If this submission had even some minor connection to technology, or science, or math, or computing, or software, or engineering it would be excusable. But there's absolutely nothing relevant at all about this particular submission. It's nothing but politics, and not even important politics.
I disagree. Whoever is picked as the next justice will be ruling on all of those issues and more.
whipslash, just because political stories have gotten a lot of comments here in the past doesn't mean that it's good, wholesome discussion.
Okay, so I'm not browsing this thread at 0 or -1 (no mod points at the moment), but I do have to argue that if you stick to the higher rated comments, Slashdot remains probably THE only place where one can still find somewhat intelligent discussion in a political thread.
A trojan horse is something that claims to be something that it isn't.
Ever followed through to figure out exactly what most of the updates presented in Windows Update actually do? The description for KB3035583, for example, reads, "Install this update to resolve issues in Windows." Yeah, if the "issue" with windows is that I have 7 installed instead of 10... It's only after clicking the CORRECT link for more information (there are two, the second just takes you to the generic support page) that you discover this update actually installs the Get Windows 10 app.
That level of obfuscation sounds exactly like a trojan horse to me.
My solution is to use uBlock Origin to filter browser content, then limit host entries to much shorter lists of known malicious domains that I don't want any process connecting to for any reason (all discussion about malicious ads aside). Keeps from having to fill the hosts file with a zillion entries, and allows more flexibility when I want to fine-tune content blocking in specific cases.
I already modded, but oh well, I can't let this by...
...there is no constitutionally protected right to possess vehicles in the good US of A.
Yes, there is. It's implied. The constitution doesn't grant rights, it limits the government's power to restrict rights that citizens already have by default. The bill of rights, which include the second amendment's right to keep and bear arms (for example) was originally controversial because it was argued, is it really necessary to explicitly state that the government can't infringe on those rights when it has already been implied elsewhere in the document that the government has no authority to exercise authority in ways not already granted to it (when it comes to restricting rights that citizens have by default)? Also notice that the language used doesn't grant any rights to the people, but confirms that, no, we really mean it, the government has no power to infringe on a right that is inherently possessed by the citizens.
That life has adapted to hostile environments doesn't mean that life originated in those same hostile environments.
Very true. In fact, the ~20% oxygen atmosphere that we live in could be considered a "hostile environment" to many obligate anaerobic organisms - oxygen tends to be fairly reactive, and many organisms had to evolve special mechanisms (i.e. catalase) in order to survive in its presence. Earth's oxygenated atmosphere is a fairly recent development, after all... more recent than the presence of life.
It could be that the conditions for creating life are very specific to a particular set of conditions or perhaps they are as flexible as you suggest.
Personally I find it inconceivably unlikely that the conditions necessary for life to begin would be limited to just a primordial Earth.
Life as we know it, sure. Even given the diversity of extremophiles that have been observed in many "hostile" (to us) places on Earth, the set of conditions required for survival of the living organisms we've so far discovered are somewhat narrow. But one could easily speculate about the possibility of life (however we define it) in some exotic environment inherently hostile us like, say, an atmosphere of ammonia or a sea of liquid methane, or perhaps even something more wild than that. Maybe it's a bit far-fetched to think that such conditions could lead to a set of circumstances through which life could arise, but we haven't exactly looked very closely at many planets to prove otherwise...
Maybe old news, but seeing that DSL is still one of the only viable options for decent internet access in many parts of the US (excluding satellite), not completely irrelevant. Plus it's an interesting read from a historical and technical standpoint.
If this is the direction that Slashdot's new ownership is taking the site, it's still better than the barrage of constant articles meant to bring out the sjw/anti-sjw trolls, or articles about Trump's verbal flatulence, or *shudders* anything by Bennett.
No, we don't. Because Apple to the best of my knowledge has never overridden user-configured settings when it comes to downloading or installing automatic updates. For years now I have disabled all of the relevant "automatic update" checkboxes in System Preferences, and Apple has never reenabled them and has never downloaded system updates without my permission. I have several old iPhones with various versions of iOS 6-8 on them and apple has never applied an OS update without my permission. Okay, I do remember being asked once or twice during major OS upgrades if I wanted to enable some of the automatic update settings, and once (*once!*) got a notification popup on my Mac asking me if I wanted to download Safari, but there's a clear difference between displaying a one-time popup and downloading 6GB of data to my machine *when I specifically asked you not to*, or installing Safari anyway, or even changing settings that you *know* I set manually!
Godwin's law aside, there are definitely some valid parallels to be made between Trump's "politics of fear" and the political movements of 1930's Germany. Replace the word 'jew' with 'democrat' in your post for example and you get something more akin to the current political rhetoric of the republican party. Have you actually seen a Trump rally? We had one in my town about a month ago and I was able to watch about half of it on TV before turning it off in disgust. That was before the Paris attacks; I don't even want to imagine what they're like now.
Note the 3-10 computers part. The GP is not talking about large corporate environments, but small businesses for which WSUS would be complete overkill. My wife's business has two employees, four computers, and does not have the time (or the expertise) to put up with this BS arms race against Microsoft just to keep their computers working the way they expect them to. Thankfully I know enough to help them stay ahead of the curve, but we'd switch away from Microsoft products entirely if their clients didn't require proprietary software that only runs in Windows.
In my experience there are two types of people who would consider themselves atheists.
A majority of the atheists I know would state that there is no evidence of any god or deity having any effect on our universe or in our lives, so there is no need for religion or spiritual belief. Religion, for better or worse, is a human institution that can have an impact on culture, morals, philosophy; in fact I know quite a few atheists who are interested in theology purely as an academic exercise. According to this first group it's cool if you decide to hold to a religious belief, just please don't let your beliefs have a negative impact on my life.
Then there's a small group of very vocal atheists who might be better described as "anti-theist" - the ones who define themselves based on their opposition to a straw-man version of organized religion, respond to any slight display of religious belief with snide and judgmental comments, send their kids to "evolution camp" where they spend the week tearing apart religious texts because, well, this passage is unclear about whether Moses went to Sinai or Horeb, so obviously the whole thing is nothing but lies - even the parts that could give insight into human nature or ethics, and who make it clear that they view anyone who holds to any form of religion as delusional or even downright ignorant.
In my experience members of the second group can be quite dogmatic, even more so than most religious people I know. The statement "There is no evidence that any god exists or has any impact on our universe" is VERY different from the statement "God does not exist."
Even worse than that? Sucralose. I've learned that one has to read ingredient lists very carefully these days, and I've been burned by products that touted "No added sugar!" or "reduced sugar!" but included added sucralose as a way to make them just as sweet, or even sweeter, as comparable products. Not to mention the tangy aftertaste that artificial sweeteners add...
the caterpillars may may not necessarily kill their hosts immediately after hatching, I'm not sure about this particular species, but there are examples of parasites that live and grow for quite a while within their insect hosts before killing them. See: horsehair worms.
Besides, I suspect that this viral DNA has more to do with keeping the insect alive _until_ the eggs hatch...
Yes, I press the 6 key with either my right or left hand. It depends on whichever key I pressed last, and whichever index finger is therefore closest. Unless I'm using a keyboard with a number pad, then it's always the right hand...
If only I had mod points... you summed up my thoughts on the matter precisely. I signed up for Facebook back when one still needed a.edu email address to join, and from day one approached the site with the expectation that everything I posted could be accessed by any friend or colleague - and so was always careful about what I shared online. I was also cautious about sharing personal details (such as phone numbers, past employers, or my mailing address) that I felt were none of Facebook's business.
Be the time G+ came along, I guess a lot of the more tech-savvy people had become clued-up and wary about the data-collection. I for one didn't want to give more data to yet another company...
This is what not only killed FB for me, but also kept me off of G+. It was one thing for a social network to ask me to share my phone number or physical location, and quite another when widgets and beacons started appearing on nearly EVERY website in a blatant attempt to track my every move in the name of analytics.
By the tine G+ came along, I was a bit jaded about the whole data collection issue and didn't see the benefit of sharing my life details with yet another website that that not only didn't offer anything new, but just seemed like an inferior copy of a service with which I was slowly becoming disengaged due to a lack of quality interaction. By the time Google started pushing G+, my FB news feed was already becoming a cesspool of rehashed memes, sappy quotes pasted onto stock photos, partisan politics, and "quiz" surveys. And I was more than ready to move on from the whole "social network" concept...
...but a research paper. And a BADLY written one at that. One that, if submitted by one of my freshmen students, I'd probably assign a D+ if I was feeling generous.
Even after parsing the confusing sentence structure in the first couple paragraphs, I gave up before figuring out exactly how the figures (which look like snapshots of some PowerPoint lecture or presentation? What's the source??) tie in with their overall thesis - which seems to be some poorly formed analogy between the history of flight and quantum computing.
I have some experience editing the Waze map, but I don't have edit rights in LA. Waze has algorithms that are *supposed* to prevent routes like that from being generated (that is, you aren't supposed to be routed onto a ramp then back onto the same freeway you exited from) but sometimes in more complicated situations it doesn't always work right. We've also recently been seeing issues with drivers being directed to turn right at a traffic light and make a u-turn rather than wait for a left turn arrow, but this was described as a bug rather than a feature (and I'd feel like a jerk for driving like that).
Actually, looking at the roads in the Waze Map Editor (login required) I see something that *might* trick the routing server into thinking that the section of the 405 you exited from is a different freeway from the section you merged back on to, but I'd have to ask someone with more experience to take a look.
Waze also has an in-app feature to report a map issue from the reports screen if you are given a funny route; the report will log debug information so that an editor can review the issue.
First, having a platform onto which developers can build plugins that users can choose from and enable as needed is far superior to being stuck with the single half-baked implementation that is built in to the browser.
Second, building features directly into browsers eliminates any chance of security-through-obscurity that comes with an ecosystem of security and ad blocking plugins. Two examples: popup blockers (everything is done in javascript now), and the do not track header (arguably, useless even before major browsers implemented it, but even more useless now...)
These "features" are pretty much all literally unavoidable in all cars these days.
True for some models, but not for all, despite what dealers want you to think. The reason that fully loaded vehicles are pushed so heavily is because it means more money for the dealerships, who can charge a ridiculous premium for each extra feature. Even worse is the practice of bundling features into a "package" with one feature you want and another half dozen that you don't. If you aren't set on a specific model and can find a dealer who is willing to work with you (none of the usual, "I can't get one of those on my lot without the extras" bs), you can definitely find a vehicle without those features.
For example, I have a friend who just purchased a Honda Fit with no extra features, manual transmission, manual everything else - probably not the vehicle you had in mind but it does lack all of those extras.
There are plenty of laptops out there but if you want a somewhat decent one, go for a Macbook Pro.
That was my first thought, until I noticed that the submitter specified this: "...3-6 disk slots which we badly need...."
and this: "....manual fan control plus easy access to the fan for cleaning."
My counter-point would be, why do you need 3-6 disk slots? Could any of that storage be networked?
Also, there used to be third party utilities for OS X that could manually control MBP fans, but I don't think that's been the case for several years and I don't think it could ever be done reliably in Windows. However, the submitter didn't specify which OS they'd be running.
I was going to post the same response. I live in an open/concealed carry state, and have the appropriate permit. This means that I could legally carry a handgun, concealed or not, in most public spaces... but I NEVER carry openly*, and nobody I know does either, for several reasons:
- gun control advocates who would give me grief
- well meaning citizens who call the police on anybody whom they see carrying (I've known people this has happened to)
- the tactical advantage that comes with the element of surprise (you are less of a target if they are unsure whether you are armed)
* Actually, I prefer not to carry at all, and instead try to stay out of situations/places where I feel that I'd need a gun to feel safe. The only exception to this, and the reason why I got the carry permit, is for defense against possible encounters with wild and aggressive animals in a mountain wilderness where we frequently hike.
I would suspect that many of them are shady, fly-by-night operations based out of a PO box somewhere, and that the people responsible tend to be near impossible to track down. By the time the legal system gets around to them, they are long gone with the money and have closed down their "business" only to start up another one under a different name/address.
Slashdot Mirror
If this submission had even some minor connection to technology, or science, or math, or computing, or software, or engineering it would be excusable. But there's absolutely nothing relevant at all about this particular submission. It's nothing but politics, and not even important politics.
I disagree. Whoever is picked as the next justice will be ruling on all of those issues and more.
whipslash, just because political stories have gotten a lot of comments here in the past doesn't mean that it's good, wholesome discussion.
Okay, so I'm not browsing this thread at 0 or -1 (no mod points at the moment), but I do have to argue that if you stick to the higher rated comments, Slashdot remains probably THE only place where one can still find somewhat intelligent discussion in a political thread.
A trojan horse is something that claims to be something that it isn't.
Ever followed through to figure out exactly what most of the updates presented in Windows Update actually do? The description for KB3035583, for example, reads, "Install this update to resolve issues in Windows." Yeah, if the "issue" with windows is that I have 7 installed instead of 10... It's only after clicking the CORRECT link for more information (there are two, the second just takes you to the generic support page) that you discover this update actually installs the Get Windows 10 app.
That level of obfuscation sounds exactly like a trojan horse to me.
My solution is to use uBlock Origin to filter browser content, then limit host entries to much shorter lists of known malicious domains that I don't want any process connecting to for any reason (all discussion about malicious ads aside). Keeps from having to fill the hosts file with a zillion entries, and allows more flexibility when I want to fine-tune content blocking in specific cases.
...there is no constitutionally protected right to possess vehicles in the good US of A.
Yes, there is. It's implied. The constitution doesn't grant rights, it limits the government's power to restrict rights that citizens already have by default. The bill of rights, which include the second amendment's right to keep and bear arms (for example) was originally controversial because it was argued, is it really necessary to explicitly state that the government can't infringe on those rights when it has already been implied elsewhere in the document that the government has no authority to exercise authority in ways not already granted to it (when it comes to restricting rights that citizens have by default)? Also notice that the language used doesn't grant any rights to the people, but confirms that, no, we really mean it, the government has no power to infringe on a right that is inherently possessed by the citizens.
.5 cents
But wait... is that a Verizon cent, or half a dollar??
That life has adapted to hostile environments doesn't mean that life originated in those same hostile environments.
Very true. In fact, the ~20% oxygen atmosphere that we live in could be considered a "hostile environment" to many obligate anaerobic organisms - oxygen tends to be fairly reactive, and many organisms had to evolve special mechanisms (i.e. catalase) in order to survive in its presence. Earth's oxygenated atmosphere is a fairly recent development, after all... more recent than the presence of life.
It could be that the conditions for creating life are very specific to a particular set of conditions or perhaps they are as flexible as you suggest.
Personally I find it inconceivably unlikely that the conditions necessary for life to begin would be limited to just a primordial Earth.
Life as we know it, sure. Even given the diversity of extremophiles that have been observed in many "hostile" (to us) places on Earth, the set of conditions required for survival of the living organisms we've so far discovered are somewhat narrow. But one could easily speculate about the possibility of life (however we define it) in some exotic environment inherently hostile us like, say, an atmosphere of ammonia or a sea of liquid methane, or perhaps even something more wild than that. Maybe it's a bit far-fetched to think that such conditions could lead to a set of circumstances through which life could arise, but we haven't exactly looked very closely at many planets to prove otherwise...
Maybe they're trying to be the next Zombocom.
Maybe old news, but seeing that DSL is still one of the only viable options for decent internet access in many parts of the US (excluding satellite), not completely irrelevant. Plus it's an interesting read from a historical and technical standpoint.
If this is the direction that Slashdot's new ownership is taking the site, it's still better than the barrage of constant articles meant to bring out the sjw/anti-sjw trolls, or articles about Trump's verbal flatulence, or *shudders* anything by Bennett.
Apple users tolerate it.
No, we don't. Because Apple to the best of my knowledge has never overridden user-configured settings when it comes to downloading or installing automatic updates. For years now I have disabled all of the relevant "automatic update" checkboxes in System Preferences, and Apple has never reenabled them and has never downloaded system updates without my permission. I have several old iPhones with various versions of iOS 6-8 on them and apple has never applied an OS update without my permission. Okay, I do remember being asked once or twice during major OS upgrades if I wanted to enable some of the automatic update settings, and once (*once!*) got a notification popup on my Mac asking me if I wanted to download Safari, but there's a clear difference between displaying a one-time popup and downloading 6GB of data to my machine *when I specifically asked you not to*, or installing Safari anyway, or even changing settings that you *know* I set manually!
Godwin's law aside, there are definitely some valid parallels to be made between Trump's "politics of fear" and the political movements of 1930's Germany. Replace the word 'jew' with 'democrat' in your post for example and you get something more akin to the current political rhetoric of the republican party. Have you actually seen a Trump rally? We had one in my town about a month ago and I was able to watch about half of it on TV before turning it off in disgust. That was before the Paris attacks; I don't even want to imagine what they're like now.
Note the 3-10 computers part. The GP is not talking about large corporate environments, but small businesses for which WSUS would be complete overkill. My wife's business has two employees, four computers, and does not have the time (or the expertise) to put up with this BS arms race against Microsoft just to keep their computers working the way they expect them to. Thankfully I know enough to help them stay ahead of the curve, but we'd switch away from Microsoft products entirely if their clients didn't require proprietary software that only runs in Windows.
In my experience there are two types of people who would consider themselves atheists.
A majority of the atheists I know would state that there is no evidence of any god or deity having any effect on our universe or in our lives, so there is no need for religion or spiritual belief. Religion, for better or worse, is a human institution that can have an impact on culture, morals, philosophy; in fact I know quite a few atheists who are interested in theology purely as an academic exercise. According to this first group it's cool if you decide to hold to a religious belief, just please don't let your beliefs have a negative impact on my life.
Then there's a small group of very vocal atheists who might be better described as "anti-theist" - the ones who define themselves based on their opposition to a straw-man version of organized religion, respond to any slight display of religious belief with snide and judgmental comments, send their kids to "evolution camp" where they spend the week tearing apart religious texts because, well, this passage is unclear about whether Moses went to Sinai or Horeb, so obviously the whole thing is nothing but lies - even the parts that could give insight into human nature or ethics, and who make it clear that they view anyone who holds to any form of religion as delusional or even downright ignorant.
In my experience members of the second group can be quite dogmatic, even more so than most religious people I know. The statement "There is no evidence that any god exists or has any impact on our universe" is VERY different from the statement "God does not exist."
Even worse than that? Sucralose. I've learned that one has to read ingredient lists very carefully these days, and I've been burned by products that touted "No added sugar!" or "reduced sugar!" but included added sucralose as a way to make them just as sweet, or even sweeter, as comparable products. Not to mention the tangy aftertaste that artificial sweeteners add...
the caterpillars may may not necessarily kill their hosts immediately after hatching, I'm not sure about this particular species, but there are examples of parasites that live and grow for quite a while within their insect hosts before killing them. See: horsehair worms.
Besides, I suspect that this viral DNA has more to do with keeping the insect alive _until_ the eggs hatch...
Yes, I press the 6 key with either my right or left hand. It depends on whichever key I pressed last, and whichever index finger is therefore closest. Unless I'm using a keyboard with a number pad, then it's always the right hand...
Be the time G+ came along, I guess a lot of the more tech-savvy people had become clued-up and wary about the data-collection. I for one didn't want to give more data to yet another company...
This is what not only killed FB for me, but also kept me off of G+. It was one thing for a social network to ask me to share my phone number or physical location, and quite another when widgets and beacons started appearing on nearly EVERY website in a blatant attempt to track my every move in the name of analytics.
By the tine G+ came along, I was a bit jaded about the whole data collection issue and didn't see the benefit of sharing my life details with yet another website that that not only didn't offer anything new, but just seemed like an inferior copy of a service with which I was slowly becoming disengaged due to a lack of quality interaction. By the time Google started pushing G+, my FB news feed was already becoming a cesspool of rehashed memes, sappy quotes pasted onto stock photos, partisan politics, and "quiz" surveys. And I was more than ready to move on from the whole "social network" concept...
...but a research paper. And a BADLY written one at that. One that, if submitted by one of my freshmen students, I'd probably assign a D+ if I was feeling generous.
Even after parsing the confusing sentence structure in the first couple paragraphs, I gave up before figuring out exactly how the figures (which look like snapshots of some PowerPoint lecture or presentation? What's the source??) tie in with their overall thesis - which seems to be some poorly formed analogy between the history of flight and quantum computing.
And they cited Wikipedia... ugh.
I have some experience editing the Waze map, but I don't have edit rights in LA. Waze has algorithms that are *supposed* to prevent routes like that from being generated (that is, you aren't supposed to be routed onto a ramp then back onto the same freeway you exited from) but sometimes in more complicated situations it doesn't always work right. We've also recently been seeing issues with drivers being directed to turn right at a traffic light and make a u-turn rather than wait for a left turn arrow, but this was described as a bug rather than a feature (and I'd feel like a jerk for driving like that).
Actually, looking at the roads in the Waze Map Editor (login required) I see something that *might* trick the routing server into thinking that the section of the 405 you exited from is a different freeway from the section you merged back on to, but I'd have to ask someone with more experience to take a look.
Waze also has an in-app feature to report a map issue from the reports screen if you are given a funny route; the report will log debug information so that an editor can review the issue.
Yes, but if you want a laptop, I'm afraid your options in the assemble-your-own department are somewhat lacking...
If I had mod points, I'd mod you up.
First, having a platform onto which developers can build plugins that users can choose from and enable as needed is far superior to being stuck with the single half-baked implementation that is built in to the browser.
Second, building features directly into browsers eliminates any chance of security-through-obscurity that comes with an ecosystem of security and ad blocking plugins. Two examples: popup blockers (everything is done in javascript now), and the do not track header (arguably, useless even before major browsers implemented it, but even more useless now...)
These "features" are pretty much all literally unavoidable in all cars these days.
True for some models, but not for all, despite what dealers want you to think. The reason that fully loaded vehicles are pushed so heavily is because it means more money for the dealerships, who can charge a ridiculous premium for each extra feature. Even worse is the practice of bundling features into a "package" with one feature you want and another half dozen that you don't. If you aren't set on a specific model and can find a dealer who is willing to work with you (none of the usual, "I can't get one of those on my lot without the extras" bs), you can definitely find a vehicle without those features.
For example, I have a friend who just purchased a Honda Fit with no extra features, manual transmission, manual everything else - probably not the vehicle you had in mind but it does lack all of those extras.
I first thought they were just going for an attention-grabbing headline. "You won't BELIEVE what these craters DID as this NASA probe approached!"
There are plenty of laptops out there but if you want a somewhat decent one, go for a Macbook Pro.
That was my first thought, until I noticed that the submitter specified this: "...3-6 disk slots which we badly need...."
and this: "....manual fan control plus easy access to the fan for cleaning."
My counter-point would be, why do you need 3-6 disk slots? Could any of that storage be networked?
Also, there used to be third party utilities for OS X that could manually control MBP fans, but I don't think that's been the case for several years and I don't think it could ever be done reliably in Windows. However, the submitter didn't specify which OS they'd be running.
I was going to post the same response. I live in an open/concealed carry state, and have the appropriate permit. This means that I could legally carry a handgun, concealed or not, in most public spaces... but I NEVER carry openly*, and nobody I know does either, for several reasons:
- gun control advocates who would give me grief
- well meaning citizens who call the police on anybody whom they see carrying (I've known people this has happened to)
- the tactical advantage that comes with the element of surprise (you are less of a target if they are unsure whether you are armed)
* Actually, I prefer not to carry at all, and instead try to stay out of situations/places where I feel that I'd need a gun to feel safe. The only exception to this, and the reason why I got the carry permit, is for defense against possible encounters with wild and aggressive animals in a mountain wilderness where we frequently hike.
I would suspect that many of them are shady, fly-by-night operations based out of a PO box somewhere, and that the people responsible tend to be near impossible to track down. By the time the legal system gets around to them, they are long gone with the money and have closed down their "business" only to start up another one under a different name/address.