If people who check credit reports or grant credit verify the application is being sent in by the named party, this would go a long way to solving the problem.
For in-person applications this is a no-brainer: The bank or other credit-issuer would require that the store clerk check your driver's license or other hard-to-counterfeit government-issued ID that has a current address on it, and have the store be held responsible for mistakes or fraud committed by the clerk.
For online and over the phone applications it gets harder:
I see a big opportunity for banks and stores to join Notary Publics in providing "authentication" services: If I plan on applying for more than a small amount of credit online or over the phone or through the mail in the next few weeks, I'll need to visit someone in person, show them my ID, and be issued a number or signed digital token that I will be required to present to creditors. This number or token would expire after a few weeks or less and, optionally, would only be good for certain uses such as mail-order goods shipped to a certain address or for non-loan purposes such as giving permission for a prospective landlord who hasn't seen me in person to run a credit check.
In the case of a number or other non-self-authenticating token, the recipient would have to validate it with the issuer or a clearinghouse before accepting it. In the case of a signed digital token with a valid chain of trust, no further action is required.
I do NOT want the ability to do any "hands off" update of a killer robot, er, I mean automobile.
If the good guys can do it, so can the bad guys.
Make me come in for service or send someone out to me, just as you would for faulty hardware.
Now, if you need to update a non-critical system such as the infotainment or air conditioning system that's fine, as long as there is no way for those systems to make changes to the critical systems. Yes, I know this isn't risk-free - a bad guy could make the radio go on full blast and distract the driver, causing a wreck, but at least that's "hacking the human" not "turning your car into a killer robot."
A copyright suit will likely fail, under fair-use rules.
A trademark suit is on shaky grounds unless the game in the ad is actually a real game that is really being made available to the general public. In that case, just change the name from "Breakout" to "Breakmeoffapieceofthat" and the trademark claim will die.
Implied-endorsement and other trademark-related claims may also have a chance of succeeding, but changing the name from "Breakout" to something else will eliminate the problem as well.
We should decide what minimum wage should be in today's dollars, then peg it to "inflation" so it doesn't "decrease automatically" like it does now.
Whether we use "consumer inflation" (set aside the argument that it's not "accurate" for most consumers) or some measure of inflation more targeted towards low-wage workers (i.e. heavily weighted for things poor people tend to buy) is another factor society must decide on.
If we do this, there will still be calls to adjust it every generation or two, but at least it will only be every generation or two, not every 5-10 years when inflation reduces the buying power of what-was-reasonable-years-ago to arguably-too-low-to-be-useful-today.
Assuming GoDaddy's client bought a business-grade (vs. consumer-grade), GoDaddy should've been a lot more professional about this. In particular, they should have given the site a short period of time to come back into compliance but a longer time - 30 days at least - to find a new provider.
Except for cases of "legal compliance/court order," "network harm," (spamming, malware, etc.) or "imminent or ongoing danger," (encouraging violence, etc.) a PROFESSIONAL company that SELLS products or services would have a longer disconnection-warning, something along the lines of 30 days.
In this case, a professional web-hosting company that caters to businesses should:
* Made a determination if the NEW content did or did not create an imminent or ongoing danger warranting immediate removal * If so, remove THAT content (or block the whole whole site from public view until it comes back into compliance if GoDaddy did not have the technical ability to selectively remove just the new content). * If not, give the client a reasonable period of time - a week or so - to come back into full compliance * Decide if they want to exercise their right to terminate the contract for violating the terms of service. If so, give the client 30 days to vacate.
Electronic-only ballots make keeping audit-able records nearly impossible. You can only audit what the computer recorded as the vote, not the voter's intent.
Having said that, computers can take photographs of the ballots and compute and publish hashes of a "concatenation" of all of the pictures it took in a given election PRIOR TO the ballot box being opened and the ballots being removed, as well as a hash of the vote totals.
This will make it much harder to tamper with an election after the fact without a high risk of the tampering being uncovered later.
"I refuse to work with so and so because of ___" or "I'll go through the motions of working with so and so but I won't put in my best effort because of ___" are a fact of life.
It's just most people keep these things in their head and off the record until they become an issue.
"Mental blacklists" are okay as long as you are open with your boss about the reasons once they become an issue and you are willing to resign on the spot if your manager tells you that you have to work with someone anyway because your reason isn't acceptable to the company. A co-worker who constantly sabotages projects is usually a good reason to honor an "I don't want to work with him" ultimatum. On the flip side, a co-worker who happens to be of a certain gender, race, or religion you have an issue with is a good reason for your boss to accept your resignation.
By definition, if a willing buyer pays $1B to a willing seller for 50% equity, the company is valued at $2B at that instant in time.
The fair-market valuation a moment later is unknown - it is whatever a willing buyer would pay a willing seller for equity in the company.
The big problem with private-company valuations is they are like art, real estate, rare coins, and other things that aren't traded on a daily basis: it's always just a guess - an educated guess - what the true value is.
It is right for public schools to make kids who are not known to be vaccinated to stay home when measles is present in the area and that presence creates a public health threat (one case may not do it, 30 in a county might).
It's also the same school's responsibility to provide for either a tutor or remote-education (telephone, internet, etc.) for the duration of the local outbreak. It is NOT the school's responsibility to arrange child care during the outbreak - that's the parent's job.
The same goes for other diseases with vaccinations that are widely known to be generally effective and generally cost-effective that they are required by law. ---
As for places where there are large gatherings that include children, such as movie theaters, theme parks, swimming pools, etc., the local public health authority is probably best equipped to issue guidance or, in extreme cases, orders, to parents of non-vaccinated children that will help - or order - them to not expose their kids or the general public to unnecessary risks. Realistically though, how many places in the country have a local measles-or-other-widely-vaccinated-for-disease outbreak that last more than a few months, and how many have more than 2 or 3 such outbreaks in a 10 year period? Not many.
Our nation values freedom of religion very highly. That would have to change before bona fide religious exemptions will be disallowed. The key words being "bona fide" - claiming a religious exemption on Monday then going to a church on Sunday that doesn't have any credible "vaccinations are verboten" rule is not a "bona fide claim".
I can tell any Windows user "hold down the windows key and R at the same time, and when the Run dialog box opens up, type MSPAINT.EXE and hit enter" knowing that some version of a "paint" program will open up.
I also know that this program will be able to open JPEG and other common types of image files.
Please don't take that away.
ditto "notepad.exe" "cmd.exe" "calc.exe" etc.: They all are "run that program and it will do what you expect" idioms in the Windows world.
It was bad enough when they took away "sol.exe" a few years back. Don't repeat that mistake.
The Pizza Hut next to the hospital I work at is advertising positions starting at $15/hour.
Really? What's the catch?
I'm betting it's either a high-cost-of-living area, an area where it's hard to find good workers at all, or the working conditions aren't exactly great.
Okay, there's a small chance that the management really is forward-thinking and believes that if they pay top dollar and them some, they will have high retention (probably true) and may save money in the long run (iffy).
Note to fast-food managers: If you want high retention, pay at least a little above market rate (at least 10% more if you can afford to) and treat your employees like gold (except the occasional bad ones - let them go quietly before they bring down your entire work-force to their level). You probably don't have to pay 20+% more than market rate unless all the other restaurant managers are also treating their employees like gold as well.
Early on, Microsoft tells the world "Windows 10 is supported for 10 years."
Later, it tells the world "Windows 10 is supported for 10 years as long as you keep getting feature updates - we support any given feature update for only X years" (X=2-3?).
Later, it tells early adopters "sorry Charlie, you can't get feature updates."
At some point BEFORE the 10-year-anniversary of Windows 10, Microsoft will be breaking one of its early-on promises with respect to those early adopters.
Probably not illegal in MOST jurisdictions, but it might be in a few.
Now we just need Google to update the Chrome extension policy to require The Developer MUST notify Google prior to any sale or acquiring, disposing, or changing beneficial ownership regarding any app software
Better: Whether a program changes hands or not, impose a requirement that new versions which are "substantially different" from previous versions with respect to feature-removal or the addition of revenue- or marketing-components will require a big bold warning and will not be eligible for any kind of automated updates from prior versions.
Furthermore, reviews based on previous versions will be segregated from reviews of new versions. In such cases, developers will be encouraged to keep the "old" version available for download.
This is why radios and, for that matter, sensors, need hardware on/off switches.
Turn off the radios and sensors such as motion sensors, compasses, microphones, and cameras when not in use and you make it very very difficult if not impossible to track your location.
I wish I could downmod this off the front page as doesn't sound like "news for nerds," but I will make two small concessions:
1) it's possibly of general interest, which includes nerds. Take to to a general-interest forum, not/. Next up on Slashdot, tomorrow's weather forecast....
2) nerds travel to industry conferences and other industry events. Okay, maybe, but it's very tenuous. Slow news day???
Slashdot Mirror
If people who check credit reports or grant credit verify the application is being sent in by the named party, this would go a long way to solving the problem.
For in-person applications this is a no-brainer: The bank or other credit-issuer would require that the store clerk check your driver's license or other hard-to-counterfeit government-issued ID that has a current address on it, and have the store be held responsible for mistakes or fraud committed by the clerk.
For online and over the phone applications it gets harder:
I see a big opportunity for banks and stores to join Notary Publics in providing "authentication" services: If I plan on applying for more than a small amount of credit online or over the phone or through the mail in the next few weeks, I'll need to visit someone in person, show them my ID, and be issued a number or signed digital token that I will be required to present to creditors. This number or token would expire after a few weeks or less and, optionally, would only be good for certain uses such as mail-order goods shipped to a certain address or for non-loan purposes such as giving permission for a prospective landlord who hasn't seen me in person to run a credit check.
In the case of a number or other non-self-authenticating token, the recipient would have to validate it with the issuer or a clearinghouse before accepting it. In the case of a signed digital token with a valid chain of trust, no further action is required.
Dear customer:
Thank you for your reply.
We value your input.
This is an automated reply to let you know that your email is 276,709th in line to be answered, and we will get to it as soon as possible.
Your estimated wait time is, well, you don't want to know. You really, really, do not want to know.
Sincerely,
Marvin, your robotic email automated response robot.
I do NOT want the ability to do any "hands off" update of a killer robot, er, I mean automobile.
If the good guys can do it, so can the bad guys.
Make me come in for service or send someone out to me, just as you would for faulty hardware.
Now, if you need to update a non-critical system such as the infotainment or air conditioning system that's fine, as long as there is no way for those systems to make changes to the critical systems. Yes, I know this isn't risk-free - a bad guy could make the radio go on full blast and distract the driver, causing a wreck, but at least that's "hacking the human" not "turning your car into a killer robot."
A copyright suit will likely fail, under fair-use rules.
A trademark suit is on shaky grounds unless the game in the ad is actually a real game that is really being made available to the general public. In that case, just change the name from "Breakout" to "Breakmeoffapieceofthat" and the trademark claim will die.
Implied-endorsement and other trademark-related claims may also have a chance of succeeding, but changing the name from "Breakout" to something else will eliminate the problem as well.
We should decide what minimum wage should be in today's dollars, then peg it to "inflation" so it doesn't "decrease automatically" like it does now.
Whether we use "consumer inflation" (set aside the argument that it's not "accurate" for most consumers) or some measure of inflation more targeted towards low-wage workers (i.e. heavily weighted for things poor people tend to buy) is another factor society must decide on.
If we do this, there will still be calls to adjust it every generation or two, but at least it will only be every generation or two, not every 5-10 years when inflation reduces the buying power of what-was-reasonable-years-ago to arguably-too-low-to-be-useful-today.
Thanks, don't know how that happened.
Assuming GoDaddy's client bought a business-grade (vs. consumer-grade), GoDaddy should've been a lot more professional about this. In particular, they should have given the site a short period of time to come back into compliance but a longer time - 30 days at least - to find a new provider.
Except for cases of "legal compliance/court order," "network harm," (spamming, malware, etc.) or "imminent or ongoing danger," (encouraging violence, etc.) a PROFESSIONAL company that SELLS products or services would have a longer disconnection-warning, something along the lines of 30 days.
In this case, a professional web-hosting company that caters to businesses should:
* Made a determination if the NEW content did or did not create an imminent or ongoing danger warranting immediate removal
* If so, remove THAT content (or block the whole whole site from public view until it comes back into compliance if GoDaddy did not have the technical ability to selectively remove just the new content).
* If not, give the client a reasonable period of time - a week or so - to come back into full compliance
* Decide if they want to exercise their right to terminate the contract for violating the terms of service. If so, give the client 30 days to vacate.
Electronic-only ballots make keeping audit-able records nearly impossible. You can only audit what the computer recorded as the vote, not the voter's intent.
Having said that, computers can take photographs of the ballots and compute and publish hashes of a "concatenation" of all of the pictures it took in a given election PRIOR TO the ballot box being opened and the ballots being removed, as well as a hash of the vote totals.
This will make it much harder to tamper with an election after the fact without a high risk of the tampering being uncovered later.
"I refuse to work with so and so because of ___" or "I'll go through the motions of working with so and so but I won't put in my best effort because of ___" are a fact of life.
It's just most people keep these things in their head and off the record until they become an issue.
"Mental blacklists" are okay as long as you are open with your boss about the reasons once they become an issue and you are willing to resign on the spot if your manager tells you that you have to work with someone anyway because your reason isn't acceptable to the company. A co-worker who constantly sabotages projects is usually a good reason to honor an "I don't want to work with him" ultimatum. On the flip side, a co-worker who happens to be of a certain gender, race, or religion you have an issue with is a good reason for your boss to accept your resignation.
By definition, if a willing buyer pays $1B to a willing seller for 50% equity, the company is valued at $2B at that instant in time.
The fair-market valuation a moment later is unknown - it is whatever a willing buyer would pay a willing seller for equity in the company.
The big problem with private-company valuations is they are like art, real estate, rare coins, and other things that aren't traded on a daily basis: it's always just a guess - an educated guess - what the true value is.
... you are the product.
"Kaspersky will use the data you contribute to improve machine learning across its products."
Well, at least they are being up-front about it.
It is right for public schools to make kids who are not known to be vaccinated to stay home when measles is present in the area and that presence creates a public health threat (one case may not do it, 30 in a county might).
It's also the same school's responsibility to provide for either a tutor or remote-education (telephone, internet, etc.) for the duration of the local outbreak. It is NOT the school's responsibility to arrange child care during the outbreak - that's the parent's job.
The same goes for other diseases with vaccinations that are widely known to be generally effective and generally cost-effective that they are required by law.
---
As for places where there are large gatherings that include children, such as movie theaters, theme parks, swimming pools, etc., the local public health authority is probably best equipped to issue guidance or, in extreme cases, orders, to parents of non-vaccinated children that will help - or order - them to not expose their kids or the general public to unnecessary risks. Realistically though, how many places in the country have a local measles-or-other-widely-vaccinated-for-disease outbreak that last more than a few months, and how many have more than 2 or 3 such outbreaks in a 10 year period? Not many.
Our nation values freedom of religion very highly. That would have to change before bona fide religious exemptions will be disallowed. The key words being "bona fide" - claiming a religious exemption on Monday then going to a church on Sunday that doesn't have any credible "vaccinations are verboten" rule is not a "bona fide claim".
I can tell any Windows user "hold down the windows key and R at the same time, and when the Run dialog box opens up, type MSPAINT.EXE and hit enter" knowing that some version of a "paint" program will open up.
I also know that this program will be able to open JPEG and other common types of image files.
Please don't take that away.
ditto "notepad.exe" "cmd.exe" "calc.exe" etc.: They all are "run that program and it will do what you expect" idioms in the Windows world.
It was bad enough when they took away "sol.exe" a few years back. Don't repeat that mistake.
Cousin Gert may give his opinion on Spicey's departure when the new season starts.
Here's hoping.
The Pizza Hut next to the hospital I work at is advertising positions starting at $15/hour.
Really? What's the catch?
I'm betting it's either a high-cost-of-living area, an area where it's hard to find good workers at all, or the working conditions aren't exactly great.
Okay, there's a small chance that the management really is forward-thinking and believes that if they pay top dollar and them some, they will have high retention (probably true) and may save money in the long run (iffy).
Note to fast-food managers: If you want high retention, pay at least a little above market rate (at least 10% more if you can afford to) and treat your employees like gold (except the occasional bad ones - let them go quietly before they bring down your entire work-force to their level). You probably don't have to pay 20+% more than market rate unless all the other restaurant managers are also treating their employees like gold as well.
Now all we have to do is worry about copyright lawsuits.
That, and maybe asphyxiation.
I usually use only 2-3 apps at time. I force-quit everything else and use app-switching to get between them.
It's just easier for me that way.
Oh, to reduce battery drain I just disable background-app capability.
Early on, Microsoft tells the world "Windows 10 is supported for 10 years."
Later, it tells the world "Windows 10 is supported for 10 years as long as you keep getting feature updates - we support any given feature update for only X years" (X=2-3?).
Later, it tells early adopters "sorry Charlie, you can't get feature updates."
At some point BEFORE the 10-year-anniversary of Windows 10, Microsoft will be breaking one of its early-on promises with respect to those early adopters.
Probably not illegal in MOST jurisdictions, but it might be in a few.
One more reason why we need hardware on/off switches and indicator lights for sensors and radios.
Turn the mic off - it will be impossible to record.
See that the mic-indicator light off - assurance mic is not in use.
Ditto camera, bluetooth, wifi, cellular radio, etc.
Now we just need Google to update the Chrome extension policy to require
The Developer MUST notify Google prior to any sale or acquiring, disposing, or changing beneficial ownership regarding any app software
Better: Whether a program changes hands or not, impose a requirement that new versions which are "substantially different" from previous versions with respect to feature-removal or the addition of revenue- or marketing-components will require a big bold warning and will not be eligible for any kind of automated updates from prior versions.
Furthermore, reviews based on previous versions will be segregated from reviews of new versions. In such cases, developers will be encouraged to keep the "old" version available for download.
We know you are, you don't have to brag about it.
This is why radios and, for that matter, sensors, need hardware on/off switches.
Turn off the radios and sensors such as motion sensors, compasses, microphones, and cameras when not in use and you make it very very difficult if not impossible to track your location.
... play Pong?
I wish I could downmod this off the front page as doesn't sound like "news for nerds," but I will make two small concessions:
1) it's possibly of general interest, which includes nerds. Take to to a general-interest forum, not /. Next up on Slashdot, tomorrow's weather forecast....
2) nerds travel to industry conferences and other industry events. Okay, maybe, but it's very tenuous. Slow news day???