Sounds like virii and worms make good money for computer technicians. Reminds me of the owner of the techshop in Golden, BC. He smiled everytime he heard thunder, because it almost always meant a customer would be in the next day.
I was setting up a W2k box once, and in the five minutes between the first boot and the installation of ZoneAlarm, a worm installed itself via NetBIOS.
My fault, I suppose, for leaving it the demilitarized zone. I'm just so used to Linux though -- the idea that a modern OS would permit such a thing to happen is ridiculous.
What, like the USA's current administration, which the evidence overwhelmingly suggests scammed their way into power? That's not democracy, that's a Supreme Court sanctioned dictatorship.
Besides, all democracy means is that you get choose who will take corporate bribes (oh wait, I meant "lobbying") and ignore the voters' desires. Voting doesn't actually DO anything.
Face it, Democracy is a collosal failure. The day political parties started accepting "contributions" was the day that the vote became meaningless.
The UN really should either take over the DNS system, or regulate it (regulation is probably better). After all, DNS is a global system that is important the better part of the world. It clearly falls under the purview of global government.
You've obviously never played "Deus Ex" or "Planescape: Torment". I've read very few books that can come close to what I felt playing those games. And I've read well -- I try to read most of the books that my English-lit major GF reads for her courses and for her own interest.
Video game, ultimately, are superior to all known forms of entertainment, because of the vastly greater subjectivity that video games permit. A novel is a simple, static thing, with predigested emotions and experiences. A video game is dynamic, and can be as much an expression of yourself as it is of the creators. The experience is your own, the emotions are your own.
That's the whole point. Just because video games are entertainment, doesn't mean that they're devoid of valuable cultural expression. There are video games that speak to their players just as profoundly as Casablanca, Beethoven's Ninth, or Catcher in the Rye.
It's ironic that women are the first ones to criticize video games. Conventional forms of entertainment (film, TV, literature, music, etc) don't allow any kind of social interaction -- something women are unusually fond of. Video games, on the other hand, do. Most games support multiplayer, in-game chat, emoticons, etc. Why aren't girls all over this? I'm surprised they aren't the primary consumers of video games.
And yet I doubt you would see anything wrong with watching uneducational fiction like Casablanca, or reading novels for entertainment. And what about symphonies and operas? They teach nothing, they don't better you. They're pure entertainment. That's time you could have spent learning things! Or bettering yourself!
People who criticize video games are hypocrites -- every single one of them. They would never DARE to level a complaint against any of the other trite, meaningless forms of entertainment.
Even a trimmed-mean would be SOMETHING. But governments often deliberately use inappropriate statistical measures for precisely this reason -- it makes the country look good even when it is well on the road to ruin.
A particularly good example is the fact that prison-inmates are usually not counted in unemployment statistics. This makes unemployment seem lower than it actually is. I know the US does this, although I'm not sure which other nations do likewise.
Unfortunately, America will never LOOK like a third-world nation. Rich Americans are still making all the money, so America will still have a high GNP. It's just the other 99% of US citizens who ultimately suffer. And since most Americans are quite gullible, it'll never occur to them that their poverty is not of their own doing.
That said, we have only so much tolerance for Big Brother, and especially for the wishes of our southern brethren. CSIS may do the CIA's bidding, but when an issue is outed and has popular support, they will often back down.
What, and Americans don't? America had some of the world's strongest laws limiting their federal government, and it still didn't help them. An entire nation of paranoid, gun-toting conspiracy nuts who distrust the federal government -- and now they tolerate election tampering and practically live in a despotism.
Believe me, us Canadians are not so far from that. The age of freedom is ending; the age of universal serfdom to the government is beginning.
You can add ALL Java, Perl, and Python software ever written to your list.:)
Besides, I asked how many -- one developer doesn't proves anything. The vast majority of C developers DO write code that permits buffer overflows.
Unchecked buffers need to be eliminated for exactly the same reasons as spaghetti code -- they're usually harmful, and only software-development-supermen can get them right.
Buffer overflow problems are indicative of a lazy or inattentive programmer. I won't go far as to say that only lazy/inattentive programmers are unhappy with C's lack of string (array, really) boundary checking, but it seems to me that it is really easy to avoid.
Do you really believe that the developers of Linux, Gaim, Windows, BSD and/or Unix, and basically every other piece of widely used software, were lazy or inattentive? In fact, how many pieces of software can you name that have NEVER had a buffer overflow exploit?
I bet you don't like seatbelts (only poor drivers need them!) or hospitals (just for people who are careless and don't look after themselves!) either.
It's nice to see that some programmers can approach issues like this one without resorting to intelligence-sapping extremism. I wish I had a mod-point for ya.
Why would the rampant success of bytecode and interpreted languages have any effect on C? Don't get me wrong -- Java, Python, and PHP are three of the best things to EVER happen to Software Development. But that hardly makes C any less important.
It's like comparing the importance of your spinal cord to the importance of your kidneys. They both kick ass and serve a particular purpose; in many cases they complement each other wonderfully. And let's not forget that Python and Java both use C as an extending languge.
These ideas are nice and all, but when are some of them going to be implemented? I'm fortunate enough right now to live in an area with cheap, abundant hydroelectric power, but that's not possible in a lot of places. Reading about these kinds of developments is cool, but I just wish we could actually hear about them being widely deployed.
Seriously, I can't wait for the day when every home has a circady daffodil and a couple of wind turbines on the roof, and a geothermal heat pump in the basement alongside the sewage-power-generator.
It would be great -- the utility companies primary responsibilities would be to store excess power generated by people's homes, supply industrial power, and make up for shortfalls.
We're certainly not in a whole lot better boat. Just like you Yanks need Instant Run-off voting, we need Proportional Representation.
As for Clinton, he really wasn't substantially different than Bush. He blocked laws reducing mercury levels in the water, he denied financial aid to other countries if ANY of it would be used to perform abortions, and so on.
The only difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Democrats have to lie to get votes; Republicans don't bother.
If I were American, I wouldn't be a Naderer. In fact, I would vote Republican for as many elections as it took to punish the Democrats back into being a truely left-wing party.
America NEEDS a nation-wide riot. When the government is that insensitive to the demands of the people, it's time to break out the old guillotine.
Hell, the fact that America has only two respected political parties (indistinguishable from each other, no less) should be cause enough for concern. Gerrymandering, voting systems that can't be audited, and a complete disrespect for the American Constitution by both parties; it's a wonder Americans can sleep at night.
40k is squat? I gather you're not familiar with the US's economy (30k is the MEAN). I hardly have pity on anyone who's starting wage is above their nation's average, and will be higher still after just a few years.
Funny how Americans only care about massacres and dictators in countries that have OIL or other useful resources. Yugoslavia would have been irrelevant if not for it's oil pipelines. Iraq? Any idiot knew that war was just about oil. If the US had cared about those millions of people, they wouldn't have armed Saddam in the first place.
I suppose that if you like having the healthcare system discriminate by wealth, then private healthcare would be great. Personally, I consider life to be a right -- not a privilege of wealth. If that takes money, fine.
I can't imagine giving the government 25% of my income to support a military that hasn't done anything useful in over 50 years. Why not privatize your military? You could rule the world at a fraction the cost!
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Sounds like virii and worms make good money for computer technicians. Reminds me of the owner of the techshop in Golden, BC. He smiled everytime he heard thunder, because it almost always meant a customer would be in the next day.
My fault, I suppose, for leaving it the demilitarized zone. I'm just so used to Linux though -- the idea that a modern OS would permit such a thing to happen is ridiculous.
Besides, all democracy means is that you get choose who will take corporate bribes (oh wait, I meant "lobbying") and ignore the voters' desires. Voting doesn't actually DO anything.
Face it, Democracy is a collosal failure. The day political parties started accepting "contributions" was the day that the vote became meaningless.
The UN really should either take over the DNS system, or regulate it (regulation is probably better). After all, DNS is a global system that is important the better part of the world. It clearly falls under the purview of global government.
Video game, ultimately, are superior to all known forms of entertainment, because of the vastly greater subjectivity that video games permit. A novel is a simple, static thing, with predigested emotions and experiences. A video game is dynamic, and can be as much an expression of yourself as it is of the creators. The experience is your own, the emotions are your own.
That's the whole point. Just because video games are entertainment, doesn't mean that they're devoid of valuable cultural expression. There are video games that speak to their players just as profoundly as Casablanca, Beethoven's Ninth, or Catcher in the Rye.
It's ironic that women are the first ones to criticize video games. Conventional forms of entertainment (film, TV, literature, music, etc) don't allow any kind of social interaction -- something women are unusually fond of. Video games, on the other hand, do. Most games support multiplayer, in-game chat, emoticons, etc. Why aren't girls all over this? I'm surprised they aren't the primary consumers of video games.
People who criticize video games are hypocrites -- every single one of them. They would never DARE to level a complaint against any of the other trite, meaningless forms of entertainment.
People who disparage video games are simply painting an unflattering picture of themselves in the books in tomorrow.
A particularly good example is the fact that prison-inmates are usually not counted in unemployment statistics. This makes unemployment seem lower than it actually is. I know the US does this, although I'm not sure which other nations do likewise.
Unfortunately, America will never LOOK like a third-world nation. Rich Americans are still making all the money, so America will still have a high GNP. It's just the other 99% of US citizens who ultimately suffer. And since most Americans are quite gullible, it'll never occur to them that their poverty is not of their own doing.
Believe me, us Canadians are not so far from that. The age of freedom is ending; the age of universal serfdom to the government is beginning.
Besides, I asked how many -- one developer doesn't proves anything. The vast majority of C developers DO write code that permits buffer overflows.
Unchecked buffers need to be eliminated for exactly the same reasons as spaghetti code -- they're usually harmful, and only software-development-supermen can get them right.
Hah! I kill me.
I bet you don't like seatbelts (only poor drivers need them!) or hospitals (just for people who are careless and don't look after themselves!) either.
It's nice to see that some programmers can approach issues like this one without resorting to intelligence-sapping extremism. I wish I had a mod-point for ya.
C's only strengths are speed and easy access to hardware.
String boundary checking SHOULD be a feature of any modern language -- or do you enjoy buffer overflow exploits?
It's like comparing the importance of your spinal cord to the importance of your kidneys. They both kick ass and serve a particular purpose; in many cases they complement each other wonderfully. And let's not forget that Python and Java both use C as an extending languge.
Seriously, I can't wait for the day when every home has a circady daffodil and a couple of wind turbines on the roof, and a geothermal heat pump in the basement alongside the sewage-power-generator.
It would be great -- the utility companies primary responsibilities would be to store excess power generated by people's homes, supply industrial power, and make up for shortfalls.
You're confusing what the Democrats say with what they do. What have they actually done for working-class Americans?
As for Clinton, he really wasn't substantially different than Bush. He blocked laws reducing mercury levels in the water, he denied financial aid to other countries if ANY of it would be used to perform abortions, and so on.
The only difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Democrats have to lie to get votes; Republicans don't bother.
If I were American, I wouldn't be a Naderer. In fact, I would vote Republican for as many elections as it took to punish the Democrats back into being a truely left-wing party.
Hell, the fact that America has only two respected political parties (indistinguishable from each other, no less) should be cause enough for concern. Gerrymandering, voting systems that can't be audited, and a complete disrespect for the American Constitution by both parties; it's a wonder Americans can sleep at night.
40k is squat? I gather you're not familiar with the US's economy (30k is the MEAN). I hardly have pity on anyone who's starting wage is above their nation's average, and will be higher still after just a few years.
Funny how Americans only care about massacres and dictators in countries that have OIL or other useful resources. Yugoslavia would have been irrelevant if not for it's oil pipelines. Iraq? Any idiot knew that war was just about oil. If the US had cared about those millions of people, they wouldn't have armed Saddam in the first place.
I can't imagine giving the government 25% of my income to support a military that hasn't done anything useful in over 50 years. Why not privatize your military? You could rule the world at a fraction the cost!