Anyone know a Playstation owner will spend at least ten times what the console cost on other things.
I would agree with that. I bought a PS2 a few months after they first came out, I currently have around 35 PS2 titles. Plus controllers, their crappy 8mb memory cards and a cheap remote control for watching dvds, the total adds up over the years..
I would agree, I didn't think the GP was flamebait. This just goes to show you that you should start your own spyware company for money, because it Just Works(tm).
I don't know howto write extensions for Firefox, so I can't try this myself, but I am wondering, can't you just disable the javascript popup features? I'm sure you could do this using GreaseMonkey.
Firefox already has a built-in popup blocker anyway, shouldn't it cover all javascript popups?
Usually, this was done by being forced to physically lookup a phrase in the physical documentation and then feed it back to program before it would start/continue work.
I had lots of old dos games that used this early form of copy protection, of course all you needed to do was photocopy the manual or write down all the answers.
I've used Mcafee Antivirus for several years now. The current version I'm using relies heavily on Internet Explorer functionality to work, which is a pretty stupid design. I haven't had a virus warning in years, and Mcafee and Norton are resource hogs, I don't see much point on using them anymore. I'm seriously thinking about dropping Mcafee once my subscription expires and trying something else.
Well, around 30 years ago, the Canadian dollar was actually worth more then the American dollar, or so my mom likes to tell me all the time... The last couple years though, the Canadian dollar has been doing extremely well (thanks George W!).
On January 18, 2002, the Canadian Dollar hit an all-time low of $US 0.6199
In 2003 it was trading at over $US 0.72
Currently, the dollar is trading at $US 0.81
As you can see, George Bush, the war on Iraq and other problems in United States has raised our Canadian Dollar by almost 20 cents, thats a pretty huge gain.
I find alot of the recent DVD players include that "feature" so you can't skip the adverts, but on my playstation2, I can fast forward or skip a chapter on any dvd with no problem. Back when the PS2 first came out, I didn't own a dvd player, and the PS2 was about the price of a dvd player PLUS it could play ps1 and ps2 games, so it was a no brainer for me.
If we don't send a message to dvd player companies soon, I bet they will be showing their own ads built into the actual dvd player before the dvd even plays. There seem to be no end to what these companies will do to turn a profit.
I used to work at ScotiaBank for a Grade 12 co-op program, and my mom has worked there for almost 30 years now as a programmer, so I know a fair abit about how they work. All their Windows PCs that I know of still run Windows 2000, with no plans to upgrade to Windows XP in the future. I doubt ScotiaBank will upgrade to longhorn when it comes out either, but thats just speculation.
I would have to agree, there is no need to read a book on the subject, there is a huge swath of information on HTML, CSS, XHTML, etc. on the internet already. Just a month ago, I decided to learn XHTML+CSS, it was pretty easy with all the great tutorial sites out there. For me, it's alot easier to learn something by actually doing it and learning through trial and error then reading a book.
I live in a 500 square foot loft in my parents house (go figure). The loft is on the 3rd floor, and in the summer, the temperature and humidity are unbearable. It's a good 10-15 degrees hotter then the house (normally around 20 celcius). The central air condioner isn't able to get cold air all the way to the ducts in my room. Currently, I just have 3 large fans pointed at me running all the time, and I sit in my underwear, sweating like a pig.
I'm gonna try this homebrew system out and hope that it works. My poor body, and more importantly, my computer, can't handle this heat. My friends hate hanging out in my loft in the summer, because it's like a sauna.
I used to love Disney movies as a kid, but the last 5+ years of Disney has been crap. Like the old saying goes, "they don't make 'em like they used to".
Some of the older disney movies I enjoyed (1970-1990):
The Rescuers, The Rescuers Down Under, All Dogs Goto Heaven, The Fox and the Hound, Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmations, Robin Hood, Aladdin, etc.. (there is probably lots more that I can't remember)
Nice "pretty" screensavers are nice and all, but it serves little to no purpose, unless you normally sit at your computer and stare at a blank monitor. I think 99% of the time, the screensaver activates because the user walked away from their computer temporarly, or is occupied with something else. So why is important what screensaver you use, since you won't be there to look at it anyway?
Now if people made screensavers that displays useful information, not just graphics, thats a different story. Say on a webserver box, you have a screensaver that shows the server load and various other statistics, that would be cool.
I stopped using Linux a while ago after many years of tweaking everything. It's alot more then just an issue with sound support for me. I just want stuff to work "out of the box". Eight years ago, I used to enjoy tweaking stuff and playing around with linux, but I grew tired of it. I just want to play games or listen to music, I don't want to spend a day tweaking the kernel, different config files, downloading X different dependencies to get something to work.
I think linux needs something similar to DirectX (bare with me for a minute). One subsystem for Sound (DirectSound), one subsystem for Input (DirectInput), etc.. The system as a whole would deal with the hardware, and provide a simple/standard interface so I don't have to worry what hardware the user is running. This is something I think the kernel SHOULD do, there shouldn't be a need to for all these sound systems and deamons (esd, etc.). I shouldn't have to worry about what sound card I use, the kernel should manage it for me, there is enough drivers out there now that this is possible at the kernel level, so why doesn't it happen?
The last thing I want to do is tweak my mouse, keyboard, graphics card, cdrom, monitor and everything else to get them to work. If linux really wants to compete, we need to make hardware detection "just work" at the kernel level so the average user doesn't have to worry about the underlying wiring.
I will say that some distributions have made great progress with hardware detection in the past 8 years from when I first started using it, but it really should be done by the kernel, not a user space program.
As a nation, we (the US) have decided to look the other way about whatever problems China might have, in exchange for money. A huge proportion of the stuff at Wal-Mart is made in China. We swallow our principles and take the cheap prices.
But I thought Communism is bad/evil? Or is it only the Cuban form of communism that is bad? Ah, the hypocracy... I guess since it's now the "war on terror" and no longer the war on communism, it's all good and everyone can sing all the way to the bank.
Just yesterday, when reading the Microsoft Music Service article, I thought, "gee, all Microsoft needs now is a product to compete with Adobe Photoshop". What a coincidence..Microsoft HAS to compete with everyone I think, because otherwise, Bill's ego shrinks. Why can't they just leave some things be, they have to dabble their nose in everything. What will they copy^W^W^W^Wthink of next?
Why must Microsoft always have to compete on every playing field? They're like a child that has to be the center of attention all the time. Give it a break Bill!
How can they block the outgoing ports? This isn't the incoming ports of the IRC server (usually 6667). The worm probably use a random outgoing port to connect to the IRC server, so I don't see how this would work without blocking other valid services.
I feel for you man. Having gone through public school and high school in recent years, I know exactly what you're going through. I agree with you that the parent and even the grandparent post are BS. They have obviously been hypnotized by society into thinking that homework actually makes you smarter, and it's required, so why bitch about it type of mentality.
There's nothing like spending a quarter of your life going to school, so you can get some mundane job so you can afford NOT to freeze and starve to death. Life is short, people should be able to enjoy what little time they have on this planet. Unfortunately, you need to have this bullshit thing called "money" or you'll die homeless on the streets, of starvation. What a great society we have built. Sorry if I sound negative, but thats the truth.
This is probably the most insightful post I have read in this entire thread. I strongly agree with everything you said, having gone through public school and high school and having a horribly traumatic experience, I know all too well how messed up the current system is.
Every student is different and they should be treated accordingly. Some kids aren't able to handle speaking infront of the class (usually the ones who are bullied), so it should not be mandatory. It only instills more fear and has a negative impact on those students. There is nothing worse then being forced to stand up and speak infront of a class, knowing full well that the bullies are snickering and hoping you mess up. I experienced this, and I would usually fake sick that day to avoid those situations. If I ever did get around to speaking infront of the class, I was usually extremely nervous to the point of throwing up, thats just how scared I was of embarrassing myself.
In my opinion, bullies should be expelled, not suspended. Why should students like myself suffer and not be able to learn in an environment that isn't safe? I welcome schools like Montissori that are super strict when it comes to bullying and take it very seriously. I was too afraid to speak out in public school and high school about my tormentors, knowing that if you speak out, you will be beaten up and it will make matters worse.
Who cares about homework, when you can't even learn at school either.
While you make some interesting points, I think there are more important issues then "you should do homework, everyone else does it and so should you". Not every student is the same, not every student is able to learn the same way. Teachers need to be able to tailor lessons to different individuals. Stuff like homework shouldn't be mandatory. It serves no purpose other then forcing kids to spend their night working, after spending the entire day at school working. How about some down time?
I never liked homework, but then again, I was too busy trying to avoid being abused. Not everyone is "blessed" with good parents and a nice house and kids like myself have real life problems to deal with on a daily basis that are more important then homework. When you're too worried about being bullied at school or beaten at home, how can you learn in that environment?
Some kids are poor and struggling to survive, some kids are victims of abuse, everyone is going through different levels of problems. Myself and many other kids already suffer enough depression and stress as it is, we don't need to be worrying about getting homework done on time. So the kids with a "good life" get good grades while us with more important issues on our minds suffer?
Schools need to be more supportive of different individuals needs, not everyone is able to learn the same way. I was bullied alot in school, and I hated having to do a public speech in class more then anything, to the point where I was so nervous and afraid of being ridiculed, that I would throw up. Bullying in schools breeds these types of problems, where people are unable to learn. I first tried to kill myself when I was 13, because I'd rather die then deal with bullies and school.
Sure, some kids are just lazy and don't want to do the homework, but it is alot more then just being lazy. In my opinion, the current education system is broken. Schools do little to nothing to help students in need, they breed kids like the two shooters of columbine, who were bullied to the point where they "snap". I wish we lived in a fairy tale land, where everyone was able to do homework, sign songs and be happy, but the reality is far from that.
Maybe you should research bullying sometime and see why homework isn't that important.
People who are bullied have many common characteristics including an unwillingness to resort to violence (or legal action) to resolve conflict, and a tendency to internalise anger rather than express it outwardly. Focusing anger inward is a recognised cause of depression. Bullying is perpetrated over a long period of time, perhaps measured in years, and the internalised anger builds to the point where one of these three occur:
* the target starts to exhibit all the symptoms of stress as the internal pressure causes the body to go out of stasis (this happens in every case)
* the target focuses the anger onto themselves and self-harms, either by using drugs (usually alcohol), or by attempting or committing suicide (the UK has the highest suicide rate in Europe)
* in rare cases, and the target "flips" and starts to exhibit the same behaviours as the bully; in extremely rare but well-publicised cases, the target returns to the workplace to carry out a spree killing
Take note of the last two points. 1) People kill themselves, 2) People "flip" and kill others, *cough* Columbine. My main point is, there are more important issues then doing homework, and schools should be teaching howto to cope with those issues instead of handing out meaningless workloads.
I read the Gamer's Manifesto last week and I found it was very well done. Pretty much all of the 20 points mentioned are true. Games are all about eye candy now, with very few that actually provide quality game play, that is probably why I still play SNES roms. There are a few recent games that I do enjoy though, like UT2004, FarCry, Halflife2, Ratchet & Clank series, etc. All of those games have pretty eye candy, but they are also addictive and have fun/good gameplay.
I'm afraid the Game Industry has become the Movie Industry, with a huge swath of garbage titles, and only few that are worth buying.
I already emailed the admin of mma.edu regarding this obvious privacy risk, and I still haven't received a response. That was over 2 weeks ago. I guess privacy isn't important with MMA, I think we should inform the media and start a public boycott, that'll get there attention.
Slashdot Mirror
I would agree, I didn't think the GP was flamebait. This just goes to show you that you should start your own spyware company for money, because it Just Works(tm).
I don't know howto write extensions for Firefox, so I can't try this myself, but I am wondering, can't you just disable the javascript popup features? I'm sure you could do this using GreaseMonkey.
Firefox already has a built-in popup blocker anyway, shouldn't it cover all javascript popups?
I've used Mcafee Antivirus for several years now. The current version I'm using relies heavily on Internet Explorer functionality to work, which is a pretty stupid design. I haven't had a virus warning in years, and Mcafee and Norton are resource hogs, I don't see much point on using them anymore. I'm seriously thinking about dropping Mcafee once my subscription expires and trying something else.
- On January 18, 2002, the Canadian Dollar hit an all-time low of $US 0.6199
- In 2003 it was trading at over $US 0.72
- Currently, the dollar is trading at $US 0.81
As you can see, George Bush, the war on Iraq and other problems in United States has raised our Canadian Dollar by almost 20 cents, thats a pretty huge gain.I find alot of the recent DVD players include that "feature" so you can't skip the adverts, but on my playstation2, I can fast forward or skip a chapter on any dvd with no problem. Back when the PS2 first came out, I didn't own a dvd player, and the PS2 was about the price of a dvd player PLUS it could play ps1 and ps2 games, so it was a no brainer for me.
If we don't send a message to dvd player companies soon, I bet they will be showing their own ads built into the actual dvd player before the dvd even plays. There seem to be no end to what these companies will do to turn a profit.
I used to work at ScotiaBank for a Grade 12 co-op program, and my mom has worked there for almost 30 years now as a programmer, so I know a fair abit about how they work. All their Windows PCs that I know of still run Windows 2000, with no plans to upgrade to Windows XP in the future. I doubt ScotiaBank will upgrade to longhorn when it comes out either, but thats just speculation.
I would have to agree, there is no need to read a book on the subject, there is a huge swath of information on HTML, CSS, XHTML, etc. on the internet already. Just a month ago, I decided to learn XHTML+CSS, it was pretty easy with all the great tutorial sites out there. For me, it's alot easier to learn something by actually doing it and learning through trial and error then reading a book.
XHTML
CSS
I live in a 500 square foot loft in my parents house (go figure). The loft is on the 3rd floor, and in the summer, the temperature and humidity are unbearable. It's a good 10-15 degrees hotter then the house (normally around 20 celcius). The central air condioner isn't able to get cold air all the way to the ducts in my room. Currently, I just have 3 large fans pointed at me running all the time, and I sit in my underwear, sweating like a pig.
I'm gonna try this homebrew system out and hope that it works. My poor body, and more importantly, my computer, can't handle this heat. My friends hate hanging out in my loft in the summer, because it's like a sauna.
I used to love Disney movies as a kid, but the last 5+ years of Disney has been crap. Like the old saying goes, "they don't make 'em like they used to".
Some of the older disney movies I enjoyed (1970-1990):
The Rescuers, The Rescuers Down Under, All Dogs Goto Heaven, The Fox and the Hound, Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmations, Robin Hood, Aladdin, etc.. (there is probably lots more that I can't remember)
Nice "pretty" screensavers are nice and all, but it serves little to no purpose, unless you normally sit at your computer and stare at a blank monitor. I think 99% of the time, the screensaver activates because the user walked away from their computer temporarly, or is occupied with something else. So why is important what screensaver you use, since you won't be there to look at it anyway?
Now if people made screensavers that displays useful information, not just graphics, thats a different story. Say on a webserver box, you have a screensaver that shows the server load and various other statistics, that would be cool.
I stopped using Linux a while ago after many years of tweaking everything. It's alot more then just an issue with sound support for me. I just want stuff to work "out of the box". Eight years ago, I used to enjoy tweaking stuff and playing around with linux, but I grew tired of it. I just want to play games or listen to music, I don't want to spend a day tweaking the kernel, different config files, downloading X different dependencies to get something to work.
I think linux needs something similar to DirectX (bare with me for a minute). One subsystem for Sound (DirectSound), one subsystem for Input (DirectInput), etc.. The system as a whole would deal with the hardware, and provide a simple/standard interface so I don't have to worry what hardware the user is running. This is something I think the kernel SHOULD do, there shouldn't be a need to for all these sound systems and deamons (esd, etc.). I shouldn't have to worry about what sound card I use, the kernel should manage it for me, there is enough drivers out there now that this is possible at the kernel level, so why doesn't it happen?
The last thing I want to do is tweak my mouse, keyboard, graphics card, cdrom, monitor and everything else to get them to work. If linux really wants to compete, we need to make hardware detection "just work" at the kernel level so the average user doesn't have to worry about the underlying wiring.
I will say that some distributions have made great progress with hardware detection in the past 8 years from when I first started using it, but it really should be done by the kernel, not a user space program.
There's nothing wrong with looking like this guy or even this guy
You just don't know howto use TorrentSpy. Lots of searches have been blocked like "GTA" aswell, but if you use the Directory Search, you can find it.
Directory->Macintosh->Applications which shows this OSX 10.4
The funny thing is, "os x tiger" is blocked, but "os x" or "tiger" still works. Not very effective.
Just yesterday, when reading the Microsoft Music Service article, I thought, "gee, all Microsoft needs now is a product to compete with Adobe Photoshop". What a coincidence..Microsoft HAS to compete with everyone I think, because otherwise, Bill's ego shrinks. Why can't they just leave some things be, they have to dabble their nose in everything. What will they copy^W^W^W^Wthink of next?
Why must Microsoft always have to compete on every playing field? They're like a child that has to be the center of attention all the time. Give it a break Bill!
How can they block the outgoing ports? This isn't the incoming ports of the IRC server (usually 6667). The worm probably use a random outgoing port to connect to the IRC server, so I don't see how this would work without blocking other valid services.
I feel for you man. Having gone through public school and high school in recent years, I know exactly what you're going through. I agree with you that the parent and even the grandparent post are BS. They have obviously been hypnotized by society into thinking that homework actually makes you smarter, and it's required, so why bitch about it type of mentality.
There's nothing like spending a quarter of your life going to school, so you can get some mundane job so you can afford NOT to freeze and starve to death. Life is short, people should be able to enjoy what little time they have on this planet. Unfortunately, you need to have this bullshit thing called "money" or you'll die homeless on the streets, of starvation. What a great society we have built. Sorry if I sound negative, but thats the truth.
This is probably the most insightful post I have read in this entire thread. I strongly agree with everything you said, having gone through public school and high school and having a horribly traumatic experience, I know all too well how messed up the current system is.
Every student is different and they should be treated accordingly. Some kids aren't able to handle speaking infront of the class (usually the ones who are bullied), so it should not be mandatory. It only instills more fear and has a negative impact on those students. There is nothing worse then being forced to stand up and speak infront of a class, knowing full well that the bullies are snickering and hoping you mess up. I experienced this, and I would usually fake sick that day to avoid those situations. If I ever did get around to speaking infront of the class, I was usually extremely nervous to the point of throwing up, thats just how scared I was of embarrassing myself.
In my opinion, bullies should be expelled, not suspended. Why should students like myself suffer and not be able to learn in an environment that isn't safe? I welcome schools like Montissori that are super strict when it comes to bullying and take it very seriously. I was too afraid to speak out in public school and high school about my tormentors, knowing that if you speak out, you will be beaten up and it will make matters worse.
Who cares about homework, when you can't even learn at school either.
I never liked homework, but then again, I was too busy trying to avoid being abused. Not everyone is "blessed" with good parents and a nice house and kids like myself have real life problems to deal with on a daily basis that are more important then homework. When you're too worried about being bullied at school or beaten at home, how can you learn in that environment?
Some kids are poor and struggling to survive, some kids are victims of abuse, everyone is going through different levels of problems. Myself and many other kids already suffer enough depression and stress as it is, we don't need to be worrying about getting homework done on time. So the kids with a "good life" get good grades while us with more important issues on our minds suffer?
Schools need to be more supportive of different individuals needs, not everyone is able to learn the same way. I was bullied alot in school, and I hated having to do a public speech in class more then anything, to the point where I was so nervous and afraid of being ridiculed, that I would throw up. Bullying in schools breeds these types of problems, where people are unable to learn. I first tried to kill myself when I was 13, because I'd rather die then deal with bullies and school.
Sure, some kids are just lazy and don't want to do the homework, but it is alot more then just being lazy. In my opinion, the current education system is broken. Schools do little to nothing to help students in need, they breed kids like the two shooters of columbine, who were bullied to the point where they "snap". I wish we lived in a fairy tale land, where everyone was able to do homework, sign songs and be happy, but the reality is far from that.
Maybe you should research bullying sometime and see why homework isn't that important.
Take note of the last two points. 1) People kill themselves, 2) People "flip" and kill others, *cough* Columbine. My main point is, there are more important issues then doing homework, and schools should be teaching howto to cope with those issues instead of handing out meaningless workloads.
I read the Gamer's Manifesto last week and I found it was very well done. Pretty much all of the 20 points mentioned are true. Games are all about eye candy now, with very few that actually provide quality game play, that is probably why I still play SNES roms. There are a few recent games that I do enjoy though, like UT2004, FarCry, Halflife2, Ratchet & Clank series, etc. All of those games have pretty eye candy, but they are also addictive and have fun/good gameplay.
I'm afraid the Game Industry has become the Movie Industry, with a huge swath of garbage titles, and only few that are worth buying.
I already emailed the admin of mma.edu regarding this obvious privacy risk, and I still haven't received a response. That was over 2 weeks ago. I guess privacy isn't important with MMA, I think we should inform the media and start a public boycott, that'll get there attention.