Hell, I work for the City in which I live. At my facility, there's a computer lab where citizens can browse the web and do simple searches, etc. Unfortunately, all traffic goes through a proxy that has blocking software installed. This severely cripples the utility of the system, and does a disservice to our patrons. I just got fed up with it one day, and ran a password recovery tool to reset all the admin passwords on the system, then set admin rights for all users. I then reset the proxy to an open one (where I had permission from the operator to do so), and allowed totally unencumbered access to our citizens. Of course, this was completely non-authorized by management, but I felt it was the right thing to do. I then took it upon myself to become the ad-hoc local admin for the network. Is it a pain? Of course; Morons routinely load all sorts of spyware and malware onto the machines, and I clean it up. People delete critical OS files which must then be replaced. My boss knows nothing of this, and I will plead ignorance if he does. In the end, though, people have free access, and I think that trumps all concerns, even my job.
'As much as Slashdot readers name-call world leaders (and world-leader-wannabes) that they disagree with, there's outcry over an average joe getting insulted?'
"They do make it as hard as possible to cancel. Not only do they make you dial a special cancellations number, which is not published, and barely staffed, they also put the poor saps that work that particular line in a very tough spot - they are supposed to talk you out of cancelling, and if they cancel too many accounts in a day they will be fired. They get bonuses for NOT cancelling - even though they're answering a line that is for cancellations only, and one where the simple fact that the customer has the number to dial indicates they've already waded through a lot of shit to get there, so they're pretty determined."
I actually used this to my advantage. During a really bad few work months, I was forced to give up my regular ISP, and those free AOL CD's started looking pretty good. I signed up, intending to cancel after the free trial. Lo and behold, at the end of the trial period, I received a bill for a month's service. I called up the customer service droid to complain loudly, and was offered apologies and another month of free service, which I accepted. The next month, another bill came, and I repeated the cycle. This ended up going on for well over half a year. Of course, I never actually USED AOL. I just established the connection, then fired up my regular utilities. End result: seven months' free internet with a loss to the Forces of Satan of some $170.00 or so. Fairly played, I think.
Although I'm sure this must be a troll, I'll respond nevertheless.
The reason they're called "representatives" is that they represent US, their constituents. Therefore, in a perfect democracy (ha!), they are exactly required to "do what we want them to do". It's their job, you see.
Well, geez; stand in line. On January 1, 2001, I was STILL waiting for my supply of food pills, my personal jetpack, and my jumpsuit with the flared shoulderpads, thank you very much. Someone seriously dropped the ball here, obviously.
The Discovery channel just had a documentary on the SS-1 flight. Amazingly, you can see the ballistic effects on the craft...after the engines are shut down, the thing just GOES AND GOES. I was a bit too distracted to get the hard numbers, but they gain many thousands and thousands of feet just on kinetic energy. I was pretty impressed.
Fedex would certainly be able to benefit. By flying significantly ahead of the Earth's terminator to haul cargo, they could change their slogan to "FedEx...when it absolutely, positively has to be there yesterday."
"While I would reach out to feed, cloth, rebuild or otherwise care for any neighbor in such a disaster - that doesn't at all mean I would want to befriend them now or even then."
I suppose my response to this would be that you indeed never know who you would want for a friend until you encounter them. You can do this by choice, or you can do it by neccessity. I was given neccessity. I-Neighbors offers a choice. It may not be the best solution (for reasons given often during this thread), but it may be a step in the right direction.
Cheers.
(First of all, please forgive my lack of formatting; I'm more into harware than HTML. If anyone'd care to email me a brief tutorial for Slashdot posting & formatting, I'd be grateful)
With respect, I don't think I'm missing the point. Rather, I'm making a counterpoint. The original poster seems to think that because he, himself, has never met his neighbors, it's a worthless effort to do so at all. Given recent experience, I think it can be valuable to form neighborhood networks. (In America, we have this thing called "Night Out" once a year, in which neighbors are encouraged to get together for block parties and social events, so they can get to know one another, and thus help to deter crime). I think such efforts can be valuable. Used in the right way, I-Neighbors can be just as valuable. Do I think it will be generally used with the spirit in which it was created? No. Do I think some will? Yes. And they are the ones who will benefit from it. Keep in mind that I work for a city community agency. My views may be biased; but I still think this project has some value. I do, in fact, take to heart your reply, and believe it is valid. I suppose I may be simply an optimist at this point.
"This is a stupid idea. I lived in the same neighborhood my first 20 years of life and only knew one neighbor - barely. Then the rest of my life since then, I've lived in the same apartment complex and I've never known anyone. I have seen the people who live next door and downstairs once or twice in the last five years, but I don't know anything about them. Or maybe they don't even live there and they're just visiting the people who do."
Indeed. I was in the same situation until about three weeks ago. Unfortunately I happen to live in Orlando, where we just received the wrath of hurricane Charley, and are now bracing for Frances. After the winds died down with Charley, my brother and I immediately darted out to the streets, calling out to see if anyone needed help, and joining anonymous bands of neighbors to help clear debris for power and emergency vehicles to get through.
Over the next week, our heretofore unknown neighbors and we banded together, sharing generator feeds to keep refrigeration going for foods and medicines, providing un-asked-for help in cutting away toppled tree limbs, running for and providing ice and grill-space when there was no power, etc.
Until this tragedy, the power of neighborhood could not have been imagined. We now know and like our neighbors, and know that we can all count on one another in time of need. I say this project is a good one, in that it can connect neighbors before the real need to do so is foisted upon them by circumstance. Solid neighborhoods are safer and better neighborhoods.
is my jet-belt, jumpsuit and food-pills. I want to go to the moonbase and eat algae-cakes. I deserve a flying car. When my robots are not busy cleaning my house, I want them to smite my enemies. I want a disintegrator gun.
Dammit, they promised.
Nope. All my "bonus points" are currently going to Rusty Shackleford at 123 Fake St., Boston MA 02134. At least Albertson's has a "no data-mining for me, just gimme the freakin' card" checkbox on theirs.
Slashdot Mirror
Hell, I work for the City in which I live. At my facility, there's a computer lab where citizens can browse the web and do simple searches, etc. Unfortunately, all traffic goes through a proxy that has blocking software installed. This severely cripples the utility of the system, and does a disservice to our patrons. I just got fed up with it one day, and ran a password recovery tool to reset all the admin passwords on the system, then set admin rights for all users. I then reset the proxy to an open one (where I had permission from the operator to do so), and allowed totally unencumbered access to our citizens. Of course, this was completely non-authorized by management, but I felt it was the right thing to do. I then took it upon myself to become the ad-hoc local admin for the network. Is it a pain? Of course; Morons routinely load all sorts of spyware and malware onto the machines, and I clean it up. People delete critical OS files which must then be replaced. My boss knows nothing of this, and I will plead ignorance if he does. In the end, though, people have free access, and I think that trumps all concerns, even my job.
'As much as Slashdot readers name-call world leaders (and world-leader-wannabes) that they disagree with, there's outcry over an average joe getting insulted?'
Err, the "average Joe" is you and I.
"you think it costs them $170 to give you internet? hahahahahahaha"
No. That's what it would have cost ME.
"They do make it as hard as possible to cancel. Not only do they make you dial a special cancellations number, which is not published, and barely staffed, they also put the poor saps that work that particular line in a very tough spot - they are supposed to talk you out of cancelling, and if they cancel too many accounts in a day they will be fired. They get bonuses for NOT cancelling - even though they're answering a line that is for cancellations only, and one where the simple fact that the customer has the number to dial indicates they've already waded through a lot of shit to get there, so they're pretty determined."
I actually used this to my advantage. During a really bad few work months, I was forced to give up my regular ISP, and those free AOL CD's started looking pretty good. I signed up, intending to cancel after the free trial. Lo and behold, at the end of the trial period, I received a bill for a month's service. I called up the customer service droid to complain loudly, and was offered apologies and another month of free service, which I accepted. The next month, another bill came, and I repeated the cycle. This ended up going on for well over half a year. Of course, I never actually USED AOL. I just established the connection, then fired up my regular utilities. End result: seven months' free internet with a loss to the Forces of Satan of some $170.00 or so. Fairly played, I think.
Although I'm sure this must be a troll, I'll respond nevertheless.
The reason they're called "representatives" is that they represent US, their constituents. Therefore, in a perfect democracy (ha!), they are exactly required to "do what we want them to do". It's their job, you see.
Well, geez; stand in line. On January 1, 2001, I was STILL waiting for my supply of food pills, my personal jetpack, and my jumpsuit with the flared shoulderpads, thank you very much. Someone seriously dropped the ball here, obviously.
The Discovery channel just had a documentary on the SS-1 flight. Amazingly, you can see the ballistic effects on the craft...after the engines are shut down, the thing just GOES AND GOES. I was a bit too distracted to get the hard numbers, but they gain many thousands and thousands of feet just on kinetic energy. I was pretty impressed.
Fedex would certainly be able to benefit. By flying significantly ahead of the Earth's terminator to haul cargo, they could change their slogan to "FedEx...when it absolutely, positively has to be there yesterday."
"While I would reach out to feed, cloth, rebuild or otherwise care for any neighbor in such a disaster - that doesn't at all mean I would want to befriend them now or even then." I suppose my response to this would be that you indeed never know who you would want for a friend until you encounter them. You can do this by choice, or you can do it by neccessity. I was given neccessity. I-Neighbors offers a choice. It may not be the best solution (for reasons given often during this thread), but it may be a step in the right direction. Cheers.
(First of all, please forgive my lack of formatting; I'm more into harware than HTML. If anyone'd care to email me a brief tutorial for Slashdot posting & formatting, I'd be grateful) With respect, I don't think I'm missing the point. Rather, I'm making a counterpoint. The original poster seems to think that because he, himself, has never met his neighbors, it's a worthless effort to do so at all. Given recent experience, I think it can be valuable to form neighborhood networks. (In America, we have this thing called "Night Out" once a year, in which neighbors are encouraged to get together for block parties and social events, so they can get to know one another, and thus help to deter crime). I think such efforts can be valuable. Used in the right way, I-Neighbors can be just as valuable. Do I think it will be generally used with the spirit in which it was created? No. Do I think some will? Yes. And they are the ones who will benefit from it. Keep in mind that I work for a city community agency. My views may be biased; but I still think this project has some value. I do, in fact, take to heart your reply, and believe it is valid. I suppose I may be simply an optimist at this point.
"This is a stupid idea. I lived in the same neighborhood my first 20 years of life and only knew one neighbor - barely. Then the rest of my life since then, I've lived in the same apartment complex and I've never known anyone. I have seen the people who live next door and downstairs once or twice in the last five years, but I don't know anything about them. Or maybe they don't even live there and they're just visiting the people who do." Indeed. I was in the same situation until about three weeks ago. Unfortunately I happen to live in Orlando, where we just received the wrath of hurricane Charley, and are now bracing for Frances. After the winds died down with Charley, my brother and I immediately darted out to the streets, calling out to see if anyone needed help, and joining anonymous bands of neighbors to help clear debris for power and emergency vehicles to get through. Over the next week, our heretofore unknown neighbors and we banded together, sharing generator feeds to keep refrigeration going for foods and medicines, providing un-asked-for help in cutting away toppled tree limbs, running for and providing ice and grill-space when there was no power, etc. Until this tragedy, the power of neighborhood could not have been imagined. We now know and like our neighbors, and know that we can all count on one another in time of need. I say this project is a good one, in that it can connect neighbors before the real need to do so is foisted upon them by circumstance. Solid neighborhoods are safer and better neighborhoods.
is my jet-belt, jumpsuit and food-pills. I want to go to the moonbase and eat algae-cakes. I deserve a flying car. When my robots are not busy cleaning my house, I want them to smite my enemies. I want a disintegrator gun. Dammit, they promised.
Nope. All my "bonus points" are currently going to Rusty Shackleford at 123 Fake St., Boston MA 02134. At least Albertson's has a "no data-mining for me, just gimme the freakin' card" checkbox on theirs.