"Wouldn't it be convenient if your birthday, Christmas, and the Fourth of July--not to mention most other major holidays--all fell on the same day of the week, year after year?"
No? What if your birthday is on a Monday? Nobody wants that. Everyone wants a Friday or Saturday birthday.
It would be extremely convenient, but in the unpleasant sort of way that kids with July birthdays know they will never get special "birthday" treatment in school.
"Newton Week would pop up irregularly: 2009, 2015, 2020 and 2026"
Yes, that's far easier than keeping track of months with different numbers of days... not. I'd rather have 13 28-day months, with the extra day or two rotated through the calendar. I'd also like to see if we could slow down the Earth to create 30 hour days.
My system is much more convenient than this Newton Week thing. I'd simply insert an extra day into a nice week in August . One week would have two Saturdays one right after the other, creating an extra three day weekend and an extra day to lay around in the sun. It tends to happen anyway to those of us who lose track of time while on vacation.
Problem is, 52*7=364 not 366, so I should probably looking into an unpleasant week to make a day shorter.
That's just it. Monster.com is the only jobsite anyone can remember. It's a plot to put Monster out of business since with the.jobs domain, all we need do is google for "uberlord site:*.jobs". this would put the general jobsites out of bizness.
This is simply a make work program for all those in the domain registration business. I don't think it will make life any easier for users. Everyone who has already spent money buying the all the tlds for their tradename to sit in front of will just have to go and buy a few more. Domain names are just cheap enough and trademarks are valuable enough that most tradename owners will pay this tax.
Assuming computer code needs protection, I would much rather see it copyrighted than patented. A patent would prohibit or at least complicate the reuse of an algorithm whereas copyright simply applies to the particular implementation. A patent would be like prohibiting all "How To" books on a subject instead of simply unauthorized copying of the text an author used to express an idea.
Of course, this begs the question of whether computer code needs protection at all? In my opinion, source code should receive the same protections as any other procedure manual. And so should any code compiled from that source code, since the compiled code is simply the source code translated into a different format, media, or language.
IP law recognizes that it would be stupid for inventors, authors, and other creators to work in a vacuum. If innovations could only be protected by being kept as trade secrets, all creators would need to start from scratch. This is not the way things work, not if you want to allow progress. Progress depends on creators building on the work of those who came before them. If source code was copyrighted, by law it would be available to other authors and could be cited in their work.
So IP law creates a limited monopoly. In exchange for publicizing their work, which benefits everyone even the creator, creators are allowed to profit from it. If creators would rather keep their work to themselves inspite of it being of use to others, then the monopoly needs to become more profitable. But additional use of creative work adds value to the original work. Society, original creators, and creators who build on an existing idea should all benefit. IP law exists to provide a means for all interested parties to negotiate fair use and fair compensation.
Same here, homonym swaps never happened when I was younger, now, it's hear/here, site/sight, they're/there/their/ and write/rite/right all the time. I think it's because I type so much without reading while I type. thank/. for the preview button.
This comment is very sensible. Someone needs to mod down the stuff that appears closer to the top.
The internal business of corporations and other big users doesn't need to be conducted on the internet. Most of these users have or had private internets back in the 80's before the Internet could be used for commercial purposes. If corporations continued to operate their private networks in the backgrounds and only used the Internet for customer access to limited services, they could still get their business done.
That executive who wants to check out the status of his nuclear power plants from the comforts of home should dial in to the corporate net directly using a modem that verifies his identity, just like back in the 80's. The old methods still work, with a little updating, they will be more secure and probably more convenient than the public network.
The real problem is websites that should be secure don't take security seriously. When knowledgeable geeks complain, something should happen. Nowadays, when a website screws up, Customer Support tends to say "It's your fault since you don't use IE". If sloppy sites don't fix their own problems, whichever arm of the government regulates their industry should force them to. Since no arm of the government regulates free speech, that shouldn't be an issue unless they make some new laws, but they already have the power to shut down dangerous financial and many other websites. Maybe they should use it.
Since User -> Customer Service doesn't work, maybe
User-> Government Regulator -> Regulated Company
should be set up
Or maybe the CIA should just read/. and other places where security exploits get reported quickly.
it does raise the question -- what is the impact on Slashdot of being portrayed in a positive light in a major news media article in the NYT going to be?
Slashdot gets slashdotted, by nonnerds at that, maybe even jocks!
Even though I have a information free loyalty card that I picked up in a different part of town, I still only go to Kroger in emergencies.
Since they are the only store open after midnight, they must wonder who this occassional shopper from the other side of the metro area is that only drops in at 2 am. they shoud, but I'm sure they don't.
Well, punch card machines are a piece of shit, no doubt. Optical scan are better.
Ever since my kid (who is usually in the 99 percentile) got a 0 on a standardized test, I've been leery of opscan systems.
Optical scan can screw up if the voter doesn't mark the ballot properly, it seems about as difficult as punching a hole properly. At least in Georgia the standard was whether or not light came through the hole, so pregant chad wouldn't have been a problem to count.
My favorite system is to use the e-terminal to present the ballot options to the voter, accept input from the voter, check for voter error, and then mark or punch a paper ballot. Machine mark/punched ballots would be unambiguous and the voter would benefit from the error checking. The machine could also keep a tally which may be verified by counting the paper ballots.
Even if they "needed" more memory, I'm sure the citizens of NC would much rather their elections department sprang for the 64 MB model instead of having to pay $3,000,000 to do the election over again.
They don't have a choice about redoing the election. The only choice they have is whether to spend the money to upgrade the machines. They might prefer to retrain the poll workers.
And I agree, they should backup the ram after every vote.
L.E. Pond, chairman of the local elections board, was ready with pages copied from the UniLect instruction manual. The warning appears mixed in with other commands, he said, with no explanation of what to do if it pops up."
It never ceases to amaze me how many users accept this sort of excuse. Users shouldn't be so quick to accept the blame for badly designed user interfaces. Sure, we can't expect all users to be competent design engineers, but a large number of them should be smart enough to understand that it isn't hard to make a machine that provides legible error messages and stops functioning when it detects an error that requires human intervention. But, I guess the human kept hitting the "I fixed the problem" command repeatedly and the programmer hadn't anticipated that work around.
That's why we have 50 states, so that all possible idiotic scenarios get tested. Of course, when you think of how many people are perfectly satisfied with Windows.
I hope it doesn't happen much, but I am so glad it happened. I truly think that it will take the visibility and expense of a few redone elections to get the point across that electonic voting terminals need paper trails and other security features. This is not wasted money if it prods us into having better elections.
Washington State is having a similar problem with its Governors Race. Less than 300 votes separate the candidates.
It depends on the ads. If it simply replaces what you already see with a logo and doesn't take up extra time, it doesn't damage the fast forwarding experience.
I didn't vote for the amendment either. I'm not gay, but I don't think the Feds belong in the mariage business at all, so maybe my vote was illogical, but it didn't matter much.
It seems here that although 85% voted to define marriage as a union of a man and a women, most are for civil unions, but that's not what was on the ballot.
In fact, they only put the first line of each amendment on the ballot. That pissed me off so much, I didn't vote for any of them. The ole butterfly always had the whole thing on it, now they expect me to study up on it all before I vote. How inconvenient.
I'd be willing to bet that you dont really know much about the war on drugs in colombia other than that they are growing drugs and the US doesnt want them to.
But, that's where you are wrong, the US does want them. Maybe not the people responsible for spraying, but the people responsible for importing and buying.
Besides, what's the logic of spraying Roundup on people's crops? Eventually only Roundup resistant crops will be grown and they are more likely to be cash crops than ordinary beans and rice. If someone is going to all the trouble to breed Roundup resistant crops, they'll breed something worth the effort.
That's just it, I don't even need a Google bookmark. Safari comes with a google box on the address bar, and if I'd rather not type at all, I can highlight text with my mouse and use the right button to Google on it. Maybe I shouldn't let Apple think for me, but they do a better job than Microsoft does for its customers.
That website was news to me. Never occurred to me to enter that URL, and I probably never will (I clicked on it this time). The URL is too long for something as routine as a search. Besides it looks too much like a clone.
Ohio didn't use computerized voting systems. They decided to use whatever they used last time because their nice new computerized systems didn't have a paper trail.
Many states allow a candidate to skip the time consuming, expensive petition process if his party gets a certain percentage of the vote in the previous election. The stated purpose of the petitioning is to eliminate people who don't have significant support.
Slashdot Mirror
It would be extremely convenient, but in the unpleasant sort of way that kids with July birthdays know they will never get special "birthday" treatment in school.
My system is much more convenient than this Newton Week thing. I'd simply insert an extra day into a nice week in August . One week would have two Saturdays one right after the other, creating an extra three day weekend and an extra day to lay around in the sun. It tends to happen anyway to those of us who lose track of time while on vacation.
Problem is, 52*7=364 not 366, so I should probably looking into an unpleasant week to make a day shorter.
[ Reply to This ]
That's just it. Monster.com is the only jobsite anyone can remember. It's a plot to put Monster out of business since with the .jobs domain, all we need do is google for "uberlord site:*.jobs". this would put the general jobsites out of bizness.
This is simply a make work program for all those in the domain registration business. I don't think it will make life any easier for users. Everyone who has already spent money buying the all the tlds for their tradename to sit in front of will just have to go and buy a few more. Domain names are just cheap enough and trademarks are valuable enough that most tradename owners will pay this tax.
Assuming computer code needs protection, I would much rather see it copyrighted than patented. A patent would prohibit or at least complicate the reuse of an algorithm whereas copyright simply applies to the particular implementation. A patent would be like prohibiting all "How To" books on a subject instead of simply unauthorized copying of the text an author used to express an idea.
Of course, this begs the question of whether computer code needs protection at all? In my opinion, source code should receive the same protections as any other procedure manual. And so should any code compiled from that source code, since the compiled code is simply the source code translated into a different format, media, or language.
IP law recognizes that it would be stupid for inventors, authors, and other creators to work in a vacuum. If innovations could only be protected by being kept as trade secrets, all creators would need to start from scratch. This is not the way things work, not if you want to allow progress. Progress depends on creators building on the work of those who came before them. If source code was copyrighted, by law it would be available to other authors and could be cited in their work.
So IP law creates a limited monopoly. In exchange for publicizing their work, which benefits everyone even the creator, creators are allowed to profit from it. If creators would rather keep their work to themselves inspite of it being of use to others, then the monopoly needs to become more profitable. But additional use of creative work adds value to the original work. Society, original creators, and creators who build on an existing idea should all benefit. IP law exists to provide a means for all interested parties to negotiate fair use and fair compensation.
Same here, homonym swaps never happened when I was younger, now, it's hear/here, site/sight, they're/there/their/ and write/rite/right all the time. I think it's because I type so much without reading while I type. thank /. for the preview button.
This comment is very sensible. Someone needs to mod down the stuff that appears closer to the top.
The internal business of corporations and other big users doesn't need to be conducted on the internet. Most of these users have or had private internets back in the 80's before the Internet could be used for commercial purposes. If corporations continued to operate their private networks in the backgrounds and only used the Internet for customer access to limited services, they could still get their business done.
That executive who wants to check out the status of his nuclear power plants from the comforts of home should dial in to the corporate net directly using a modem that verifies his identity, just like back in the 80's. The old methods still work, with a little updating, they will be more secure and probably more convenient than the public network.
The real problem is websites that should be secure don't take security seriously. When knowledgeable geeks complain, something should happen. Nowadays, when a website screws up, Customer Support tends to say "It's your fault since you don't use IE". If sloppy sites don't fix their own problems, whichever arm of the government regulates their industry should force them to. Since no arm of the government regulates free speech, that shouldn't be an issue unless they make some new laws, but they already have the power to shut down dangerous financial and many other websites. Maybe they should use it.
/. and other places where security exploits get reported quickly.
Since User -> Customer Service doesn't work, maybe
User-> Government Regulator -> Regulated Company
should be set up
Or maybe the CIA should just read
it does raise the question -- what is the impact on Slashdot of being portrayed in a positive light in a major news media article in the NYT going to be?
Slashdot gets slashdotted, by nonnerds at that, maybe even jocks!
Even though I have a information free loyalty card that I picked up in a different part of town, I still only go to Kroger in emergencies.
Since they are the only store open after midnight, they must wonder who this occassional shopper from the other side of the metro area is that only drops in at 2 am. they shoud, but I'm sure they don't.
Publix, Ingles, and Kroger?
Well, punch card machines are a piece of shit, no doubt. Optical scan are better.
Ever since my kid (who is usually in the 99 percentile) got a 0 on a standardized test, I've been leery of opscan systems.
Optical scan can screw up if the voter doesn't mark the ballot properly, it seems about as difficult as punching a hole properly. At least in Georgia the standard was whether or not light came through the hole, so pregant chad wouldn't have been a problem to count.
My favorite system is to use the e-terminal to present the ballot options to the voter, accept input from the voter, check for voter error, and then mark or punch a paper ballot. Machine mark/punched ballots would be unambiguous and the voter would benefit from the error checking. The machine could also keep a tally which may be verified by counting the paper ballots.
They don't have a choice about redoing the election. The only choice they have is whether to spend the money to upgrade the machines. They might prefer to retrain the poll workers.
And I agree, they should backup the ram after every vote.
L.E. Pond, chairman of the local elections board, was ready with pages copied from the UniLect instruction manual. The warning appears mixed in with other commands, he said, with no explanation of what to do if it pops up."
It never ceases to amaze me how many users accept this sort of excuse. Users shouldn't be so quick to accept the blame for badly designed user interfaces. Sure, we can't expect all users to be competent design engineers, but a large number of them should be smart enough to understand that it isn't hard to make a machine that provides legible error messages and stops functioning when it detects an error that requires human intervention. But, I guess the human kept hitting the "I fixed the problem" command repeatedly and the programmer hadn't anticipated that work around.
That's why we have 50 states, so that all possible idiotic scenarios get tested. Of course, when you think of how many people are perfectly satisfied with Windows.
I hope it doesn't happen much, but I am so glad it happened. I truly think that it will take the visibility and expense of a few redone elections to get the point across that electonic voting terminals need paper trails and other security features. This is not wasted money if it prods us into having better elections.
Washington State is having a similar problem with its Governors Race. Less than 300 votes separate the candidates.
It depends on the ads. If it simply replaces what you already see with a logo and doesn't take up extra time, it doesn't damage the fast forwarding experience.
Considering that it might save a pharmacist even a few minutes per day, it more than pays for itself immediately.
Don't think for a minute that these savings will be passed through to the customer. It will still be used to justify a price increase.
Does he regret what he did now that he understands that he motivated more Republicans to vote than Democrats?
I didn't vote for the amendment either. I'm not gay, but I don't think the Feds belong in the mariage business at all, so maybe my vote was illogical, but it didn't matter much.
It seems here that although 85% voted to define marriage as a union of a man and a women, most are for civil unions, but that's not what was on the ballot.
In fact, they only put the first line of each amendment on the ballot. That pissed me off so much, I didn't vote for any of them. The ole butterfly always had the whole thing on it, now they expect me to study up on it all before I vote. How inconvenient.
I mean, I don't even do that, I just highlight it and click.
I have autocomplete, too. I agree, that's almost as handy, I put s in the addressbar and go straight to slashdot.
But, that's where you are wrong, the US does want them. Maybe not the people responsible for spraying, but the people responsible for importing and buying.
Besides, what's the logic of spraying Roundup on people's crops? Eventually only Roundup resistant crops will be grown and they are more likely to be cash crops than ordinary beans and rice. If someone is going to all the trouble to breed Roundup resistant crops, they'll breed something worth the effort.
That's just it, I don't even need a Google bookmark. Safari comes with a google box on the address bar, and if I'd rather not type at all, I can highlight text with my mouse and use the right button to Google on it. Maybe I shouldn't let Apple think for me, but they do a better job than Microsoft does for its customers.
That website was news to me. Never occurred to me to enter that URL, and I probably never will (I clicked on it this time). The URL is too long for something as routine as a search. Besides it looks too much like a clone.
Ohio didn't use computerized voting systems. They decided to use whatever they used last time because their nice new computerized systems didn't have a paper trail.
Many states allow a candidate to skip the time consuming, expensive petition process if his party gets a certain percentage of the vote in the previous election. The stated purpose of the petitioning is to eliminate people who don't have significant support.
Glad I'm not the only one who read it that way.
At first I though they had patented Public Meetings, thought maybe it was a UKism for a political gathering