Kids are smarter than people give them credit for, and they need to be held responsible more often.
I agree with you but I would disagree with this statement. SOME kids are smarter than people give them credit for. Children develop at different rates. The choice should be totally up to the parents to decide if their child is able to handle and understand the differences between real life and video games. There are some adults that don't even seem to grasp the difference yet. It is not the job of the government to tell parents what their child is capable of understanding.
I lost interest in console games years ago when Nintendo failed to support backwards compatibility. The crappy original console they made would eventually start to fail reading games. After buying a few of those I refused to go to a new console from them if it did not support playing the old games. I did eventually get back into console gaming with the original PlayStation. I then bought the PS2 when it came out. I can replace the old beat up Playstaions I have and not have to lose the ability to play the games. I love it. I bought an X-box as well but if the are not going to support backwards compatibility looks like I will not be buying X-Box2. I never bought another Nintendo system after the original. Hell, my Atari 5200 had an adaptor to allow me to play my Atari 2600 games.
While I do usually prefer to listen to albums as they were intended to be played, as a whole, I do occasionally like to be suprised with the random functionality.
I bought some cheap radio that would play mp3 cds from WalMart, for use at work, and apparently the random play feature rerandomizes after every play, or it just hav a poor randomization algorithm. I noticed that occasionally it will repeat songs throughout the sequence. It will play a song go to a different song then repeat the first, quite annoying.
Also it would be nice to bundle certain mp3s without merging them. Some songs are just supposed to be heard in the album sequence. Examples include: The Beatles - Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End; Queen - We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions along with many others. They just don't sound the same when not played in sequence. Yes I do realize I should merge the mp3s into one file but I like to keep the the tracks ripped just the way they were. Just a general bitch that I have.
You can actually configure IE to disable the autosearch feature or select one of several other popular search engines. Open the search sidebar and click customize -> autosearch settings. This is a feature I don't mind having at the browser level.
Almost all of the Vegas casinos I visited, on my last trip there, were using mostly 6 deck continuous shufflers at the Blackjack tables. It is impossible to count cards into a 6 deck shoe that is shuffled continuously after and during every hand. All cards played during each deal are returned to the auto shuffler before the next group of hands are dealt.
What about Mr. Yuck, the green face with his tounge sticking out. What ever happened to Mr. Yuck? I remember him from commercials or elementary school propoganda growing up in the late 70's early 80's. It taught children to stay out of mommy and daddy's medicine cabinet. Maybe it would work for keeping people out of mommy and daddy's nuclear waste as well. Just put up a bunch of bilboard signs with that face on them.
Instead of trying to accuse people of stealing a program that we paid to recieve and have no requirement to even watch it in the first place, why don't they try and restructure their revenue model to keep up with the changing technology. This is not a new concept but a fact of life that every business has to deal with. You don't see any company's only manufacturing phonograph's do you? No, because they saw that it would be a smart move to keep up with technology rather than sue to force technology to a halt. I think it has become pretty obvious that people ignore advertising as it is constantly bombarded at us everyday and we have become immune to the current techniques. I think the advertising industry is responsible for their own downfall as they have completly satturated our brains with this crap for so many years we have built up an immunity to it.
Just as a suggestion, I know this is done some already, but why not try more product placement in television shows and less commercial breaks. It should guarantee more viewers since the subtle advertisement will be part of the show. When I say subtle I don't mean have the characters stop mid show and do some song and dance to some idiodic jingle. I mean the next scene in the restruant have a Dr. Pepper on every table or something simmilar such as product or service name dropping in the script.
Do advertisers really think their commercials really affect anyones purchase decissions other than making children pester their parents for the new toy they saw on tv? Does Pepsi really believe that I will stop drinking Coke because they have Britney Spears in their stupid commercials? Does Sprite really believe that I will "obey my thirst" and suddenly have a craving for their product because some overpaid basketball player told me to?
While I don't agree with colleting fees from students when you have no clear goals in mind with the money, I do have one suggestion. The school I attend has a very good infrastructure and lots of software at the proffesors disposal to allow students to access grades, assignments, homework, or whatever online (such as the blackboard software). However this software seems to be rarely used due to the fact that some professors simply have no idea how to use it. Professors from nontechnical departments such as the English department simply just don't get it because they have never been properly shown how to use it. The software was probably purchased using technology fees from previous years but it is now worthless because no one uses it to it's fullest potential if they use it at all.
What is the point of constantly spending money to buy software and hardware that no one will know how to use. Take some time and set up seminars on how to better use the existing infrastructure. Educate the proffesors on how to make the best use of the technology at their disposal.
I am all for spending money to upgrade and expand the technology used on campus, but make sure people know how to use it and will use it before adding more unused resources.
and have no real necessity for a handheld. Sure it be nice to have one, I've heard that they are real chick magnets. However, pencil and paper works just fine for me. I don't have to worry about expensive memory upgrades, you can buy stacks of paper for a buck or two. Plus I don't have to worry about my batteries dying or someone trying to steal my paper. If I lose my stylus I can pick one up at almost any store for a few cents found in the couch or find one conveniently located on the floor around me.
I prefer to save my money for more critical student expenses such as beer on the weekends for that much needed human interaction people have been telling me so much about. ----------------
We have a LAN here in our house that connects to the internet over a shared cable modem. One of my room mates decided to continue to use AOL to stay in touch with relatives and such. I tried explaining to him that he didn't need AOL's software but he is AOL's target audience and didn't quite understand. So I reluctantly configured AOL to use an existing LAN connection. Then one day we got one of those magical free disks in the mail, how did we get so lucky. So he decided to upgrade to version 5.0. I got a call at work because he could no longer use Eudora to access his POP account through school, so he could no longer find out what his homework was for his classes.
When diagnosing the problem he failed to inform me that he had upgraded AOL when the problem began so I thought the problem was with Eudora so I removed and reinstalled that program. Still Eudora refused to start. After several hours of testing software and network connections he finally mentioned that he had upgraded AOL. After removing the AOL upgrade the system began functioning normally again.
I feel sorry for all the customers of AOL who might run into a similar problem and end up having to pay a profesional to fix it. Plus I'm going to probably run into this problem at work when clients are calling me wanting to know why they can no longer access company mail servers and such. Couldn't this move by AOL be considered a monopolistic(?) tactic as well as a pain in the a$$. Maybe the DOJ should go try and straighten them out. ----------------
Please remove your pants before replying to me
The way I've always understood the GPL to work
on
Hole in GNU GPL?
·
· Score: 1
This is the way I see it... I can download a GPL program and make all the proprietary changes to it I want and not be breaking the licence agreement. However if I give that program to someone else I must also make the source code available.
Businesses are acting as an individual body. If a business uses a GPL program it is licensed to that business and they can use it as they see fit with in their business structure. They can make any proprietary changes they want, as it is acting as a single entity. However if they decide to use that code for clients or just make it available to others outside of that business structure the source code must be made available. For some commercial software, businesses can purchase special licences for employees to also use the software on a home computer. When that employee leaves or is terminated so are their rights to use that software at home.
If I decide to hard code in machine specific details to a program that I am using for my individual use I don't have to give that code to anyone or even let them know it exists. As soon as I share that program though the source must be made available. A business acts just as an individual in this sense.
Obviously if any code changes or additions I would make improved the performance or functionality of the code I would definatly release it, but making fine tuning additions which are specific to my machine or network stucture would be pointless to release. ----------------
I work at a help desk and anytime someone calls with a problem they are never able to tell me what versions of programs they are running. I once had someone tell me they were running Windows 7.0. After several questions trying to figure out where they got that version number, they finally read me the title of a book that they had - 'Wordperfect for Windows Version 7.0. Several attempts at trying to explain that one to them failed. ----------------
What if I had a link to a page that changed the content of that page to include a link to the DeCSS. Would that include me as a defendant in this case also.
Any search engine that had a link to a page with this content also would be considered a defendant also right?
So theroetically pretty much everyone can be a defendant in this case if you keep tracing back to everyone who links to your page and then links to that page and the page that brought you there etc.
So if linking is illegal then the whole concept of the internet must be illegal so I say go right to the start of the pesky internet and sue Al Gore, inventor of the internet. ----------------
I just wanted to let every one know I've filed for a trade mark on the name Brian. Actully this trademark includes any word using the letters b, r, i, a or n. I've done extensive research and found when my friends try to look up my phone number online or in the phone book an enormous amoount of of people with the same first name as me are also found. How can I expect my friends to find me under these conditions. This just will not do. Any one caught using or saying the name Brian without prior written consent will have legal actions brought against them. If your name is also Brian please begin legal procedings to have this changed ASAP. At the begining of the new year anyone caught still using the name Brian will have their homes raided by a top police swat team. Then the offender will be strip searched and asaulted with night sticks in a most uncomfortable place (it won't be in the back of a volkswagon either). Thank you for your time. ----------------
For most users the best way to remove that pesky Linux patition would be to rush out to the store and make sure you buy the most expensive and fastest Intel based computer you can find (don't want that slow old processor to slow down your solitare games or AOL chats). Then rush home and tear open the boxes. Make sure you throw away all empty boxes and all documentation you see before proceding.
Next call the store you purcased the computer from to get help starting your computer. Then call the manufacturer number that the store gave you. After finding out that Tech support cannot give you help in locating the electrical outlets in your house hang up, make sure you curse and complain about their lack of support before hanging up or you'll just have to call back later to do this.
Finally after a few days of unsuccesfully getting the machine started move it to your living room and place it next to the machine with the blinking 12:00 on it. Sit down relax and watch TGIF as you wish you had purchased a colored machine that better matches your living room decor.
Sorry I'm bored and felt like rambling on.:) ----------------
I don't know about weatherproof cases, however you did mention that you were not interested in using the Wavelan Access point. I have heard that the Apple Airport is compatible with 802.11 cards that use 2.4 GHz DSSS such as the Wavelan card. The Appple airport only costs $300 and includes a built in modem. I have received the Airport and I have ordered the Wavelan cards and am waiting for them to come in to test it out. The Airport does not allow HTTP configuration such as other access points and is only configurable by an Apple Computer AFAIK, however, the default configuration should be to assign IP addresses via DHCP so no configuration should be required as long as you have your network setup to use DHCP.
Anyway the Wavelan cards should be in soon. Email me with your address and I'll let you know the status of my tests with the Wavlan cards. ----------------
I used to work for a company that handled incoming calls for people ordering from catalogs. When they placed their order they were only charged tax on the item if they happened to live in a state that also had a corporate office or local store for that company located in their state. They were charged what ever that sales tax was for that state.
So any state could technically use this same taxing scheme for buying over the internet as it is really not that different from mail order catalog purchases. So if North Carolina wants to charge internet sales tax they technically should only charge taxes on North Carolina residents purchasing from companies whose offices are located within the State of North Carolina.
Now even if the server was located in another state (as was the company I worked for) it would not allow that state to tax purchases also placed through that company as the hosting company is just a third party service provider for whatever company.
So if I order something online from the store down the street I should have to pay state sales tax, but if I purchase something from a company in another state that doesn't have an office within my state I should not be charged sales tax. I don't have any specific law references or anything, just passing along how I understood things to work regarding mail order purchases. ----------------
Slashdot Mirror
All they need to do now is move it to Japan and pour hot grits on it. I can head the sound of slashdot readers heads exploding.
Kids are smarter than people give them credit for, and they need to be held responsible more often.
I agree with you but I would disagree with this statement. SOME kids are smarter than people give them credit for. Children develop at different rates. The choice should be totally up to the parents to decide if their child is able to handle and understand the differences between real life and video games. There are some adults that don't even seem to grasp the difference yet. It is not the job of the government to tell parents what their child is capable of understanding.
I lost interest in console games years ago when Nintendo failed to support backwards compatibility. The crappy original console they made would eventually start to fail reading games. After buying a few of those I refused to go to a new console from them if it did not support playing the old games. I did eventually get back into console gaming with the original PlayStation. I then bought the PS2 when it came out. I can replace the old beat up Playstaions I have and not have to lose the ability to play the games. I love it. I bought an X-box as well but if the are not going to support backwards compatibility looks like I will not be buying X-Box2. I never bought another Nintendo system after the original. Hell, my Atari 5200 had an adaptor to allow me to play my Atari 2600 games.
US DOJ recently announced it is going to be taking a closer look at the porn industry?"
How close of a look are they going to take? Do they need volunteers to help with this "investigation"?
While I do usually prefer to listen to albums as they were intended to be played, as a whole, I do occasionally like to be suprised with the random functionality.
I bought some cheap radio that would play mp3 cds from WalMart, for use at work, and apparently the random play feature rerandomizes after every play, or it just hav a poor randomization algorithm. I noticed that occasionally it will repeat songs throughout the sequence. It will play a song go to a different song then repeat the first, quite annoying.
Also it would be nice to bundle certain mp3s without merging them. Some songs are just supposed to be heard in the album sequence. Examples include: The Beatles - Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End; Queen - We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions along with many others. They just don't sound the same when not played in sequence. Yes I do realize I should merge the mp3s into one file but I like to keep the the tracks ripped just the way they were. Just a general bitch that I have.
Flamebait?
Is there anyone else here with a mild/obscure sense of humor?
Attempting to surf to those sites would
Are we still using the term surf. I thought that was so last century.
You can actually configure IE to disable the autosearch feature or select one of several other popular search engines. Open the search sidebar and click customize -> autosearch settings. This is a feature I don't mind having at the browser level.
Almost all of the Vegas casinos I visited, on my last trip there, were using mostly 6 deck continuous shufflers at the Blackjack tables. It is impossible to count cards into a 6 deck shoe that is shuffled continuously after and during every hand. All cards played during each deal are returned to the auto shuffler before the next group of hands are dealt.
What about Mr. Yuck, the green face with his tounge sticking out. What ever happened to Mr. Yuck? I remember him from commercials or elementary school propoganda growing up in the late 70's early 80's. It taught children to stay out of mommy and daddy's medicine cabinet. Maybe it would work for keeping people out of mommy and daddy's nuclear waste as well. Just put up a bunch of bilboard signs with that face on them.
Instead of trying to accuse people of stealing a program that we paid to recieve and have no requirement to even watch it in the first place, why don't they try and restructure their revenue model to keep up with the changing technology. This is not a new concept but a fact of life that every business has to deal with. You don't see any company's only manufacturing phonograph's do you? No, because they saw that it would be a smart move to keep up with technology rather than sue to force technology to a halt. I think it has become pretty obvious that people ignore advertising as it is constantly bombarded at us everyday and we have become immune to the current techniques. I think the advertising industry is responsible for their own downfall as they have completly satturated our brains with this crap for so many years we have built up an immunity to it.
Just as a suggestion, I know this is done some already, but why not try more product placement in television shows and less commercial breaks. It should guarantee more viewers since the subtle advertisement will be part of the show. When I say subtle I don't mean have the characters stop mid show and do some song and dance to some idiodic jingle. I mean the next scene in the restruant have a Dr. Pepper on every table or something simmilar such as product or service name dropping in the script.
Do advertisers really think their commercials really affect anyones purchase decissions other than making children pester their parents for the new toy they saw on tv? Does Pepsi really believe that I will stop drinking Coke because they have Britney Spears in their stupid commercials? Does Sprite really believe that I will "obey my thirst" and suddenly have a craving for their product because some overpaid basketball player told me to?
While I don't agree with colleting fees from students when you have no clear goals in mind with the money, I do have one suggestion. The school I attend has a very good infrastructure and lots of software at the proffesors disposal to allow students to access grades, assignments, homework, or whatever online (such as the blackboard software). However this software seems to be rarely used due to the fact that some professors simply have no idea how to use it. Professors from nontechnical departments such as the English department simply just don't get it because they have never been properly shown how to use it. The software was probably purchased using technology fees from previous years but it is now worthless because no one uses it to it's fullest potential if they use it at all.
What is the point of constantly spending money to buy software and hardware that no one will know how to use. Take some time and set up seminars on how to better use the existing infrastructure. Educate the proffesors on how to make the best use of the technology at their disposal.
I am all for spending money to upgrade and expand the technology used on campus, but make sure people know how to use it and will use it before adding more unused resources.
and have no real necessity for a handheld. Sure it be nice to have one, I've heard that they are real chick magnets. However, pencil and paper works just fine for me. I don't have to worry about expensive memory upgrades, you can buy stacks of paper for a buck or two. Plus I don't have to worry about my batteries dying or someone trying to steal my paper. If I lose my stylus I can pick one up at almost any store for a few cents found in the couch or find one conveniently located on the floor around me.
I prefer to save my money for more critical student expenses such as beer on the weekends for that much needed human interaction people have been telling me so much about.
----------------
Please remove your pants before replying to me
We have a LAN here in our house that connects to the internet over a shared cable modem. One of my room mates decided to continue to use AOL to stay in touch with relatives and such. I tried explaining to him that he didn't need AOL's software but he is AOL's target audience and didn't quite understand. So I reluctantly configured AOL to use an existing LAN connection. Then one day we got one of those magical free disks in the mail, how did we get so lucky. So he decided to upgrade to version 5.0. I got a call at work because he could no longer use Eudora to access his POP account through school, so he could no longer find out what his homework was for his classes.
When diagnosing the problem he failed to inform me that he had upgraded AOL when the problem began so I thought the problem was with Eudora so I removed and reinstalled that program. Still Eudora refused to start. After several hours of testing software and network connections he finally mentioned that he had upgraded AOL. After removing the AOL upgrade the system began functioning normally again.
I feel sorry for all the customers of AOL who might run into a similar problem and end up having to pay a profesional to fix it. Plus I'm going to probably run into this problem at work when clients are calling me wanting to know why they can no longer access company mail servers and such. Couldn't this move by AOL be considered a monopolistic(?) tactic as well as a pain in the a$$. Maybe the DOJ should go try and straighten them out.
----------------
Please remove your pants before replying to me
This is the way I see it... I can download a GPL program and make all the proprietary changes to it I want and not be breaking the licence agreement. However if I give that program to someone else I must also make the source code available.
Businesses are acting as an individual body. If a business uses a GPL program it is licensed to that business and they can use it as they see fit with in their business structure. They can make any proprietary changes they want, as it is acting as a single entity. However if they decide to use that code for clients or just make it available to others outside of that business structure the source code must be made available. For some commercial software, businesses can purchase special licences for employees to also use the software on a home computer. When that employee leaves or is terminated so are their rights to use that software at home.
If I decide to hard code in machine specific details to a program that I am using for my individual use I don't have to give that code to anyone or even let them know it exists. As soon as I share that program though the source must be made available. A business acts just as an individual in this sense.
Obviously if any code changes or additions I would make improved the performance or functionality of the code I would definatly release it, but making fine tuning additions which are specific to my machine or network stucture would be pointless to release.
----------------
I work at a help desk and anytime someone calls with a problem they are never able to tell me what versions of programs they are running. I once had someone tell me they were running Windows 7.0. After several questions trying to figure out where they got that version number, they finally read me the title of a book that they had - 'Wordperfect for Windows Version 7.0. Several attempts at trying to explain that one to them failed.
----------------
What if I had a link to a page that changed the content of that page to include a link to the DeCSS. Would that include me as a defendant in this case also.
Any search engine that had a link to a page with this content also would be considered a defendant also right?
So theroetically pretty much everyone can be a defendant in this case if you keep tracing back to everyone who links to your page and then links to that page and the page that brought you there etc.
So if linking is illegal then the whole concept of the internet must be illegal so I say go right to the start of the pesky internet and sue Al Gore, inventor of the internet.
----------------
I just wanted to let every one know I've filed for a trade mark on the name Brian. Actully this trademark includes any word using the letters b, r, i, a or n. I've done extensive research and found when my friends try to look up my phone number online or in the phone book an enormous amoount of of people with the same first name as me are also found. How can I expect my friends to find me under these conditions. This just will not do. Any one caught using or saying the name Brian without prior written consent will have legal actions brought against them. If your name is also Brian please begin legal procedings to have this changed ASAP. At the begining of the new year anyone caught still using the name Brian will have their homes raided by a top police swat team. Then the offender will be strip searched and asaulted with night sticks in a most uncomfortable place (it won't be in the back of a volkswagon either). Thank you for your time.
----------------
For most users the best way to remove that pesky Linux patition would be to rush out to the store and make sure you buy the most expensive and fastest Intel based computer you can find (don't want that slow old processor to slow down your solitare games or AOL chats). Then rush home and tear open the boxes. Make sure you throw away all empty boxes and all documentation you see before proceding.
:)
Next call the store you purcased the computer from to get help starting your computer. Then call the manufacturer number that the store gave you. After finding out that Tech support cannot give you help in locating the electrical outlets in your house hang up, make sure you curse and complain about their lack of support before hanging up or you'll just have to call back later to do this.
Finally after a few days of unsuccesfully getting the machine started move it to your living room and place it next to the machine with the blinking 12:00 on it. Sit down relax and watch TGIF as you wish you had purchased a colored machine that better matches your living room decor.
Sorry I'm bored and felt like rambling on.
----------------
I don't know about weatherproof cases, however you did mention that you were not interested in using the Wavelan Access point. I have heard that the Apple Airport is compatible with 802.11 cards that use 2.4 GHz DSSS such as the Wavelan card. The Appple airport only costs $300 and includes a built in modem. I have received the Airport and I have ordered the Wavelan cards and am waiting for them to come in to test it out. The Airport does not allow HTTP configuration such as other access points and is only configurable by an Apple Computer AFAIK, however, the default configuration should be to assign IP addresses via DHCP so no configuration should be required as long as you have your network setup to use DHCP.
Anyway the Wavelan cards should be in soon. Email me with your address and I'll let you know the status of my tests with the Wavlan cards.
----------------
I used to work for a company that handled incoming calls for people ordering from catalogs. When they placed their order they were only charged tax on the item if they happened to live in a state that also had a corporate office or local store for that company located in their state. They were charged what ever that sales tax was for that state.
So any state could technically use this same taxing scheme for buying over the internet as it is really not that different from mail order catalog purchases. So if North Carolina wants to charge internet sales tax they technically should only charge taxes on North Carolina residents purchasing from companies whose offices are located within the State of North Carolina.
Now even if the server was located in another state (as was the company I worked for) it would not allow that state to tax purchases also placed through that company as the hosting company is just a third party service provider for whatever company.
So if I order something online from the store down the street I should have to pay state sales tax, but if I purchase something from a company in another state that doesn't have an office within my state I should not be charged sales tax. I don't have any specific law references or anything, just passing along how I understood things to work regarding mail order purchases.
----------------