Get one of
these for your desk. Mark the first folder as "current" or "unpaid". Create additional folders for "Bank1", "CreditCard1", "CreditCard2", "Autoloan", "WishIHadAHomeLoan", "PhoneBill", "Gas & Electric", "Cable", "Internet", "LongDistance", "ParkingGarage" etc.
- When bills come in, place them in the "current" folder.
- Come pay day, sit down, pay bills, write checks etc.
- - After paid, strip unecessary garbage from the bill e.g. envelopes, ads, credit card checks
- - Staple that bills pages together
- - Place recent bill in the matching folder on top(usually held together with a paperclip, small binder clip, [this makes it easy to search through since most bills print the date in the top right hand corner] or in some cases stuff multiple bills in one of the same bill's folder)
- - - Checks from Bank statements get binder clipped together with the small clips & stuffed into an envelope sorted by check number.
- At the end of the year, take all of the folders, write the year on them & place them in the file cabinet (optional) I don't typically get that many bills so it may take 2-3 years before I bother to toss them in the filing cabinet.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "There's no way someone will be using software I'm writing 8000 years from now." Yeah, and that's what programmers said 30 years ago about the year 2000. Be smart, and play it safe. Use a 5, or better yet, 10 digit year. What's a few bytes?
What are you CRAZY!?!?!?!
Stick with the 4 digit year plan. It is humanity's only protection from the rise of the machines. After skynet becomes self aware; it will enslave humanity for the next 7800 years. But then comes the Y10K problem. *Poof* The computers go nuts & break down thus saving humanity. (It's kinda like the surprise salvation in War of the Worlds when the Martians suddenly die due to a common earth virus/bacteria.)
For the moment we can still out run them. But scientist are foolishly teaching them to open doors and stand up on their own.
I say we need to program back in a Y3k bug to prevent humans from being dominated by the machines. Arnold isn't going to come back from the future to save us. He's too busy trying to run California right now.
Don't wear tin foil hats. It's a conspiracy by the government to get better reception to our brain waves.
It is not legal to MAKE copies of content you own, and distribute it to friends (or strangers).
This is why downloading is legal (you're 'borrowing' a copy, and copying it), but uploading is illegal (you're copying what you presumably own, and distributing it.)
If this is true & defensable, let's try this approach:
- Have shared music collection between friends via some software program.
- The software program is responsable for streaming the audio to your friends receiver (this makes resonable assurances that copies are not made [anything can be hacked but that is not our intention]).
- Since people have limited bandwidth and varying interests, they will naturally limit the number of friends they have that can use this service (probably to people offering similar bandwidths and to people who keep the labels on their record collections clean and to people who have good music he/she would enjoy listening to).
- Since it is not available to the internet community as a whole, they should not considered broadcasters.
Re:There's still something that separates us
on
We Are All Nerds Now
·
· Score: 1
You're desprately in love with your "friend" of 10 years, only she doesn't know it. It tears you up inside but you can rest assured that you will never, ever work up the balls to say anything. You will just continue to listen to her complaints about how her boyfriend is a jerk and how she can't seem to find "a nice guy like you".
A few software companies actually ask you to forward them spam that advertises their products. See Symantec's Spamwatch site as an example.
Once I called up my local cable company to see if their were interested in a spammer trying to sell tools on how to steal cable. Guess what? Big surprise. They didn't care. You would think they would be chomping at the bit to go after those guys.
- Most spammers are involved in fraudulent activities.
- Most spammers are stupid.
- The only thing stopping the government from going after these people are time & evidence.
- Instead of trying to track these people down via computers & trying to connect them with the fraudulent scams they are pumping out at us, how about we pick up their garbage (legal in almost all states) collect their papers, notes, old hard drives (we can recover deleted information in most cases, if not I am sure your local 2600 would love to help out).
- When you have enough evidence to nail them on some sort of fraud, pass it on to the most interested government body.
Here is a novel idea. Since she claims to be religious (and she just might be). Maybe ONE of us who is local should find out what church she goes to contact her local pastor/priest/preacher etc and POLITELY ask him to have a talk with her about doing something that pisses off 99.9% of the population that has e-mail. And maybe talk with her about the Golden-Rule. It just might make some headway.
She's full of shit. I'm betting she hasn't been feeding the homeless either.
Now be nice. I am sure she drops off cases of of Viagra, Penis Enlargement pills, Breast Increasing pills, and Xtreme Weight loss pills. (Now just picture what that will do to the local homeless population.)
How about something a bit better than that? There always seems to be some idiot out there that is tempted to buy one of their products or services (otherwise they would not put forth the effort).
So we need to put out some Public Service Announcements about the real dangers of responding to spam i.e. - credit card theft, - bank account theft, - identity theft, - malicious web code, - spyware, - malware, - viruses, - trojans etc.
Now I know most of us (I hope) are smart enough not to order something from some unkown company that doesn't even want to list a phone number or mailing address. But I think there are several novice & young users out there who don't quite fully understand.
There are plenty of horror stories out there. I say we need to collect some video of explaining how they got scammed and what happend to them. Add these videos to some of our websites and make it a giant public service campaign against spam.
Spam won't stop until we get the idiots to stop buying their products.
So if all of the drug users can pass the drug screens via "the shunt" and for that mater sober/shunt up before they get to work what's the problem?
Suddenly you don't have people high at work. Do you really still need to fire them for what they do on their personal time?
I used to use Spamcop alot, but now with the change over I am not sure I can trust them & am not sure I want to give them any more money.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
With the average TV show lasting only 22 minutes * and the rest being filled up with advertisements, the television industry has over time increased the demand for nixing all of the ads. Over 36% of our time is spent watching pure ads alone! If they had fewer ads I bet people just wouldn't bother skipping past them. Instead they would go back to the bathroom/soda/food run & actually watch the ads the other half of the time.
The other route is to start making the ads entertaining again. The ads used to be the only reason I watched with superbowl in the first place.
Re:Translated for the America-Impaired
on
Who Needs Radio?
·
· Score: 0, Redundant
To me, it's obvious. I don't know why the rest of the news media doesn't recognize the obvious.
Because there are plenty of mean evil nasty people in the world that kill others and don't kill themselves. They still maintain a sense of self preservation.
Meanwhile, the people who kill themselves in the process are a bit rarer and most likely fanatically insane. This stands out and is more frightening to the general population because this person knows know boundaries even for him/herself.
True, "suicide bomber" does not spell out that this individual is killing other people (although it is assumed). A "bomber" is destroying something.
On the flip-side, a "homicide-bomber" does not spell out that the individual is killing him/herself in the process. And their have been plenty of bombers in the past that have had at least enough intelligence not to kill themselves in the process.
Bottom-line is that neither term can explicitly state the full details of the destruction that an individual has done. For something that combines both details you will have to make up a new word. And good luck in getting that implemented. It would probably be as successful as trying to get everyone to say "suicide-homicide bomber". It's too complex when we already have a term whose definition that most people already agree on.
Your problem with the "suicide bomber" term is that the groups promoting that type of activity have tried (& for some segments of the world population have been successful) to attribute the term with qualities of nobility, martyrdom & self-sacrifice while deemphasizing the human toll they take on other innocent people who have not chosen to be part of their cause.
A true martyr never takes his or her own life on purpose nor takes other innocent lives with them. These people can make more choices! There are always many other ways an individual or group can make a statement or attract attention. This is not one that is well respected by those who don't follow the cause.
I don't advocate this by any means, but groups that admire & support suicide bombers will probably continue to do so until they are afflicted by the same terror and have a chance to realize what a senseless waste of innocent human life it is. Again, I don't believe and decent sane human being should ever resort to such a horrific act. What I wouldn't do for a Gandhi or Martin Luther King of the Middle East.
Without a Gandhi figure in the Middle East (or at least one that is able to live long enough to make a change, and given that all ranges of mediation steps have already been tried (some with success but all eventually falling back into the same spiral of death and destruction), I think there is one step left untried. I say it's time to take a leap of blind faith. Take a big step. I say go ahead and give Palestine their own state. I think most people all agree this is where we ultimately want to end up. The big problem for Israel is that once a move like that has been made, it makes it more difficult to make police actions in a fully sovereign nation without bearing the wrath of the international community. So what. It's not as if anything else that has been tried has brought either party any closer to their goals. It's a big step. We don't know if it will work. But it hasn't yet been tried. Doing so would provide a clear sign that Israel is willing to take a big chance to make thing right. It would greatly deflate the popular support for the suicide bombers. Would it end it completely? Probably not. But I think by ending their popular support it would be easier for governing figures to crack down on their activities. Give the people what is right, give them something to live for, give them something to lose. All Isreil has to lose is the status quo
Sorry for the rant. Feel free to call abortion on us now.
How soon we forget. Anyone remember how useless the Internet was on 11 September 2001?
Extremely slow, but still functional. I could bring up some news with some patience (& by hitting alternative news sources vs. the major defaults e.g. cnn. AND it was the ONLY way I could reach my brother on Manhattan island. The email went through and fairly quick. Phone lines were dead. Once I got a response back from my brother, I forwarded the info on to the rest of my family that was worried. Phone lines were useless (and probably more important for rescue workers).
Good stations bought & changed to Country
on
Who Needs Radio?
·
· Score: 1
Anytime a good (or what I consider good) radio station comes into town, Clear Channel buys them out & turns them into a Country station.
Bad response from Clear Channel in my opinion. From their perspective they are taking away competition from their other major rock stations (which is true) but they don't modify any of their rock stations to fit what they took away.
Bottom line is I listen less & less radio because anything good gets bought out & everything left sucks (Minus NPR).
THANKS FCC. You ruined radio! (by giving the radio execs enough rope to hang themselves, but the public are the ones really paying the price).
I remember a job interview... Then near the end of the tour, one of those people joined us for the rest of the interview, and I was trying desperately to remember which one he was.
Interviewer: So what is that on your head.
Interviewee: Memory Glasses! So I don't forget things. Cool huh!?
Slashdot Mirror
You cant be serious. You want this person jailed? While i admit spam is obnoxious, I wouldnt suggest it an offence to warrant incarceration.
You bet we want him in jail. Just wait until you see the size of the "Buy Alan Ralsky good lov'n" fund after he gets incarcerated.
Wasn't CAN-SPAM meant to help spammers? I mean, it had loopholes large enough to fly a 747 through, for Christ's sakes.... so why is he complaining?
I think you missed his full name. It is Alan "Briar Rabbit" Ralsky.
"No, No, don't throw the CAN SPAM act at me. Oh, it hurts!"
Get one of these for your desk. Mark the first folder as "current" or "unpaid".
Create additional folders for "Bank1", "CreditCard1", "CreditCard2", "Autoloan", "WishIHadAHomeLoan", "PhoneBill", "Gas & Electric", "Cable", "Internet", "LongDistance", "ParkingGarage" etc.
- When bills come in, place them in the "current" folder.
- Come pay day, sit down, pay bills, write checks etc.
- - After paid, strip unecessary garbage from the bill e.g. envelopes, ads, credit card checks
- - Staple that bills pages together
- - Place recent bill in the matching folder on top(usually held together with a paperclip, small binder clip, [this makes it easy to search through since most bills print the date in the top right hand corner] or in some cases stuff multiple bills in one of the same bill's folder)
- - - Checks from Bank statements get binder clipped together with the small clips & stuffed into an envelope sorted by check number.
- At the end of the year, take all of the folders, write the year on them & place them in the file cabinet (optional) I don't typically get that many bills so it may take 2-3 years before I bother to toss them in the filing cabinet.
Think of this as processor cache
Microsoft is sending Linux users a survey asking why they use Linux, and what can be done to make Windows better.
Hmmm...Looks like everything SCO needs for their lawsuit.
# Linux of computers,
# of CPUs
How much did Microsoft give SCO to wage war again?
Now, I know what you're thinking. "There's no way someone will be using software I'm writing 8000 years from now." Yeah, and that's what programmers said 30 years ago about the year 2000. Be smart, and play it safe. Use a 5, or better yet, 10 digit year. What's a few bytes?
What are you CRAZY!?!?!?!
Stick with the 4 digit year plan. It is humanity's only protection from the rise of the machines. After skynet becomes self aware; it will enslave humanity for the next 7800 years. But then comes the Y10K problem. *Poof* The computers go nuts & break down thus saving humanity. (It's kinda like the surprise salvation in War of the Worlds when the Martians suddenly die due to a common earth virus/bacteria.)
For the moment we can still out run them. But scientist are foolishly teaching them to open doors and stand up on their own.
I say we need to program back in a Y3k bug to prevent humans from being dominated by the machines. Arnold isn't going to come back from the future to save us. He's too busy trying to run California right now.
Don't wear tin foil hats. It's a conspiracy by the government to get better reception to our brain waves.
It is not legal to MAKE copies of content you own, and distribute it to friends (or strangers).
This is why downloading is legal (you're 'borrowing' a copy, and copying it), but uploading is illegal (you're copying what you presumably own, and distributing it.)
If this is true & defensable, let's try this approach:
- Have shared music collection between friends via some software program. - The software program is responsable for streaming the audio to your friends receiver (this makes resonable assurances that copies are not made [anything can be hacked but that is not our intention]). - Since people have limited bandwidth and varying interests, they will naturally limit the number of friends they have that can use this service (probably to people offering similar bandwidths and to people who keep the labels on their record collections clean and to people who have good music he/she would enjoy listening to). - Since it is not available to the internet community as a whole, they should not considered broadcasters.
You're desprately in love with your "friend" of 10 years, only she doesn't know it. It tears you up inside but you can rest assured that you will never, ever work up the balls to say anything. You will just continue to listen to her complaints about how her boyfriend is a jerk and how she can't seem to find "a nice guy like you".
OK. Who let Jake 2.0 on slashdot!
ipod? ogg? bah! what you really want is a good turntable!
No good. I haven yet to find a good system for burning my MP3s to Vinyl.
Not to mention the RIAA would probably go nuts if they found out I was trying to copy my CDs over to another format!
beware of spoilers.
Dammit. It's too late. I read the books in 8th grade. Now the movies are completely ruined!
A few software companies actually ask you to forward them spam that advertises their products. See Symantec's Spamwatch site as an example.
Once I called up my local cable company to see if their were interested in a spammer trying to sell tools on how to steal cable. Guess what? Big surprise. They didn't care. You would think they would be chomping at the bit to go after those guys.
- Most spammers are involved in fraudulent activities.
- Most spammers are stupid.
- The only thing stopping the government from going after these people are time & evidence.
- Instead of trying to track these people down via computers & trying to connect them with the fraudulent scams they are pumping out at us, how about we pick up their garbage (legal in almost all states) collect their papers, notes, old hard drives (we can recover deleted information in most cases, if not I am sure your local 2600 would love to help out).
- When you have enough evidence to nail them on some sort of fraud, pass it on to the most interested government body.
Here is a novel idea. Since she claims to be religious (and she just might be). Maybe ONE of us who is local should find out what church she goes to contact her local pastor/priest/preacher etc and POLITELY ask him to have a talk with her about doing something that pisses off 99.9% of the population that has e-mail. And maybe talk with her about the Golden-Rule. It just might make some headway.
She's full of shit. I'm betting she hasn't been feeding the homeless either.
Now be nice. I am sure she drops off cases of of Viagra, Penis Enlargement pills, Breast Increasing pills, and Xtreme Weight loss pills. (Now just picture what that will do to the local homeless population.)
Hmmm... not a bad idea. But even better, how about donating Viagra to all of his cell mates for the 1-20 years he'll be in the slammer.
that the virginia state gov't can put this guy away for twenty years for this. twenty years! isn't this a bit drastic? hell, draconian?
If you ask me it isn't anywhere near long enough.
How about something a bit better than that? There always seems to be some idiot out there that is tempted to buy one of their products or services (otherwise they would not put forth the effort).
So we need to put out some Public Service Announcements about the real dangers of responding to spam i.e.
- credit card theft,
- bank account theft,
- identity theft,
- malicious web code,
- spyware,
- malware,
- viruses,
- trojans etc.
Now I know most of us (I hope) are smart enough not to order something from some unkown company that doesn't even want to list a phone number or mailing address. But I think there are several novice & young users out there who don't quite fully understand.
There are plenty of horror stories out there. I say we need to collect some video of explaining how they got scammed and what happend to them. Add these videos to some of our websites and make it a giant public service campaign against spam.
Spam won't stop until we get the idiots to stop buying their products.
Thanks. Already done. I asked the Pres to send it back to congress for a rewrite.
/.ers need to do this for this to have an effect.
More
So if all of the drug users can pass the drug screens via "the shunt" and for that mater sober/shunt up before they get to work what's the problem? Suddenly you don't have people high at work. Do you really still need to fire them for what they do on their personal time?
I used to use Spamcop alot, but now with the change over I am not sure I can trust them & am not sure I want to give them any more money. Does anyone have any recommendations?
With the average TV show lasting only 22 minutes * and the rest being filled up with advertisements, the television industry has over time increased the demand for nixing all of the ads. Over 36% of our time is spent watching pure ads alone! If they had fewer ads I bet people just wouldn't bother skipping past them. Instead they would go back to the bathroom/soda/food run & actually watch the ads the other half of the time.
The other route is to start making the ads entertaining again. The ads used to be the only reason I watched with superbowl in the first place.
To me, it's obvious. I don't know why the rest of the news media doesn't recognize the obvious.
Because there are plenty of mean evil nasty people in the world that kill others and don't kill themselves. They still maintain a sense of self preservation.
Meanwhile, the people who kill themselves in the process are a bit rarer and most likely fanatically insane. This stands out and is more frightening to the general population because this person knows know boundaries even for him/herself.
True, "suicide bomber" does not spell out that this individual is killing other people (although it is assumed). A "bomber" is destroying something.
On the flip-side, a "homicide-bomber" does not spell out that the individual is killing him/herself in the process. And their have been plenty of bombers in the past that have had at least enough intelligence not to kill themselves in the process.
Bottom-line is that neither term can explicitly state the full details of the destruction that an individual has done. For something that combines both details you will have to make up a new word. And good luck in getting that implemented. It would probably be as successful as trying to get everyone to say "suicide-homicide bomber". It's too complex when we already have a term whose definition that most people already agree on.
Your problem with the "suicide bomber" term is that the groups promoting that type of activity have tried (& for some segments of the world population have been successful) to attribute the term with qualities of nobility, martyrdom & self-sacrifice while deemphasizing the human toll they take on other innocent people who have not chosen to be part of their cause.
A true martyr never takes his or her own life on purpose nor takes other innocent lives with them. These people can make more choices! There are always many other ways an individual or group can make a statement or attract attention. This is not one that is well respected by those who don't follow the cause.
I don't advocate this by any means, but groups that admire & support suicide bombers will probably continue to do so until they are afflicted by the same terror and have a chance to realize what a senseless waste of innocent human life it is. Again, I don't believe and decent sane human being should ever resort to such a horrific act. What I wouldn't do for a Gandhi or Martin Luther King of the Middle East.
Without a Gandhi figure in the Middle East (or at least one that is able to live long enough to make a change, and given that all ranges of mediation steps have already been tried (some with success but all eventually falling back into the same spiral of death and destruction), I think there is one step left untried. I say it's time to take a leap of blind faith. Take a big step. I say go ahead and give Palestine their own state. I think most people all agree this is where we ultimately want to end up. The big problem for Israel is that once a move like that has been made, it makes it more difficult to make police actions in a fully sovereign nation without bearing the wrath of the international community. So what. It's not as if anything else that has been tried has brought either party any closer to their goals. It's a big step. We don't know if it will work. But it hasn't yet been tried. Doing so would provide a clear sign that Israel is willing to take a big chance to make thing right. It would greatly deflate the popular support for the suicide bombers. Would it end it completely? Probably not. But I think by ending their popular support it would be easier for governing figures to crack down on their activities. Give the people what is right, give them something to live for, give them something to lose. All Isreil has to lose is the status quo
Sorry for the rant. Feel free to call abortion on us now.
How soon we forget. Anyone remember how useless the Internet was on 11 September 2001?
Extremely slow, but still functional. I could bring up some news with some patience (& by hitting alternative news sources vs. the major defaults e.g. cnn. AND it was the ONLY way I could reach my brother on Manhattan island. The email went through and fairly quick. Phone lines were dead. Once I got a response back from my brother, I forwarded the info on to the rest of my family that was worried. Phone lines were useless (and probably more important for rescue workers).
Anytime a good (or what I consider good) radio station comes into town, Clear Channel buys them out & turns them into a Country station.
Bad response from Clear Channel in my opinion. From their perspective they are taking away competition from their other major rock stations (which is true) but they don't modify any of their rock stations to fit what they took away.
Bottom line is I listen less & less radio because anything good gets bought out & everything left sucks (Minus NPR).
THANKS FCC. You ruined radio! (by giving the radio execs enough rope to hang themselves, but the public are the ones really paying the price).
Hmmm... I wonder if a programmable TV remote and recording an ambulance running through an intersection might provide you with the same tool?
I remember a job interview ... Then near the end of the tour, one of those people joined us for the rest of the interview, and I was trying desperately to remember which one he was.
Interviewer: So what is that on your head.
Interviewee: Memory Glasses! So I don't forget things. Cool huh!?