Do you know what Lexis Nexis does? Among many other things, they provide personal information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and state/federal public records (bankruptcies, mortgage records, court filings, etc.). Many of these records have social security numbers associated with them, just like they do if you go to your county hall of records.
Customers didn't have their SSNs stolen, some people with records in the system (which includes everyone in the US) did. While I think this really is bad, you'd be amazed who already has your SSN, your address history, and all sorts of other personal information. It's not hard to get.
Re:If you think the book requires too much coding
on
Firefox Hacks
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· Score: 3, Insightful
That's nonsense. There have been hackers longer than there have been computers. Even the Jargon File gives multiple definitions, most not specific to programming. It's much more of an inclusive term than an exclusive one.
If you couldn't survive on $3500/Month AFTER TAXES, you're probably spending WAY beyond your means. This isn't to say that the tax rate is absurd (though your numbers seem very high), but my girlfriend and I don't make that combined and we are able to own a home in Orange County, CA, one of the most expensive places in the country.
Because there are many thousands of us who shoot video on a level between "dad in the backyard with the kids" and "Oscar nominee" who might want some improvement in our quality?
Re:Larry Niven strikes again; Ringworld sunflowers
on
The Solar Death Ray
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· Score: 1
Not to ruin your "all things are influenced by Ringworld" fantasy, but the solar death ray guy(s) were directly influenced by Rob Cockerham over at cockeyed.com.
My favorite was the little warning on the side of the box of Shredded Wheat that said it contained wheat products.
It's much easier for a company to put a warning like this than to deal with the lawsuits, especially considering the large number of people allergic to wheat (and peanuts).
Also remember that not everything is as it seems with food - Betty Crocker's "Bac-Os" brand "bacon" bits are actually vegan and kosher, containing no meat at all.
Exactly. I see the same kind of blathering by fanboys regarding Star Wars - they think their rose-tinted version of history is the only thing that matters, and anything outside their frame of reference must necessarly A) be bad and B) ruin their childhood memories.
Adams was always involved and seems to love what he did. It worked out just fine so far.
Blah blah blah - it's different from the book. I don't care if Douglas Adams himself penned the screenplay and intended all versions to be different. I'm going to bitch and moan about a scene taken out of context from the trailer without knowing how it fits into the story!
This is a piece of entertainment from my childhood! I somehow believe that I have "rights" as a fan to influence creative decisions by the studio and that this version might erase all love I had for the original, because appearently I can't hold two things in my brain at once. Blah blah blah!
That's fine for you, and yes, it may be a weakness in some regards. But when Joe Webuser is told he should be using Firefox because "it's so much better", he very well might be turned off when it doesn't work for him. Most users care much more about their user expirience than potential security problems.
The fact that you're still talking about it, and know it was Taco Bell, 4 years later is a pretty good sign that it's absolutely not a "brain dead marketing scheme". It was a no-lose situation for the company. Consider:
Situation 1: Target is missed. It still captures the public's imagination, gets people talking, makes people like you bring up the event years later. To marketing departments, this kind of exposure is exactly what they love.
Situation 2: Target is hit. They have to give away upwards of 300,000,000 tacos. Except, no where near everyone would go, and those that do would likely order a drink, burrito, or other side dish. Even if none of them did, it's still eyeballs and foot traffic, not to mention amazing amounts of publicity. That, and the promotion was insured.
That silly little $40,000 blow-up target is one of the best things that company every did for itself, second only to a talking dog.
Mom and pop internet surfer won't give their ATM pin or their credit card number to a guy on the street but for some reason, the authority of the Internet removes those safeguards.
The problem is that the internet phishers are often times indistinguishable from their real life counterparts. To use your ATM anology, it's like seeing an ATM that says Bank of America, has all the right logos, and seems to be standing outside of a B of A branch. It's very hard to tell the difference, even for the technically minded.
They suffer the consequences of their inaction and/or ignorance? God forbid we expect people to be responsible for themselves...
Are you really that heartless? Do you think it's good for society to have tens of thousands of elerly people and children starving and homeless? It's too bad they didn't save, or perhaps it's too bad their investments went sour, or they were swindled, or some other circumstance you're not considering. But it's a disgusting to deny help to those who need it because you're deciding not the rest of the population isn't as well off as you are.
Oh, the posts from my site were bots too, but the bots weren't always from the poker sites themselves, they were from individuals who set up bots to spread their "refer" links to sites, so when people clicked on them, they'd be signing up for the poker sites via those links, making the individuals money.
The IP addresses are almost always different, probably either a)spoofing or b) zombie machines all over the world are used to do the work. There'd be a LOT less spam (comment and email) if people kept their machines clean.
Most of the blog spam from Poker sites that I was getting was individuals looking for referals, not from the companies themselves. While some seemed to be from online poker rooms too, most seemed to be done by people who think they can make a quick buck telling other people to sign up using their code.
Almost all movies are "new" ideas, or as close as you can get from the themes in a society like ours (there will always be "boy gets girl, boy loses girl stories", for example). But look back at the several hundred new films that came out in 2004. How many were straight remakes? I'd bet it wasn't more than a dozen.
You also have to remember that movie studios are only out to entertain you as a means to make money. They could make a totally new sci-fi computer-theme film, perhaps even one that would be compared to Tron. But by doing a remake, they're automatically producing interest and news about it, which translates to ticket sales from all the 12 year olds who saw it and are now in their 30s with money.
There's no one at the studios thinking "Boy, I can't wait to remake Tron, so JaffaKREE's childhood is ruined!" They're out to make money, pure and simple. The original isn't going anywhere - if you don't like it, don't go see it.
It's the news we're fed..."Sell your forhead as ad space - Tonight at 11" rather than "Accused ringleader of prisoner abuse scandal goes on trial" or "Nuclear submarine hit undersea object"
As you post this, those stories are on the front pages of CNN.com and MSNBC.com, and the forehead story wasn't. Just some perspective.
It's absolutely nothing new that people enjoy human interest stories. There's no magical time in the past when "all news was good, hard news" - for most of the last century, news was very local or very large national news, and there were always human interest stories.
And guess what? You don't have to eat anything you're "fed". You have hundreds of cable and satelite channels, millions of web pages, and all sorts of independant media in all forms. No time in history have more people in the world had more access to more sources of news than today.
No one has ever stopped you from listening to the music you want to hear, especially in the last 10 years. It's all out there, each and every genre, for you to find, listen to, and enjoy.
I think a lot of people confuse the music business (mainstream radio, CDs, MTV, etc) with music in general (available music, concerts, etc). Sure, there's going to be a lot more emphesis on that which is being sold by the business, but it's not like the rest isn't out there to be found and enjoyed.
Slashdot Mirror
Do you know what Lexis Nexis does? Among many other things, they provide personal information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and state/federal public records (bankruptcies, mortgage records, court filings, etc.). Many of these records have social security numbers associated with them, just like they do if you go to your county hall of records.
Customers didn't have their SSNs stolen, some people with records in the system (which includes everyone in the US) did. While I think this really is bad, you'd be amazed who already has your SSN, your address history, and all sorts of other personal information. It's not hard to get.
That's nonsense. There have been hackers longer than there have been computers. Even the Jargon File gives multiple definitions, most not specific to programming. It's much more of an inclusive term than an exclusive one.
If you couldn't survive on $3500/Month AFTER TAXES, you're probably spending WAY beyond your means. This isn't to say that the tax rate is absurd (though your numbers seem very high), but my girlfriend and I don't make that combined and we are able to own a home in Orange County, CA, one of the most expensive places in the country.
What were you spending $3500/Month on?
So why would you go to the trouble?
Because there are many thousands of us who shoot video on a level between "dad in the backyard with the kids" and "Oscar nominee" who might want some improvement in our quality?
Not to ruin your "all things are influenced by Ringworld" fantasy, but the solar death ray guy(s) were directly influenced by Rob Cockerham over at cockeyed.com.
Is your sig some sort of inside joke? You've got a Yoda quote and call Spock "Dr" (Mr. Spock is the Trek guy, Dr. Spock is the baby guy).
Disney allows tats and piercings, as long as they're not visable. They even allow tongue piercings as long as you don't "play" with it.
Disneyland also now allows well-maintained mustaches.
My favorite was the little warning on the side of the box of Shredded Wheat that said it contained wheat products.
It's much easier for a company to put a warning like this than to deal with the lawsuits, especially considering the large number of people allergic to wheat (and peanuts).
Also remember that not everything is as it seems with food - Betty Crocker's "Bac-Os" brand "bacon" bits are actually vegan and kosher, containing no meat at all.
Define "expensive"? Maybe it was a joke, but divide the expenses among the "12 people" involved and I hardly find it "expensive".
Hey, they're college students. $8.33 can buy upwards of 80-100 meals of ramen! That means a lot!
OT, great project from my alma mater. Go slugs!
Yes, because prison justice is always fair and right?
I hope he gets the punishment to fit his crime as given in the law. Wishing bodily harm on someone is rather barbaric.
A Maroon is also a term for a runaway slave in the Caribbean.
I'm not sure if Bugs Bunny/Warner Bros. meant it that way, however.
Exactly. I see the same kind of blathering by fanboys regarding Star Wars - they think their rose-tinted version of history is the only thing that matters, and anything outside their frame of reference must necessarly A) be bad and B) ruin their childhood memories.
Adams was always involved and seems to love what he did. It worked out just fine so far.
Blah blah blah - it's different from the book. I don't care if Douglas Adams himself penned the screenplay and intended all versions to be different. I'm going to bitch and moan about a scene taken out of context from the trailer without knowing how it fits into the story!
This is a piece of entertainment from my childhood! I somehow believe that I have "rights" as a fan to influence creative decisions by the studio and that this version might erase all love I had for the original, because appearently I can't hold two things in my brain at once. Blah blah blah!
That's fine for you, and yes, it may be a weakness in some regards. But when Joe Webuser is told he should be using Firefox because "it's so much better", he very well might be turned off when it doesn't work for him. Most users care much more about their user expirience than potential security problems.
The fact that you're still talking about it, and know it was Taco Bell, 4 years later is a pretty good sign that it's absolutely not a "brain dead marketing scheme". It was a no-lose situation for the company. Consider:
Situation 1: Target is missed. It still captures the public's imagination, gets people talking, makes people like you bring up the event years later. To marketing departments, this kind of exposure is exactly what they love.
Situation 2: Target is hit. They have to give away upwards of 300,000,000 tacos. Except, no where near everyone would go, and those that do would likely order a drink, burrito, or other side dish. Even if none of them did, it's still eyeballs and foot traffic, not to mention amazing amounts of publicity. That, and the promotion was insured.
That silly little $40,000 blow-up target is one of the best things that company every did for itself, second only to a talking dog.
Mom and pop internet surfer won't give their ATM pin or their credit card number to a guy on the street but for some reason, the authority of the Internet removes those safeguards.
The problem is that the internet phishers are often times indistinguishable from their real life counterparts. To use your ATM anology, it's like seeing an ATM that says Bank of America, has all the right logos, and seems to be standing outside of a B of A branch. It's very hard to tell the difference, even for the technically minded.
What do you have against private property?
I put the rights of human beings to not suffer above your right to have an SUV or a 42 inch instead of a 36 inch one.
They suffer the consequences of their inaction and/or ignorance? God forbid we expect people to be responsible for themselves...
Are you really that heartless? Do you think it's good for society to have tens of thousands of elerly people and children starving and homeless? It's too bad they didn't save, or perhaps it's too bad their investments went sour, or they were swindled, or some other circumstance you're not considering. But it's a disgusting to deny help to those who need it because you're deciding not the rest of the population isn't as well off as you are.
Oh, the posts from my site were bots too, but the bots weren't always from the poker sites themselves, they were from individuals who set up bots to spread their "refer" links to sites, so when people clicked on them, they'd be signing up for the poker sites via those links, making the individuals money.
The IP addresses are almost always different, probably either a)spoofing or b) zombie machines all over the world are used to do the work. There'd be a LOT less spam (comment and email) if people kept their machines clean.
Most of the blog spam from Poker sites that I was getting was individuals looking for referals, not from the companies themselves. While some seemed to be from online poker rooms too, most seemed to be done by people who think they can make a quick buck telling other people to sign up using their code.
Almost all movies are "new" ideas, or as close as you can get from the themes in a society like ours (there will always be "boy gets girl, boy loses girl stories", for example). But look back at the several hundred new films that came out in 2004. How many were straight remakes? I'd bet it wasn't more than a dozen.
You also have to remember that movie studios are only out to entertain you as a means to make money. They could make a totally new sci-fi computer-theme film, perhaps even one that would be compared to Tron. But by doing a remake, they're automatically producing interest and news about it, which translates to ticket sales from all the 12 year olds who saw it and are now in their 30s with money.
There's no one at the studios thinking "Boy, I can't wait to remake Tron, so JaffaKREE's childhood is ruined!" They're out to make money, pure and simple. The original isn't going anywhere - if you don't like it, don't go see it.
I love sea bass!
And yet you're spending time posting to it/about it? Who's lame?
It's the news we're fed..."Sell your forhead as ad space - Tonight at 11" rather than "Accused ringleader of prisoner abuse scandal goes on trial" or "Nuclear submarine hit undersea object"
As you post this, those stories are on the front pages of CNN.com and MSNBC.com, and the forehead story wasn't. Just some perspective.
It's absolutely nothing new that people enjoy human interest stories. There's no magical time in the past when "all news was good, hard news" - for most of the last century, news was very local or very large national news, and there were always human interest stories.
And guess what? You don't have to eat anything you're "fed". You have hundreds of cable and satelite channels, millions of web pages, and all sorts of independant media in all forms. No time in history have more people in the world had more access to more sources of news than today.
What exactly are you complaining about?
No one has ever stopped you from listening to the music you want to hear, especially in the last 10 years. It's all out there, each and every genre, for you to find, listen to, and enjoy.
I think a lot of people confuse the music business (mainstream radio, CDs, MTV, etc) with music in general (available music, concerts, etc). Sure, there's going to be a lot more emphesis on that which is being sold by the business, but it's not like the rest isn't out there to be found and enjoyed.