The best source for information on SSN privacy, your rights, and how to protect yourself, is the Social Security Number FAQ. Read it, it's very useful.
The law that the previous poster thinks is protecting him is probably the Privacy Act of 1974, which is only binding on government agencies. It's discussed in the FAQ.
There is also a SSN FAQ at cpsr.org, but it formats like crap on Mozilla. You'd think "computer professionals" wouldn't screw up something like this.
This month's IEEE Computer magazine has an article titled "Do Agile Methods Marginalize Problem Solvers?" that is interesting and relevant to this discussion. I'd recommend hunting it down and reading it (it's not available for free online, unfortunately....)
The gist of the article is that first-rate problem-solvers are not well suited for "agile" methods, because they tend to be more individualistic (and the agile methods tend to force programmers to interact continually).
I especially thought it was interesting that programmers with good people skills do better in agile methodologies, and that there are many more programmers than there used to be who have good people skills. This could be the death of the Dilbert stereotype....
Intel says they are going to rely on approaches besides faster clock speed to improve the performance of chips.
They've been doing this for a long time; basically all this says is that they're attempting to change the focus of their marketting from clock speed to other measures. I predict that consumers won't like it, and they'll go back to cranking up the marketting-clock-speeds ASAP.
This article seemed kind of academic in its focus, as if the only social-interaction software that counted was that created by professors in non-technical areas. Among other things, he left out:
Plato (notes and email)
Usenet
Chat rooms
Instant messaging
i.e. he leaves out the things that get the most use by real people, and instead focuses on the MIT Media Lab kind of stuff that nobody in the real world really cares about.
I FULLY support the take down of any and all leftist, liberal propoganda sites like this, the more the better.
The first amendment guarantees the right to hold stupid, idiotic political opinions. If you don't like it, there are other countries with different constitutions, feel free to emigrate. Personally, I like the Bill of Rights just fine, thank you.
Something similar happened to a Colorado woman last February. She was driving on a rural interstate when her Pontiac accelerated to 100 mph and wouldn't respond to controls. After driving 75 miles toward Denver (while desperately calling for help on her cell phone), the car was slowed to a stop by two police cars that surrounded it front and back and physically "restrained" it.
From an article on the incident here:
A mechanic examined the car Monday and said a transmission reverse gear cluster anchor bolt fell out, preventing the car's transmission from moving into another gear. He also found the car was idling at a very high rate, which would cause it to go fast if it were already moving in 5th gear. The Center for Auto Safety previously reported problems with sudden acceleration in Pontiac Sunbirds and other GM "J" cars.
However, part of me is a bit saddened by seeing the Cray name attached to X86s.
Actually, in the year between crash of Cray Computer (in March 1995) and his death in an auto accident, Seymour Cray started a new company, SRC Computers, which still exists, and makes a parallel Pentium-based computer (which also incorporates custom hardware processing elements). I believe that this product is the same thing he was working on from the start of that company in 1996.
OK, I see it now in one of the stories I hadn't read. The 200KG was made up of recording equipment and staff mementos, which they promised not to sell.
This is kind of disappointing, but I guess if all goes well they'll be flying 3-person flights in the near future (or Virgin will).
An X-prize attempt requires three passengers; I don't see any mention of who the other two were (besides the pilot) in any of the coverage. Anybody know anything?
Independent candidate Ralph Nader, who has been invited to participate in the open format debate, has not yet accepted the invitation.
Obviously Ralph is holding out for an invitation to the Kerry-Bush debate. Or else he's afraid to set foot in Florida after the problems he caused in 2000.
You know, I can't figure out why we can't combat spam by making it illegal to send unsolicited ads via email (or maybe the can-spam act already does this), but then go after the companies who are actually trying to get customers. After all, they either provide valid contact information, or nobody can buy from them. If nobody can sell anything via spam any more, the reason for it would go away.
My personal wish is for a cruise control that's intelligent enough to recognize that it has to apply more gas to the engine when going uphill, rather than my current one that first slows down by 10 mph, then finally tries to speed back up.
The New York Times had a similar story two days ago. Ironic that CNN would take two extra days to get a story about forecasts being extended out by two days.
I agree completely with the reviewer's assessment. This might be Niven's first worthwhile novel in a decade or more. I was a rabid fan of the Known Space stuff (and also of most of the Niven/Pournelle collaborations up to the mid-80's at least), but sometime in the 1990 time frame Niven really lost it. Maybe too much success, or too much mystical/magical BS, but I couldn't really stand his work for a while. This novel, on the other hand, was a really good read. I'd recommend it to anybody who likes "classic" Niven stuff.
"If you're drawing up a contract, the ability to see every foreseeable danger is something that goes along with pessimism, but it's also what makes a good lawyer," Dr. Martin Seligman, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, said.
I think this kind of thing is also useful for many kinds of computer programming, especially in high-reliability areas like operating systems and compilers. I've had to fix an awful lot of bugs in programs written by optimists.
You could read the actual paper, but this is Slashdot, after all...
Yes, they hacked the Linux version of the timestamp client to send zero move times. They also reverse-engineered the timestamp protocol.
Security is an issue because they're exchanging passwords and credit-card numbers with the client. The authors were able to crack the "encryption" being used to transmit this stuff (a 100-byte one-time pad) by sniffing only 10 bytes (it was a very predictable sequence). The client and server also exchange two 64-bit keys in the open when the session is opened, which are used to generate the 100-byte pad.
Slashdot Mirror
Just find out which format Sony is backing, and pick the other one.
The law that the previous poster thinks is protecting him is probably the Privacy Act of 1974, which is only binding on government agencies. It's discussed in the FAQ.
There is also a SSN FAQ at cpsr.org, but it formats like crap on Mozilla. You'd think "computer professionals" wouldn't screw up something like this.
The gist of the article is that first-rate problem-solvers are not well suited for "agile" methods, because they tend to be more individualistic (and the agile methods tend to force programmers to interact continually).
I especially thought it was interesting that programmers with good people skills do better in agile methodologies, and that there are many more programmers than there used to be who have good people skills. This could be the death of the Dilbert stereotype....
They've been doing this for a long time; basically all this says is that they're attempting to change the focus of their marketting from clock speed to other measures. I predict that consumers won't like it, and they'll go back to cranking up the marketting-clock-speeds ASAP.
Plato (notes and email)
Usenet
Chat rooms
Instant messaging
i.e. he leaves out the things that get the most use by real people, and instead focuses on the MIT Media Lab kind of stuff that nobody in the real world really cares about.
Does anybody else think this sounds kind of like a repeat of the Biosphere experiments? Except with less living space and fewer windows...
The first amendment guarantees the right to hold stupid, idiotic political opinions. If you don't like it, there are other countries with different constitutions, feel free to emigrate. Personally, I like the Bill of Rights just fine, thank you.
It would confirm the story, except that it was happening in 1991, not recently.
I understand, I was just pointing out that Seymour's company was planning to use Pentiums when he had his accident.
From an article on the incident here: A mechanic examined the car Monday and said a transmission reverse gear cluster anchor bolt fell out, preventing the car's transmission from moving into another gear. He also found the car was idling at a very high rate, which would cause it to go fast if it were already moving in 5th gear. The Center for Auto Safety previously reported problems with sudden acceleration in Pontiac Sunbirds and other GM "J" cars.
Actually, in the year between crash of Cray Computer (in March 1995) and his death in an auto accident, Seymour Cray started a new company, SRC Computers, which still exists, and makes a parallel Pentium-based computer (which also incorporates custom hardware processing elements). I believe that this product is the same thing he was working on from the start of that company in 1996.
That must be why Cray Computer failed, although the Cray-3 did make an attractive armrest.
Wow, dude, why are you quoting a dead pediatrician who's quoting Yoda?
OK, I see it now in one of the stories I hadn't read. The 200KG was made up of recording equipment and staff mementos, which they promised not to sell. This is kind of disappointing, but I guess if all goes well they'll be flying 3-person flights in the near future (or Virgin will).
An X-prize attempt requires three passengers; I don't see any mention of who the other two were (besides the pilot) in any of the coverage. Anybody know anything?
Obviously Ralph is holding out for an invitation to the Kerry-Bush debate. Or else he's afraid to set foot in Florida after the problems he caused in 2000.
You know, I can't figure out why we can't combat spam by making it illegal to send unsolicited ads via email (or maybe the can-spam act already does this), but then go after the companies who are actually trying to get customers. After all, they either provide valid contact information, or nobody can buy from them. If nobody can sell anything via spam any more, the reason for it would go away.
Nobody will ever need more than 640 patches.
Nope, it's a '99 Subaru. The cruise is annoying in other ways, maybe they've improved it in the intervening five years....
My personal wish is for a cruise control that's intelligent enough to recognize that it has to apply more gas to the engine when going uphill, rather than my current one that first slows down by 10 mph, then finally tries to speed back up.
The New York Times had a similar story two days ago. Ironic that CNN would take two extra days to get a story about forecasts being extended out by two days.
I agree completely with the reviewer's assessment. This might be Niven's first worthwhile novel in a decade or more. I was a rabid fan of the Known Space stuff (and also of most of the Niven/Pournelle collaborations up to the mid-80's at least), but sometime in the 1990 time frame Niven really lost it. Maybe too much success, or too much mystical/magical BS, but I couldn't really stand his work for a while. This novel, on the other hand, was a really good read. I'd recommend it to anybody who likes "classic" Niven stuff.
Note: You'll still need to edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 to change the refresh rate or you CAN destroy your TV.
I'd say it still needs a little work before releasing it to the unwashed masses...
I think this kind of thing is also useful for many kinds of computer programming, especially in high-reliability areas like operating systems and compilers. I've had to fix an awful lot of bugs in programs written by optimists.
You could read the actual paper, but this is Slashdot, after all...
Yes, they hacked the Linux version of the timestamp client to send zero move times. They also reverse-engineered the timestamp protocol.
Security is an issue because they're exchanging passwords and credit-card numbers with the client. The authors were able to crack the "encryption" being used to transmit this stuff (a 100-byte one-time pad) by sniffing only 10 bytes (it was a very predictable sequence). The client and server also exchange two 64-bit keys in the open when the session is opened, which are used to generate the 100-byte pad.