What makes you think there are no "real" terrorists on American soil? Almost all of the terrorist incidents on US soil have been internal for the last 1 or 2 centuries. Most recent != most common.
In the face of an immediate threat, you don't have liberties. If you're so selfish that you would rather hundreds of people die than lose your computer for a day (just an example), then you're worse than those setting off the bombs. They may be wrong, but at least they think they're doing something good. I'm not saying the "war on terror" is legitimate, I'm saying that if there's a real threat, the authorities should do what is necessary within reason.
Well, what if there was a credible threat made by terrorists through the hacking? Perhaps time is of the essence, and tracking the person down could bring down a terrorist cell.
If they make a minor coding error, the US may end up third-world and Afghanistan may be a superpower in the simulation. Imagine trying to explain that to your superior officers.
Imagine your embarassment when you reach into your pocket, grab your pen, and realize it's of the ink-less variety. If it's got no ink, there's no point in calling it a pen. But then...what happens when you bust the tip and the computer is fried by it? Worth the risk, I'd say.
Yes, the acting has been poor (it improved as time went on; watching Teal'c from one of the first seasons is unbearable). At least half the plots are lame, yes, but the other half (or quarter, third, etc) are relatively original (which is very rare in sci-fi). The one thing that is great in SG1 is character development. If you forget the first few episodes and movie (which don't make sense with the later ones, anyway), the characters are extremely complex yet perfectly consistant. I really can't name any show/movie that has had characters as well-crafted. I tip my hat to the writers for their work in that department (but not for plots, which have been on a downward slide for years).
That said, I have no intention of watching the spin-off. Not only will it lack the characters which had been molded to perfection over years, but they're clearly running out of plotlines.
While this may work for teenagers, it has no use in the business world. In the last week, I've gotten two dozen vital emails from people I did not previously know (professors at various grad programs). In that period, I haven't gotten a single message from people I know (or who know someone I know), because I have conversations with friends them face-to-face, over the phone, or through instant messages. This sort of filtering just removes the most important reason for the existence of email, which is replacing snail-mail, not replacing conversations.
You're only giving it away in a casual sense - technically, you're just suggesting something to the owner, who is deciding to do it. Third parties should know better, and it is their responsibility to.
Giving it away is one thing, selling it is another. They may have no problem changing the name in their computer, but that doesn't mean that you own it and can profit off of it.
The sponsored links have a very odd system. Case in point: I tried a test search for (in quotes) in both Google and Yahoo!. Google gives no sponsored links for "cubital tunnel syndrome", one for "tunnel syndrome", and eight for "carpal tunnel syndrome" - all are relevant. Yahoo!, however, gives a sponsored link for carpal tunnel syndrome in a search for "cubital tunnel syndrome", three different links for a search of "tunnel syndrome", and eight for "carpal tunnel syndrome".
What's significant here? The search for "cubital tunnel syndrome" gives a sponsored link to a carpal tunnel syndrome site, despite the fact that it is not relevant, and the search terms were in quotes. More interestingly, that sponsored link does not appear in searches for "tunnel syndrome" or "carpal tunnel syndrome".
Now that is one ugly search engine. It's amazing they made it look that bad, especially when you consider that they just ripped off the Google color scheme and format.
Colors: To use a non-preset color (text, lines, etc) you have to go through the Options and change an existing one. That's just ridiculous.
Spreadsheet length: Max row number is half of what Excel supports. Additionally, if you import a sheet that exceeds the max, the additional rows are simply ignored (you lose half of your data).
Anything below the hundred-thousands place is worthless - it's not verifiable and no one can claim it is accurate. I suppose it's just an attempt to make the transition between big, round numbers seem more "real".
These kinds of weapons are already available on the black market to the highest bidder. This is just the first attempt to use eBay to make the process legitimate. You can be sure the gov't is going to keep tabs on the buyer.
"Soccer mom can't figure out voice mail? I guess soccer mom can't go to the theater or to class because her kids are in school."
So you think the woman should have to step outside every 2 minutes to check her voicemail? Most parents I know would balk at your statement - the health and safety of their child is of the utmost importance, and they shouldn't have to completely abandon their social life to ensure it.
"What happens to all those doctors who must turn off their phones when they are on the ward, or spending hours in the operating room?"
I think you missed the point of the doctor situation. Emergency room doctors need to be able to be contacted in case of an emergency (or cardiologists, etc). If they're in the hospital, then their location is known and there is no issue. The point is that some professions are 24-hour on-call.
"...I get alerted to missed calls and missed pages. It doesn't curtail my productivity, how can it hamper soccer-mom's?"
I'm going to take a wild guess here: you don't have children. For years, women have not worked so that they would be home for their children, and would be accessible. Cell phones are changing things, and allow part-time jobs and exponentially increased social lives.
The diamond industry (mining, cutting, and selling) is quite large. Is it possible they can convince governments to regulate the man-made ones, and have them somehow marked to allow people to note the difference? It may seem a bit out-there, but there's a lot of money at stake for a lot of people.
If they find that the majority of users are from the west coast of the US, or are middle-aged, or are female, etc., they can either refine their content towards the present users, or expand content to reach new target groups. It's vital to the success of many sites. That said, I think they should drop the street adress and make age more general; name, gender, year of birth, and city/state/country are all they really need.
I can see it now - budget PCs sold with Linux to make them cheaper. Consumers who don't know/care about Linux get it and spend years complaining to everyone about how the computer can't do X and Y.
Actually, your numbers aren't equivalent. I was including installation of applications (how many Compaq's come with Firefox?), replacement of documents, and configuration. Build time shouldn't exceed an hour unless you've bought incompatible or poorly-made components. You should be able throw it together in half of that if you have any experience, which would make installation of the OS (assuming you're using what the vendor sells pre-installed) and drivers the only real time difference.
Personally, I enjoy the sense of accomplishment - knowing that I built my machine and saved a few hundred bucks doing so is quite nice.
"Its easy and cost effective enough to build your own desktop, unless you dont have a lot of free time..." (Emphasis added)
A lot of free time? If you know what you want, it takes almost no time at all. Order the components from a single, reliable online source to avoid headaches, and sit back and wait for the packages in the mail. It shouldn't take more than one night to put it together, install applications, replace documents, and configure everything properly.
Keep in mind that the OSHA levels are the point at which "25% of [the] population will exhibit hearing loss so severe that it will impair ability to effectively communicate with spoken language" (Pastore, 2002). The guidelines were set up so that "Industry can meet criteria without going bankrupt" (Pastore), not so that you'll be healthy or hear well.
External hard drives (FireWire/USB 2.0) are about $1/GB. They're realatively small and not particularly heavy - at larger sizes/prices (over 256MB/$60), I'd say they still have flash beat hands-down. For the price of a 512MB flash drive, you can have a 120GB hard drive. Yes, it's big and bulky in comparison, but unless you've got money to burn (which I'm assuming is not generally the case on/.), they're probably a better choice.
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What makes you think there are no "real" terrorists on American soil? Almost all of the terrorist incidents on US soil have been internal for the last 1 or 2 centuries. Most recent != most common.
In the face of an immediate threat, you don't have liberties. If you're so selfish that you would rather hundreds of people die than lose your computer for a day (just an example), then you're worse than those setting off the bombs. They may be wrong, but at least they think they're doing something good. I'm not saying the "war on terror" is legitimate, I'm saying that if there's a real threat, the authorities should do what is necessary within reason.
Well, what if there was a credible threat made by terrorists through the hacking? Perhaps time is of the essence, and tracking the person down could bring down a terrorist cell.
If they make a minor coding error, the US may end up third-world and Afghanistan may be a superpower in the simulation. Imagine trying to explain that to your superior officers.
Imagine your embarassment when you reach into your pocket, grab your pen, and realize it's of the ink-less variety. If it's got no ink, there's no point in calling it a pen. But then...what happens when you bust the tip and the computer is fried by it? Worth the risk, I'd say.
Yes, the acting has been poor (it improved as time went on; watching Teal'c from one of the first seasons is unbearable). At least half the plots are lame, yes, but the other half (or quarter, third, etc) are relatively original (which is very rare in sci-fi). The one thing that is great in SG1 is character development. If you forget the first few episodes and movie (which don't make sense with the later ones, anyway), the characters are extremely complex yet perfectly consistant. I really can't name any show/movie that has had characters as well-crafted. I tip my hat to the writers for their work in that department (but not for plots, which have been on a downward slide for years).
That said, I have no intention of watching the spin-off. Not only will it lack the characters which had been molded to perfection over years, but they're clearly running out of plotlines.
While this may work for teenagers, it has no use in the business world. In the last week, I've gotten two dozen vital emails from people I did not previously know (professors at various grad programs). In that period, I haven't gotten a single message from people I know (or who know someone I know), because I have conversations with friends them face-to-face, over the phone, or through instant messages. This sort of filtering just removes the most important reason for the existence of email, which is replacing snail-mail, not replacing conversations.
You consider winning this contest "a truly vexing problem"?
You're only giving it away in a casual sense - technically, you're just suggesting something to the owner, who is deciding to do it. Third parties should know better, and it is their responsibility to.
Giving it away is one thing, selling it is another. They may have no problem changing the name in their computer, but that doesn't mean that you own it and can profit off of it.
The sponsored links have a very odd system. Case in point: I tried a test search for (in quotes) in both Google and Yahoo!. Google gives no sponsored links for "cubital tunnel syndrome", one for "tunnel syndrome", and eight for "carpal tunnel syndrome" - all are relevant. Yahoo!, however, gives a sponsored link for carpal tunnel syndrome in a search for "cubital tunnel syndrome", three different links for a search of "tunnel syndrome", and eight for "carpal tunnel syndrome".
What's significant here? The search for "cubital tunnel syndrome" gives a sponsored link to a carpal tunnel syndrome site, despite the fact that it is not relevant, and the search terms were in quotes. More interestingly, that sponsored link does not appear in searches for "tunnel syndrome" or "carpal tunnel syndrome".
Something is wrong here.
Now that is one ugly search engine. It's amazing they made it look that bad, especially when you consider that they just ripped off the Google color scheme and format.
Ahem.
Duct tape does not just "come off".
Thank you.
Problems I've encountered:
Colors: To use a non-preset color (text, lines, etc) you have to go through the Options and change an existing one. That's just ridiculous.
Spreadsheet length: Max row number is half of what Excel supports. Additionally, if you import a sheet that exceeds the max, the additional rows are simply ignored (you lose half of your data).
Charts: Simply no comparison to Excel.
Anything below the hundred-thousands place is worthless - it's not verifiable and no one can claim it is accurate. I suppose it's just an attempt to make the transition between big, round numbers seem more "real".
I don't think it will take long for worms/viruses to take advantage of this, either. "Attached is a special message from John Kerry!"
These kinds of weapons are already available on the black market to the highest bidder. This is just the first attempt to use eBay to make the process legitimate. You can be sure the gov't is going to keep tabs on the buyer.
"Soccer mom can't figure out voice mail? I guess soccer mom can't go to the theater or to class because her kids are in school."
So you think the woman should have to step outside every 2 minutes to check her voicemail? Most parents I know would balk at your statement - the health and safety of their child is of the utmost importance, and they shouldn't have to completely abandon their social life to ensure it.
"What happens to all those doctors who must turn off their phones when they are on the ward, or spending hours in the operating room?"
I think you missed the point of the doctor situation. Emergency room doctors need to be able to be contacted in case of an emergency (or cardiologists, etc). If they're in the hospital, then their location is known and there is no issue. The point is that some professions are 24-hour on-call.
"...I get alerted to missed calls and missed pages. It doesn't curtail my productivity, how can it hamper soccer-mom's?"
I'm going to take a wild guess here: you don't have children. For years, women have not worked so that they would be home for their children, and would be accessible. Cell phones are changing things, and allow part-time jobs and exponentially increased social lives.
The diamond industry (mining, cutting, and selling) is quite large. Is it possible they can convince governments to regulate the man-made ones, and have them somehow marked to allow people to note the difference? It may seem a bit out-there, but there's a lot of money at stake for a lot of people.
If they find that the majority of users are from the west coast of the US, or are middle-aged, or are female, etc., they can either refine their content towards the present users, or expand content to reach new target groups. It's vital to the success of many sites. That said, I think they should drop the street adress and make age more general; name, gender, year of birth, and city/state/country are all they really need.
I can see it now - budget PCs sold with Linux to make them cheaper. Consumers who don't know/care about Linux get it and spend years complaining to everyone about how the computer can't do X and Y.
Actually, your numbers aren't equivalent. I was including installation of applications (how many Compaq's come with Firefox?), replacement of documents, and configuration. Build time shouldn't exceed an hour unless you've bought incompatible or poorly-made components. You should be able throw it together in half of that if you have any experience, which would make installation of the OS (assuming you're using what the vendor sells pre-installed) and drivers the only real time difference.
Personally, I enjoy the sense of accomplishment - knowing that I built my machine and saved a few hundred bucks doing so is quite nice.
"Its easy and cost effective enough to build your own desktop, unless you dont have a lot of free time..." (Emphasis added)
A lot of free time? If you know what you want, it takes almost no time at all. Order the components from a single, reliable online source to avoid headaches, and sit back and wait for the packages in the mail. It shouldn't take more than one night to put it together, install applications, replace documents, and configure everything properly.
Keep in mind that the OSHA levels are the point at which "25% of [the] population will exhibit hearing loss so severe that it will impair ability to effectively communicate with spoken language" (Pastore, 2002). The guidelines were set up so that "Industry can meet criteria without going bankrupt" (Pastore), not so that you'll be healthy or hear well.
(Full citation available on request.)
External hard drives (FireWire/USB 2.0) are about $1/GB. They're realatively small and not particularly heavy - at larger sizes/prices (over 256MB/$60), I'd say they still have flash beat hands-down. For the price of a 512MB flash drive, you can have a 120GB hard drive. Yes, it's big and bulky in comparison, but unless you've got money to burn (which I'm assuming is not generally the case on /.), they're probably a better choice.