Congratulations; you have with a single click managed to encompass both Slashdot's greatest strength (user-moderated forum) and Slashdot's greatest weakness (some users are idiots)
NOT posting A.C. to illustrate that the identities of the moderators of a post should be visible as well (which should explain why I've used a grand total of ONE moderator point. Ever.)
I'll second that (and give even more reason to be modded-down: a "me too" post!)
What disturbs me more than 90% of the posts to a/. article qualifying as flamebait (especially including the very first post, which looks to have a near record number of replies -- all of the same ilk) is the article itself qualifying (hands down, don't anybody bother arguing 'cause you know it's true and you'll just look silly if you argue the point) as flamebait. "An anonymous reader writes" as a tag line should be reserved for "it's obviously a joke, laugh and go on" articles (which I happen to enjoy quite a bit, FWIW) but definitely not for "serious" articles. "News for nerds, stuff that matters" indeed. By putting a "spin" on the news, we're tacitly being told we're too stupid to be handed "just the facts, ma'am" and digest them for ourselves (and after scanning the posts up to now, they may have a point...)
Dude, they stopped asking (or caring) what we thought a long, LONG time ago. For proof we need look no further than the last several incarnations of the "Trek universe":
The Next Generation - "Hey, what if we took them 'where no one has gone before'?"
Deep Space Nine - "This time let's have 'em meekly sit beside this big barfhole in space waiting for something interesting/dangerous/humorous/easy-to-script to fall out of it. Oh, and we need a shapeshifter; the focus groups actually roused from their comas for the shapeshifter."
Voyager - "Hey, let's go over there (so we can introduce some dazzling "24th Century" technology but not have it clash with the tech we've established during TNG) and spend soooo long coming back that in a desparate attempt to rekindle some interest in the flawed clone-of-a-clone-of-a-clone-of-a-clone (didn't we determine sometime during TNG that cloning a clone's clone was a bad idea?) show we have to beam the holographic doctor back "home" through subspace for a visit (and to pick up some mail) so as to give the three geeks who're still watching at this point the vain hope that we'll ever get the rest of these poor fools back home before the show's cancelled..."
Enterprise - "Ok, howsabout if 'somebody else really had gone there before'?! Yeah, whatever, slap it up and we'll broadcast it (like anybody gives a tribble's butt at this point...)"
Reports vary, but she at one time owned between 1,060 and 3,000 pairs of shoes; she might be willing to part with a few of the shoeboxes (at size 8 1/2, the boxes are just about right for a CD or DVD -- at least that's the system I use...)
Perhaps, but to date only Slim Pickens has actually ridden a nuclear bomb anywhere (and he rode his straight down...) so there's not likely to be the kind of cutthroat controversy usually reserved for the Astronomers -vs- Geologists.
Very interesting, but I think the overall problem that would face such an idea would be that the existing crop of "government contractors" are all addicted to the "government teat" and would be unwilling to lift the proverbial finger without an already-awarded contract (and a lucre-ative one, at that. Pun intended.)
It would probably take a new "industry" entirely to break out of the current mold -- maybe the new spaceflight ventures have what it'd take...
Ok, the inventors have been protected (to the tune of 90 MILLION dollars, which is a pretty sweet tune unles you're the one whose dangling corpse is whistling in the wind...), now how about the rest of us? I'm a DishNetwork customer, and though I don't own a DishNetwork PVR (I prefer to gripe about my *other* brand video recorder...) I wonder what recourse affected customers have (other than bend over and try to think about their "happy place")?
This is the Slashdot community -- a bunch of geeks who'd hack their own pacemakers if they thought they could up the performance a bit (or just to say they'd done it) -- what say ye?!
the crew will consist of four individuals chosen primarily for their skills as field scientists in areas including geology, geochemistry, microbiology, biochemistry, and paleontology. Two additional crew members will be chosen primarily for their skills in engineering areas.
What would the world be without the Gilligans, the Lucys, the George Jetsons, and the Jethros? Is there truly no room in this world any more for Inspector Clouseau, Phillip Fry, or even Scooby Doo?!?!
I'm telling you, they're making a BIG mistake; they'll NEVER get the series into a second season without some comedic relief!
That's good fun, but you should try Googling "Google". When you Google "Google", all the Googles you get back aren't googles but GOOGLES! What's more, I suspect that if Google Googled Google, there'd be a GAGGLE of Googles Googled (and what's more Google than Google Google Google? Google? google...)
...I can't help but think the textbook publishers must be drooling buckets right now (plus, I wonder if anyone on the committee(s) making this decision have an "interest" in such publishing?)
And don't bother taking that "Oh, these are scientists, they're above such things as pride and avarice!" air, human nature is human nature.
Out of the blue, they suddenly announce they are giving away some of their data.
It's probably somewhere in their TOS (I haven't read it and don't care to/have time to) that they don't have to ask anyone's permission to "share" their "non-personally-identifiable information" with their "partners" (just to coin a few phrases from various TOS's and EULA's and CYA's I have bothered to read over the years...) but it would've been nice if they had announced they were planning to release a subset of their logs, to whom, and exactly when (and even offered an "opt-out" avenue to their users who so wished...) and then gathered some feedback before doing something so cosmically STUPID. That way, they would have had the benefit of all the regex advice and the pattern-matching advice (not to mention the most excellently very sound advice of all: "JUST DON'T DO IT"...)
They think all AOL users will change their SSN's (or will have time to change them) within that time.
They think the spammers and identity thieves will forget all those juicy tidbits within that time.
They figure anyone lame enough to use AOL in the first place would probably give away their identity anyway within a calendar year, so there's no need setting a precedent.
I can't get past the notion that when the submissions came in to name Uranus some panel member who wasn't paying particularly close attention might've looked up with a gasp and said "You want to name it after my what?!"
Someone's giving us ADVANCE NOTICE on Slashdot and you're COMPLAINING?!?!?!
I can't count how many times I've read something on Slashdot about something cool that's already happened, just barely, and said "Once again, information I could have put to much better use YESTERDAY!!!
Zonk, pay no attention to the criticism; I for one WELCOME some in-advance info (might even vote for it for "overlord"...)
Slashdot Mirror
...I heard somewhere that they occasionally go up in smoke and flames...
In which case it'd be a "fireball" (rural-Southern pronunciation: "far.ball") of all the PDF's...
Congratulations; you have with a single click managed to encompass both Slashdot's greatest strength (user-moderated forum) and Slashdot's greatest weakness (some users are idiots)
NOT posting A.C. to illustrate that the identities of the moderators of a post should be visible as well (which should explain why I've used a grand total of ONE moderator point. Ever.)
I'll second that (and give even more reason to be modded-down: a "me too" post!)
/. article qualifying as flamebait (especially including the very first post, which looks to have a near record number of replies -- all of the same ilk) is the article itself qualifying (hands down, don't anybody bother arguing 'cause you know it's true and you'll just look silly if you argue the point) as flamebait. "An anonymous reader writes" as a tag line should be reserved for "it's obviously a joke, laugh and go on" articles (which I happen to enjoy quite a bit, FWIW) but definitely not for "serious" articles. "News for nerds, stuff that matters" indeed. By putting a "spin" on the news, we're tacitly being told we're too stupid to be handed "just the facts, ma'am" and digest them for ourselves (and after scanning the posts up to now, they may have a point...)
What disturbs me more than 90% of the posts to a
Sick of it? Darn tootin'!
You need a reason (besides "it's on")!?!?
Reports vary, but she at one time owned between 1,060 and 3,000 pairs of shoes; she might be willing to part with a few of the shoeboxes (at size 8 1/2, the boxes are just about right for a CD or DVD -- at least that's the system I use...)
They have someone run one of those tubes to their house!
Perhaps, but to date only Slim Pickens has actually ridden a nuclear bomb anywhere (and he rode his straight down...) so there's not likely to be the kind of cutthroat controversy usually reserved for the Astronomers -vs- Geologists.
"Trust, but verify."
Kirk had to 'splain the same thing to Spock at least once...(Re: Episode #3, "The Corbomite Maneuver")
Very interesting, but I think the overall problem that would face such an idea would be that the existing crop of "government contractors" are all addicted to the "government teat" and would be unwilling to lift the proverbial finger without an already-awarded contract (and a lucre-ative one, at that. Pun intended.)
It would probably take a new "industry" entirely to break out of the current mold -- maybe the new spaceflight ventures have what it'd take...
You have people (I presume the Marketing folks) actually ask before they make such an announcement?!?! Lucky.
Ok, the inventors have been protected (to the tune of 90 MILLION dollars, which is a pretty sweet tune unles you're the one whose dangling corpse is whistling in the wind...), now how about the rest of us? I'm a DishNetwork customer, and though I don't own a DishNetwork PVR (I prefer to gripe about my *other* brand video recorder...) I wonder what recourse affected customers have (other than bend over and try to think about their "happy place")?
This is the Slashdot community -- a bunch of geeks who'd hack their own pacemakers if they thought they could up the performance a bit (or just to say they'd done it) -- what say ye?!
At first I thought TFA said a few million years and I started getting worried, then I reread it and now I'm ok. Whew, that was a close one!
What would the world be without the Gilligans, the Lucys, the George Jetsons, and the Jethros? Is there truly no room in this world any more for Inspector Clouseau, Phillip Fry, or even Scooby Doo?!?!
I'm telling you, they're making a BIG mistake; they'll NEVER get the series into a second season without some comedic relief!
That's good fun, but you should try Googling "Google". When you Google "Google", all the Googles you get back aren't googles but GOOGLES! What's more, I suspect that if Google Googled Google, there'd be a GAGGLE of Googles Googled (and what's more Google than Google Google Google? Google? google...)
If so then I'm against it (until I get my patent submitted, that is, after that I'm all for it.)
Pinky Dinky Doo
...I can't help but think the textbook publishers must be drooling buckets right now (plus, I wonder if anyone on the committee(s) making this decision have an "interest" in such publishing?)
And don't bother taking that "Oh, these are scientists, they're above such things as pride and avarice!" air, human nature is human nature.
It's probably somewhere in their TOS (I haven't read it and don't care to/have time to) that they don't have to ask anyone's permission to "share" their "non-personally-identifiable information" with their "partners" (just to coin a few phrases from various TOS's and EULA's and CYA's I have bothered to read over the years...) but it would've been nice if they had announced they were planning to release a subset of their logs, to whom, and exactly when (and even offered an "opt-out" avenue to their users who so wished...) and then gathered some feedback before doing something so cosmically STUPID. That way, they would have had the benefit of all the regex advice and the pattern-matching advice (not to mention the most excellently very sound advice of all: "JUST DON'T DO IT"...)
- They think all AOL users will change their SSN's (or will have time to change them) within that time.
- They think the spammers and identity thieves will forget all those juicy tidbits within that time.
- They figure anyone lame enough to use AOL in the first place would probably give away their identity anyway within a calendar year, so there's no need setting a precedent.
My money's on #3.Hey, maybe I'm 10, you insensitive clod!!
sorry, couldn't resist (no, I didn't try very hard.)
I can't get past the notion that when the submissions came in to name Uranus some panel member who wasn't paying particularly close attention might've looked up with a gasp and said "You want to name it after my what?!"
Someone's giving us ADVANCE NOTICE on Slashdot and you're COMPLAINING?!?!?!
I can't count how many times I've read something on Slashdot about something cool that's already happened, just barely, and said "Once again, information I could have put to much better use YESTERDAY!!!
Zonk, pay no attention to the criticism; I for one WELCOME some in-advance info (might even vote for it for "overlord"...)