A two class society is what we're getting, which is good. The middle class just screws everything up with their incessant caterwauling about "rights", "dignity" and their inexplicable habit of voting against the interests of those benefactors of society, the glorious corporations.
Total bullshit. If you live in the Bay Area or New York City, a Starbucks assistant manager makes $24,000-$26,000 a year.
The grunts working the line make minimum wage, with perhaps a dollar an hour in tips on top of that. Minimal benefits kick in at 20 hours a week. The clientele I wouldn't wish on anyone.
I'm a proud former Starbucks employee, free as of March 2003. Worst job I've ever had.
1. Do you ever think of the person whose job you have taken?
2. How does it feel to be a pawn in the hands of a corporation that's being used to drive down wages and living conditions for the entire western world?
3. Do you ever think that this will happen to you one day? What will you do if it does?
I'm serious about these questions, and not asking these sarcastically or as flamebait. I'd really like to know, especially any answers to #3.
News flash, ir0b0t...the connection is that in the states with the least gun regulation, the violent crime rates are lowest. I know that you don't want to accept this, and will write me off breezily as just another gun nut, but it's true. While I do buy the argument that a populace without any firearms whatsoever would be a less dangerous one, the sad fact of the matter is that world doesn't exist. Today, there are 400 million firearms in the US. When you ban law-abiding citizens from gun ownership, you really do create a society where only the criminals have guns. And I'm not willing to be a defenseless target, thank you. Why do you insist that I should be one?
The article captures in a nutshell one of my biggest pet peeves; people who wish to benefit from the "neato" technology without lifting a fucking finger to understand how it works or what it can do. I used to try to be helpful, but after getting phone calls from neighbors who have managed to get ten consecutive viruses on their computer by doing the same thing ten times in a row, I quit. It just wasn't worth it to try to help someone who refuses to learn. I would normally suggest that we (the collective/. we, that is) just refuse to help these idiots and let nature take its course, but, sadly, that's not an option anymore either. By wallowing in their ignorance and clicking on attachments, banner ads and spam, the actions of the unwashed many are now having a direct and dire impact on our own internet experience. I'm not going to pretend that I know what to do, other than perhaps kill off most of humanity. Which may indeed end up being the only solution to the mess we're all now mired in. Maybe someone has a better idea...I sure don't.
An excellent alternative for Windows boxen is Winamp, of all things. Plays video and audio. Additionally, if you install ffdshow, you can avoid the horseshit involved in putting DivX on your machine. Enjoy.
Seriously. This is not a legitimate way for management to find out what's going on within the company. This is, however, a great way to get yourself placed on a list of who's to be terminated.
Smile, be pleasant, keep your mouth shut.
some things do not change
on
No WMA for HP iPod
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Once again, you can see Microsoft using the weight of the monopoly to insure that the consumer has a choice...as long as the choice is Microsoft. Imagine being able to play WMA, MP3, and AAC all on the same player! Imagine being able to boot into BeOS OR Windows...oh, wait. Sorry. I'm awake now.
Well, RealShittyPlayer folks, if you read Slashdot, I hope you read this. Try not to take it personally.
Your product sucks.
Sucks SO BADLY that I prefer a Microsoft product over yours, something which I thought would never happen. Windows Media Player is less intrusive, less full of spyware, easier to use, more attractive, and sucks less.
Now for the constructive criticism:
Get rid of the "messenger" ad spamming service. Oh boy, that's fun. I love ads that come up AFTER I've closed the program. Thank you so very much.
Get rid of the "feature" that makes RealShittyPlayer the default application for every media type on my computer.
Get rid of the "service" that signs up unsuspecting users for spam for eternity.
Make the application skinnable while you're at it. The default is INCREDIBLY ugly.
I won't ever use it again anyway, seeing as how it FUCKS UP THE COMPUTER when trying to uninstall it, but I thought I'd put those suggestions out there.
One more thing...please go out of business as quickly as possible.
kthxbye
This Car Can Talk. What It Says May Cause Concern.
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: December 29, 2003
Last year, Curt Dunnam bought a Chevrolet Blazer with one of the most popular new features in high-end cars: the OnStar personal security system.
The heavily advertised communications and tracking feature is used nationwide by more than two million drivers, who simply push a button to connect, via a built-in cellphone, to a member of the OnStar staff. A Global Positioning System, or G.P.S., helps the employee give verbal directions to the driver or locate the car after an accident. The company can even send a signal to unlock car doors for locked-out owners, or blink the car's lights and honk the horn to help people find their cars in an endless plain of parking spaces.
A big selling point for the system is its use in thwarting car thieves. Once an owner reports to the police that a car has been stolen, the company, which was started by General Motors, can track it to help intercept the thieves, a service it performs about 400 times each month.
But for Mr. Dunnam, the more he learned about his car's security features, the less secure he felt. A research support specialist at Cornell University, he is concerned about privacy. He has enough technical knowledge to worry that someone else - say, law enforcement officers, or even hackers - could listen in on his phone calls, or gain control over his automotive systems without his knowledge or consent. Any gadget that can track a carjacker, he reasons, can just as readily be used to track him.
"While I don't believe G.M. intentionally designed this system to facilitate Orwellian activities, they sure have made it easy," he said.
OnStar is one of a growing number of automated eyes and ears that enhance driving safety and convenience but that also increase the potential for surveillance. Privacy advocates say that the rise of the automotive technologies, including electronic toll areas, location-tracking devices, "black box" data recorders like those found on airplanes and even tiny radio ID tags in tires, are changing the nature of Americans' relationship with their cars.
Beth Givens, founder of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, said the car had long been a symbol of Kerouac-flavored freedom, and a haven. "You can talk to yourself in your car, you can scream at yourself in your car, you can go there to be alone, you can ponder the heavens, you can think deep thoughts all alone, you can sing," she said. With the growing number of monitoring systems, she said, "Now, the car is Big Brother."
James E. Hall, a transportation lawyer and former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the monitoring systems presented a subtle blend of benefit and risk. "We are moving toward a kind of automobile that nobody's ever known," he said. "It's mostly good news, but there are negative things that we will have to work through."
Mr. Dunnam said he had become even more concerned because of a federal appeals court case involving a criminal investigation in Nevada, in which federal authorities had demanded that a company attach a wiretap to tracking services like those installed in his car. The suit did not reveal which company was involved. A three-judge panel in San Francisco rejected the request, but not on privacy grounds; the panel said the wiretap would interfere with the operation of the safety services.
OnStar has said that its equipment was not involved in that case. An OnStar spokeswoman, Geri Lama, suggested that Mr. Dunnam's worries were overblown. The signals that the company sends to unlock car doors or track location-based information can be triggered only with a secure exchange of specific identifying data, which ought to deter all but the most determined hackers, she said.
As for law enforcement, the company said it released location data about customers only under a court order. "We have no choice but to be responsive to court orders," Ms. Lama said.
Other information systems being added to cars can be used for tracking as well. Electronic toll systems ar
I've gotten about 30% of the computers in my workplace converted over to OpenOffice. We are a very MS Office heavy environment, so there have been some problems, but fewer than I expected. The problems all seem to be one-way, too, converting MS to OO rather than the other way around. It can be done.
Me, I'm a die-hard XP user. It's nice. I've been a die-hard Windows user for year (hey, it's cheaper!) All that being said, the flamebait/article was written by an absolute fucktard. All OSes have problems, is this news? I know goddamm well OSX is more secure than XP! Frankly, it's a better OS, period. I just can't afford the pricey hardware:(
Gator kills little children, then molests the bodies. Gator makes old ladies cheat on taxes. Gator is responsible for AIDS. Gator makes bad music, and then Gator sends the RIAA after you for downloading it. Gator hates God. Gator makes you impotent. Gator was responsible for 9-11. Gator wrote and filmed "Gigli". Gator is responsible for all the suffering in the world.
Oh yeah, and Gator is spyware.
All the posters who have written saying that they can't understand how their (fill in the blank) device can do this to an aircraft, well, I hope I'm not flying with you next time.
Control, navigation and comm failure happen ALL THE TIME due to poorly shielded consumer electronic devices. Ask any pilot, even better check out ALPA's website for more information. There have been many well-documented examples of these failures if you wish to find them.
And to those who still don't get it: all modern aircraft-every Airbus, Boeing models 757, 767, 777 are all fly-by-wire...no direct physical link to the flight controls whatsoever. (The Airbus is flown with a joystick, looks just like an Atari 2600). Do you think this system can't be interfered with?
And yes, this is a situation just waiting for a terrorist exploit to occur.
Does it keep track of who votes and how? No, fortunately, but the damn thing won't even give you a reciept. No proof, no tracking, no accountability.
Not what I wanted in a voting machine.
"Leader, only 16 people voted against you! What more could you want?"
"Their names"
Slashdot Mirror
No, the middle class is on its way out, big time.
A two class society is what we're getting, which is good. The middle class just screws everything up with their incessant caterwauling about "rights", "dignity" and their inexplicable habit of voting against the interests of those benefactors of society, the glorious corporations.
Total bullshit. If you live in the Bay Area or New York City, a Starbucks assistant manager makes $24,000-$26,000 a year.
The grunts working the line make minimum wage, with perhaps a dollar an hour in tips on top of that. Minimal benefits kick in at 20 hours a week. The clientele I wouldn't wish on anyone.
I'm a proud former Starbucks employee, free as of March 2003. Worst job I've ever had.
Damn right I've got some questions.
1. Do you ever think of the person whose job you have taken?
2. How does it feel to be a pawn in the hands of a corporation that's being used to drive down wages and living conditions for the entire western world?
3. Do you ever think that this will happen to you one day? What will you do if it does?
I'm serious about these questions, and not asking these sarcastically or as flamebait. I'd really like to know, especially any answers to #3.
It IS about time someone did this, what a freakin' scam this is...not that I tried it or anything like that :(
So then the obvious conclusion would be:
1. Wear black turtleneck
2. ???
3. Profit!!!
Nice troll, my man! ROFLMAO!!!!
News flash, ir0b0t...the connection is that in the states with the least gun regulation, the violent crime rates are lowest. I know that you don't want to accept this, and will write me off breezily as just another gun nut, but it's true. While I do buy the argument that a populace without any firearms whatsoever would be a less dangerous one, the sad fact of the matter is that world doesn't exist. Today, there are 400 million firearms in the US. When you ban law-abiding citizens from gun ownership, you really do create a society where only the criminals have guns. And I'm not willing to be a defenseless target, thank you. Why do you insist that I should be one?
The article captures in a nutshell one of my biggest pet peeves; people who wish to benefit from the "neato" technology without lifting a fucking finger to understand how it works or what it can do. I used to try to be helpful, but after getting phone calls from neighbors who have managed to get ten consecutive viruses on their computer by doing the same thing ten times in a row, I quit. It just wasn't worth it to try to help someone who refuses to learn. I would normally suggest that we (the collective /. we, that is) just refuse to help these idiots and let nature take its course, but, sadly, that's not an option anymore either. By wallowing in their ignorance and clicking on attachments, banner ads and spam, the actions of the unwashed many are now having a direct and dire impact on our own internet experience. I'm not going to pretend that I know what to do, other than perhaps kill off most of humanity. Which may indeed end up being the only solution to the mess we're all now mired in. Maybe someone has a better idea...I sure don't.
An excellent alternative for Windows boxen is Winamp, of all things. Plays video and audio. Additionally, if you install ffdshow, you can avoid the horseshit involved in putting DivX on your machine. Enjoy.
We're fighting the war for freedom! You'll understand that this means you'll have to give up your freedoms so we can win the war for freedom.
Once again, the gibberish troll strikes slashdot. One in EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE. I'm getting kinda tired of it.
Nice try, thanks for playing. It's a troll. It hits every article on /.
Seriously. This is not a legitimate way for management to find out what's going on within the company. This is, however, a great way to get yourself placed on a list of who's to be terminated. Smile, be pleasant, keep your mouth shut.
Once again, you can see Microsoft using the weight of the monopoly to insure that the consumer has a choice...as long as the choice is Microsoft. Imagine being able to play WMA, MP3, and AAC all on the same player! Imagine being able to boot into BeOS OR Windows...oh, wait. Sorry. I'm awake now.
Well, RealShittyPlayer folks, if you read Slashdot, I hope you read this. Try not to take it personally. Your product sucks. Sucks SO BADLY that I prefer a Microsoft product over yours, something which I thought would never happen. Windows Media Player is less intrusive, less full of spyware, easier to use, more attractive, and sucks less. Now for the constructive criticism: Get rid of the "messenger" ad spamming service. Oh boy, that's fun. I love ads that come up AFTER I've closed the program. Thank you so very much. Get rid of the "feature" that makes RealShittyPlayer the default application for every media type on my computer. Get rid of the "service" that signs up unsuspecting users for spam for eternity. Make the application skinnable while you're at it. The default is INCREDIBLY ugly. I won't ever use it again anyway, seeing as how it FUCKS UP THE COMPUTER when trying to uninstall it, but I thought I'd put those suggestions out there. One more thing...please go out of business as quickly as possible. kthxbye
This Car Can Talk. What It Says May Cause Concern. By JOHN SCHWARTZ Published: December 29, 2003 Last year, Curt Dunnam bought a Chevrolet Blazer with one of the most popular new features in high-end cars: the OnStar personal security system. The heavily advertised communications and tracking feature is used nationwide by more than two million drivers, who simply push a button to connect, via a built-in cellphone, to a member of the OnStar staff. A Global Positioning System, or G.P.S., helps the employee give verbal directions to the driver or locate the car after an accident. The company can even send a signal to unlock car doors for locked-out owners, or blink the car's lights and honk the horn to help people find their cars in an endless plain of parking spaces. A big selling point for the system is its use in thwarting car thieves. Once an owner reports to the police that a car has been stolen, the company, which was started by General Motors, can track it to help intercept the thieves, a service it performs about 400 times each month. But for Mr. Dunnam, the more he learned about his car's security features, the less secure he felt. A research support specialist at Cornell University, he is concerned about privacy. He has enough technical knowledge to worry that someone else - say, law enforcement officers, or even hackers - could listen in on his phone calls, or gain control over his automotive systems without his knowledge or consent. Any gadget that can track a carjacker, he reasons, can just as readily be used to track him. "While I don't believe G.M. intentionally designed this system to facilitate Orwellian activities, they sure have made it easy," he said. OnStar is one of a growing number of automated eyes and ears that enhance driving safety and convenience but that also increase the potential for surveillance. Privacy advocates say that the rise of the automotive technologies, including electronic toll areas, location-tracking devices, "black box" data recorders like those found on airplanes and even tiny radio ID tags in tires, are changing the nature of Americans' relationship with their cars. Beth Givens, founder of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, said the car had long been a symbol of Kerouac-flavored freedom, and a haven. "You can talk to yourself in your car, you can scream at yourself in your car, you can go there to be alone, you can ponder the heavens, you can think deep thoughts all alone, you can sing," she said. With the growing number of monitoring systems, she said, "Now, the car is Big Brother." James E. Hall, a transportation lawyer and former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the monitoring systems presented a subtle blend of benefit and risk. "We are moving toward a kind of automobile that nobody's ever known," he said. "It's mostly good news, but there are negative things that we will have to work through." Mr. Dunnam said he had become even more concerned because of a federal appeals court case involving a criminal investigation in Nevada, in which federal authorities had demanded that a company attach a wiretap to tracking services like those installed in his car. The suit did not reveal which company was involved. A three-judge panel in San Francisco rejected the request, but not on privacy grounds; the panel said the wiretap would interfere with the operation of the safety services. OnStar has said that its equipment was not involved in that case. An OnStar spokeswoman, Geri Lama, suggested that Mr. Dunnam's worries were overblown. The signals that the company sends to unlock car doors or track location-based information can be triggered only with a secure exchange of specific identifying data, which ought to deter all but the most determined hackers, she said. As for law enforcement, the company said it released location data about customers only under a court order. "We have no choice but to be responsive to court orders," Ms. Lama said. Other information systems being added to cars can be used for tracking as well. Electronic toll systems ar
Looks like the Martians got another one...
I've gotten about 30% of the computers in my workplace converted over to OpenOffice. We are a very MS Office heavy environment, so there have been some problems, but fewer than I expected. The problems all seem to be one-way, too, converting MS to OO rather than the other way around. It can be done.
No such thing as anonymity, my friend, not anywhere. Adapt and survive. Fail to adapt and perish.
Me, I'm a die-hard XP user. It's nice. I've been a die-hard Windows user for year (hey, it's cheaper!) All that being said, the flamebait/article was written by an absolute fucktard. All OSes have problems, is this news? I know goddamm well OSX is more secure than XP! Frankly, it's a better OS, period. I just can't afford the pricey hardware :(
Damn, the end of the article..."Sun has sought to distribute its own Java virtual machine through court proceedings...". Who did Sun piss off at CNET?
bullshit! bullshit bullshit bullshit! Wow. Sorry, guys. Sometimes, the media just gets to me a little. Unbelievable.
Gator kills little children, then molests the bodies. Gator makes old ladies cheat on taxes. Gator is responsible for AIDS. Gator makes bad music, and then Gator sends the RIAA after you for downloading it. Gator hates God. Gator makes you impotent. Gator was responsible for 9-11. Gator wrote and filmed "Gigli". Gator is responsible for all the suffering in the world. Oh yeah, and Gator is spyware.
All the posters who have written saying that they can't understand how their (fill in the blank) device can do this to an aircraft, well, I hope I'm not flying with you next time. Control, navigation and comm failure happen ALL THE TIME due to poorly shielded consumer electronic devices. Ask any pilot, even better check out ALPA's website for more information. There have been many well-documented examples of these failures if you wish to find them. And to those who still don't get it: all modern aircraft-every Airbus, Boeing models 757, 767, 777 are all fly-by-wire...no direct physical link to the flight controls whatsoever. (The Airbus is flown with a joystick, looks just like an Atari 2600). Do you think this system can't be interfered with? And yes, this is a situation just waiting for a terrorist exploit to occur.
Does it keep track of who votes and how? No, fortunately, but the damn thing won't even give you a reciept. No proof, no tracking, no accountability. Not what I wanted in a voting machine. "Leader, only 16 people voted against you! What more could you want?" "Their names"