As a Brazilian living in Germany, I find it amazing how respectful drivers are towards pedestrians. They always yield, even when I'm not on a crosswalk. Back there in Brazil, drivers do not yield at crosswalks, only at traffic lights. In my hometown, some places are really trick for pedestrians to cross, requiring guts, precise timing and athletic conditions.
Sadly, three weeks ago I saw a girl being killed when a car run over her. It was a corner, the driver should have yielded, but didn't.
The bottom line is: the driver has more "power" to avoid the accident (he can brake, swerve, avoid driving so fast etc) and ought to be responsible in most cases.
Queue up a thousand replies saying "Why are they using iPod? The is way better! Get a life, folks. Apple finally has marketshare of something. If the story was about Kleenex, would you complain that Scott Tissue was way better? Jeez. I guess you meant Cue, not queue. Unless you wanted to queue Apple-bashers, but then you would have completely different thing
While I agree that the "Wii" name may have prompted this stupid contest, I strongly disagree that Nintendo is at fault for allegedly purposely limiting the supply (can you provide some reference on this?). I can't RTFA now (it's slashdotted), but I guess the contest winner would get a Nintendo Wii for free, so there's no place for scarcity. People just wanted the opportunity of getting a Wii for free (as opposed to paying some hundred dollars).
IMO, Nintendo's "artificial scarcity" would be at fault if someone died in a queue to buy a Wii.
On a side note: considering it happened on United Suers of America, how long before Nintendo gets sued for not keeping the original console codename ("revolution") and prompting this contest?
Thats... such an intersting idea im afraid theres no possible way it would work in the states.
Im curious as to the actual merit of this idea - what about different IP addresses, email addresses, etc.
-Red
I guess you haven't read TFA.
This voter guide is not about actually casting the vote itself. It's about suggesting a candidate do the voter according to his/her answers to a political opinion test. It looks like a good idea, but its code must be open for auditing, to avoid random bias for one candidate or another.
You have a point, but:
1) Unfortunately, in Brazil, is not a good idea to walk around without your ID card or driver's license; depending on the policemen mood and the neighborhood you're in, they will demand you to show some identification if they think you're acting in a suspicious manner. You'd better comply, because otherwise they may want to "plant" something into you (say, putting drugs/gun in your bag) and arrest you afterwards for possession.
2) Your "talking to your girlfriend" analogy is not exactly correct. It's more like as if they wanted you to identify yourself whenever you give a "speech" in public area; as a side-effect, they are asking for your ID for private chat also. It's ridiculous, but it doesn't look like these politicians have anything else to do (besides stealing taxpayer money).
Fortunately for me, a brazilian living overseas, this law will not affect me, but I'm still sorry for brazilians having such scum as political class. But, as I was told once: "politics are a mirror of the society"; from such an ill society is hard to squeeze a good congressman and, the few there are, will always be outnumbered in relevant questions.
by implication,it would make using a proxy or other methods of anonymising illegal.
I don't think so. Technically, it is only a crime if you access the internet using giving false information regarding your identity. One could give correct information to his/her ISP and then use a TOR network or a proxy to post whatever he wanted, anonymously. Of course, I haven't read the full law text yet, but there must be holes.
Probably the whole text law is generic enough to avoid this. I haven't seen it, but I guess it states something like "those who post anonymous information in a distributed network of computers shall be yadda yadda yadda", or something to that effect. Of course, such generic writing gives room for semantics debate over what is a "distributed", a "network" and a "computer".
The whole thing is pointless and is not going to "catch", like most laws in Brazil. Unfortunately, it will be used as a generic accusation against anyone who is not in line with the government, which is bad.
I knew this from Camino and find it one of the best new features. I usually want to get rid of some tabs once masturbating with a bigload of porn, and want to close the all. I can now do that without the hassle to first open them and then close them again. This really improves speed on my slow G3 because the tabs dont have to be loaded and avoids being caught spanking the monkey.
Another tip: have a first tab with "safe content" (say, email). Load your porn across multiple tabs. In case of emergency, hit Ctrl+Alt+1 (goes to first tab), right-click on its tab and choose "close other tabs".
Dear mods: this is not a troll post! This information may be useful for wankers.
That may work in fire cases, were anything to pull people from the fire is worth. In medical cases, like car accidents, if you don't have proper training, you can easily screw up. I've seen cases where someone was lightly injured, but some untrained first aid aggravated their situation.
In a shooting, unless you're Chuck Norris, you are likely to become another victim. Period.
I still fail to see what could an untrained, nervous parent do in school shooting situtations like Columbine. The perpetrators were heavily armed, studied the place meticulously and managed to kill 13 people, injure 10 more in some 30 minutes. Besides, considering police took about 5 minutes to come (1 officer, reinforcemente took 5 minutes more):
1) How would you know, given police unit movement, that a shooting was occurring? It could be just petty thievery or someone playing a prank with the 911 service...
2) Would you watch 911 unit movement every second just to see if your kids are ok?
3) How far do you live/work from your kid's school? Can you arrive there in less than 15 minutes? No reckless driving... you can't put other lifes in danger.
Mod me into oblivion, but the school shooting is becoming the new terrorism in USA. I guess Americans do need a "threat" to survive... Communists, Terrorists, Muslims, School Shooters, you name it.
As some siblings commmented: you will know about the fire when you hear your building's fire alarm. KISS. And in your (hypothetical) kid's school shooting, you don't really need to be there NOW. You are not trained to deal with such situation, it's not your job. Or would you storm the school to save your kids? Leave it to Public Officers.
Ask ANY officer/paramedic/firefighter. The worst thing to have around is people untrained to help. In a fire/police case, you're just one more (possible) victim/hostage. In a medical emergency, you're likely to obstruct paramedical team's path, wasting PRECIOUS seconds.
I believe that, in most cases, the problems lies in the page generation. I guess most webmaster test their "static page" layout against xhtml validator, and then use PHP or ASP to generate their code at production-time, thus mixing server code and presentation code. A nice solution I find for this problems are XML constructors like Ruby's Builder and Rails' Markaby. Both of them save a lot of typing (no clumsy </tags>) and will scream at schema error.
Methinks Google is trying to avoid wasting a precious evidence (ips of the offenders) on processual grounds. Someone could try to defend himself challenging the way the evidence was obtained.
Also, they can't release user information stored in USA without a proper court order (eg. an US court order). If they do so, they are risking themselves to lawsuits. I guess Google wants the evidence gathering done in a perfect (legal) manner, protecting users rights (according to US law), rather than protecting the criminal users.
The security issue is not the design that looks legit. The issue is that the code is actually hosted at a Google Domain, thus being able to read Google.com cookies. This could mean some nasty attacks: if the injected javascript is allowed to read your gmail session cookies, for example, the attacker will be able to spoof your session, and steal your account. The other issue is that most users are "trained" to trust anything coming from a "www.google.com" domain.
This is really bad. I hope google put this service down until they solve the problem (ie. not allowing javascript nor "evil" css). Maybe some templating language or XML/XLST hacks instead of full blown HTML.
However, things might be totally different in Brazil.
Indeed they are: here, some "independent" labels (aka, not the big ones) somehow manage to sell a CD for ONE THIRD of big label's price. Unfortunately for us, there are few of those and most artists are more easily seducted by big labels.
Regarding radio, it's really not a choice. Commercial radios nowadays only play "recent" music (aka music whose label payed fat payola). And usually their selection sucks big time (IMO).
And no, Brazilians are not required to use Orkut, it is just that this specific (and rather, limited) social networking site somehow spread like wildfire here. This "brazilian invasion" already happened before with fotolog for some unknown reason, when Brazilian's behaviour there brought fotolog to their knees with bandwidth cost. Nowadays fotolog impose series of limitations on the service usage.
I'm not defending piracy, but I feel there are some economic reasons pushing people for it. I propose that, removing big label's (along with payola) from this equation, there would be almost none piracy.
Koan: Imagine a dead artist. Am I "stealing" from this artist when I choose pirate music over a legal CD?
Except that their product is absurdly overpriced and most of the profit goes straight to big label's pocket anyway (not to mention payola money). If an artist wants to make real money, he should be on the road, sweating, making shows. I refuse to pay 1/10th of my wage (in Brazil) for a CD, but I'd happily pay the same money for a show (although great shows rarely happens in my city), where I can see my favorit artist performing in an unique manner. If big labels lowered their CD prices, their sales would ramp up and more people would be interested in their artists shows. It's called Loss leader.
Moreover, I refuse to see how can one music piracy is related to software piracy after all. When you need software, you can (mostly) always set for a free/open version. When you want music (aka culture), there is no such option.
Slashdot Mirror
As a Brazilian living in Germany, I find it amazing how respectful drivers are towards pedestrians. They always yield, even when I'm not on a crosswalk. Back there in Brazil, drivers do not yield at crosswalks, only at traffic lights. In my hometown, some places are really trick for pedestrians to cross, requiring guts, precise timing and athletic conditions.
Sadly, three weeks ago I saw a girl being killed when a car run over her. It was a corner, the driver should have yielded, but didn't.
The bottom line is: the driver has more "power" to avoid the accident (he can brake, swerve, avoid driving so fast etc) and ought to be responsible in most cases.
Yours truly,
Grammar-Nazi Association of America
Y'know, as the old saying goes: "If ain't broken, don't fix it"
I beg to differ.
While I agree that the "Wii" name may have prompted this stupid contest, I strongly disagree that Nintendo is at fault for allegedly purposely limiting the supply (can you provide some reference on this?). I can't RTFA now (it's slashdotted), but I guess the contest winner would get a Nintendo Wii for free, so there's no place for scarcity. People just wanted the opportunity of getting a Wii for free (as opposed to paying some hundred dollars).
IMO, Nintendo's "artificial scarcity" would be at fault if someone died in a queue to buy a Wii.
On a side note: considering it happened on United Suers of America, how long before Nintendo gets sued for not keeping the original console codename ("revolution") and prompting this contest?
Y'know, there are already free (as in free beer) pr0n search engines.
nitpicking time: Google's office is located at Belo Horizonte, not São Paulo.
Brazilian IT industry show a growth of 20% in production, as its main source of procrastination is put offline by court order.
Im curious as to the actual merit of this idea - what about different IP addresses, email addresses, etc.
-Red
I guess you haven't read TFA.This voter guide is not about actually casting the vote itself. It's about suggesting a candidate do the voter according to his/her answers to a political opinion test. It looks like a good idea, but its code must be open for auditing, to avoid random bias for one candidate or another.
You have a point, but:
1) Unfortunately, in Brazil, is not a good idea to walk around without your ID card or driver's license; depending on the policemen mood and the neighborhood you're in, they will demand you to show some identification if they think you're acting in a suspicious manner. You'd better comply, because otherwise they may want to "plant" something into you (say, putting drugs/gun in your bag) and arrest you afterwards for possession.
2) Your "talking to your girlfriend" analogy is not exactly correct. It's more like as if they wanted you to identify yourself whenever you give a "speech" in public area; as a side-effect, they are asking for your ID for private chat also. It's ridiculous, but it doesn't look like these politicians have anything else to do (besides stealing taxpayer money).
Fortunately for me, a brazilian living overseas, this law will not affect me, but I'm still sorry for brazilians having such scum as political class. But, as I was told once: "politics are a mirror of the society"; from such an ill society is hard to squeeze a good congressman and, the few there are, will always be outnumbered in relevant questions.
by implication,it would make using a proxy or other methods of anonymising illegal.
I don't think so. Technically, it is only a crime if you access the internet using giving false information regarding your identity. One could give correct information to his/her ISP and then use a TOR network or a proxy to post whatever he wanted, anonymously. Of course, I haven't read the full law text yet, but there must be holes.
Probably the whole text law is generic enough to avoid this. I haven't seen it, but I guess it states something like "those who post anonymous information in a distributed network of computers shall be yadda yadda yadda", or something to that effect. Of course, such generic writing gives room for semantics debate over what is a "distributed", a "network" and a "computer". The whole thing is pointless and is not going to "catch", like most laws in Brazil. Unfortunately, it will be used as a generic accusation against anyone who is not in line with the government, which is bad.
That may work in fire cases, were anything to pull people from the fire is worth. In medical cases, like car accidents, if you don't have proper training, you can easily screw up. I've seen cases where someone was lightly injured, but some untrained first aid aggravated their situation.
In a shooting, unless you're Chuck Norris, you are likely to become another victim. Period.
I still fail to see what could an untrained, nervous parent do in school shooting situtations like Columbine. The perpetrators were heavily armed, studied the place meticulously and managed to kill 13 people, injure 10 more in some 30 minutes. Besides, considering police took about 5 minutes to come (1 officer, reinforcemente took 5 minutes more):
1) How would you know, given police unit movement, that a shooting was occurring? It could be just petty thievery or someone playing a prank with the 911 service...
2) Would you watch 911 unit movement every second just to see if your kids are ok?
3) How far do you live/work from your kid's school? Can you arrive there in less than 15 minutes? No reckless driving... you can't put other lifes in danger.
Mod me into oblivion, but the school shooting is becoming the new terrorism in USA. I guess Americans do need a "threat" to survive... Communists, Terrorists, Muslims, School Shooters, you name it.
`War is peace' -- George Orwell
As some siblings commmented: you will know about the fire when you hear your building's fire alarm. KISS. And in your (hypothetical) kid's school shooting, you don't really need to be there NOW. You are not trained to deal with such situation, it's not your job. Or would you storm the school to save your kids? Leave it to Public Officers. Ask ANY officer/paramedic/firefighter. The worst thing to have around is people untrained to help. In a fire/police case, you're just one more (possible) victim/hostage. In a medical emergency, you're likely to obstruct paramedical team's path, wasting PRECIOUS seconds.
As if US Congressman could interpret legislation like "Patriot Act" before passing it.
I believe that, in most cases, the problems lies in the page generation. I guess most webmaster test their "static page" layout against xhtml validator, and then use PHP or ASP to generate their code at production-time, thus mixing server code and presentation code. A nice solution I find for this problems are XML constructors like Ruby's Builder and Rails' Markaby. Both of them save a lot of typing (no clumsy </tags>) and will scream at schema error.
leaving um copy of the vote with voter is an open door do VOTER COERCION. Period
There is no law stating that 50%+1 null votes would block candidates from running the next election. This is purely an urban legend.
Methinks Google is trying to avoid wasting a precious evidence (ips of the offenders) on processual grounds. Someone could try to defend himself challenging the way the evidence was obtained.
Also, they can't release user information stored in USA without a proper court order (eg. an US court order). If they do so, they are risking themselves to lawsuits. I guess Google wants the evidence gathering done in a perfect (legal) manner, protecting users rights (according to US law), rather than protecting the criminal users.
According to http://wikimapia.org/#y=48857205&x=10211020&z=14&l =0&m=a, it's only a big bug.
The security issue is not the design that looks legit. The issue is that the code is actually hosted at a Google Domain, thus being able to read Google.com cookies. This could mean some nasty attacks: if the injected javascript is allowed to read your gmail session cookies, for example, the attacker will be able to spoof your session, and steal your account. The other issue is that most users are "trained" to trust anything coming from a "www.google.com" domain.
This is really bad. I hope google put this service down until they solve the problem (ie. not allowing javascript nor "evil" css). Maybe some templating language or XML/XLST hacks instead of full blown HTML.
However, things might be totally different in Brazil.
Indeed they are: here, some "independent" labels (aka, not the big ones) somehow manage to sell a CD for ONE THIRD of big label's price. Unfortunately for us, there are few of those and most artists are more easily seducted by big labels.
Regarding radio, it's really not a choice. Commercial radios nowadays only play "recent" music (aka music whose label payed fat payola). And usually their selection sucks big time (IMO).
And no, Brazilians are not required to use Orkut, it is just that this specific (and rather, limited) social networking site somehow spread like wildfire here. This "brazilian invasion" already happened before with fotolog for some unknown reason, when Brazilian's behaviour there brought fotolog to their knees with bandwidth cost. Nowadays fotolog impose series of limitations on the service usage.
I'm not defending piracy, but I feel there are some economic reasons pushing people for it. I propose that, removing big label's (along with payola) from this equation, there would be almost none piracy.
Koan: Imagine a dead artist. Am I "stealing" from this artist when I choose pirate music over a legal CD?
Except that their product is absurdly overpriced and most of the profit goes straight to big label's pocket anyway (not to mention payola money). If an artist wants to make real money, he should be on the road, sweating, making shows. I refuse to pay 1/10th of my wage (in Brazil) for a CD, but I'd happily pay the same money for a show (although great shows rarely happens in my city), where I can see my favorit artist performing in an unique manner. If big labels lowered their CD prices, their sales would ramp up and more people would be interested in their artists shows. It's called Loss leader.
Moreover, I refuse to see how can one music piracy is related to software piracy after all. When you need software, you can (mostly) always set for a free/open version. When you want music (aka culture), there is no such option.