". Find me a stun gun or other electrical weapon that's legal in MA, and I'll eat my hat.
Completely illegal in MA, and hence, at MIT
on
Shocking Clothing
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· Score: 5, Informative
Maybe the MIT boys shoulda thought of the fact that they're now in posession of an illegal item. From a self-defense-widgets store's "where you can legally have the stuff we sell" page:
Massachusetts State Law. Ann. Laws of Massachusetts. Chapter 140. Sale of Firearms. Section 131J: Sale or possession of electrical weapons; penalties. Section 131J. No person shall sell, offer for sale or possess a portable device or weapon from which an electric current, impulse, wave or beam may be directed, which current, impulse, wave or beam is designed to incapacitate temporarily, injure or kill. Whoever violates this provision of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than two years in a jail or house of correction, or both.
Today they announced an extensive 'restructuring,' which includes releasing about 10% (400) of their employees
Part two:
SGI claims this'll save them $40M
Now for the big finale:
$40M / 400 = $100,000 (average, of course)
Those were some VERY expensive employees, don't you think? I suppose maybe there were a couple Big Fish in there, but still, that average seems really high, since layoffs are almost always biased towards the bottom of the food chain, where there are more employees, of course.
However, not as expensive as McCracken(former CEO, ranked #25 of the "top paid execs" list), who got $3.25M in cold cash for severance, and another $2M in stock options. Ah, to pine for the good old days, when SGI gave Belluzzo (CEO before McCracken, I believe) a $3.4 million insider loan so he could cash in on the stock options he got when he left HP, netting him $600,000(he did repay the loan, BTW, unlike a lot of other execs). Gotta love the revolving door of money- get paid to sign, get paid to sit there, get paid to leave, and when you stroll into your next job, they're so happy to see you, they help you cash out from your old job with multi-million-dollar loans.
Execs in tough times always give you the sad face, the kind, concerned, crackling voice while they say things like, "we're all tightening the belt". Every single one is lying straight through his or her teeth- executive salaries(and stock options), despite slumping profits and stock prices, are skyrocketing without fail. They don't give a crap about the company stock price, because their option price is so absurdedly low...and if they finally get booted from the company, they'll get a nice golden parachute, and some other company will happily snap them up. It is almost a complete reversal from how the regular Joes are treated.
Meanwhile, of course, Bush is buying off the rich for the next two elections, making it even cheaper for them to cash out their stocks and investments(yeah, that'll help the economy), and giving them huge tax cuts(make $1M+ this year? Take about $17k off your tax bill!)
IANAL, but I thought that (at least under English
Law) something is copyright whether or not there is
a notice on it.
It's international law as well- the Berne Convention. Everything is automatically copyrighted- you don't have to explicitly state a bit of text or an image is your copyright. Copyright holders are still advised to place copyright notices, of course.
This is one of the reasons you can't forward an email I send you without seeking my permission first- it's a copyrighted work, and you can't reproduce it without my permission. Every single post to Slashdot is copyrighted, too:-)
Well, try reading the top rated comments in the last Earthlink-does-challenge-reply business slashdot story. A few of the ideas that occured to me(with varying degrees of seriousness/risk/whatever):
increased load on mail servers
everyone's challenge-response system will be different and incompatible
spammers will figure out how to reply to them
businesses won't be able to send legitimate automated email(shipping notifications, confirmations, etc.) because everyone will be using different challenge-response systems. You think the average earthlink user is going to be smart enough to even REALIZE they need to whitelist a business, much less what address?
Loops when dealing with any of the dozens upon dozens of mailing list software, autoresponders, and legitimate automated email systems. Remember when one of the relay testing groups got a big surprise when their relay testing crashed some obscure mail server? You simply never know how your stuff is going to "play" with the rest of the world's email processing/sending software.
except for those little state lawsuits
on
OSI vs SCO
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· Score: 1
Their line...go with the smart, non-litigated choice...Windows XP
Which would be a lie, since they're still getting sued by at least two states, MA being one of them...I think VA is the other state?
Majordomo, Mailman, elzlm...almost all mailing list software sends you a confirmation email, requiring your reply(nowadays via a URL with an embedded authentication string, or via email simply by replying.) Kinda seems like prior art, since I'm guessing "Mailblocks" hasn't even been around as long as majordomo, which dates back into the Dark Ages.
However, in all honesty, this is probably one of the few cases where everyone wins- for many of the reasons folks cited in the comments on the last article that mentioned Earthlink's move... challenge-reply is a VERY half-baked idea, and anything that supresses the market for that software(ie, patent) is a darn good thing in my book.
I'm a mailing list manager, and if Earthlink does manage to get out of this one and fire up the challenge-response business, I'm damn tempted to simply block every earthlink user, possibly at the mailer level, because the users simply aren't smart enough to handle whitelisting the mailing list(s). Hell, most of the hotmail/yahoo mail users can't even keep their mailboxes under quota. We're talking rocket science compared to keeping your mail folder clean...
...Do MUY ESTUPIDA stories like this one get posted, but truly fascinating stories, like the NEW SPECIES OF GIANT JELLYFISH [discovery.com] and the NEW SPECIES OF TINY SEAHORSES [sciencedaily.com] get rejected?
(one reply)Maybe the reject your stories because you abuse the caps lock.
Nah. It's actually a secret conspiracy against abnormally sized critters by slashdot editors. Besides- giant jellyfish? Naaaasty- not to mention, if they didn't exist, I wouldn't have had to read that boring-as-watching-paint-not-dry book The Old Man and the Sea. Tiny seahorses? They're cute and all, and feminists like 'em(Daddy takes care of the zillion little Juniors, not Mom, until they're fending for themselves), but....beyond that, they're just basically...smaller than average fish. Now, if you find something about Tiny Dolphins, Now you're talking- they're smart, cute, funny, and, at least around humans that behave themselves, downright good-mannered and as curious about us as we are them. Bite-size, they'd probably make the world's most awesome pet(hey, the competition is a critter whose greatest trick is floating upside down to let you know they're dead.)
Now, plants sucking up salt so you can use the land? Useful AND cool, and even the plant huggers would have a hard time finding a problem with it.
No offense to any Koreans that are loyal, but you really ought to consider a coup.
At the slightest sign of a power vacuum or confusion, ol' Puffy Hair would push over the US and South Korean border guards like matchsticks, and tapdance all the(-very- short) way to the South Korean capitol, for his own version of 'reunification'. Resource-starved countries with huge militaries, time has proven over and over, are extremely dangerous.
North Korea is so far into the dark ages, and Kim is so mentally deranged and desperate(the whole "I'VE GOT NUCLEAR WEAPONS, REALLY, I DO!" isn't working so hot for him), that at this point, he'd do anything and everything to get the resources and land South Korea has. It would, without a doubt, start World War III- that country is so armed to the teeth, and its people so completely, totally brainwashed...coalition soldiers would be fighting every man, woman and child strong enough to pick up a shovel or pitchfork. Kim is no Saddam- his people have been completely brainwashed into loving him. It would be a slaughter on both sides.
So, yeah, I think starting a coup in SK would be a really, really, really stupid idea.
Personal liberty and the right to vehemently question one's leadership shouldn't be questioned, regardless of what type of place you live in. If where you live thinks the idea of free speech is "wrong" then you live int he wrong place or the leaders are fucktards.
: Oh, and I must say, that Trinity freakin' kicks ass. As you can see from the pictures [insecure.org], nmap says "No exact OS matches for host". Trinity goes ahead and throws the sploit anyway without knowing the system's architecture AND IT WORKS!
Well, I suppose the PVC-encased chick script kiddie is better than non...
short term - new clients are too configurable
on
BitTorrent Guide
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· Score: 4, Insightful
At least the way anime groups use it(they've discovered it beats the hell out of IRC on "release day"), it's for short term. However, it varies group to group- some will leave BT downloads seeded for weeks.
Still, if you're looking for something older than a few weeks, you're looking at something like edonkey, but speeds will be far more pathetic.
The problem with BitTorrent is that "advanced"(ie, unofficial) clients are springing up like weeds, and they let you fudge with all sorts of parameters(how many clients you upload to and stuff, for example). If the p2p authors didn't originally let you tweak it, it's probably because you SHOULDN'T tweak it. Edonkey has seen the same problems- you should see the configuration parameter list for mldonkey. It's horrible- more rope for users to hang not themselves, but the network.
Worse, the "advanced" BT clients let you change your upload rate. Part of the reason BT is so absolutely, amazingly fast is that it forces you to use all your upload, which pisses off the kiddie leechers who don't realize you gotta pay(full upload capacity) to play(maxxing out your download.) I noticed right after the "advanced" and 3rd-party tools came out that speeds dropped.
If you discover that an employee has, say, anime on his machine, it is certainly not your business to go and report him.
If the company policy is that PCs are not for personal use and may not contain illegally-copied materials, I'm gonna tell them to clean up their act. If I find it a second time, you're goddam sure as hell I'm going to report it. Same with giant MP3 collections, P2P clients...none of it is appropriate in a work environment. You remind them they're violating policy, and if they keep it up, you let the appropriate folks know the facts. Seriously, what planet are you on?
I see this all the time with users- they think that because they USE the PC, it is THEIR PC, and they have the right to do whatever the hell they want to with it...
That way, the perpetrator gets punished, I am left out of the deliberations, and everyone's happy.
Except the constitution, which says people have a right to face their accusers.
Just email the URL or IP address to the proper authorities (your boss, the police, etc.) from one of your anonymous email accounts and you're all set (use a proxy too).
Um, no. Most proxies keep logs. Many even pass in the HTTP headers what client they're proxying for. Oh, and Hotmail, Yahoo, etc all put your client's IP in the headers of any email you send. Worst case, it would take anyone with half a clue and subpoena(sp?) power about a day to find out where the email really came from, if that.
I was severely reprimanded on two different subjects- one was over our complete and total lack of fire supression equipment in our server room. The building-wide system's alarm in the room didn't even work- and you couldn't hear the others outside because of the air handler. Extremely dangerous on so many counts. How did I get in trouble? Fire Marshall pointed at the server room and said "What's in there?" while I was headed that way. "Server room." "I want to go in there." "Okay."(what was I supposed to say? "Sorry, don't have the key to the door I was walking towards", even if I felt like lying?) That got me screamed at real fast, because the fire marshall hit the ceiling when he saw a complete and utter lack of fire supression. No sprinklers(water, gas, fog/foam, whatever. Nothing there. Why? Landlord had ripped out the half-dead system.) Nothing ever came of the FM's threats- I'm sure the landlord paid him off.
Second case was some hand-me-down backup software from our "main" office. It was, of course, licensed to specific Solaris system IDs, belonging to systems we couldn't have, for whatever reason. They wanted me to change the system IDs- defeating the whole licensing system(ie, against the license terms.) I refused, on two grounds- violated the licensing terms, and it was probably not possible/could damage the system's hardware, according to the stuff I had read on the sun manager's list.
Why couldn't they simply call up and ask to have the keys re-issued for new systems, which was 100%, completely allowed for in the terms of the license? They were $20,000+ in the hole with the vendor, the only company who could reissue the license keys.
What the HELL is up with the flag-all-over-the-wings design?
I doubt seriously they'll waste weight on paint if, god forbid, the thing ever goes into production- so this was clearly "spiced up" as the selling image. Did NASA think it would have better chances all gussied up and make congressmen get all patriotic?
Or is the plan to call them "Unamerican" if they vote against it, because, say, Bush has dug us a budget hole so big it'll take us decades to get out of it? Yeah, we really need the shiny, flag-covered toys, don't we?
Meant to put this in right at the top, but for what it's worth, an apology for rehashing what's somewhat of an old topic, and for being off-topic. And coming off as too cranky:-)
I hope I have at the least added something new, and request only that people mod with care- don't just slap it in any direction(UP or down) with a knee-click reaction.
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, sexism at its best. Believe it or not, a number of my lady friends(ie, bachelorettes), have -exactly- the same problem. Folks, it ain't just guys who procrastinate cleaning up- women are just better at the last minute frenzied pickup :-)
Excellent clarification- thank you.
It will take some time for developers to properly familiarise themselves with the huge amount of code in there, and start to re-organise it into something that facilitates an open-source model rather than the previous.
All the more reason to focus on "familiarizing" themselves with the code, and not adding new glitzy functionality. Adding -major- new features that rather dramatically change the direction of the software...well, that should be bottom of the priority list IMHO. Sorry, I still say their priorities are out of whack.
Maybe it's just me, but they seem to be rather confused between the "About Blender" pages, the Changelog, etc...2.2.7 specifically says cartoon shading doesn't work. "About Blender" says it does. Which is it, guys?
Then, note that a lot of file formats don't work on Linux- only Win + MacOS X. None of the plugins work in OS X yet...so on. It's beta quality stuff, like walking into a house and the owners keep telling you "no, don't open that door, it's not on the hinges!" or "watch your step" when you pass by the 3-foot hole in the floor. Oh, but look at the MARVELOUS sun porch they just finished!
See this all the time- developers working on the bright+shiny things, while leaving behind major, glaring problems. Guys, fix it up so existing stuff works, THEN add new toys. What good is a car that has a really sweet stereo setup, but only 3 wheels?
I get the distinct impression Blender developers have bitten off more than they can chew, but are back in the kitchen for dessert regardless...
Okay.
I was on the commity that voted for this
Since you didn't manage to even spell "committee" correctly, I doubt it. I also doubt it since a google search on your name turns up bupkus.
I work for Apple
Hey, so does the other guy. Small world.
but this person is not on the commity.
I agree it's probably unlikely, but how would you know, given the only thing ID'ing the poster is an email address? You're not exactly "Mr. Credibility" posting as 'Anonymous Coward', either, bub.
there is only one member from the us. And her name is Tracy McNeal (she works for Xerox).
Well, that's funny, because I can't find any such person via Google, trying things like ' "Tracy McNeal" Xerox' or ' "Tracy McNeal" 802.11', or ' "Tracy McNeal" IEEE'. Go fish, bub. Oh, and I don't think Xerox makes any 802.11 equipment, although I could be wrong. A google search wasn't too helpful.
I work for Nokia
Oh? You just told us you worked for Apple. Pick a company, will you?
[snip!]
Samir Gupta, Ph.D
Head, New Technology Research Department
Nintendo Co Ltd. Kyoto, Japan
What I want to know is, how much resume spam do you get, now that you post on slashdot, saying(or perhaps claiming) you work for Nintendo's R&D? :-)
Well, issues of "medical care" and "medical equipment" costs being two rather separate things(one of the biggest costs in medical care is liability insurance, probably followed by administrative overhead)...
...it might be because the expensive REAL version won't kill you when there's a lightning strike nearby, or when someone touches the case after building up a static charge, or something shorts out in the computer half...the list goes on. It only takes a few microamps to stop your heart- it's all in the path the current takes. Having those nice electrodes in the right places, making great electrical conduct with your skin...well, umm...you should get the picture.
Medical equipment is designed to be 'bulletproof' in almost every way- there's a standard, for example, for medical-rated Edison plugs and sockets.(Edison plug = US electrical plug). It's VERY heavy duty, makes really good contact, has excellent stress relief on the cord, etc...because something VERY important might be using it, like an artificial heart pump in an operating room, or a dosage machine for an IV, or a ventilator. The REAL version also can't crash or stop working- so, for example, if it has a computer, the instruction code, the chips...everything is heavily tested. Jokes aside, the Pentium math dividing bug is a perfect example of why you can't just use "anything" for medical equipment. What if that bug caused the heart monitor to display the wrong heart beat rate? Electronics used for medical equipment get a LOT more testing- lives are at stake. Same idea behind the MIL specs, although with MILSPEC stuff, the idea is more that the military really abuses the crap out of stuff ON TOP of similar concerns as medical stuff.
All of the above are why you often see these days disclaimers from chip makers that say "this device is not certified for use in life support equipment" and such. The statement often extends to industrial automation- "situations where malfunction may result in injury or death", stuff like that. Ie, "don't use this where if it screws up, it dumps 10 tons of molten steel on a bunch of steel workers' heads."
Bullshit. When my Powerbook 1400 came back a second or third time(I forget which) from Apple's repair center, still broken, I called Apple Client relations(instead of customer service.)
The woman actually yelled at me, and did absolutely nothing to resolve my problem.
Nothing changes- a friend bought an iBook, it took several days to get to her due to a weekend and ground shipping. Day she got it, Apple released the new iBook models. She called up to return the iBook, and they refused- why? It was over ten days...SINCE THEY SHIPPED IT, not since she recieved it...despite the Apples online store policy clearly stating it was based on date of RECIEPT BY CUSTOMER.
Apple has the sleaziest sales/return/refund policies. Apple has the worst tech support period- 90 days...and the warranty is pretty piss-poor too, at only one year. AppleCare is also FAR more expensive than most other extended warranties, and still doesn't include on-site service.
...and swinging your arm out at someone to shock them isn't directing the current? Save the ones that fire barbed electrodes, stun guns and other shocking devices don't shoot electric bolts- they require the user to practically touch it to the attacker. Same with the jacket. You're grasping at straws, trying to invent your own meaning of "directed". Find me a stun gun or other electrical weapon that's legal in MA, and I'll eat my hat.
Maybe the MIT boys shoulda thought of the fact that they're now in posession of an illegal item. From a self-defense-widgets store's "where you can legally have the stuff we sell" page:
Massachusetts State Law. Ann. Laws of Massachusetts. Chapter 140. Sale of Firearms. Section 131J: Sale or possession of electrical weapons; penalties. Section 131J. No person shall sell, offer for sale or possess a portable device or weapon from which an electric current, impulse, wave or beam may be directed, which current, impulse, wave or beam is designed to incapacitate temporarily, injure or kill. Whoever violates this provision of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than two years in a jail or house of correction, or both.
Today they announced an extensive 'restructuring,' which includes releasing about 10% (400) of their employees
Part two:
SGI claims this'll save them $40M
Now for the big finale:
$40M / 400 = $100,000 (average, of course)
Those were some VERY expensive employees, don't you think? I suppose maybe there were a couple Big Fish in there, but still, that average seems really high, since layoffs are almost always biased towards the bottom of the food chain, where there are more employees, of course.
However, not as expensive as McCracken(former CEO, ranked #25 of the "top paid execs" list), who got $3.25M in cold cash for severance, and another $2M in stock options. Ah, to pine for the good old days, when SGI gave Belluzzo (CEO before McCracken, I believe) a $3.4 million insider loan so he could cash in on the stock options he got when he left HP, netting him $600,000(he did repay the loan, BTW, unlike a lot of other execs). Gotta love the revolving door of money- get paid to sign, get paid to sit there, get paid to leave, and when you stroll into your next job, they're so happy to see you, they help you cash out from your old job with multi-million-dollar loans.
Execs in tough times always give you the sad face, the kind, concerned, crackling voice while they say things like, "we're all tightening the belt". Every single one is lying straight through his or her teeth- executive salaries(and stock options), despite slumping profits and stock prices, are skyrocketing without fail. They don't give a crap about the company stock price, because their option price is so absurdedly low...and if they finally get booted from the company, they'll get a nice golden parachute, and some other company will happily snap them up. It is almost a complete reversal from how the regular Joes are treated.
Meanwhile, of course, Bush is buying off the rich for the next two elections, making it even cheaper for them to cash out their stocks and investments(yeah, that'll help the economy), and giving them huge tax cuts(make $1M+ this year? Take about $17k off your tax bill!)
It's international law as well- the Berne Convention. Everything is automatically copyrighted- you don't have to explicitly state a bit of text or an image is your copyright. Copyright holders are still advised to place copyright notices, of course.
This is one of the reasons you can't forward an email I send you without seeking my permission first- it's a copyrighted work, and you can't reproduce it without my permission. Every single post to Slashdot is copyrighted, too :-)
How so?
Well, try reading the top rated comments in the last Earthlink-does-challenge-reply business slashdot story. A few of the ideas that occured to me(with varying degrees of seriousness/risk/whatever):
Which would be a lie, since they're still getting sued by at least two states, MA being one of them...I think VA is the other state?
Majordomo, Mailman, elzlm...almost all mailing list software sends you a confirmation email, requiring your reply(nowadays via a URL with an embedded authentication string, or via email simply by replying.) Kinda seems like prior art, since I'm guessing "Mailblocks" hasn't even been around as long as majordomo, which dates back into the Dark Ages.
However, in all honesty, this is probably one of the few cases where everyone wins- for many of the reasons folks cited in the comments on the last article that mentioned Earthlink's move... challenge-reply is a VERY half-baked idea, and anything that supresses the market for that software(ie, patent) is a darn good thing in my book.
I'm a mailing list manager, and if Earthlink does manage to get out of this one and fire up the challenge-response business, I'm damn tempted to simply block every earthlink user, possibly at the mailer level, because the users simply aren't smart enough to handle whitelisting the mailing list(s). Hell, most of the hotmail/yahoo mail users can't even keep their mailboxes under quota. We're talking rocket science compared to keeping your mail folder clean...
[checks to see if Satan is skating]
(one reply)Maybe the reject your stories because you abuse the caps lock.
Nah. It's actually a secret conspiracy against abnormally sized critters by slashdot editors. Besides- giant jellyfish? Naaaasty- not to mention, if they didn't exist, I wouldn't have had to read that boring-as-watching-paint-not-dry book The Old Man and the Sea. Tiny seahorses? They're cute and all, and feminists like 'em(Daddy takes care of the zillion little Juniors, not Mom, until they're fending for themselves), but....beyond that, they're just basically...smaller than average fish. Now, if you find something about Tiny Dolphins, Now you're talking- they're smart, cute, funny, and, at least around humans that behave themselves, downright good-mannered and as curious about us as we are them. Bite-size, they'd probably make the world's most awesome pet(hey, the competition is a critter whose greatest trick is floating upside down to let you know they're dead.)
Now, plants sucking up salt so you can use the land? Useful AND cool, and even the plant huggers would have a hard time finding a problem with it.
At the slightest sign of a power vacuum or confusion, ol' Puffy Hair would push over the US and South Korean border guards like matchsticks, and tapdance all the(-very- short) way to the South Korean capitol, for his own version of 'reunification'. Resource-starved countries with huge militaries, time has proven over and over, are extremely dangerous.
North Korea is so far into the dark ages, and Kim is so mentally deranged and desperate(the whole "I'VE GOT NUCLEAR WEAPONS, REALLY, I DO!" isn't working so hot for him), that at this point, he'd do anything and everything to get the resources and land South Korea has. It would, without a doubt, start World War III- that country is so armed to the teeth, and its people so completely, totally brainwashed...coalition soldiers would be fighting every man, woman and child strong enough to pick up a shovel or pitchfork. Kim is no Saddam- his people have been completely brainwashed into loving him. It would be a slaughter on both sides.
So, yeah, I think starting a coup in SK would be a really, really, really stupid idea.
Personal liberty and the right to vehemently question one's leadership shouldn't be questioned, regardless of what type of place you live in. If where you live thinks the idea of free speech is "wrong" then you live int he wrong place or the leaders are fucktards.
What are you, Wesley Crusher, with a fresh mouth?
Well, I suppose the PVC-encased chick script kiddie is better than non...
Still, if you're looking for something older than a few weeks, you're looking at something like edonkey, but speeds will be far more pathetic.
The problem with BitTorrent is that "advanced"(ie, unofficial) clients are springing up like weeds, and they let you fudge with all sorts of parameters(how many clients you upload to and stuff, for example). If the p2p authors didn't originally let you tweak it, it's probably because you SHOULDN'T tweak it. Edonkey has seen the same problems- you should see the configuration parameter list for mldonkey. It's horrible- more rope for users to hang not themselves, but the network.
Worse, the "advanced" BT clients let you change your upload rate. Part of the reason BT is so absolutely, amazingly fast is that it forces you to use all your upload, which pisses off the kiddie leechers who don't realize you gotta pay(full upload capacity) to play(maxxing out your download.) I noticed right after the "advanced" and 3rd-party tools came out that speeds dropped.
If the company policy is that PCs are not for personal use and may not contain illegally-copied materials, I'm gonna tell them to clean up their act. If I find it a second time, you're goddam sure as hell I'm going to report it. Same with giant MP3 collections, P2P clients...none of it is appropriate in a work environment. You remind them they're violating policy, and if they keep it up, you let the appropriate folks know the facts. Seriously, what planet are you on?
I see this all the time with users- they think that because they USE the PC, it is THEIR PC, and they have the right to do whatever the hell they want to with it...
Except the constitution, which says people have a right to face their accusers.
Just email the URL or IP address to the proper authorities (your boss, the police, etc.) from one of your anonymous email accounts and you're all set (use a proxy too).
Um, no. Most proxies keep logs. Many even pass in the HTTP headers what client they're proxying for. Oh, and Hotmail, Yahoo, etc all put your client's IP in the headers of any email you send. Worst case, it would take anyone with half a clue and subpoena(sp?) power about a day to find out where the email really came from, if that.
I was severely reprimanded on two different subjects- one was over our complete and total lack of fire supression equipment in our server room. The building-wide system's alarm in the room didn't even work- and you couldn't hear the others outside because of the air handler. Extremely dangerous on so many counts. How did I get in trouble? Fire Marshall pointed at the server room and said "What's in there?" while I was headed that way. "Server room." "I want to go in there." "Okay."(what was I supposed to say? "Sorry, don't have the key to the door I was walking towards", even if I felt like lying?) That got me screamed at real fast, because the fire marshall hit the ceiling when he saw a complete and utter lack of fire supression. No sprinklers(water, gas, fog/foam, whatever. Nothing there. Why? Landlord had ripped out the half-dead system.) Nothing ever came of the FM's threats- I'm sure the landlord paid him off.
Second case was some hand-me-down backup software from our "main" office. It was, of course, licensed to specific Solaris system IDs, belonging to systems we couldn't have, for whatever reason. They wanted me to change the system IDs- defeating the whole licensing system(ie, against the license terms.) I refused, on two grounds- violated the licensing terms, and it was probably not possible/could damage the system's hardware, according to the stuff I had read on the sun manager's list.
Why couldn't they simply call up and ask to have the keys re-issued for new systems, which was 100%, completely allowed for in the terms of the license? They were $20,000+ in the hole with the vendor, the only company who could reissue the license keys.
What the HELL is up with the flag-all-over-the-wings design?
I doubt seriously they'll waste weight on paint if, god forbid, the thing ever goes into production- so this was clearly "spiced up" as the selling image. Did NASA think it would have better chances all gussied up and make congressmen get all patriotic?
Or is the plan to call them "Unamerican" if they vote against it, because, say, Bush has dug us a budget hole so big it'll take us decades to get out of it? Yeah, we really need the shiny, flag-covered toys, don't we?
Wow! What great news! That's what, double their usual lifetime?
Meant to put this in right at the top, but for what it's worth, an apology for rehashing what's somewhat of an old topic, and for being off-topic. And coming off as too cranky :-)
I hope I have at the least added something new, and request only that people mod with care- don't just slap it in any direction(UP or down) with a knee-click reaction.