I've wanted my city to do this for a long time now. All the complaints I hear involve taxpayer money, privacy, and government abuse of such a system.
Honestly, I'm sick of paying $45 a month for Comcast. If the city would be willing to offer the service:
They could partner with an existing provider. Keep fees very low. Use the revenue from that service to maintain the service, expand and even pour it back into the city's budget.
I don't know the actual numbers, but consider the Comcast (and others) monopoly-type situation. This is not something to complain about, it's something to push for and watch closely enough to keep it safe.
I see them on case modding sites occasionally. As far as your use, I'm not sure how they would measure up. Knowing the thriftiness of many modders, you may be able to find a decent recommendation there.
You've misunderstood my post, and that's most likely because I've poorly expressed my point.
No, the quotes were for the fact that this is not a new concept and does not use new technology.
An innovation can be abused - as this can. If anyone were tracking anyone else (including me) it could be used for abuse or for a good purpose. If someone's tracking me for the purpose of robbing me, that's an abuse. If they're tracking me because I've gone unexpectedly missing for a week, that's a different story. Obviously, there are some good reasons to use this kind of technology. But there are some obvious abuses that can happen as well. I could certainly be abusing it by tracking someone with the wrong intention (as tracking my kids would be, despite my previous post).
I know how I was as a new driver - and the crap I pulled as a teenager. I've also seen teenagers out of control, and with no way to reign them in you can only hope every night that they don't end up dead.
I'm willing to respect the privacy of my kids and the experiences you gain as a teenager. But if I ask my son when he got home last night, and he tells me midnight - I can look to see if he's telling the truth.
When I have kids, I'll expect updates on all their cars' data at regular intervals.
I can't decide whether to praise this kind of "innovation" for the convenience, or to complain about the possibilities for abuse. I know we'll hear plenty of both - but I'll lean toward praising this for now. Technology will always be abused, and complaining about basically harmless things and their potential for evil is not generally productive.
People who died in car accidents are more likely than not to have been wearing clothes.
So, wearing clothes increases the chance of dying in a car accident.
More reasonably, this is similar to the claim that wine drinkers are healthier than beer drinkers. The fact is, wine drinkers tend to live a different life style than beer drinkers. That lifestyle is what increases the chance of being healthy - not the wine.
People who smoke and drink a lot are more likely to be involved in certain activities - the effects of smoking and drinking are not influenced by those activities. Ridiculous.
Really - this is the kind of argument I would expect from a spammer that doesn't want to be restricted in their ability to serve unwanted ads to increasingly frustrated recipients.
Oh, wait. I get spam from Verisign (and their subsidiaries) all the time.... addToListOfEvilCompanies("Verisign");
"Pardon me. Would the person responsible for forging the photos, removing the watermarks from the source images, and distributing a libellous claim please come to the Principal's office? Thank you."
Hell, this could be good for all OS users
Imagine grandpa sitting down to breakfast, reading the paper, and seeing this article (if it's published in his paper). Maybe - just maybe, he'll think *is my computer secure?* And he'll realize it is.
Knowing my fiancee's grandfather though, he'll think *those spooks are using my social security money on computer games?!*
I noticed this too. Is that kind of stereotype really that prevalent (or is it just accurate)? All of the NSA folks I've met (not many, mind you) were less shadowy than my mailman.
Then again, I'm pretty sure my mailman opens my birthday cards.
This comes right on the heels of a report by a security firm that Linux was the most vulnerable server OS...
On the other hand, I think this is a great example of why open source software is a good thing - anyone, the government included, can improve the software. I'm sure they feel much better about using an OS that they've personally inspected and tested than something else.
I remember seeing news about Japanese scanner pens (smaller than any cell phone nowadays) that would let you write with it, OCR scan text, and it store the text. I don't have a link right now because I'm lazy. But those were a few hundred dollars back then - maybe eight years ago.
This is probably just a combination of that technology (which never took off here) and the cell phone feature craze.
Nah - my camera's a budget crap camera compared to what most geeks have/want. I was just curious because there are much cheaper cameras that would do the same thing. If he was really smart enough to rig this thing up, he had to be smart enough to know that a $150-200 camera would be as good as his $500-600 one.
Why'd they use a Cybershot? I personally have a DSC-P71, but you could get a much cheaper camera and do the same thing.
Anyway, I remember reading an article (might-a been on/.) about buying an ATM and hacking the software to record the information for him. It's supposed to be much harder to find than this kind of "noticeable" trick.
Thanks for the offer, but I'm downloading Mandrake ISOs. I'm sure I would have had no problem with SuSE once it was installed, but I couldn't get my network card running and thus the network install was not possible.
KFG: A little of both. Plus, XP isn't working perfectly (on any machine I've tried). I've switched to OpenOffice.org, Thunderbird and have tried GIMP. I like the philosophy, the price and the fact that sometimes I can screw around with the code myself to get it to do stuff I want (without having to wait for MS to do it for me).
This weekend I tried SuSE - installing using a "newbie install guide" I found posted on Slashdot. Plenty of instructions for installing via FTP network install. Wait! It doesn't recognize my network card. So I try to activate those modules. What parameters - not a clue. My card isn't listed so I use the closest one. Not working. Tried EVERY network card they have listed, but none worked. I will look further tonight, but I spent almost two hours trying to install it Saturday and was getting pretty frustrated.
On my home network, XP installs in 30 minutes and the default network settings are correct for my setup (inside a Linksys 802.11b router).
Mostly, I want to find a decent distro that is free, reliable and has support for my existing hardware. If SuSE isn't for me (and it doesn't sound like it is) then I'm willing to try others.
My main complaint is about the vast number of distributions that are obviously just different flavors of the same thing. There aren't enough differences to justify a whole new distribution (I looked through several hundred on a couple of different sites before picking a mainstream one).
I'm fairly new to regular Linux use, and as such am probably one of those readers for whom his work is intended.
Lately, I've been trying to get moved over to Linux (from WinXP). But damn near every distribution I've tried to install gives me problems. From SuSE to Knoppix (installed, not live) I cannot get it working. One of the attractions is that it doesn't cost me anything to try out.
How do you handle the recurring debates over distributions? What would you recommend to someone who wants to try moving to Linux but can't afford to spend countless hours getting it to install - installing Windows XP only takes me 30 minutes and everything works.
Perhaps some other./ers could offer their suggestions as well. Sorry if this isn't quite on topic.
I haven't read the article (surprise!), but I'm glad to hear that the author expresses concerns about privacy and abuse of the system.
Look at the summary - crime increased 2% from 2000 to 2001. What did it do in Chicago during that time? We got two different facts that are not comparable. I'd like to see the numbers for the country over the last three years (to compare to Chicago's decrease of so much).
Most of the jobs I've found on those are either posted by headhunters/recruiters or are jobs that you wouldn't want anyway.
A local job site has some crappy listings too, but they kick Monster.com's ass. They're recent, relevant and have more information.
On the other hand, the best jobs I've found/interviewed for were not posted on those sites. If you want the job, you're looking for them - not the other way around.
Many positions aren't posted to HR until they have someone ready to hire anyway. A few companies I recently dealt with were in the interview stages. Their HR depts were unaware that there was a job opening. That's because the manager didn't want to post an opening and then spend six months trying to fill it. It makes him look picky/incompetent or that people don't want to work for him. He found his guy and sent the resume, position description/job req. and employment contract to HR in one paperclip.
Slashdot Mirror
I've wanted my city to do this for a long time now. All the complaints I hear involve taxpayer money, privacy, and government abuse of such a system.
Honestly, I'm sick of paying $45 a month for Comcast. If the city would be willing to offer the service:
They could partner with an existing provider.
Keep fees very low.
Use the revenue from that service to maintain the service, expand and even pour it back into the city's budget.
I don't know the actual numbers, but consider the Comcast (and others) monopoly-type situation. This is not something to complain about, it's something to push for and watch closely enough to keep it safe.
I see them on case modding sites occasionally. As far as your use, I'm not sure how they would measure up. Knowing the thriftiness of many modders, you may be able to find a decent recommendation there.
Fuelless falling.
You've misunderstood my post, and that's most likely because I've poorly expressed my point.
No, the quotes were for the fact that this is not a new concept and does not use new technology.
An innovation can be abused - as this can. If anyone were tracking anyone else (including me) it could be used for abuse or for a good purpose. If someone's tracking me for the purpose of robbing me, that's an abuse. If they're tracking me because I've gone unexpectedly missing for a week, that's a different story. Obviously, there are some good reasons to use this kind of technology. But there are some obvious abuses that can happen as well. I could certainly be abusing it by tracking someone with the wrong intention (as tracking my kids would be, despite my previous post).
I know how I was as a new driver - and the crap I pulled as a teenager. I've also seen teenagers out of control, and with no way to reign them in you can only hope every night that they don't end up dead.
I'm willing to respect the privacy of my kids and the experiences you gain as a teenager. But if I ask my son when he got home last night, and he tells me midnight - I can look to see if he's telling the truth.
Trust is earned - not given freely.
When I have kids, I'll expect updates on all their cars' data at regular intervals.
I can't decide whether to praise this kind of "innovation" for the convenience, or to complain about the possibilities for abuse. I know we'll hear plenty of both - but I'll lean toward praising this for now. Technology will always be abused, and complaining about basically harmless things and their potential for evil is not generally productive.
True. Besides, this is the same as saying:
People who died in car accidents are more likely than not to have been wearing clothes.
So, wearing clothes increases the chance of dying in a car accident.
More reasonably, this is similar to the claim that wine drinkers are healthier than beer drinkers. The fact is, wine drinkers tend to live a different life style than beer drinkers. That lifestyle is what increases the chance of being healthy - not the wine.
People who smoke and drink a lot are more likely to be involved in certain activities - the effects of smoking and drinking are not influenced by those activities. Ridiculous.
Everything causes cancer nowadays
*sigh*
Only because I forgot to rename that entry to Network Solutions.
Really - this is the kind of argument I would expect from a spammer that doesn't want to be restricted in their ability to serve unwanted ads to increasingly frustrated recipients.
... addToListOfEvilCompanies("Verisign");
Oh, wait. I get spam from Verisign (and their subsidiaries) all the time.
"Pardon me. Would the person responsible for forging the photos, removing the watermarks from the source images, and distributing a libellous claim please come to the Principal's office? Thank you."
Hell, this could be good for all OS users
Imagine grandpa sitting down to breakfast, reading the paper, and seeing this article (if it's published in his paper). Maybe - just maybe, he'll think *is my computer secure?* And he'll realize it is.
Knowing my fiancee's grandfather though, he'll think *those spooks are using my social security money on computer games?!*
I noticed this too. Is that kind of stereotype really that prevalent (or is it just accurate)? All of the NSA folks I've met (not many, mind you) were less shadowy than my mailman.
Then again, I'm pretty sure my mailman opens my birthday cards.
This comes right on the heels of a report by a security firm that Linux was the most vulnerable server OS...
On the other hand, I think this is a great example of why open source software is a good thing - anyone, the government included, can improve the software. I'm sure they feel much better about using an OS that they've personally inspected and tested than something else.
I remember seeing news about Japanese scanner pens (smaller than any cell phone nowadays) that would let you write with it, OCR scan text, and it store the text. I don't have a link right now because I'm lazy. But those were a few hundred dollars back then - maybe eight years ago.
This is probably just a combination of that technology (which never took off here) and the cell phone feature craze.
Nah - my camera's a budget crap camera compared to what most geeks have/want. I was just curious because there are much cheaper cameras that would do the same thing. If he was really smart enough to rig this thing up, he had to be smart enough to know that a $150-200 camera would be as good as his $500-600 one.
Why'd they use a Cybershot? I personally have a DSC-P71, but you could get a much cheaper camera and do the same thing.
/.) about buying an ATM and hacking the software to record the information for him. It's supposed to be much harder to find than this kind of "noticeable" trick.
Anyway, I remember reading an article (might-a been on
Thanks for the offer, but I'm downloading Mandrake ISOs. I'm sure I would have had no problem with SuSE once it was installed, but I couldn't get my network card running and thus the network install was not possible.
I hate being a newbie again.
It would be a hell of a marketing and user education campaign to get users to understand this (or almost any hardware related details).
They want fast and reliable, not techspeak. I can barely get my clients to understand why they need SSL (and how it works).
KFG: A little of both. Plus, XP isn't working perfectly (on any machine I've tried). I've switched to OpenOffice.org, Thunderbird and have tried GIMP. I like the philosophy, the price and the fact that sometimes I can screw around with the code myself to get it to do stuff I want (without having to wait for MS to do it for me).
This weekend I tried SuSE - installing using a "newbie install guide" I found posted on Slashdot. Plenty of instructions for installing via FTP network install. Wait! It doesn't recognize my network card. So I try to activate those modules. What parameters - not a clue. My card isn't listed so I use the closest one. Not working. Tried EVERY network card they have listed, but none worked. I will look further tonight, but I spent almost two hours trying to install it Saturday and was getting pretty frustrated.
On my home network, XP installs in 30 minutes and the default network settings are correct for my setup (inside a Linksys 802.11b router).
Mostly, I want to find a decent distro that is free, reliable and has support for my existing hardware. If SuSE isn't for me (and it doesn't sound like it is) then I'm willing to try others.
My main complaint is about the vast number of distributions that are obviously just different flavors of the same thing. There aren't enough differences to justify a whole new distribution (I looked through several hundred on a couple of different sites before picking a mainstream one).
I'm fairly new to regular Linux use, and as such am probably one of those readers for whom his work is intended.
./ers could offer their suggestions as well. Sorry if this isn't quite on topic.
Lately, I've been trying to get moved over to Linux (from WinXP). But damn near every distribution I've tried to install gives me problems. From SuSE to Knoppix (installed, not live) I cannot get it working. One of the attractions is that it doesn't cost me anything to try out.
How do you handle the recurring debates over distributions? What would you recommend to someone who wants to try moving to Linux but can't afford to spend countless hours getting it to install - installing Windows XP only takes me 30 minutes and everything works.
Perhaps some other
Since when did ./ start this trend?
Next week: Santa's favorite Half-life mods.
Special Report: Easter Bunny caught with Aim-bot!
I haven't read the article (surprise!), but I'm glad to hear that the author expresses concerns about privacy and abuse of the system.
Look at the summary - crime increased 2% from 2000 to 2001. What did it do in Chicago during that time? We got two different facts that are not comparable. I'd like to see the numbers for the country over the last three years (to compare to Chicago's decrease of so much).
Buying overpriced CDs for years ($1,306.19)
Sticking it to the RIAA (-$13.86)
Getting a Slashdot-induced bandwidth bill of $3,000: Priceless.
Way to go.
Most of the jobs I've found on those are either posted by headhunters/recruiters or are jobs that you wouldn't want anyway.
A local job site has some crappy listings too, but they kick Monster.com's ass. They're recent, relevant and have more information.
On the other hand, the best jobs I've found/interviewed for were not posted on those sites. If you want the job, you're looking for them - not the other way around.
Many positions aren't posted to HR until they have someone ready to hire anyway. A few companies I recently dealt with were in the interview stages. Their HR depts were unaware that there was a job opening. That's because the manager didn't want to post an opening and then spend six months trying to fill it. It makes him look picky/incompetent or that people don't want to work for him. He found his guy and sent the resume, position description/job req. and employment contract to HR in one paperclip.
It was a great job, too.