Call it like it is: the other companies (ESPECIALLY microsoft, if they are behind instigating the DOJ investigation AFTER Google/Yahoo! have pretty much signed their deal at ms' loss) are whining piss-ant performers. They cannot compete effectively at the insane (too low or too high, or improperly-thought-out) profit margins, so they kvetch to the DOJ to try to dismantle Google. If Google is to dismantled by regulatory agencies, then msoft should be first in line.
As for Google "just loads", however, it's not always so: I have enough firewall and blocking going on the effectively make Google take 5 seconds or longer to load. Gmail processes sometimes fail and hang up chatting and other features. But at least i can live with that because it's of my own doing.
Search engine companies trying to make a living off of ads probably will fail. I suspect (not that this is not the case, and not that this has been discussed) that Google is simply making reams of money by selling off the ad information impressions under a very profitable model/scheme that others have difficulty emulating. As for microsoft, if they weren't so damned busy trying to appropriate/misappropriate the business dreams of others, and if they weren't so jealous of and vengeful about others' novel approaches to things and end up making ms look stupid or underperforming then ms might sober up (yet again, like a lumbering, staggering, slurring drunkard of the software industry) more often (instead of being punch-drunk on their own "achievements") then they might actually garner more respect rather than command/hijacking it.
Google succeeds because they are Google. They have a different attitude. That ms succeeds is because they, relative to Google and, lets' not forget others who were DESTROYED by msoft, have little compunction about their acts. They use their money to clobber, out-market, and out-litigate, not innovate. Google (having lots of cash), and survivors and smaller companies (with less cash), meanwhile, innovate or adapt at the very least, out of fear of not being here tomorrow. But, ms seems to operate as if they have universal appeal and a right to exist without question. They need to re-think that attitude.
But every contact and note and photo in your phone can probably be removed slowly, a few bytes at a time so as to not tip you off such as through faster-than-normal battery drainage. Each time your service light blinks could be when bytes move out of the phone. Your phone might be duplexing, and streaming your data bytes along with your voice.
Also, any time your phone is commanded off or forced to "update software" by your carrier, or when a web site crashes your phone... well, those are opportunities for data scraping. For all we know, the NSA and other agencies have a master overlay on the entire phone network and they simply allow data flow, where commonly we think they HAVE to request court-approved wiretap letters. And, even though the contents are multiplexed or scrambled for transport, most of the data is trivially reconstructable by intelligence communities.
But, look at it this way: if you're not breaking laws or if you're breaking trivial/irrelevant/old (still on the books because it's too expensive to remove the arcane of the laws), then the more the agencies know about you more mundane you'll be in the background. An occasional interest may perk up in the eyes/mind of specific analysts, but unless you're a Ludlum or Clancy budding to actually take down one or more nations and you're also a suspected spy, or a drug dealer or black market organs or commodities and other criminal types, what are people going to keep fretting over?
Just as with doctors, as long as Google isn't the one doing any/the slashing with the scalpel. Granted, though, Google manufactures the scalpel. So long as they provide autoclaves to sterilise any contaminants (bad guys/excessively-snooping feds/cops) and make the digital nooks and crannies... 'unhospitable' to nefarios/vermin...
Isn't there in the EULA/TOS something that makes this verbotten? Unless he's/they've signed an NDA giving fb the time/opportunity to expunge the app, clean up the mess, and warn users, he's just helping the bad guys know fb is inattentive. Not as if the end users all have tools to ferret out the malicious apps.
If he's brought to court, then maybe the terms of settlement could be he acts as fb's and others' human sacrificial firewall.
fb could even retaliate by making a profile of the listed developer, making a negative bio/pic of him, and cause him grief. Not that i'd suggest it, but you never know...
Is why i advocate a new moderation system in which the moderators are identified, and when a target is moderated, there must be a REASON as to the moderation. Canned/check-box/radio button, and more. It should FORCE the moderator to WORK to JUSTIFY fucking someone's ego down, elevating someone's ego (no, content with seeming intelligence doesn't always convey nor confer "factuality"...)
When someone is moderated informative or insightful or whatever, and the content purports to present FACTS (as opposed to a personal experience), then the moderator with an ass-itch to promote or demote someone should be COMPELLED to show his/her OWN resourcefulness, candidness, fairness, and other -ess qualities.
As for "Well, the system will break down because the moderators will fall behind..." Bullshit. When the moderator is swamped, there should be a "panic button" to ask for mod assistance, and the volunteers get identified, and collectively they work with or rebuke the hell out of the moderator. END OF GOD STATUS. It's less likely that 250/. pressed-volunteer moderators will un-conscientiously act as buffoons for a vengeful moderator than, say 10, might. Identification allows termination of any "Star Chamber-like" situations.
Finally, any heavy-handed rebukes should be not be over-coddling, but should not be used to assail a submitter. Imagine if true identities were available and/rage led to actual murders. I can imagine more than 25% of/. submitters blowing a gasket over a god-power moderator or meta-moderator who capriciously shot down slews of/. submitters.
The moderation system needs to be updated to something better. It's pretty good, but it's time to be updated.
We'll all just be reduced to wearing collars provided by the "Gamesters of Triskelion" (from the STTOS episode). Or, we'll be forced to enter a "Battle Royale" type of game. We'll be specifically selected based on our "threat potential" and suspicious activities.
Then, those gait-watching satellites and Predators will give the rulers of the world a whole new wargame. But, instead of dropping bombs or lasing the targets, they'll play the Bruce Dern number: "Black Sunday", and flechette the designated target/s of the hour.
to say it: They could start paying people to make un-serialized Segways, or they can take bikes and scooters. Yet, another major fucking DOD/et al BOONDOGGLE, fucking off taxpayer money. Security Theater strikes again. When the hell are these uniformed people going to think ASYMMETRICALLY? Jesus H Christ! Even a clunky old Mercedes can crawl or zoom across the desert. A little shielding to mask the occupants to some fuzzy degree, and whammo! If any predators are in the area, microwave them (if they can be visually spotted). Detect them at low altitude by setting up meshes of microwave towers. Track them by the grids they break, or the sound/visual reflections they make. This isn't rocket science, and it isn't new. Time to take these dollars and pump them or program them into domestic or foreign neighborhoods to promote an occupation in a JOB, generate contentedness, or docility or some such. Funding TOO MANY such programs is wasteful (don't tell me about jobs creation, homeland security, et cetera...)
Seven of Nine might say that waterfall/droplet analogy could represent a glimpse into the lack of order in the chaos in the human mind. No Vinculums available for puny human brains. But, i am SURE Lord Garth could do something about it. Even Dr Simon van Gelder's hijacked neural neutralizer chair could help out. Though, i'd steer clear of the Klingon 'Mind Sifter/Mind Reaper'. Don't bother trying to read the Kazon brain: Seven told Neelix 'The Kazon were UNWORTHY of Assimilation.' Best ST SLAM.
But, i have a friend who RAN with 80-120 plus lbs in a rucksack for 8 to 12-plus miles and did numerous other exercises for over a year to qualify for Special Forces training -- and it paid off. He made the cut after several competitive screenings. He qual-jumped numerous times from airplanes, and said, 'It was awesome! It was like jumping into a fucking television screen!' He had to kill field animals for survival, but said, 'that part was nothing. We (of his Asian ethnicity) eat ANYTHING.'
It seems that mini-laptops such as these almost REQUIRE the user to carry extra/external storage media/um. If one is to put Mandriva or PCLinuxOS, or SUSE or Fedora, etc, on it, say, and add even just 1/2 of the available popular mag-distributed DVDs, one would be short on space in a short period of time after adding personal/home/user/user's-files.
Another thing: I am soooo sick and tired of those kiss-ass computer makers running adverts such as "[Dell/Toshiba/Fujitsu/Sony/HP/et al] recommends microsoft (operating system) (for all your computing needs)", as IF there is no Linux/FreeBSD/BSD available. IF windows WERE all there was, then there'd be no NEED for ms to payola these guys to even say such slogans/subliminal types of messages.
It would be nice if some of the US advertising laws would have to follow some European laws where product placement cannot disparage or misrepresent other competing products. Even better, it would be nice if some products (such as operating systems) were required to list at least 4 (or some number of) competitors or near-competitors. This way, mshaft would not keep getting the near-free ride they get.
If those adverts said, "microsoft recommends vindoze wista instead of (Ubuntu/Mandriva/PCLOS/Red Hat/SUSE/Fedora/et al) for all your computing needs (such as surfing wired or wirelessly, burning CDs/DVDs/watching DVDs, creating web sites, writing programs, composing music, managing servers, doing some CAD, hosting content, learning to type, studying astronomy, and a few dozen other things that ALL of these OS' can do equally as well as or better than our own wista).... See you sales person for a demo/floor comparison!", why, then Linux/Open Source would probably finally get some improved/increased professional polish, Linux-specific vendor drivers, more press, and increased loosening of ms' illegally-obtained near-death-grip control of the market.
Now, if only Linux land comes up with a true end-user WYSIWYG database/front end like Lotus Approach. If only i could legally get my hands on win XP pro to replace vista (the piece of crap it is, using 1.5 GB RAM and nothing to show for it relative to XP -- and to Linux as regards graphics bells and whistles), which is crippling two of my Lotus SmartSuite apps....yeh, IBM might have released patches, but STILL....
Finally, what'll REALLY be awesome for mini-/mid-full-size laptops/portables will be unpluggable/swappable video chip modules so that users can get more out of their graphics-related task software. Not necessarily to increase time between hardware upgrades, but to give more flexibility for situations when weaker video options limit us. For example, it would be nice to not have to buy external bulky video splitters. My backpack already is at 35 lbs, what with my 8.5 lb, 17-in display, dual-hard drive Gateway, my mouse, 3DConnexion, several books, about 2 inches of 8.5x11 papers, adapters, USB tip converters, index cards, and other miscellaneous stuff, with enough space to stuff in my lunch. Hell, even when I carried my 2001 Sony Vaio, in another, smaller back pack, with a portable Canon printer and wedge-like surge strip, one of my friends asked, "Man, what the *fuck* you got in there? You look like a BACKPACK bomber"...
Re:Resources? MS not very resourceful...
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Chrome Vs. IE 8
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I guess then that it's too bad they aren't resourceful and non-threaded enough with their site... It's been down for over an hour now:
"To make a long story short, the judge said that because there were no codes for tree-houses, does not automatically allow the county to forbid them. He further ordered the county to work with a man and his engineers to develop proper codes especially for tree houses."
That computer board will be worth less than a molten pile of horse shit. Horse shit is recyclable. Even some of the hay in it. But, a molten/slagged, PCT/other chemicals-infested MoBo?
Was it a crossup of lung-searing odors like magma of fresh/raw bowel-manure (laden with fast-food/processed-food chemical additives), burning rubber, oozing/gangrenous pus, aged milk and off-brand bleach? You'd need not only a HEAT sink, but also a STINK sink. PHEW...
No, they're not secret. Just confusing as hell. But, he had no reason to lie to me about it. After all, i myself was doing lots of research to find out what it would take for me to comply carefully in order to open my own internet cafe. I became quite irritated when i found out that it wasn't enough to find a NEW coffee machine in use in numerous other counties in the US (counties so geographically dispersed that local issues would not alone explain approval in one and rejection in another area...).
There also is a racket in the NSF-specification by some counties. UL/NSF ratings attest to the INITIAL certifications. When you want to buy and use second-hand (electrical) equipment, obviously you don't want to burn down your business and face suits or insurance fraud claims. But, when a coffee shop wants to install well-crafted, inexpensive, heavy duty cycle-capable European coffee and espresso machines that cost a fraction of the domestic ones, one can't help smell "racket/protectionism". If the business plan plans for 100 customers a day, and the entrepreneur purchase a variety and decent number of machines because of reputation and aesthetics, the local county should not demand that each and every machine/model be in the UL/NSF registry if higher or equivalent grading can be found in another country. One possible support for it is that we all know how rife/rampant the product counterfeiting market is. It is entirely possible that 25% of restaurants unknowingly have SOME unauthorized counterfeit UL-tested/rated/NSF-regulated equipment.
OTOH, it's possible that restaurant equipment manufacturers stand to benefit by the fact that counties will de-certify or simply not approve equipment even without proof that it's unsafe or never-tested. If a small office can have a free choice of coffee and tea makers, then a well-managed coffee shop that seats 25-30 people and is not a high-cycle restaurant should be given freer hand in choice of machines that are allowed importation, are in service in other restaurants, and have no product safety/recall issues. Not saying allow ALL imported stuff to be permitted, just stuff that other counties/cities permitted conditionally.
But, when the entrepreneur is disallowed installation of a used, $5,000 range and fire suppression system and has to go and buy a $25,000 system, it DOES benefit the county, since the county assessor will know that new, assessable equipment is in the county. To them, that's revenue to be claimed. They don't want honest people competing with or depriving them of revenues potential.
I don't respect any claim of a dictionary company that it OWNS copyright over words being defined -- except the fake words they insert in order to catch blatant copyright infringement.
Why should Merriam-Webster/et al OWN the c/r to "photosynthesis", when they did not create it nor spell it nor create the context for which the word arose. The ONLY thing a dictionary firm should hold c/r over is the WORD-FOR-WORD string arrangement they contrive to define the word and any examples they provide as further clarification.
It might be they who are behind the "disappearance" of "rhyme" from Mandriva and any other Linux distro that had "rhyme". Just like laws that need to be publicly available for the public to be upstanding citizens, base words and their variants (not the made-up check-for-c/r-infringement words) should NOT be copyrightable unless they are "original and wild/zany names coined for trademark purposes". Otherwise, dictionary companies can someday start to charge us for the mere act of writing, publishing, and speaking.
So, I HOPE that i am uninformed and that it is my mistake for reading into things that they hold copyright over not only crafted definitions but the words being defined.
Now, I hope he goes after county health regulations for FORCE the counties across the country to once and for all MAKE AVAILABLE not only the regulations/ordinances that say what must be done in order to obtain the permits to operate restaurants and businesses, but also to records of WHAT equipment and fixtures are approved.
I knew a team of young, ambitious Asians (4-8 people) in the Central Valley who in 2000-2001 were trying to open an internet cafe. They hired a respected architect, followed all the know/anticipated rules, and STILL the county planner/permits office kept sending them back to correct things. They even added MORE space than required for ADA-protected patrons and were made to rip out work completed in order to please the county. It was rumored that the head had a friend also opening an internet cafe and he was helping out his friend have less competition. How? Well, if he kept sending them back to do rework, he could burn up their cash and force them to quit. But, these kids were resourceful, determined, and NEEDED to form a business to make money to pay for school and to live.
It is QUITE FUCKING SPECIOUS for counties to deny access to records of APPROVED coffee machines, ice makers, display fridge units, toilet heights flexibility ranges, hand rails range of heights for wheel chair users, reach-in fridge units, and so on. Every time a county planning/permits office functionary rejects plans or revisions to be redrawn, it costs the entrepreneur money in attorney's fees, architect's fees, county inspector fees, time and money lost on start-up delays, and the appearance of entrepreneur unprofessionalism in the eyes of would-be patrons chafing for a place to open its doors. Money is even lost when a toilet 1/2 inch too high is tossed out for another one.
It is as if these people pay gate-keeper of the beholden information as if to mask racism or any other -ism used to suppress or oppress anyone not liked, anyone who demands to be respected, anyone who challenges the county's decision on the plans or modifications not significantly differing from originally-approved plans. I realize, too, that many counties these days computerize the floor plans of EVERYTHING BUILT, ostensibly to facilitate firefighters and law enforcement. Yeh, like they really need to know WHERE the business/home vault is, or if there is a sanctuary from burglars/robbers/cops/et al.
If all that stuff is in a database, then virtually ANYONE following the then-current ordinances should be able to walk into the planning office with a set of complete working/construction drawings without having to fuck around weeks on end wondering why the hell they are losing tens of thousands of dollars before they even open to the public. If such obstructive officials DO exist, they should be sued, THEIR assets taken or frozen or transferred to the aggrieved, and possibly, the offending officials should be jailed post-haste and barred from EVER AGAIN serving in a public official/functionary position in the COUNTRY not just the county.
They got their shop opened up, but they paid dearly for it in money wasted. I gave them a copy of my own internet cafe business plan (spread sheet/stock rotation planning/customer flow modeling & employee head count to cope, and 2 of my new, paid-for computers just to help them out because i was fucking incensed that they were going through that shit. I wasn't going to be able to get started, but boy I was going to make sure I helped them out any way I could before and after startup.
"AMD would lose every single Govt. and Big American company contract the day they do such deal with Chinese govt. Don't forget "AMD gets support from human rights abusers!" trolls too, millions of them, amateur or professional."
Let's then remember that China significantly floats FANNIE MAE and FREDDIE MAC (or, let's make them Frannie Mae/Feddie Mac or Manny Fae, and Meddie Frack...). Now, it seems the South Korea Government will be buying (or is trying to buy/floating the idea that they will buy) Lehman Brothers:
If a European bank were floating this idea, there'd be not much of any uproar. If China were trying to buy Lehman, there'd be an uproar. With Korea, it's something in-between. That, well, is paraphrasing what I heard last night on BBC/NPR/PRI about the situation. So, SK is taking things slowly.
Now, if China bought AMD, would China really HAVE to care/worry that the US government would nix projects? Even if the SEC allowed it (after ordering the purging and dual-use/DOD-related files and dies/machinery from the company's assets/possession) China would STILL have a significant windfall. Actually, they may already have that windfall without having to buy the company...
Anyway, given AMD's financial position (depending on what you read into things), it might make an easier buy for China. Even if AMD ends up in China's sights, India may well step into the fray.
We STILL have companies spewing chemicals into the air. Even in the marine industry, engineers cheated on pollutions regulations by simply running a bypass or disconnecting polluted discharge lines from sensors meant to measure and log the overboard discharges (which the US Coast Guard caught wind of and brought charges against such owners/operators/masters/ and engineers).
When I worked with liquid toner copiers in the late 80's it was our common practice to take the liquid toner (ink) and dispersant bottles and simply dump down the drain if we could, and if there was nowhere to pour it, then place the bottles in the customers' waste bins. Failing that (in the hip/environmental offices), we'd have to take it with us and dispose elsewhere. I am glad i got out of that job. Doing that dumping gnawed at more conscience. Working with the chemicals eroded my health. Fingers clean by Sunday night, dirty by Tuesday... a year of that shit.
We still have gasoline leaks. We still have major post-product pollution. Why do we not have ordinances compelling fast food restaurants provide drain bins to collect the unfinished drinks and ice the customers otherwise dump in the garbage? When I in Dec 2004 - Feb 05 was in Tokyo area cities such as Roppongi and Miyamaedaira and Shimbashi, I ate at McDonalds that had marked recepticals for separation of plastic, paper, non-recyclables and liquids. That's easy for "typically conformist" Japanese to do. Asking 'merkun public to do it by request, backed up by fines or risk shut-down of their favorite location eatery would spark insurrection. So much for "a kind, gentle, peace-loving people"...
Yeh, and people, don't tell me that the liquids in the garbage help speed up the composting/decomposition of the waste. It could also be argued that pre-separation of liquids in restaurant waste might make it easier to separate recyclables such as the papers and food that animals might otherwise eat if not broken down by soda and coffee and such.
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Call it like it is: the other companies (ESPECIALLY microsoft, if they are behind instigating the DOJ investigation AFTER Google/Yahoo! have pretty much signed their deal at ms' loss) are whining piss-ant performers. They cannot compete effectively at the insane (too low or too high, or improperly-thought-out) profit margins, so they kvetch to the DOJ to try to dismantle Google. If Google is to dismantled by regulatory agencies, then msoft should be first in line.
As for Google "just loads", however, it's not always so: I have enough firewall and blocking going on the effectively make Google take 5 seconds or longer to load. Gmail processes sometimes fail and hang up chatting and other features. But at least i can live with that because it's of my own doing.
Search engine companies trying to make a living off of ads probably will fail. I suspect (not that this is not the case, and not that this has been discussed) that Google is simply making reams of money by selling off the ad information impressions under a very profitable model/scheme that others have difficulty emulating. As for microsoft, if they weren't so damned busy trying to appropriate/misappropriate the business dreams of others, and if they weren't so jealous of and vengeful about others' novel approaches to things and end up making ms look stupid or underperforming then ms might sober up (yet again, like a lumbering, staggering, slurring drunkard of the software industry) more often (instead of being punch-drunk on their own "achievements") then they might actually garner more respect rather than command/hijacking it.
Google succeeds because they are Google. They have a different attitude. That ms succeeds is because they, relative to Google and, lets' not forget others who were DESTROYED by msoft, have little compunction about their acts. They use their money to clobber, out-market, and out-litigate, not innovate. Google (having lots of cash), and survivors and smaller companies (with less cash), meanwhile, innovate or adapt at the very least, out of fear of not being here tomorrow. But, ms seems to operate as if they have universal appeal and a right to exist without question. They need to re-think that attitude.
But every contact and note and photo in your phone can probably be removed slowly, a few bytes at a time so as to not tip you off such as through faster-than-normal battery drainage. Each time your service light blinks could be when bytes move out of the phone. Your phone might be duplexing, and streaming your data bytes along with your voice.
Also, any time your phone is commanded off or forced to "update software" by your carrier, or when a web site crashes your phone... well, those are opportunities for data scraping. For all we know, the NSA and other agencies have a master overlay on the entire phone network and they simply allow data flow, where commonly we think they HAVE to request court-approved wiretap letters. And, even though the contents are multiplexed or scrambled for transport, most of the data is trivially reconstructable by intelligence communities.
But, look at it this way: if you're not breaking laws or if you're breaking trivial/irrelevant/old (still on the books because it's too expensive to remove the arcane of the laws), then the more the agencies know about you more mundane you'll be in the background. An occasional interest may perk up in the eyes/mind of specific analysts, but unless you're a Ludlum or Clancy budding to actually take down one or more nations and you're also a suspected spy, or a drug dealer or black market organs or commodities and other criminal types, what are people going to keep fretting over?
Wow, SOMEbody's a wee bit touching, taking me from 0, no comment to -1, flamebait....
What, you don't THINK the system could use some tweaking?
Sex and Medicine. For sex, use your "junk DNA" imagination.
For medicine:
http://www.taut.com/reposable.asp
Just as with doctors, as long as Google isn't the one doing any/the slashing with the scalpel. Granted, though, Google manufactures the scalpel. So long as they provide autoclaves to sterilise any contaminants (bad guys/excessively-snooping feds/cops) and make the digital nooks and crannies... 'unhospitable' to nefarios/vermin...
That probably makes sense an cents, but to me an external drive is 'personal', not shared, and not non-physical.
How many on /. RTFA?
Isn't there in the EULA/TOS something that makes this verbotten? Unless he's/they've signed an NDA giving fb the time/opportunity to expunge the app, clean up the mess, and warn users, he's just helping the bad guys know fb is inattentive. Not as if the end users all have tools to ferret out the malicious apps.
If he's brought to court, then maybe the terms of settlement could be he acts as fb's and others' human sacrificial firewall.
fb could even retaliate by making a profile of the listed developer, making a negative bio/pic of him, and cause him grief. Not that i'd suggest it, but you never know...
Is why i advocate a new moderation system in which the moderators are identified, and when a target is moderated, there must be a REASON as to the moderation. Canned/check-box/radio button, and more. It should FORCE the moderator to WORK to JUSTIFY fucking someone's ego down, elevating someone's ego (no, content with seeming intelligence doesn't always convey nor confer "factuality"...)
When someone is moderated informative or insightful or whatever, and the content purports to present FACTS (as opposed to a personal experience), then the moderator with an ass-itch to promote or demote someone should be COMPELLED to show his/her OWN resourcefulness, candidness, fairness, and other -ess qualities.
As for "Well, the system will break down because the moderators will fall behind..." Bullshit. When the moderator is swamped, there should be a "panic button" to ask for mod assistance, and the volunteers get identified, and collectively they work with or rebuke the hell out of the moderator. END OF GOD STATUS. It's less likely that 250 /. pressed-volunteer moderators will un-conscientiously act as buffoons for a vengeful moderator than, say 10, might. Identification allows termination of any "Star Chamber-like" situations.
Finally, any heavy-handed rebukes should be not be over-coddling, but should not be used to assail a submitter. Imagine if true identities were available and /rage led to actual murders. I can imagine more than 25% of /. submitters blowing a gasket over a god-power moderator or meta-moderator who capriciously shot down slews of /. submitters.
The moderation system needs to be updated to something better. It's pretty good, but it's time to be updated.
We'll all just be reduced to wearing collars provided by the "Gamesters of Triskelion" (from the STTOS episode). Or, we'll be forced to enter a "Battle Royale" type of game. We'll be specifically selected based on our "threat potential" and suspicious activities.
Then, those gait-watching satellites and Predators will give the rulers of the world a whole new wargame. But, instead of dropping bombs or lasing the targets, they'll play the Bruce Dern number: "Black Sunday", and flechette the designated target/s of the hour.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075765/usercomments?filter=love
to say it: They could start paying people to make un-serialized Segways, or they can take bikes and scooters. Yet, another major fucking DOD/et al BOONDOGGLE, fucking off taxpayer money. Security Theater strikes again. When the hell are these uniformed people going to think ASYMMETRICALLY? Jesus H Christ! Even a clunky old Mercedes can crawl or zoom across the desert. A little shielding to mask the occupants to some fuzzy degree, and whammo! If any predators are in the area, microwave them (if they can be visually spotted). Detect them at low altitude by setting up meshes of microwave towers. Track them by the grids they break, or the sound/visual reflections they make. This isn't rocket science, and it isn't new. Time to take these dollars and pump them or program them into domestic or foreign neighborhoods to promote an occupation in a JOB, generate contentedness, or docility or some such. Funding TOO MANY such programs is wasteful (don't tell me about jobs creation, homeland security, et cetera...)
Seven of Nine might say that waterfall/droplet analogy could represent a glimpse into the lack of order in the chaos in the human mind. No Vinculums available for puny human brains. But, i am SURE Lord Garth could do something about it. Even Dr Simon van Gelder's hijacked neural neutralizer chair could help out. Though, i'd steer clear of the Klingon 'Mind Sifter/Mind Reaper'. Don't bother trying to read the Kazon brain: Seven told Neelix 'The Kazon were UNWORTHY of Assimilation.' Best ST SLAM.
But, i have a friend who RAN with 80-120 plus lbs in a rucksack for 8 to 12-plus miles and did numerous other exercises for over a year to qualify for Special Forces training -- and it paid off. He made the cut after several competitive screenings. He qual-jumped numerous times from airplanes, and said, 'It was awesome! It was like jumping into a fucking television screen!' He had to kill field animals for survival, but said, 'that part was nothing. We (of his Asian ethnicity) eat ANYTHING.'
It seems that mini-laptops such as these almost REQUIRE the user to carry extra/external storage media/um. If one is to put Mandriva or PCLinuxOS, or SUSE or Fedora, etc, on it, say, and add even just 1/2 of the available popular mag-distributed DVDs, one would be short on space in a short period of time after adding personal /home/user/user's-files.
Another thing: I am soooo sick and tired of those kiss-ass computer makers running adverts such as "[Dell/Toshiba/Fujitsu/Sony/HP/et al] recommends microsoft (operating system) (for all your computing needs)", as IF there is no Linux/FreeBSD/BSD available. IF windows WERE all there was, then there'd be no NEED for ms to payola these guys to even say such slogans/subliminal types of messages.
It would be nice if some of the US advertising laws would have to follow some European laws where product placement cannot disparage or misrepresent other competing products. Even better, it would be nice if some products (such as operating systems) were required to list at least 4 (or some number of) competitors or near-competitors. This way, mshaft would not keep getting the near-free ride they get.
If those adverts said, "microsoft recommends vindoze wista instead of (Ubuntu/Mandriva/PCLOS/Red Hat/SUSE/Fedora/et al) for all your computing needs (such as surfing wired or wirelessly, burning CDs/DVDs/watching DVDs, creating web sites, writing programs, composing music, managing servers, doing some CAD, hosting content, learning to type, studying astronomy, and a few dozen other things that ALL of these OS' can do equally as well as or better than our own wista).... See you sales person for a demo/floor comparison!", why, then Linux/Open Source would probably finally get some improved/increased professional polish, Linux-specific vendor drivers, more press, and increased loosening of ms' illegally-obtained near-death-grip control of the market.
Now, if only Linux land comes up with a true end-user WYSIWYG database/front end like Lotus Approach. If only i could legally get my hands on win XP pro to replace vista (the piece of crap it is, using 1.5 GB RAM and nothing to show for it relative to XP -- and to Linux as regards graphics bells and whistles), which is crippling two of my Lotus SmartSuite apps....yeh, IBM might have released patches, but STILL....
Finally, what'll REALLY be awesome for mini-/mid-full-size laptops/portables will be unpluggable/swappable video chip modules so that users can get more out of their graphics-related task software. Not necessarily to increase time between hardware upgrades, but to give more flexibility for situations when weaker video options limit us. For example, it would be nice to not have to buy external bulky video splitters. My backpack already is at 35 lbs, what with my 8.5 lb, 17-in display, dual-hard drive Gateway, my mouse, 3DConnexion, several books, about 2 inches of 8.5x11 papers, adapters, USB tip converters, index cards, and other miscellaneous stuff, with enough space to stuff in my lunch. Hell, even when I carried my 2001 Sony Vaio, in another, smaller back pack, with a portable Canon printer and wedge-like surge strip, one of my friends asked, "Man, what the *fuck* you got in there? You look like a BACKPACK bomber"...
I guess then that it's too bad they aren't resourceful and non-threaded enough with their site... It's been down for over an hour now:
http://slashdot.org/~davidsyes/journal/210827
I tried to firehose the story, but i guess my post is swamped by tons of other firehose sumbmissions.
ms' site has been down since at LEAST 1815 PST. Is this normal for them?
"To make a long story short, the judge said that because there were no codes for tree-houses, does not automatically allow the county to forbid them. He further ordered the county to work with a man and his engineers to develop proper codes especially for tree houses."
Kewl...
That computer board will be worth less than a molten pile of horse shit. Horse shit is recyclable. Even some of the hay in it. But, a molten/slagged, PCT/other chemicals-infested MoBo?
Was it a crossup of lung-searing odors like magma of fresh/raw bowel-manure (laden with fast-food/processed-food chemical additives), burning rubber, oozing/gangrenous pus, aged milk and off-brand bleach? You'd need not only a HEAT sink, but also a STINK sink. PHEW...
No, they're not secret. Just confusing as hell. But, he had no reason to lie to me about it. After all, i myself was doing lots of research to find out what it would take for me to comply carefully in order to open my own internet cafe. I became quite irritated when i found out that it wasn't enough to find a NEW coffee machine in use in numerous other counties in the US (counties so geographically dispersed that local issues would not alone explain approval in one and rejection in another area...).
There also is a racket in the NSF-specification by some counties. UL/NSF ratings attest to the INITIAL certifications. When you want to buy and use second-hand (electrical) equipment, obviously you don't want to burn down your business and face suits or insurance fraud claims. But, when a coffee shop wants to install well-crafted, inexpensive, heavy duty cycle-capable European coffee and espresso machines that cost a fraction of the domestic ones, one can't help smell "racket/protectionism". If the business plan plans for 100 customers a day, and the entrepreneur purchase a variety and decent number of machines because of reputation and aesthetics, the local county should not demand that each and every machine/model be in the UL/NSF registry if higher or equivalent grading can be found in another country. One possible support for it is that we all know how rife/rampant the product counterfeiting market is. It is entirely possible that 25% of restaurants unknowingly have SOME unauthorized counterfeit UL-tested/rated/NSF-regulated equipment.
OTOH, it's possible that restaurant equipment manufacturers stand to benefit by the fact that counties will de-certify or simply not approve equipment even without proof that it's unsafe or never-tested. If a small office can have a free choice of coffee and tea makers, then a well-managed coffee shop that seats 25-30 people and is not a high-cycle restaurant should be given freer hand in choice of machines that are allowed importation, are in service in other restaurants, and have no product safety/recall issues. Not saying allow ALL imported stuff to be permitted, just stuff that other counties/cities permitted conditionally.
But, when the entrepreneur is disallowed installation of a used, $5,000 range and fire suppression system and has to go and buy a $25,000 system, it DOES benefit the county, since the county assessor will know that new, assessable equipment is in the county. To them, that's revenue to be claimed. They don't want honest people competing with or depriving them of revenues potential.
I don't respect any claim of a dictionary company that it OWNS copyright over words being defined -- except the fake words they insert in order to catch blatant copyright infringement.
Why should Merriam-Webster/et al OWN the c/r to "photosynthesis", when they did not create it nor spell it nor create the context for which the word arose. The ONLY thing a dictionary firm should hold c/r over is the WORD-FOR-WORD string arrangement they contrive to define the word and any examples they provide as further clarification.
It might be they who are behind the "disappearance" of "rhyme" from Mandriva and any other Linux distro that had "rhyme". Just like laws that need to be publicly available for the public to be upstanding citizens, base words and their variants (not the made-up check-for-c/r-infringement words) should NOT be copyrightable unless they are "original and wild/zany names coined for trademark purposes". Otherwise, dictionary companies can someday start to charge us for the mere act of writing, publishing, and speaking.
So, I HOPE that i am uninformed and that it is my mistake for reading into things that they hold copyright over not only crafted definitions but the words being defined.
Now, I hope he goes after county health regulations for FORCE the counties across the country to once and for all MAKE AVAILABLE not only the regulations/ordinances that say what must be done in order to obtain the permits to operate restaurants and businesses, but also to records of WHAT equipment and fixtures are approved.
I knew a team of young, ambitious Asians (4-8 people) in the Central Valley who in 2000-2001 were trying to open an internet cafe. They hired a respected architect, followed all the know/anticipated rules, and STILL the county planner/permits office kept sending them back to correct things. They even added MORE space than required for ADA-protected patrons and were made to rip out work completed in order to please the county. It was rumored that the head had a friend also opening an internet cafe and he was helping out his friend have less competition. How? Well, if he kept sending them back to do rework, he could burn up their cash and force them to quit. But, these kids were resourceful, determined, and NEEDED to form a business to make money to pay for school and to live.
It is QUITE FUCKING SPECIOUS for counties to deny access to records of APPROVED coffee machines, ice makers, display fridge units, toilet heights flexibility ranges, hand rails range of heights for wheel chair users, reach-in fridge units, and so on. Every time a county planning/permits office functionary rejects plans or revisions to be redrawn, it costs the entrepreneur money in attorney's fees, architect's fees, county inspector fees, time and money lost on start-up delays, and the appearance of entrepreneur unprofessionalism in the eyes of would-be patrons chafing for a place to open its doors. Money is even lost when a toilet 1/2 inch too high is tossed out for another one.
It is as if these people pay gate-keeper of the beholden information as if to mask racism or any other -ism used to suppress or oppress anyone not liked, anyone who demands to be respected, anyone who challenges the county's decision on the plans or modifications not significantly differing from originally-approved plans. I realize, too, that many counties these days computerize the floor plans of EVERYTHING BUILT, ostensibly to facilitate firefighters and law enforcement. Yeh, like they really need to know WHERE the business/home vault is, or if there is a sanctuary from burglars/robbers/cops/et al.
If all that stuff is in a database, then virtually ANYONE following the then-current ordinances should be able to walk into the planning office with a set of complete working/construction drawings without having to fuck around weeks on end wondering why the hell they are losing tens of thousands of dollars before they even open to the public. If such obstructive officials DO exist, they should be sued, THEIR assets taken or frozen or transferred to the aggrieved, and possibly, the offending officials should be jailed post-haste and barred from EVER AGAIN serving in a public official/functionary position in the COUNTRY not just the county.
They got their shop opened up, but they paid dearly for it in money wasted. I gave them a copy of my own internet cafe business plan (spread sheet/stock rotation planning/customer flow modeling & employee head count to cope, and 2 of my new, paid-for computers just to help them out because i was fucking incensed that they were going through that shit. I wasn't going to be able to get started, but boy I was going to make sure I helped them out any way I could before and after startup.
"AMD would lose every single Govt. and Big American company contract the day they do such deal with Chinese govt. Don't forget "AMD gets support from human rights abusers!" trolls too, millions of them, amateur or professional."
Let's then remember that China significantly floats FANNIE MAE and FREDDIE MAC (or, let's make them Frannie Mae/Feddie Mac or Manny Fae, and Meddie Frack...). Now, it seems the South Korea Government will be buying (or is trying to buy/floating the idea that they will buy) Lehman Brothers:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/02/business/lehman.php
If a European bank were floating this idea, there'd be not much of any uproar. If China were trying to buy Lehman, there'd be an uproar. With Korea, it's something in-between. That, well, is paraphrasing what I heard last night on BBC/NPR/PRI about the situation. So, SK is taking things slowly.
Now, if China bought AMD, would China really HAVE to care/worry that the US government would nix projects? Even if the SEC allowed it (after ordering the purging and dual-use/DOD-related files and dies/machinery from the company's assets/possession) China would STILL have a significant windfall. Actually, they may already have that windfall without having to buy the company...
Anyway, given AMD's financial position (depending on what you read into things), it might make an easier buy for China. Even if AMD ends up in China's sights, India may well step into the fray.
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/AboutAMD/0,,51_52_484,00.html
No, they're SKIRTS, or shorts...
the coppers are clueless... Maybe it's all in a name, since Graham has more than a gram of sense, and pounds of cents...
(Sorry, I'm not English, so I can't whip out one of those zany/apropos remarks for which they can be SMASHING FAMOUS...)
But, it seems one of the coppers may be caught flatfooted, and be feeling soooo.... busted...
We STILL have companies spewing chemicals into the air. Even in the marine industry, engineers cheated on pollutions regulations by simply running a bypass or disconnecting polluted discharge lines from sensors meant to measure and log the overboard discharges (which the US Coast Guard caught wind of and brought charges against such owners/operators/masters/ and engineers).
When I worked with liquid toner copiers in the late 80's it was our common practice to take the liquid toner (ink) and dispersant bottles and simply dump down the drain if we could, and if there was nowhere to pour it, then place the bottles in the customers' waste bins. Failing that (in the hip/environmental offices), we'd have to take it with us and dispose elsewhere. I am glad i got out of that job. Doing that dumping gnawed at more conscience. Working with the chemicals eroded my health. Fingers clean by Sunday night, dirty by Tuesday... a year of that shit.
We still have gasoline leaks. We still have major post-product pollution. Why do we not have ordinances compelling fast food restaurants provide drain bins to collect the unfinished drinks and ice the customers otherwise dump in the garbage? When I in Dec 2004 - Feb 05 was in Tokyo area cities such as Roppongi and Miyamaedaira and Shimbashi, I ate at McDonalds that had marked recepticals for separation of plastic, paper, non-recyclables and liquids. That's easy for "typically conformist" Japanese to do. Asking 'merkun public to do it by request, backed up by fines or risk shut-down of their favorite location eatery would spark insurrection. So much for "a kind, gentle, peace-loving people"...
Yeh, and people, don't tell me that the liquids in the garbage help speed up the composting/decomposition of the waste. It could also be argued that pre-separation of liquids in restaurant waste might make it easier to separate recyclables such as the papers and food that animals might otherwise eat if not broken down by soda and coffee and such.