As a side note, I'd wager that you never learned to type properly. Put another way, there is no reason why someone who can type at 45 wpm shouldn't be typing at 65 wpm minimum comfortably and with increased accuracy.
Not worth the effort? Perhaps, but consider the time required for a course and some initial practice versus gaining a 50% improvement in speed for the rest of your typing days.
Me, I took typing class way back when in high school because I thought it was an easy way to meet girls. I didn't consider the possibility that they would resent me when I learned to type faster than they did, or that I would be making a living using a keyboard.
Like it or not, it all comes down to one word - GREED. It's the only thing that's been driving the US for the last 12 years and more - And it's the reason the US has sunk to the status of a 2nd rate Nation...
Personal polemics and random capitalisation aside, my understanding of the reason for the absence of a coherent tax policy is that Clinton signed into law legislation that exempted the internet (in the days when Al Gore was busy inventing it) from the kind of mucking about that the State of New York is now doing. At the time it was argued (and subsequently proved) that, as a policy matter, doing so would spur use of the intarwebs.
Now my knowledge of tax law is next to nil (my eyes glaze over at the mention of anything to do with it), but if my interpretation of the issue is correct, then I'd suggest the only "greed" involved here is that of the State of New York.
That local and state governments routinely seek creative or novel ways to increase their revenues should come as no surprise to anyone. And that U.S. citizens, in general, have a philosophical aversion to to taxation of any form is similarly true. That said, I'd like to think the issue could be discussed without injecting politics into a subject that has broad ramifications.
The possible uses outlined in the article inspire the imagination, but for my money, a technology that remembers everything presents a privacy risk too extreme to contemplate.
Don't you think Taco and crew have had mornings where they wake up and go "wow, fuck slashdot, im going to go be a hamster farmer..."
Sure, but while everyone dreeeeeams of becoming a hamster farmer, how many have actually tried it? Or even asked a hamster farmer what it was really like?
Let me tell you, son, hamster farming takes a lot more work than you'd think. You dig a little hole, put one of the little guys in it, move on to digging the next one, and before you're done digging it, the little fucker you just planted has dug his way out! Try doing that sun up to sun down. And if you don't get it right, by the end of the season you could be out of hamsters and have nothing to show for it but a field of dirt with little holes. Did you know there's no crop insurance for hamster farmers? Yeah, that's right. Try telling the kids the reason they can't go to college is that the hamsters all ran away because you fucked up as a hamster farmer. Or just as bad, that you need the money to buy more exercise wheels.
Come to think of it, IT is a lot like hamster farming. But don't quote me on that.
C++ (that must be nasty hair growing out of an ear. I had a Chemistry professor with that problem in college)
I had an English teacher in high school with the same problem. The entire class was sure he had relatives who were werewolves.
Why a man as he gets older needs more hair in his ears and less of it on the top of his head where you'd think he needs it is a trait that neither a Bible thumping Baptist preacher nor Charles Darwin himself would dare to try and explain.
In the meantime, laugh. It's funny, but it'll happen to you. It starts with a few nose hairs growing longer than all the others, then a few eyebrow hairs doing the same, then it's a hair or two sprouting on your nose (yes, ON your nose), before it takes hold in places you never think to check and definitely can't reach with a razor. If you're unlucky, you'll end up looking like a troll (or worse, Andy Rooney!), and everyone will laugh behind your back. If you're lucky, you'll just be another old fart with a bad combover that people will want to ignore.
Speaking of being beardless and goofy looking, there was scene in one of the Planet of the Apes movies (don't ask why I remember) where one of the chimps (the older female) watched while Charlton Heston, using something resembling a broken clam shell, shaved off his beard.
"Why are you scraping the hair from your face?", she asked. "It makes you seem... somehow... less intelligent."
I wouldn't have a problem with the machine running Windows; I'd have a problem with it being on the network at all.
Brave soul.
heart.exe application error the instruction at 0x6a9210e5 referenced memory at 0x6a9210e5 the required data was not placed into memory because of an I/O error status of 0xc0000185. To continue, type an administrator password, and then click OK.
As long as these people are peaceful, let them have their beliefs, as it does not hinder what happens.
My own preference is to be buried in an unfinished pine box somewhere in my backyard, preferrably under a big tree (for the shade, of course) or a garden of some sort, but California prohibited that kind of thing a hundred years ago. So much for allowing personal beliefs.;-) Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if burying one's pets in a similar natural, eco-friendly manner is just as illegal.
Anyone familiar with different funeral traditions knows the subject is complex, and often inseperable from one's upbringing or culture. The Orthodox (the folks who cross themselves east to west), for example, don't believe in cremation, and the church canon expressly prohibits it. IIRC, it was only recently that Greece (a country with mostly rock as soil) allowed cremations to take place, but only for the minority that isn't Orthodox.
For most westerners, I suppose, the subject doesn't evoke strong opinions one way or the other, save for the excesses of those choosing to be buried a '57 Cadillac, or more typically, in silk-lined, stainless steel, hermetically-sealed coffins.
Microsoft will drive Vista through you skull just like they did with Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
I've been through every possible upgrade cycle, so ordinarily I'd agree. The difference this time, however, is the now widely held conclusion that Vista offers few compelling features while requiring more of everyone involved, and more from their hardware. That odd state of affairs has never been the case in the past.
As for the question of whether Vista will be successful over time, well, I don't think that's settled, especially when given enough time, the next "new and improved" version of Windows will be available.
Personally, I think everyone in the Windows world, at least for the time being, is sort of fucked. That includes the folks at Microsoft.
You might draw a comparison by calling "Windows" a work in progress as in progress from 98 to 98se to ME to XP to Vista.
Geez. I do wish people would get a clue, or at least refrain from trotting this out. What you're describing is the upgrade path marketing campaign sold to retail consumers which has little to do with the actual progression, or what businesses or knowledgable individuals (regrettably not all of the Slashdot crowd) adopted.
There were 2 (two, count 'em) lines of development, simplifed as the following:
From those two lines, the upgrade path most commonly adopted for desktops was:
DOS -> Win95 -> Win98 > NT5.0 -> NT5.1
Obviously, you can conclude the first line of development died ungracefully. The second line is, well, you decide if if it's dead or dying or just resting. There's a Wiki article on the subject if you're interested in further reading.
Konqueror lets you scroll up and down with the cursor keys (shift+cursor key has some neat effects, too) and make all links on-screen keyboard-accessible by tapping "control."
Are there motions for "I'm crushing your head"?
Seriously, though, I agree with the OP about keyboard input, and one (as a vi user) that hopefully doesn't involve taking your hands off the keyboard to reach for frigging arrow keys. Sort of like the difference between grunting, or poking something with a stick, and having a conversation.
That said, I do think all this multitouch pinching and two-finger vertical stroking sounds interesting. I say the same every time my wife suggests I try it, and...
Judging by the screenshots, it looks like some AT&T execs happened to catch a marathon of those 1990s cyber-thrillers which featured portrayals of that mysterious new "Internet" thing that was starting to get noticed, and decided the real Internet should start looking like those Hollywood mockups.
As compared with the more recent cyber-thrillers? LOL.
Your comments reminded of a recent South Park episode I stumbled across where the entire town lost its internet access. The story culminated in a scene where the townspeople huddle in fear and awe watching a general in full uniform, along with a dweeb playing a the ET soundtrack (a single note at a time), attempt to communicate with The Internet.
What was this Internet thing? An unmoving, monstrously large blue machine with blinking green lights (sans the Linksys logo, of course) trying to communicate to the townspeople that it needed a reboot!
I pissed myself laughing, but in retrospect found it depressing as the reality was no less goofy than the what the general public believes it to be, or what Hollywood dreams up for us.
When reading newspaper, you have no way to see the opinions of anybody other than the members of the editorial board of the newspaper.
I'm not sure what that means.
If you're reading anything other than reporting in a newspaper, I'd suggest you consider reading a better newspaper. In newspapers, opinions are found on the editorial pages, in the letters to the editor section, or in articles written by the columnists.
Newspapers are a bit funny in that respect, but they typically have this thing about keeping opinions and reporting separate, allowing the reader to distinguish and choose between them.
Unless, of course, opinions are what you're looking for. In that case, I'd suggest something like TV news programming where it's not unusual to find a mixture of reporting and editorialising mixed in together and presented against a musical score for dramatic effect, with some friendly banter between co-anchors interjecting the requisite nods of approval or frowns of disproval so their viewers can know what to think, or at least not worry about the complexity or the significance of the story.
Even better, go the personal pundit route. All opinions all the time. Much more entertaining with the added benefit of no ink smudges on your fingers.
I don't know about you but if I am looking to research painless ways to commit suicide (for whatever reason) and I search for "pain-free suicide" and the majority of the results returned are not about that topic but about trying to discourage people from doing it, well the search engine was ineffective and I would be annoyed.
One would think that would be obvious. The problem is humans have a natural tendency to categorise things, and when a subject is controversial, it's easier to opt for comfort, and narrow those categories into classifications using emotional criteria. Complexity requires thinking, and that demands a grasp of the issues and an ability to discuss those issues. By opting for the simple and comfortable we can dispense with all that and choose a position. Given that different people will choose different positions, we end up with a "for it" or "against" false dichotomy, from which arises erroneous notions of bias by the other side.
In a way, this isn't unlike the on-going battle in public perception with respect to the influence of media. The media's responsibility and role has traditionally been to question power. Those in power, don't want to be questioned, least of all questioned for the basis and relevance of that power. And if those questions start eroding that power, cries of "Unfair!" are heard amid the ensuing struggle.
Anti suicide sites? I'm not sure what means, but I'll assume that's a site where someone decided to promote a specific advocacy position on the subject. Which means every other site is most certainly a "pro" suicide site.
It would be laughable if the subject wasn't so serious.
So basically his life is ruined, even if he honestly tries to redeem myself afterwards, because he'll be forever known as the infamous first criminal to be caught thanks to the almighty Internet.
I don't think the above issue (in general) can be understated. There isn't a person alive who hasn't once done something that is embarrasing, in bad form, wrong, or even illegal, or otherwise said or wrote something that wasn't poorly worded, taken out of context, intended as an off-colour joke, or simply a case of temporary stupidity.
Why is this a big deal? Now the average person is subjected to the same level of scrutiny given to, for example, a candidate running for political office. Dunno about you, but my family and friends tend to be forgiving of my failings and shortcomings, but I sure don't want a million random strangers participating in the dissemination of information that is then recursively subjected to the judgment or actions of another million random strangers, with a prospective employer or someone similar thrown in for added fun. And that's assuming we're talking about disinterested parties and not angry ex-girlfriends, wives, schoolmates you teased, or hookers you didn't sufficiently tip.
When talking about "folks on the internet", we're mostly talking about mobs and mob mentality. In this case it seems the mob was right, so we're free to cheer for its leaders and the outcome.
Mike Royko had the story about the guy from Chicago getting pulled over in another state. He hands the officer his driver's license with a $20 bill folded around it. The cop tells him he's under arrest for trying to bribe an officer. The guy looks confused and asks "What? Is it more than 20 bucks here?"
True story:
When I first moved to Chicago, my knowledge of organised crime was what I saw in movies, and the idea of bribing a police officer was similarly the stuff of fiction. Within my first few days there, I was taken aside by any number of people offering free advice on how to handle traffic situations.
A few months pass, and I get stopped for speeding. I wasn't speeding, of course, but I handed the police officer my driver's license and a twenty, along with a five, figuring "Why not? Cheaper than an unfair ticket, right?".
I tell my friends the story, thinking they'd be proud of how well I adapted to Chicago's way of doing things. Instead, they laughed. The response was "You overpaid." Apparently, the going rate at the time was $10.
When I left Chicago, I left with a number of unpaid traffic tickets. When I say "number", I mean the tickets (no exaggeration) half-filled a full-sized garbage bag I kept in the trunk. When it was time to get a new license, I was told I had to pay up all my unpaid tickets first. I made a call back to Chicago to a friend to aks what I should do. He said he would take care of it and not to worry. I found out some months later that he paid someone who paid someone who paid someone else $200 to to clear my record. Poof! No more tickets.
Ah, the good old days.
Here in LA, traffic tickets or violations of any kind are treated like capital offenses. And the typical cop, instead of being a friendly cigar-smoking, hot-dog-eating, Cubs fan with a weight problem, is military-styled droid wearing a bullet-proof vest and armed with automatic weapons. I'd trade a bit of corruption for this scenario any day.
It is official. Gartner now confirms: Windows is collapsing.
One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered Windows community when Gartner confirmed that Windows is collapsing in complete disarray and risks becoming a has-been. Coming on the heels of a recent survey which plainly states that by the end of 2007 only 6.3 percent of the 50,000 enterprise computer users it surveyed were working with Vista.
You don't need to be the Amazing Kreskin to predict Windows' future. The hand writing is on the wall: Windows faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Windows because Windows is collapsing. Things are looking very bad for Windows. As many of us are already aware, Windows continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.
Apple is Swiss Cheese labeled as "Ementhaler" - believing that the luxury branding will ward off serious scrutiny, but leaving those holes exposed.
Overlooking the fact that Emmental (where Emmenthaler is made) is already in Switzerland and has been for some time, I wonder how many Mac users, when feeling a bit peckish, will turn to cheesy commestibles?
And of those that do enjoy the fermented curd, how many would rather a bit of Cheddar, or Tilsit or even something like a Wensleydale to Emmenthaler? Seems to me that if you can't make up your mind, or decide which is better, a Danish Fimboe, Japanese Sage Darby, or Venezuelan beaver cheese, you might as well call it a day and say "It's runny Camembert for Everyone!", ignoring the fact that Camembert, even when it's really really runny is really awful with potted pork.
Which I think was the original subject of the article.
Not "inexpensive" enough for me to stick onto my dog!
Seems like a fair comment, but if the dog gets lost, you'll need to figure in the cost of a reward and/or the time and resources required for putting up all those flyers. Then there's those emergency vet bills (if the dog gets into an accident), lawyer and court costs (if the dog bites the good samaritan trying to catch it for you), the loss of mail delivery to your home and cancellation of homeowner's insurance and a lawsuit (if the dog bites the mailman), or, if all goes well and the city finds your dog for you, the animal shelter fees. And this is all assuming it's not your wife's dog, or that you have kids whose questions you need to answer.
Beagles, incidentally, are notorious (bred, actually) for running off to hunt something down they find interesting, and then expecting you to catch up.
A major Yahoo Inc shareholder, Legg Mason, is ready to back Yahoo's effort to stay independent if Microsoft Corp lowers its buyout offer, the Wall Street Journal said, citing an interview with portfolio manager Bill Miller.
Seems to me that adds up to vote count of 1 against, and an undetermined number in favour of the buyout.
I have no idea who Legg Mason is, or what influence he has, but it is possible he's a Carl Icahn type and his actions may be an important factor. That said, my guess is that this thing will end up in a proxy fight that will be harder to follow for an average person than the ISO voting process, but with the added bonus of having the interesting politics and social ramifications replaced by arcane legal strategies and maneuverings that only lawyers and Wall Street Journal reporters could appreciate or find interesting.
I do think it would be good to see Microsoft fail to get their way for once. Assuming, of course, that a successful buyout of Yahoo isn't a failure in the making.
I'm not sure I get the joke, but if it's funny, it might be even funnier that, IIRC, I have a model with a lower number. With the exception that it doesn't reset/resync after a power failure, I guess it works likes it's supposed to.
On the other hand, I am concerned that should the little bugger fail, I'll have to purchase a newer model. Which means I'll end up with something with a metric ton of unwanted features.
I know this isn't Ask Slashdot, but does anyone know whether it's possible to acquire, either through one's own DSL provider or elsewhere, a modem that's just a modem? Or is that just not possible these days? And maybe someone more knowledgable than the rest of us can comment on whether it's possible to "connect" to the thing in some way to read it's configuration.
Slashdot Mirror
Personally I manage to type at about 45-50 wpm ...
As a side note, I'd wager that you never learned to type properly. Put another way, there is no reason why someone who can type at 45 wpm shouldn't be typing at 65 wpm minimum comfortably and with increased accuracy.
Not worth the effort? Perhaps, but consider the time required for a course and some initial practice versus gaining a 50% improvement in speed for the rest of your typing days.
Me, I took typing class way back when in high school because I thought it was an easy way to meet girls. I didn't consider the possibility that they would resent me when I learned to type faster than they did, or that I would be making a living using a keyboard.
Like it or not, it all comes down to one word - GREED. It's the only thing that's been driving the US for the last 12 years and more - And it's the reason the US has sunk to the status of a 2nd rate Nation ...
Personal polemics and random capitalisation aside, my understanding of the reason for the absence of a coherent tax policy is that Clinton signed into law legislation that exempted the internet (in the days when Al Gore was busy inventing it) from the kind of mucking about that the State of New York is now doing. At the time it was argued (and subsequently proved) that, as a policy matter, doing so would spur use of the intarwebs.
Now my knowledge of tax law is next to nil (my eyes glaze over at the mention of anything to do with it), but if my interpretation of the issue is correct, then I'd suggest the only "greed" involved here is that of the State of New York.
That local and state governments routinely seek creative or novel ways to increase their revenues should come as no surprise to anyone. And that U.S. citizens, in general, have a philosophical aversion to to taxation of any form is similarly true. That said, I'd like to think the issue could be discussed without injecting politics into a subject that has broad ramifications.
The possible uses outlined in the article inspire the imagination, but for my money, a technology that remembers everything presents a privacy risk too extreme to contemplate.
Don't you think Taco and crew have had mornings where they wake up and go "wow, fuck slashdot, im going to go be a hamster farmer..."
Sure, but while everyone dreeeeeams of becoming a hamster farmer, how many have actually tried it? Or even asked a hamster farmer what it was really like?
Let me tell you, son, hamster farming takes a lot more work than you'd think. You dig a little hole, put one of the little guys in it, move on to digging the next one, and before you're done digging it, the little fucker you just planted has dug his way out! Try doing that sun up to sun down. And if you don't get it right, by the end of the season you could be out of hamsters and have nothing to show for it but a field of dirt with little holes. Did you know there's no crop insurance for hamster farmers? Yeah, that's right. Try telling the kids the reason they can't go to college is that the hamsters all ran away because you fucked up as a hamster farmer. Or just as bad, that you need the money to buy more exercise wheels.
Come to think of it, IT is a lot like hamster farming. But don't quote me on that.
C++ (that must be nasty hair growing out of an ear. I had a Chemistry professor with that problem in college)
I had an English teacher in high school with the same problem. The entire class was sure he had relatives who were werewolves.
Why a man as he gets older needs more hair in his ears and less of it on the top of his head where you'd think he needs it is a trait that neither a Bible thumping Baptist preacher nor Charles Darwin himself would dare to try and explain.
In the meantime, laugh. It's funny, but it'll happen to you. It starts with a few nose hairs growing longer than all the others, then a few eyebrow hairs doing the same, then it's a hair or two sprouting on your nose (yes, ON your nose), before it takes hold in places you never think to check and definitely can't reach with a razor. If you're unlucky, you'll end up looking like a troll (or worse, Andy Rooney!), and everyone will laugh behind your back. If you're lucky, you'll just be another old fart with a bad combover that people will want to ignore.
Speaking of being beardless and goofy looking, there was scene in one of the Planet of the Apes movies (don't ask why I remember) where one of the chimps (the older female) watched while Charlton Heston, using something resembling a broken clam shell, shaved off his beard.
... somehow ... less intelligent."
"Why are you scraping the hair from your face?", she asked. "It makes you seem
I wouldn't have a problem with the machine running Windows; I'd have a problem with it being on the network at all.
Brave soul.
heart.exe application error
the instruction at 0x6a9210e5 referenced memory
at 0x6a9210e5 the required data was not placed
into memory because of an I/O error status of
0xc0000185.
To continue, type an administrator password, and then click OK.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donates software to Brazilian schools
There's got to be a "Maybe they can compromise and do the Samba" joke in there somewhere.
What if whoever owns the house in 50 years time believes that he doesn't particular like finding skeletons when he's gardening?
I doubt many folks garden at depths of six feet. And if they did, the well fertilized flowers/shrubs might make up for the inconvenience.
As long as these people are peaceful, let them have their beliefs, as it does not hinder what happens.
;-) Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if burying one's pets in a similar natural, eco-friendly manner is just as illegal.
My own preference is to be buried in an unfinished pine box somewhere in my backyard, preferrably under a big tree (for the shade, of course) or a garden of some sort, but California prohibited that kind of thing a hundred years ago. So much for allowing personal beliefs.
Anyone familiar with different funeral traditions knows the subject is complex, and often inseperable from one's upbringing or culture. The Orthodox (the folks who cross themselves east to west), for example, don't believe in cremation, and the church canon expressly prohibits it. IIRC, it was only recently that Greece (a country with mostly rock as soil) allowed cremations to take place, but only for the minority that isn't Orthodox.
For most westerners, I suppose, the subject doesn't evoke strong opinions one way or the other, save for the excesses of those choosing to be buried a '57 Cadillac, or more typically, in silk-lined, stainless steel, hermetically-sealed coffins.
Microsoft will drive Vista through you skull just like they did with Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
I've been through every possible upgrade cycle, so ordinarily I'd agree. The difference this time, however, is the now widely held conclusion that Vista offers few compelling features while requiring more of everyone involved, and more from their hardware. That odd state of affairs has never been the case in the past.
As for the question of whether Vista will be successful over time, well, I don't think that's settled, especially when given enough time, the next "new and improved" version of Windows will be available.
Personally, I think everyone in the Windows world, at least for the time being, is sort of fucked. That includes the folks at Microsoft.
You might draw a comparison by calling "Windows" a work in progress as in progress from 98 to 98se to ME to XP to Vista.
Geez. I do wish people would get a clue, or at least refrain from trotting this out. What you're describing is the upgrade path marketing campaign sold to retail consumers which has little to do with the actual progression, or what businesses or knowledgable individuals (regrettably not all of the Slashdot crowd) adopted.
There were 2 (two, count 'em) lines of development, simplifed as the following:
DOS -> Win3 -> Win95 -> Win98 -> WinME
NT4 -> NT5.0 (Win200)-> NT5.1 (WinXP) -> NT6 (Vista)
From those two lines, the upgrade path most commonly adopted for desktops was:
DOS -> Win95 -> Win98 > NT5.0 -> NT5.1
Obviously, you can conclude the first line of development died ungracefully. The second line is, well, you decide if if it's dead or dying or just resting. There's a Wiki article on the subject if you're interested in further reading.
Konqueror lets you scroll up and down with the cursor keys (shift+cursor key has some neat effects, too) and make all links on-screen keyboard-accessible by tapping "control."
...
...
Are there motions for "I'm crushing your head"?
Seriously, though, I agree with the OP about keyboard input, and one (as a vi user) that hopefully doesn't involve taking your hands off the keyboard to reach for frigging arrow keys. Sort of like the difference between grunting, or poking something with a stick, and having a conversation.
That said, I do think all this multitouch pinching and two-finger vertical stroking sounds interesting. I say the same every time my wife suggests I try it, and
wait for it
we don't even own an Eee PC!
Judging by the screenshots, it looks like some AT&T execs happened to catch a marathon of those 1990s cyber-thrillers which featured portrayals of that mysterious new "Internet" thing that was starting to get noticed, and decided the real Internet should start looking like those Hollywood mockups.
As compared with the more recent cyber-thrillers? LOL.
Your comments reminded of a recent South Park episode I stumbled across where the entire town lost its internet access. The story culminated in a scene where the townspeople huddle in fear and awe watching a general in full uniform, along with a dweeb playing a the ET soundtrack (a single note at a time), attempt to communicate with The Internet.
What was this Internet thing? An unmoving, monstrously large blue machine with blinking green lights (sans the Linksys logo, of course) trying to communicate to the townspeople that it needed a reboot!
I pissed myself laughing, but in retrospect found it depressing as the reality was no less goofy than the what the general public believes it to be, or what Hollywood dreams up for us.
When reading newspaper, you have no way to see the opinions of anybody other than the members of the editorial board of the newspaper.
I'm not sure what that means.
If you're reading anything other than reporting in a newspaper, I'd suggest you consider reading a better newspaper. In newspapers, opinions are found on the editorial pages, in the letters to the editor section, or in articles written by the columnists.
Newspapers are a bit funny in that respect, but they typically have this thing about keeping opinions and reporting separate, allowing the reader to distinguish and choose between them.
Unless, of course, opinions are what you're looking for. In that case, I'd suggest something like TV news programming where it's not unusual to find a mixture of reporting and editorialising mixed in together and presented against a musical score for dramatic effect, with some friendly banter between co-anchors interjecting the requisite nods of approval or frowns of disproval so their viewers can know what to think, or at least not worry about the complexity or the significance of the story.
Even better, go the personal pundit route. All opinions all the time. Much more entertaining with the added benefit of no ink smudges on your fingers.
I don't know about you but if I am looking to research painless ways to commit suicide (for whatever reason) and I search for "pain-free suicide" and the majority of the results returned are not about that topic but about trying to discourage people from doing it, well the search engine was ineffective and I would be annoyed.
One would think that would be obvious. The problem is humans have a natural tendency to categorise things, and when a subject is controversial, it's easier to opt for comfort, and narrow those categories into classifications using emotional criteria. Complexity requires thinking, and that demands a grasp of the issues and an ability to discuss those issues. By opting for the simple and comfortable we can dispense with all that and choose a position. Given that different people will choose different positions, we end up with a "for it" or "against" false dichotomy, from which arises erroneous notions of bias by the other side.
In a way, this isn't unlike the on-going battle in public perception with respect to the influence of media. The media's responsibility and role has traditionally been to question power. Those in power, don't want to be questioned, least of all questioned for the basis and relevance of that power. And if those questions start eroding that power, cries of "Unfair!" are heard amid the ensuing struggle.
Anti suicide sites? I'm not sure what means, but I'll assume that's a site where someone decided to promote a specific advocacy position on the subject. Which means every other site is most certainly a "pro" suicide site.
It would be laughable if the subject wasn't so serious.
So basically his life is ruined, even if he honestly tries to redeem myself afterwards, because he'll be forever known as the infamous first criminal to be caught thanks to the almighty Internet.
I don't think the above issue (in general) can be understated. There isn't a person alive who hasn't once done something that is embarrasing, in bad form, wrong, or even illegal, or otherwise said or wrote something that wasn't poorly worded, taken out of context, intended as an off-colour joke, or simply a case of temporary stupidity.
Why is this a big deal? Now the average person is subjected to the same level of scrutiny given to, for example, a candidate running for political office. Dunno about you, but my family and friends tend to be forgiving of my failings and shortcomings, but I sure don't want a million random strangers participating in the dissemination of information that is then recursively subjected to the judgment or actions of another million random strangers, with a prospective employer or someone similar thrown in for added fun. And that's assuming we're talking about disinterested parties and not angry ex-girlfriends, wives, schoolmates you teased, or hookers you didn't sufficiently tip.
When talking about "folks on the internet", we're mostly talking about mobs and mob mentality. In this case it seems the mob was right, so we're free to cheer for its leaders and the outcome.
weird |wÉÉ(TM)d|
Weird is trademarked?
I'm in trouble.
Mike Royko had the story about the guy from Chicago getting pulled over in another state. He hands the officer his driver's license with a $20 bill folded around it. The cop tells him he's under arrest for trying to bribe an officer. The guy looks confused and asks "What? Is it more than 20 bucks here?"
True story:
When I first moved to Chicago, my knowledge of organised crime was what I saw in movies, and the idea of bribing a police officer was similarly the stuff of fiction. Within my first few days there, I was taken aside by any number of people offering free advice on how to handle traffic situations.
A few months pass, and I get stopped for speeding. I wasn't speeding, of course, but I handed the police officer my driver's license and a twenty, along with a five, figuring "Why not? Cheaper than an unfair ticket, right?".
I tell my friends the story, thinking they'd be proud of how well I adapted to Chicago's way of doing things. Instead, they laughed. The response was "You overpaid." Apparently, the going rate at the time was $10.
When I left Chicago, I left with a number of unpaid traffic tickets. When I say "number", I mean the tickets (no exaggeration) half-filled a full-sized garbage bag I kept in the trunk. When it was time to get a new license, I was told I had to pay up all my unpaid tickets first. I made a call back to Chicago to a friend to aks what I should do. He said he would take care of it and not to worry. I found out some months later that he paid someone who paid someone who paid someone else $200 to to clear my record. Poof! No more tickets.
Ah, the good old days.
Here in LA, traffic tickets or violations of any kind are treated like capital offenses. And the typical cop, instead of being a friendly cigar-smoking, hot-dog-eating, Cubs fan with a weight problem, is military-styled droid wearing a bullet-proof vest and armed with automatic weapons. I'd trade a bit of corruption for this scenario any day.
Forget netcraft.
It is official. Gartner now confirms: Windows is collapsing.
One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered Windows community
when Gartner confirmed that Windows is collapsing in complete disarray and
risks becoming a has-been. Coming on the heels of a recent survey which
plainly states that by the end of 2007 only 6.3 percent of the 50,000
enterprise computer users it surveyed were working with Vista.
You don't need to be the Amazing Kreskin to predict Windows' future. The
hand writing is on the wall: Windows faces a bleak future. In fact there
won't be any future at all for Windows because Windows is collapsing.
Things are looking very bad for Windows. As many of us are already aware,
Windows continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of
blood.
Fact: Windows is collapsing
Apple is Swiss Cheese labeled as "Ementhaler" - believing that the luxury branding will ward off serious scrutiny, but leaving those holes exposed.
Overlooking the fact that Emmental (where Emmenthaler is made) is already in Switzerland and has been for some time, I wonder how many Mac users, when feeling a bit peckish, will turn to cheesy commestibles?
And of those that do enjoy the fermented curd, how many would rather a bit of Cheddar, or Tilsit or even something like a Wensleydale to Emmenthaler? Seems to me that if you can't make up your mind, or decide which is better, a Danish Fimboe, Japanese Sage Darby, or Venezuelan beaver cheese, you might as well call it a day and say "It's runny Camembert for Everyone!", ignoring the fact that Camembert, even when it's really really runny is really awful with potted pork.
Which I think was the original subject of the article.
Not "inexpensive" enough for me to stick onto my dog!
Seems like a fair comment, but if the dog gets lost, you'll need to figure in the cost of a reward and/or the time and resources required for putting up all those flyers. Then there's those emergency vet bills (if the dog gets into an accident), lawyer and court costs (if the dog bites the good samaritan trying to catch it for you), the loss of mail delivery to your home and cancellation of homeowner's insurance and a lawsuit (if the dog bites the mailman), or, if all goes well and the city finds your dog for you, the animal shelter fees. And this is all assuming it's not your wife's dog, or that you have kids whose questions you need to answer.
Beagles, incidentally, are notorious (bred, actually) for running off to hunt something down they find interesting, and then expecting you to catch up.
GPS sounds like an ideal solution for pet owners.
Seems to me that adds up to vote count of 1 against, and an undetermined number in favour of the buyout.
I have no idea who Legg Mason is, or what influence he has, but it is possible he's a Carl Icahn type and his actions may be an important factor. That said, my guess is that this thing will end up in a proxy fight that will be harder to follow for an average person than the ISO voting process, but with the added bonus of having the interesting politics and social ramifications replaced by arcane legal strategies and maneuverings that only lawyers and Wall Street Journal reporters could appreciate or find interesting.
I do think it would be good to see Microsoft fail to get their way for once. Assuming, of course, that a successful buyout of Yahoo isn't a failure in the making.
I still have my old Speedstream 5100b. :)
I'm not sure I get the joke, but if it's funny, it might be even funnier that, IIRC, I have a model with a lower number. With the exception that it doesn't reset/resync after a power failure, I guess it works likes it's supposed to.
On the other hand, I am concerned that should the little bugger fail, I'll have to purchase a newer model. Which means I'll end up with something with a metric ton of unwanted features.
I know this isn't Ask Slashdot, but does anyone know whether it's possible to acquire, either through one's own DSL provider or elsewhere, a modem that's just a modem? Or is that just not possible these days? And maybe someone more knowledgable than the rest of us can comment on whether it's possible to "connect" to the thing in some way to read it's configuration.
We all know most may view it on occasion, but who on Slashdot is going to admit to *paying for* pron?
...
The first rule of USENET is No One Talks About USENET!
Oh, wait