This could be very useful. The thing is that the perception of human researchers is always skewed by assumptions and the human tendency to generalize any problem, based on incomplete data. (Useful in survival-of-the fittest scenarios, but potentially counterproductive when doing research.) Machines deal with facts, period. They may expose things we previously ignored or crammed into categories that don't really fit the bill. (Of course, if the data fed to the machine is presented in a form which has already been sorted/validated by a human researcher, the system is still tainted.) A finer-grained categorization can result in better tuned defenses against annoying/subversive crapware.
I really hope writing your rep will help out, but I'm afraid the problem with that is that power has been consolidated with a small group of interdependent powermongers that reside in ivory-tower-city. (Washington, Brussels,... you name it.)
They care more about staying in power and scratching each others back and helping out any organisation or lobby that is willing to fund their election campaign, instead of catering to the will of the people that pay taxes for them to take their responsibility and do their job and maintain and improve democratic governement.
I support that organisations/companies/[generic entities] have their rights within a democracy, but sometimes things get way out of hand because of too much power being concentrated with the kind of people that get a hardon from milking the masses for their own gain, by whatever means and damn the consequences.
Small / independent US reps can try and do their share for democracy, but I fear they generally lack the backing and the political clout to correct situations like this one; they get sidelined if they stir up too much trouble. (Scissors beat paper, money beats civil liberties.)
Obsolete/monopolistic businesses like the the **AA's members generating FUD about IP rights in the media and pushing self-serving bills thru congress should be sued into the ground for the way they drive their agenda to the detriment of civil liberties; they aggresively try to change the rules for their own benefit with complete disregard for the impact this has on society. Now they succeeded in exporting their shenanigans to Sweden:-/
I'm glad the Swedish media are making a big deal out of this. Too bad it will be kept a domestic issue. In a month most non-Swedes will have forgotten all about the raid on TPB, and it is unlikely Sweden will point fingers to whoever is behind this if it's the **AA. (Not proven, afaik.)
Sorry if I sound a bit cynical, but a) Power corrupts. From what I've seen, a lot of politicians are attention whores when elections come around, and if they don't come with a pricetag, there's still intimidation by their peer politicians. Most of them just ride whatever issues are hot at the time as a vehicle to get more votes for their party. Lacking any real issues, they'll just invent or inflate a problem. b) I'm a dirty libertine with a hangover.
When the US govt and/or the **AA's are leaning on other countries with enough pressure to influence the way they enforce justice to the point that they *break their own laws*, I think the citizens of those countries have a right to bitch about that. I'm sure you wouldn't exactly be cheering with joy if Sweden pushed American law enforcement agencies to arrest American citizens for something that is not illegal in the USA.
> The U.S.A.: Its a work in progress, either help out, or SHUT THE FUCK UP!
Is this another way of stating that we are either with you or against you ? How silly. Also, please remind me how foreigners can influence US policy ?
> try something besides sounding like a bunch of 3rd graders
> stick a Mac in my rucksack, and let it work out how many calories I burn cycling to work?
No, you need the macGyver model for this, which weighs approximately 50 bricks (*), and is made out of duct tape, a blunt pencil, and rusty droid parts. But don't be too proud of this technological terror you have purchased.
Nonsense. (...although I can understand why this would be a popular thing to say around here.)
Programming only has to be complex if you don't invest some of your time preparing, structuring, and planning before you start coding. (at least 10% of your time, >30% for complicated systems.) Cars and their production lines are not puzzled together on the fly without proper analysis, architecturing, process design, etc. When creating a complex piece of software, the same applies.
Of course, you may choose to proceed without thinking about what you are doing, and go Rambo-style in you programming environment. Although this is a pretty stupid thing to do, it is certainly a way to make programming more difficult than designing a car:)
They're just boiling the frog. If they had it their greedy little way, you'd just hand over your salary and "they" would deduct whatever losses they had incurred from "piracy". Using RIAA/MPAA math, this would come down to be about ten times more than what you could possibly earn, and when you are bled dry they put you in work camps where you get to shovel DRM into CD boxes all day + you get to sign away all IP rights to your DNA and anything leaving your body in whatever form, in exchange for food... and free music.
I found it a lot more amusing than other DM games. It's satisfying to humiliate rpg-wielding Patton-wannabes by crushing them with a toilet/cabinet/bicycle, or throw television sets to cops from a second floor window. (I hope Jack Thompson isn't reading this.) It's not deus-ex-different, but it's different enough to be interesting.
Some of the suggestions amount to becoming what's part of the problem : people driving a personal agenda on company time, and damn the consequences.
While this is ok as long as it doesn't conflict with the interests of the company or screws somebody out of their job, it's what's at the root of a lot of efficiency problems within large organisations.
A handful of politically clever people tend to position themselves on strategic positions within the organisation, and purposefully create bottlenecks. They control the resources - be it knowledge, access privileges, hardware, funds, you name it. This control is then used as leverage to further their own personal agenda. I'm sure most of you recognize or remember some of these pricks from current or past working environments. You need something, file the papers and after waiting a few days/weeks the bureaucratic treadmill stalls somewhere. It turns out you landed on some controlfreak's turf and he/she doesn't cooperate, simply because *you have nothing that can further their cause*. Doesn't really matter if it's their job to help you. If you escalate problems like these up, it tends to fly up so high that when the shit comes down again, everybody gets splattered, including you for stirring up trouble. Usually these guys have big umbrellas too, because, you know, Bill's cool; when in trouble ask Bill, he get's things done. Of course he does, Bill is running the whole dog and pony show because he controls resources people need. Power.
I find it striking that these kind of shenanigans are still par for the course in most companies. I dare say it has to do with the prevailing attitude in (bad) middle management ? -- a lot of them fit this picture perfectly.
When you try to streamline business processes and workflow, introduce roles, responsibilities, accountabilities, and *gasp* add time windows for tasks/subprocesses, you'll notice that it's these guys that will most actively stir up the environment against these pagan, new-turk ideas. (It erodes their power.)
If you come accross one of these guys, you have a few choices. - Surrender. Get some kneepads and chapstick. Brown your nose. - War. Beware, they travel in packs. You probably won't win. - Acceptance. Decide you don't care. It's just work, have a life outside it. - Work your way around them. (I'd go with this one.)
If some punk hits with a stick, you hit back with another stick; the same principle applies.
Everybody has their own agenda; negotiation power lies in knowing what the other party's agenda is and having the ability to realize their goals, or, the other way around, make it very costly for them to do so.
Basically it's bartering for services and goods, but on a larger scale:)
Slashdot Mirror
I bet he still remembers Belgium as the place where he got a pie smeared in his face a few years ago :)
http://www.bitstorm.org/gates/
Yep, free entertainment.
m ent.
It's like the sitcom that wouldn't die.
*grabs more popcorn*
Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commit
This could be very useful.
The thing is that the perception of human researchers is always skewed by assumptions and the human tendency to generalize any problem, based on incomplete data. (Useful in survival-of-the fittest scenarios, but potentially counterproductive when doing research.)
Machines deal with facts, period.
They may expose things we previously ignored or crammed into categories that don't really fit the bill.
(Of course, if the data fed to the machine is presented in a form which has already been sorted/validated by a human researcher, the system is still tainted.)
A finer-grained categorization can result in better tuned defenses against annoying/subversive crapware.
I'm kind of surprised they didn't call it the lemmiwinks bot.
I really hope writing your rep will help out, but I'm afraid the problem with that is that power has been consolidated with a small group of interdependent powermongers that reside in ivory-tower-city. (Washington, Brussels,... you name it.)
:-/
They care more about staying in power and scratching each others back and helping out any organisation or lobby that is willing to fund their election campaign, instead of catering to the will of the people that pay taxes for them to take their responsibility and do their job and maintain and improve democratic governement.
I support that organisations/companies/[generic entities] have their rights within a democracy, but sometimes things get way out of hand because of too much power being concentrated with the kind of people that get a hardon from milking the masses for their own gain, by whatever means and damn the consequences.
Small / independent US reps can try and do their share for democracy, but I fear they generally lack the backing and the political clout to correct situations like this one; they get sidelined if they stir up too much trouble.
(Scissors beat paper, money beats civil liberties.)
Obsolete/monopolistic businesses like the the **AA's members generating FUD about IP rights in the media and pushing self-serving bills thru congress should be sued into the ground for the way they drive their agenda to the detriment of civil liberties; they aggresively try to change the rules for their own benefit with complete disregard for the impact this has on society.
Now they succeeded in exporting their shenanigans to Sweden
I'm glad the Swedish media are making a big deal out of this.
Too bad it will be kept a domestic issue. In a month most non-Swedes will have forgotten all about the raid on TPB, and it is unlikely Sweden will point fingers to whoever is behind this if it's the **AA. (Not proven, afaik.)
Sorry if I sound a bit cynical, but
a) Power corrupts. From what I've seen, a lot of politicians are attention whores when elections come around, and if they don't come with a pricetag, there's still intimidation by their peer politicians. Most of them just ride whatever issues are hot at the time as a vehicle to get more votes for their party. Lacking any real issues, they'll just invent or inflate a problem.
b) I'm a dirty libertine with a hangover.
When the US govt and/or the **AA's are leaning on other countries with enough pressure to influence the way they enforce justice to the point that they *break their own laws*, I think the citizens of those countries have a right to bitch about that.
I'm sure you wouldn't exactly be cheering with joy if Sweden pushed American law enforcement agencies to arrest American citizens for something that is not illegal in the USA.
> The U.S.A.: Its a work in progress, either help out, or SHUT THE FUCK UP!
Is this another way of stating that we are either with you or against you ? How silly.
Also, please remind me how foreigners can influence US policy ?
> try something besides sounding like a bunch of 3rd graders
Thanks for the hint.
> stick a Mac in my rucksack, and let it work out how many calories I burn cycling to work?
No, you need the macGyver model for this, which weighs approximately 50 bricks (*), and is made out of duct tape, a blunt pencil, and rusty droid parts.
But don't be too proud of this technological terror you have purchased.
(*) imperial bricks.
>people are scared shitless of terrorists.
Mod me redundant, but i'm scared shitless of the US gov't.
Nonsense.
:)
(...although I can understand why this would be a popular thing to say around here.)
Programming only has to be complex if you don't invest some of your time preparing, structuring, and planning before you start coding. (at least 10% of your time, >30% for complicated systems.)
Cars and their production lines are not puzzled together on the fly without proper analysis, architecturing, process design, etc. When creating a complex piece of software, the same applies.
Of course, you may choose to proceed without thinking about what you are doing, and go Rambo-style in you programming environment. Although this is a pretty stupid thing to do, it is certainly a way to make programming more difficult than designing a car
(OT) Their cheerful behaviour when smoking suggests longbottom leaf is not just tobacco :)
>You don't have to live at your desk.
I was about to answer "You must be new around here" when I noticed your four-number id.
They're just boiling the frog. ... and free music.
If they had it their greedy little way, you'd just hand over your salary and "they" would deduct whatever losses they had incurred from "piracy".
Using RIAA/MPAA math, this would come down to be about ten times more than what you could possibly earn, and when you are bled dry they put you in work camps where you get to shovel DRM into CD boxes all day + you get to sign away all IP rights to your DNA and anything leaving your body in whatever form, in exchange for food
> Deathmatch is mediocre at best.
I found it a lot more amusing than other DM games.
It's satisfying to humiliate rpg-wielding Patton-wannabes by crushing them with a toilet/cabinet/bicycle, or throw television sets to cops from a second floor window.
(I hope Jack Thompson isn't reading this.)
It's not deus-ex-different, but it's different enough to be interesting.
But I liked Daikatana too. Maybe it's just me.
Chinese people seen making strange faces all the time. Beijing denies bird flu link.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ballmer.
Some of the suggestions amount to becoming what's part of the problem : people driving a personal agenda on company time, and damn the consequences.
While this is ok as long as it doesn't conflict with the interests of the company or screws somebody out of their job, it's what's at the root of a lot of efficiency problems within large organisations.
A handful of politically clever people tend to position themselves on strategic positions within the organisation, and purposefully create bottlenecks. They control the resources - be it knowledge, access privileges, hardware, funds, you name it.
This control is then used as leverage to further their own personal agenda. I'm sure most of you recognize or remember some of these pricks from current or past working environments. You need something, file the papers and after waiting a few days/weeks the bureaucratic treadmill stalls somewhere. It turns out you landed on some controlfreak's turf and he/she doesn't cooperate, simply because *you have nothing that can further their cause*. Doesn't really matter if it's their job to help you. If you escalate problems like these up, it tends to fly up so high that when the shit comes down again, everybody gets splattered, including you for stirring up trouble.
Usually these guys have big umbrellas too, because, you know, Bill's cool; when in trouble ask Bill, he get's things done. Of course he does, Bill is running the whole dog and pony show because he controls resources people need. Power.
I find it striking that these kind of shenanigans are still par for the course in most companies. I dare say it has to do with the prevailing attitude in (bad) middle management ? -- a lot of them fit this picture perfectly.
When you try to streamline business processes and workflow, introduce roles, responsibilities, accountabilities, and *gasp* add time windows for tasks/subprocesses, you'll notice that it's these guys that will most actively stir up the environment against these pagan, new-turk ideas. (It erodes their power.)
If you come accross one of these guys, you have a few choices.
- Surrender. Get some kneepads and chapstick. Brown your nose.
- War. Beware, they travel in packs. You probably won't win.
- Acceptance. Decide you don't care. It's just work, have a life outside it.
- Work your way around them. (I'd go with this one.)
Mod the post, not the game ;-)
(disclaimer : I actually liked Daikatana.)
"Thirsty People Feel More Pain"
Heh, that sounds like something Norm would say to get a free beer from Woody.
Using different languages can make an *enormous* difference in how easy it is for one to distinguish between, for example, blue and green !
Just look at the following Fine Example :
HTML : #0000FF - - - #00FF00
Perl : \0032 - - - \0033
BASIC : Navy - - - Chartreuse
Clearly, hexidecimal notation of HTML is far superior in clarity to all other languages !
Whatever comes here will first have to learn to survive Oxygen, like we poison-gas-dwelling meatbags have.
> Maybe Hoover could sponsor NASA expeditions.
NASA's gonna build a mega-maid ?
I used it as a drum computer when it ate my program code up for the 20th time and choked. Does that count ?
No problem... there's plenty of other exploits for windows.
>And if you get fired for having some ethics (and for trying to look out for the
>company's interests), well, it's their loss, and your gain.
I'd think getting fired would be his loss as well.
If some punk hits with a stick, you hit back with another stick; the same principle applies.
:)
Everybody has their own agenda; negotiation power lies in knowing what the other party's agenda is and having the ability to realize their goals, or, the other way around, make it very costly for them to do so.
Basically it's bartering for services and goods, but on a larger scale