The real problem of Internet Voting isn't that you can hack the system. Even if you have an unhackable system, Internet Voting is still a bad idea.
In a voting booth, you can put your vote wherever you want, even if someone bribed or threatened you or your family to make you vote his way. You can put your mark somewhere else, nobody will know.
At home, your vote can be checked before it's sent.
That suggestion is a bit retarded, isn't it? So if someone enjoys "gaming the system" then your solution is to keep the system as easy to "game" as it can possibly be? That doesn't make sense. Because you got it backwards. The more rules you have, the easier it is to game the system. There's very little weasel-space in "though shalt not kill". There is a lot of room for lawyers in the multitudes of laws regarding murder, homicide, assault with deadly injuries and whatever the other 20 terms for killing someone are (sorry, not a native english speaker). Or look at tax laws for a great example.
What you are advocating is to not impose any nasty consequence to anyone's actions. What I was advocating is to keep school business school business and outside-of-school business outside-of-school business. I didn't say nobody should be punished for beating you up in front of the cinema in the evening, but I do think the school isn't the proper place to do the punishment in that case.
If Big Bully says bad things about you on the InterNet, I suggest you try: a) to have your big brother teach him a lesson or b) have your dad call his dead to teach him a lesson or c) learn something about the justice system and where slander begins and how it can be prosecuted
An important rule has always got to be "Do not game the system!" A rule which will be gamed as well.:-)
It works in a small environment with a short escalation hierarchy. In my game (see below), I am the final arbiter of anything, and I do have a rule in place that says those trying to weasel or lawyer-speak their way out of a clear abuse of the game will be punished twice as hard.
But it only works because you can't appeal to a higher court when I delete your account.
The we-must-keep-our-operating-system-dominance department probably killed IE on Mac and Solaris, and for good reason. I doubt that they'll allow things to work the other way around (other browsers on windos). Because once people are used to Firefox, the switch to OSX or Linux isn't as painful anymore.
I'm pretty sure this was a question of supporting.wmv even if it comes at the expense of IE (which is still strong, but has had a solid downwards trend for a long time). Plus it's easier to win a format war behind the scenes than a browser war with all spotlights on.
It's sad that a company with so much money and talent is completely unwilling to adapt to the times. Actually, for this company it's natural. They only have their money because of their monopoly, and they only have the talent because of the money. If they lose their dominance, they'll be going down fast. There's enough material out there that elaborates how the MS stock is pumped up on expectations and how badly it could burst if they ever fail those by a wide margin. Lots of MS is based on their stock price, up to salaries. There really is no option for failure at MS, because the way Gates has maneuvered the company, its too options are staying on top or falling very deep. Catastrophe Theory has interesting things to say about breaks in continuity that we might yet enjoy to see happen to MS. It does meet most of the conditions.
Damn, that would've been an interesting fight to watch - the we-must-keep-our-media-format-dominance department vs. the we-must-keep-our-browser-dominance department.:-)
If ID counts, here's some more numbers. It's from my game site, which has a fairly broad audience (few grandfathers, but lots of fathers and kids from 11 up) from around the world:
Firefox - 4295627 hits - 65.3 % MS Internet Explorer - 1651317 hits - 25.1 % Opera - 319524 hits - 4.8 % Mozilla - 127876 hits - 1.9 % Safari - 64764 hits - 0.9 %
And that with IE dropping and Firefox gaining share has been a steady trend for the past 3-4 years. Maybe my site gets more early adopters, and I am actively pushing Firefox (the only banner/ad I've ever had on my site), but the trend is still there.
Maybe, maybe not. Self-defense of people not well trained is as likely to cause more (accidental) deaths than it is to stop the shooter, especially in a crowded environment. People in panic do not fire well-aimed, carefully placed shots.
He is prime asshole material. But then again, that's how you get headlines. It's sad but true, very few news agencies and even less TV stations are interested in a careful, balanced POV.
Blame the stations that air him as much as the sicko himself. Write them a letter (not an email!) telling them how disgusted you are that they put a man like that on air instead of someone to bring calm and reason to those affected, and that it did cause you to switch away from their channel and you don't know if or when you'll have the stomach to turn them on again.
I would, but I'm not in the US so I don't think they'd care. I do regularily write letters like that, though. I think they help. In PR classes people learn that for every letter you get there are at least 10 people out there thinking the same thing who didn't write a letter.
Used as a blanket term the way it's been used the recent years, "freedom" becomes meaningless. But grandparent is right: Whether we call some insurgent group terrorists or freedom fighters does depend mostly on if we like them or not. Best example is Afghanistan: While they were fighting the soviets, the Mushahedin (sp?) were freedom fighters. When they turned around and fought the US, they became terrorists.
Even if it is some pointless war, someone should put an end to it, because the government there is obviously not willing to do it. Because as we all know, sending more soldiers is how you put an end to wars, right?
Of course MS is pulling XP. Anyone surprised? They need Vista to be a success, even a moderate one. They can't allow Vista to fail like ME did. While they still dominate the market, it's not an unchallenged dominance anymore. A failure the size of Vista would mean considerable market share gains for Linux, OSX and maybe even other/new competitors over the next 3-5 years while they struggle to get a new windos out. By the time they're ready to release it, the market could've moved elsewhere.
So they're going to force Vista on us, figuring that like all windos versions prior, once we have no other choice, we'll accept it and consider all its shortcomings and problems as a "that's just how computers are" thing.
How about not requiring everyone who wants to do something to have a perfect record on some other issue first?
China is a huge country (five times the population of the USA) and is not inherently stable. Too much change too quickly might well lead it into civil war. You might not agree with its government, but it doesn't help to tell them they should improve human rights first on all other issues, because you know, a country that size has more issues than human rights, no matter how important you rate those.
I find it harder than most people [...] but advertising grates on my nerves like nobody's business. You're not alone. I just think we're a not-so-outspoken minority. Maybe it's because getting-on-other-people's-nerves is what aggrevates us that we don't do it ourselves. But I also find myself offended by almost any advertisement. From what I hear (I haven't owned a TV for close to 10 years now) I wouldn't stand even an hour of today's television.
The cost is somewhat hidden, [...] Why there's an additional level of indirection for xbox live purchases, I don't know. I think you just answered your question.
While I agree with most of your points, one point strikes me as arrogant: It is not "disrespect" to not build the entire city to the needs of a minority, sorry dude.
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So they an now operate a nuclear plant without blowing it up - shouldn't we be, you know, glad ? I wouldn't want a Tchernobyl 2 - do you?
Even more important: Does it support addressbook?
It'd be about the only OSX app that doesn't. And it's been on the bugtracker for almost forever.
Forget user education. This is a great example of what "user education" leads to - it is quickly turned into a marketing machine.
The real problem of Internet Voting isn't that you can hack the system. Even if you have an unhackable system, Internet Voting is still a bad idea.
In a voting booth, you can put your vote wherever you want, even if someone bribed or threatened you or your family to make you vote his way. You can put your mark somewhere else, nobody will know.
At home, your vote can be checked before it's sent.
Actually, what they wanted to announce was that the major combat operations have ended...
Or look at tax laws for a great example. What you are advocating is to not impose any nasty consequence to anyone's actions. What I was advocating is to keep school business school business and outside-of-school business outside-of-school business. I didn't say nobody should be punished for beating you up in front of the cinema in the evening, but I do think the school isn't the proper place to do the punishment in that case.
If Big Bully says bad things about you on the InterNet, I suggest you try:
a) to have your big brother teach him a lesson
or
b) have your dad call his dead to teach him a lesson
or
c) learn something about the justice system and where slander begins and how it can be prosecuted
It works in a small environment with a short escalation hierarchy. In my game (see below), I am the final arbiter of anything, and I do have a rule in place that says those trying to weasel or lawyer-speak their way out of a clear abuse of the game will be punished twice as hard.
But it only works because you can't appeal to a higher court when I delete your account.
Stupidity in action.
One - school has no business regulating how students behave outside. They're students, not slaves.
Two - most bullies have a second favourite game: Gaming the system. The more rules you create, the more interesting (and rewarding) you make it.
The we-must-keep-our-operating-system-dominance department probably killed IE on Mac and Solaris, and for good reason. I doubt that they'll allow things to work the other way around (other browsers on windos). Because once people are used to Firefox, the switch to OSX or Linux isn't as painful anymore.
.wmv even if it comes at the expense of IE (which is still strong, but has had a solid downwards trend for a long time). Plus it's easier to win a format war behind the scenes than a browser war with all spotlights on.
I'm pretty sure this was a question of supporting
Damn, that would've been an interesting fight to watch - the we-must-keep-our-media-format-dominance department vs. the we-must-keep-our-browser-dominance department. :-)
Actually, few people ever remark on it. Seems to be a pet issue for a small minority. Just thought I'd throw it in as a joke there. :-)
MS playing dirty to defend its monopoly. News at 11. No, wait, I think that slot is pretty much filled up already, so make that 11:15.
If ID counts, here's some more numbers. It's from my game site, which has a fairly broad audience (few grandfathers, but lots of fathers and kids from 11 up) from around the world:
Firefox - 4295627 hits - 65.3 %
MS Internet Explorer - 1651317 hits - 25.1 %
Opera - 319524 hits - 4.8 %
Mozilla - 127876 hits - 1.9 %
Safari - 64764 hits - 0.9 %
And that with IE dropping and Firefox gaining share has been a steady trend for the past 3-4 years. Maybe my site gets more early adopters, and I am actively pushing Firefox (the only banner/ad I've ever had on my site), but the trend is still there.
Maybe, maybe not. Self-defense of people not well trained is as likely to cause more (accidental) deaths than it is to stop the shooter, especially in a crowded environment. People in panic do not fire well-aimed, carefully placed shots.
He is prime asshole material. But then again, that's how you get headlines. It's sad but true, very few news agencies and even less TV stations are interested in a careful, balanced POV.
Blame the stations that air him as much as the sicko himself. Write them a letter (not an email!) telling them how disgusted you are that they put a man like that on air instead of someone to bring calm and reason to those affected, and that it did cause you to switch away from their channel and you don't know if or when you'll have the stomach to turn them on again.
I would, but I'm not in the US so I don't think they'd care. I do regularily write letters like that, though. I think they help. In PR classes people learn that for every letter you get there are at least 10 people out there thinking the same thing who didn't write a letter.
Be the one who did.
Freedom to occupy someone else's land.
Used as a blanket term the way it's been used the recent years, "freedom" becomes meaningless. But grandparent is right: Whether we call some insurgent group terrorists or freedom fighters does depend mostly on if we like them or not. Best example is Afghanistan: While they were fighting the soviets, the Mushahedin (sp?) were freedom fighters. When they turned around and fought the US, they became terrorists.
The US presidental office is run by a gang of criminals. What else is new?
Of course MS is pulling XP. Anyone surprised? They need Vista to be a success, even a moderate one. They can't allow Vista to fail like ME did.
While they still dominate the market, it's not an unchallenged dominance anymore. A failure the size of Vista would mean considerable market share gains for Linux, OSX and maybe even other/new competitors over the next 3-5 years while they struggle to get a new windos out. By the time they're ready to release it, the market could've moved elsewhere.
So they're going to force Vista on us, figuring that like all windos versions prior, once we have no other choice, we'll accept it and consider all its shortcomings and problems as a "that's just how computers are" thing.
How about not requiring everyone who wants to do something to have a perfect record on some other issue first?
China is a huge country (five times the population of the USA) and is not inherently stable. Too much change too quickly might well lead it into civil war. You might not agree with its government, but it doesn't help to tell them they should improve human rights first on all other issues, because you know, a country that size has more issues than human rights, no matter how important you rate those.
That's a great list, I'll be installing a couple of those in a minute, though I knew about most of them already.
Now where's that list of not recommended extensions?
While I agree with most of your points, one point strikes me as arrogant: It is not "disrespect" to not build the entire city to the needs of a minority, sorry dude.