I don't use IE, but I've helped several friends and relatives that do, and have been bitten by these bugs. The relatively benign ones added porn sites to the bookmarks, but others have installed keystroke loggers, back doors, and 900-number dialers, and hijacked the start page and search functionality.
If your question is "Are these bugs actually important, or just hype?" the answer is that they're real problems that really affect real, everyday users.
I suspect that anyone that actually -works- in PC repair or tech support can back me up on this.
Well in Canada, most things are done in metric (road speed, buying fruit, etc.) but everyone knows their height in feet & inches, and their weight in pounds.
I think that a major reason for the height issue is that driver's licenses (in MB, at least, and I think everywhere) give your height in feet/inches. No one's ever told their height in cm...I certainly don't know mine. There's no real push to change this either. Everyone seems happy with the hybrid system, and pretty much anyone can tell you that 2.5 cm = 1 inch (not perfectly accurate, but hey).
I should also mention that most people will recognize (recognise?) most British spellings, and even call them 'Canadian' spellings...people will often say that the Canadian spelling is centre, then continue to happily use center (though if it's pointed out, a lot of people will acknowledge that they 'should' use the 'Canadian' spelling). Some things (like tyre) are considered British spellings, and never used.
I would -suspect- that in Quebec, they use the French spelling when writing in French, and the 'meter' spelling when writing in English...I've never heard of there being a difference between 'Quebec English Spelling' and 'Anglo-Canadian English Spelling'...
But I've only been to Quebec once, and that was for about half an hour (walked from Ottawa into Gatineau). The French area of the city I live in (Winnipeg, Manitoba) uses the American spellings when writing in English, from what I've seen.
And as a Canadian, I can tell you that "meter" is in fact the common spelling here. We use a hybrid of British and American spellings...people have honour, and cash cheques, but measure things in meters, and circles have centers.
Come to think of it, the 'ou' is the only really British spelling I can think of that we use. Cars have tires, not tyres. At a concert you get a program, not a programme (well, I've seen both. I think program is more common).
Last time I was in the US, I was in a fast food restaurant and was amused by some posters targeting people on the Atkins diet. Items were advertised as having "3 carbs". Now, I can only assume this means three -grams- of carbs, not three carbohydrate molecules. It seems that when metric units are used in the US, they're often hidden from sight.
Along the same lines, I've been told that American doctors/dentists will administer medication measured in ccs, but that a lot of them aren't aware that a 'cc' is a cubic centimeter - a metric unit. Can anyone out there verify/refute this?
Not quite - that's using the conversion of 2.2 lb/kg, which is a fairly close approximation, but not exact. A kilogram is slightly more than 2.2 pounds, so the difference isn't exactly 10%, only approximately 10%.
Except that the metric system -has- no ton (or tonne) as a unit of volume, just mass. So if all measures are in metric, then saying 'ton' would be unambiguous.
A couple months after I had my cable modem installed a few years ago, it was pretty slow. Lots of dropped packets at the gateway, that sort of thing. So I gave Shaw a call to let 'em know I wasn't happy with the service I was paying for.
The explanation I got: "It's been cold lately, that's probably what's causing it."
This was in -October-. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The temperature was hovering around freezing...maybe a little colder. No snow yet. On the Prairies, before the winter's out it's going to drop down to -30C.
So I hung up on him and the problem went away in a couple days.
For the record, I've had the modem a few years, in a temperature range from about +35 to -35. It still cuts out sporadically, but temperature has no obvious correlation:)
Please don't make me add up the money I've spent on dice and sourcebooks over the years...I've only ever bought used books, but there are a -lot- of 2nd edition sourcebooks out there.
Sure, and that was the point of many of the complaints. People weren't up in arms about a game that included Lizard Men - those were clearly fantasy. It was the aspects of D&D that overlapped with religion that got people antsy. Demons, devils, gods (plural!), priests, magic -- all of this has religious/supernatural connections.
While I don't feel the game is evil (if I did, I wouldn't be playing every week ) I can fully understand why people could get that impression based on a superficial glance at some of the books.
Re:Some classic Christian D&D FUD
on
D&D Is 30
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· Score: 2, Insightful
As a pretty conservative/fundamentalist Christian that plays D&D with a group from my church, I've run into a couple raised eyebrows, but mostly people have heard the 1980s rhetoric and just say "Isn't that devil-worship or something?" They don't seem to seriously believe it, and after a short conversation, everyone I've talked to has agreed that there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the game.
There are two things (IMO) that a Christian can find objectional. First, the game typically has you roleplay actions which would be considered immoral or unchristian if you actually carried them out - for instance, you kill all sorts of things, including other humans, and your typical treasure-hunting is often outright theft. The argument is that these actions are against God's commandments, and you wouldn't consider doing them in real life, so why is it ok to act them out? My view is "it's just a game". If you find this sort of role-playing offensive, then either roleplay a Lawful Good character, or don't play at all...but you have to question all your entertainment, not just RPGs. That movie you watched, that novel you read, that CD you bought...it may glorify a lot of the same things.
The second objection is that the game often revolves around a complex pantheon of deities. This comes out more in some settings than others, with Forgotten Realms being notable. Many Christians are disturbed at a game that builds on a decidedly non-Christian religious base. In this case, I tend to agree, to some extent. When I DM, it's in my own campaign world. There is no pantheon. Clerics exist, but are either good or evil, not serving specific deities. It's sort of a compromise position. I don't feel that D&D in any way implies that its gods are real, that you should go and make sacrifices to them, or any of that claptrap. But because removing a detailed pantheon does not impair our campaigns in any way, our group has agreed that we're happier playing this way.
Like any other group in society, the loudest members of Christianity are often the ones with the most extreme viewpoints - the vocal minority. You would be hard-pressed to find a more fundamentalist church than mine (Canadian Reformed, if you're interested - a mostly Calvinist branch of Protestants), but I've never run into anyone that didn't end up agreeing with me that there's nothing wrong with D&D if it's played with the right attitude.
Re:The flagship...
on
D&D Is 30
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· Score: 2, Funny
In our group, d4s are more commonly known as 'magic missiles', primarily because the DMs have a predilection to throw them at high speed towards plot-destroying players...(and of course the damage of a MM is 1d4+1)
And a buddy and I just went out and bought three new sets of dice for about $40 CDN...metallic dice, oversized dice, and crystal prism dice (made by Crystal Caste...the -other- dice company).
What is it about D&D players and dice? I've never yet heard anyone say "No, no, I have -enough- dice. I don't need those."
Dungeon Hack, while a lot of fun, is nothing more than a bad version of Nethack with the Eye of the Beholder engine slapped on top of it.
If you liked Dungeon Hack, and haven't played Nethack, you really should give it a try. Definitely the most detailed game I have ever played...everything interacts.
Well, if it's broken, you'll -want- to hack it. I've got a 600XL (my first computer *sob*) and a 130XE, and the power supplies have both fizzed (pretty common problem). I wired up a new unit out of an old AT PSU...ugly, but it works. It's nothing impressive, but it was a minor hack, and it got my old machines up and running again.
The only source for this that I know of is that smelling burnt toast is one of the best known 'auras' preceding seizures. Many people with a seizure disorder / epilepsy experience some sort of warning sign beforehand - this is one of them.
And in Canada as well - possibly easier. I've had CT scans, an EEG, and an MRI, with no trouble at all, and at no direct cost (obviously tax money goes to it, but the procedure is readily available whether you're an 'elitest with money' (sic) or not. The only criteria is that a doctor recommends it. Given that I know at least three other people in my immediate family that have had MRIs, it doesn't seem to be difficult.
Because that 'copy protection' is implemented by script on the Web Page - it's not an IE feature. Scripts can catch mouse events, but (rightfully so) have no control over browser menus.
You know, that's simply not true, at least not of any Windows users I'm exposed to. The primary reason the XP machines are work get rebooted is because they've been patched - my machine probably reboots twice a month.
My Windows 98 machine at home isn't quite as stable...it gets rebooted once or twice a week. That's nowhere near the stability of Linux, but it's also nothing like "often during a typical day".
Well, I'm in Winnipeg, and we have what's generally considered to be the worst mosquitoes in Canada, and among the worst in North America. And you don't see people carrying ultrasonic gadgets, or stringing up bug zappers, simply because they don't work.
What does? A good insect repellant (with deet). That's about it. The city larvicides to keep the counts down, and fogging works great (but a lot of people are worried about the malathion we use). This would be a waste of $2.50, though I support anything that makes cell phones inaudible:)
I've seen "Dazed and confused, trying to continue..." a few times during boot, I believe when the kernel was having a hard time initializing my NIC.
And, when I didn't know the right way to check a filesystem, e2fsck gave me "WARNING: PROGRAMMING BUG IN E2FSCK! OR SOME BONEHEAD (YOU) IS CHECKING A MOUNTED (LIVE) FILESYSTEM."
I tend to subscribe to the theory that with any fairly well-known encryption standard, with a relatively large key size, the encryption is -not- going to be the weakest link in your security. If it takes a month instead of forty years to decrypt my data (yes, I made those numbers up), and that's using specialized hardware, I don't consider it a problem. I think anyone seriously interested in my data would be better off using key logging, packet sniffing of my unencrypted stuff, physically stealing or modifying my computer, installing a hidden video camera in my basement, tapping my phone, or any number of other options.
It's still not gonna help your local h4x0r steal your credit card number when you buy somthing online. And if some shadowy agency wants my data, breaking my encryption isn't necessarily the easiest way to do it.
"Weak" encyrption (like, according to this guy, 1k PGP) is going to keep my data out of the hands of anyone that doesn't really, -really- want it. And if I lived in fear of the type of group that has the hardware to pull it off, I'd be worried about more things than just data integrity.
If you have to carefully position the window in such a way that only a small part of its information is visible, because the application doesn't allow you to show only the relevant parts, then the application is badly designed.
In which case, my OS is doing me a service by providing a mechanism to work around a design flaw of the application I'm using.
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I don't use IE, but I've helped several friends and relatives that do, and have been bitten by these bugs. The relatively benign ones added porn sites to the bookmarks, but others have installed keystroke loggers, back doors, and 900-number dialers, and hijacked the start page and search functionality.
If your question is "Are these bugs actually important, or just hype?" the answer is that they're real problems that really affect real, everyday users.
I suspect that anyone that actually -works- in PC repair or tech support can back me up on this.
Well in Canada, most things are done in metric (road speed, buying fruit, etc.) but everyone knows their height in feet & inches, and their weight in pounds.
I think that a major reason for the height issue is that driver's licenses (in MB, at least, and I think everywhere) give your height in feet/inches. No one's ever told their height in cm...I certainly don't know mine. There's no real push to change this either. Everyone seems happy with the hybrid system, and pretty much anyone can tell you that 2.5 cm = 1 inch (not perfectly accurate, but hey).
I should also mention that most people will recognize (recognise?) most British spellings, and even call them 'Canadian' spellings...people will often say that the Canadian spelling is centre, then continue to happily use center (though if it's pointed out, a lot of people will acknowledge that they 'should' use the 'Canadian' spelling). Some things (like tyre) are considered British spellings, and never used.
Beats me :)
I would -suspect- that in Quebec, they use the French spelling when writing in French, and the 'meter' spelling when writing in English...I've never heard of there being a difference between 'Quebec English Spelling' and 'Anglo-Canadian English Spelling'...
But I've only been to Quebec once, and that was for about half an hour (walked from Ottawa into Gatineau). The French area of the city I live in (Winnipeg, Manitoba) uses the American spellings when writing in English, from what I've seen.
I'll be watching for it now...
And as a Canadian, I can tell you that "meter" is in fact the common spelling here. We use a hybrid of British and American spellings...people have honour, and cash cheques, but measure things in meters, and circles have centers.
:)
Come to think of it, the 'ou' is the only really British spelling I can think of that we use. Cars have tires, not tyres. At a concert you get a program, not a programme (well, I've seen both. I think program is more common).
Now I'll be watching for it
Last time I was in the US, I was in a fast food restaurant and was amused by some posters targeting people on the Atkins diet. Items were advertised as having "3 carbs". Now, I can only assume this means three -grams- of carbs, not three carbohydrate molecules. It seems that when metric units are used in the US, they're often hidden from sight.
Along the same lines, I've been told that American doctors/dentists will administer medication measured in ccs, but that a lot of them aren't aware that a 'cc' is a cubic centimeter - a metric unit. Can anyone out there verify/refute this?
Not quite - that's using the conversion of 2.2 lb/kg, which is a fairly close approximation, but not exact. A kilogram is slightly more than 2.2 pounds, so the difference isn't exactly 10%, only approximately 10%.
Except that the metric system -has- no ton (or tonne) as a unit of volume, just mass. So if all measures are in metric, then saying 'ton' would be unambiguous.
A couple months after I had my cable modem installed a few years ago, it was pretty slow. Lots of dropped packets at the gateway, that sort of thing. So I gave Shaw a call to let 'em know I wasn't happy with the service I was paying for.
:)
The explanation I got: "It's been cold lately, that's probably what's causing it."
This was in -October-. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The temperature was hovering around freezing...maybe a little colder. No snow yet. On the Prairies, before the winter's out it's going to drop down to -30C.
So I hung up on him and the problem went away in a couple days.
For the record, I've had the modem a few years, in a temperature range from about +35 to -35. It still cuts out sporadically, but temperature has no obvious correlation
Please don't make me add up the money I've spent on dice and sourcebooks over the years...I've only ever bought used books, but there are a -lot- of 2nd edition sourcebooks out there.
:)
Pokemon did -not- invent "gotta catch 'em all" - that's D&D rulebooks
Sure, and that was the point of many of the complaints. People weren't up in arms about a game that included Lizard Men - those were clearly fantasy. It was the aspects of D&D that overlapped with religion that got people antsy. Demons, devils, gods (plural!), priests, magic -- all of this has religious/supernatural connections.
While I don't feel the game is evil (if I did, I wouldn't be playing every week ) I can fully understand why people could get that impression based on a superficial glance at some of the books.
As a pretty conservative/fundamentalist Christian that plays D&D with a group from my church, I've run into a couple raised eyebrows, but mostly people have heard the 1980s rhetoric and just say "Isn't that devil-worship or something?" They don't seem to seriously believe it, and after a short conversation, everyone I've talked to has agreed that there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the game.
There are two things (IMO) that a Christian can find objectional. First, the game typically has you roleplay actions which would be considered immoral or unchristian if you actually carried them out - for instance, you kill all sorts of things, including other humans, and your typical treasure-hunting is often outright theft. The argument is that these actions are against God's commandments, and you wouldn't consider doing them in real life, so why is it ok to act them out? My view is "it's just a game". If you find this sort of role-playing offensive, then either roleplay a Lawful Good character, or don't play at all...but you have to question all your entertainment, not just RPGs. That movie you watched, that novel you read, that CD you bought...it may glorify a lot of the same things.
The second objection is that the game often revolves around a complex pantheon of deities. This comes out more in some settings than others, with Forgotten Realms being notable. Many Christians are disturbed at a game that builds on a decidedly non-Christian religious base. In this case, I tend to agree, to some extent. When I DM, it's in my own campaign world. There is no pantheon. Clerics exist, but are either good or evil, not serving specific deities. It's sort of a compromise position. I don't feel that D&D in any way implies that its gods are real, that you should go and make sacrifices to them, or any of that claptrap. But because removing a detailed pantheon does not impair our campaigns in any way, our group has agreed that we're happier playing this way.
Like any other group in society, the loudest members of Christianity are often the ones with the most extreme viewpoints - the vocal minority. You would be hard-pressed to find a more fundamentalist church than mine (Canadian Reformed, if you're interested - a mostly Calvinist branch of Protestants), but I've never run into anyone that didn't end up agreeing with me that there's nothing wrong with D&D if it's played with the right attitude.
In our group, d4s are more commonly known as 'magic missiles', primarily because the DMs have a predilection to throw them at high speed towards plot-destroying players...(and of course the damage of a MM is 1d4+1)
And a buddy and I just went out and bought three new sets of dice for about $40 CDN...metallic dice, oversized dice, and crystal prism dice (made by Crystal Caste...the -other- dice company).
What is it about D&D players and dice? I've never yet heard anyone say "No, no, I have -enough- dice. I don't need those."
Dungeon Hack, while a lot of fun, is nothing more than a bad version of Nethack with the Eye of the Beholder engine slapped on top of it.
If you liked Dungeon Hack, and haven't played Nethack, you really should give it a try. Definitely the most detailed game I have ever played...everything interacts.
Well, if it's broken, you'll -want- to hack it. I've got a 600XL (my first computer *sob*) and a 130XE, and the power supplies have both fizzed (pretty common problem). I wired up a new unit out of an old AT PSU...ugly, but it works. It's nothing impressive, but it was a minor hack, and it got my old machines up and running again.
And *then* I could play Super Cobra!
It's mentioned here.
And in Canada as well - possibly easier. I've had CT scans, an EEG, and an MRI, with no trouble at all, and at no direct cost (obviously tax money goes to it, but the procedure is readily available whether you're an 'elitest with money' (sic) or not. The only criteria is that a doctor recommends it. Given that I know at least three other people in my immediate family that have had MRIs, it doesn't seem to be difficult.
Because that 'copy protection' is implemented by script on the Web Page - it's not an IE feature. Scripts can catch mouse events, but (rightfully so) have no control over browser menus.
You know, that's simply not true, at least not of any Windows users I'm exposed to. The primary reason the XP machines are work get rebooted is because they've been patched - my machine probably reboots twice a month.
My Windows 98 machine at home isn't quite as stable...it gets rebooted once or twice a week. That's nowhere near the stability of Linux, but it's also nothing like "often during a typical day".
Well, I'm in Winnipeg, and we have what's generally considered to be the worst mosquitoes in Canada, and among the worst in North America. And you don't see people carrying ultrasonic gadgets, or stringing up bug zappers, simply because they don't work.
:)
What does? A good insect repellant (with deet). That's about it. The city larvicides to keep the counts down, and fogging works great (but a lot of people are worried about the malathion we use). This would be a waste of $2.50, though I support anything that makes cell phones inaudible
I've seen "Dazed and confused, trying to continue..." a few times during boot, I believe when the kernel was having a hard time initializing my NIC.
And, when I didn't know the right way to check a filesystem, e2fsck gave me "WARNING: PROGRAMMING BUG IN E2FSCK! OR SOME BONEHEAD (YOU) IS CHECKING A MOUNTED (LIVE) FILESYSTEM."
12:01 opening day? That would be...41 hours after I saw it.
Gotta love those free preview tix...
I tend to subscribe to the theory that with any fairly well-known encryption standard, with a relatively large key size, the encryption is -not- going to be the weakest link in your security. If it takes a month instead of forty years to decrypt my data (yes, I made those numbers up), and that's using specialized hardware, I don't consider it a problem. I think anyone seriously interested in my data would be better off using key logging, packet sniffing of my unencrypted stuff, physically stealing or modifying my computer, installing a hidden video camera in my basement, tapping my phone, or any number of other options.
:-)
It's still not gonna help your local h4x0r steal your credit card number when you buy somthing online. And if some shadowy agency wants my data, breaking my encryption isn't necessarily the easiest way to do it.
"Weak" encyrption (like, according to this guy, 1k PGP) is going to keep my data out of the hands of anyone that doesn't really, -really- want it. And if I lived in fear of the type of group that has the hardware to pull it off, I'd be worried about more things than just data integrity.
Maybe I'd need to buy a tinfoil hat
In which case, my OS is doing me a service by providing a mechanism to work around a design flaw of the application I'm using.