My first real assignment in my first real post-college job was to program a DOS version of the 1993 edition of the IRS form 3115, Application for Change in Accounting Method. Our "GUI" required that I use ASCII chars (entered using ALT+Num) for the form lines and shading and all the print commands had to be handcrafted in PCL. The finished result was object code for 8 pages of tax form and 32 pages of linked supporting statement.
Geez, that sucked. I hope someone eventually used it.
Being that any security flaw will make headlines these days, what prevents a "mole" from a competitor (say, for example, a borg developer) from joining an open source project and injecting difficult to detect security flaws? The process seems simple: join the team, create a stupid DOS flaw, wait for the build to go live, AC post to Bugtraq, profit from the carnage.
Forgive me if this is a stupid question...I don't know much about the Mozilla org, or for that matter, how open source collaboration works in real life.
I think the article is a bit alarmist. While in theory these planning ideas may be patentable, they are still subject to the tax laws. The article is essentially saying that if I hold a patent for a unique way of creating crystal meth then I can flout the drug laws and sue any meth lab that uses my technique. Something tells me that wouldn't fly.
Tax shelters, and other creative interpretations of the tax code, are the bane of the IRS's existence. In the late '90s and early '00s, a few accountants went overboard with their tax planning strategies and started selling them as if they were "products", not unlike the what the law firms appear to be doing today. As a result of their marketing of products called BLIPS, FLIP, OPIS, and SOS, KPMG ended up paying the IRS $456 million dollars in penalties. Since 2003, the IRS appears to have focused on cleaning up the accounting industry and the rules around "reportable transactions" (transactions with attributes common to tax shelters) and seems to have the accountants in check. It looks like it's time to turn their attention to the lawyers.
Just like the "confidential transactions" of the accounting industry, where the taxpayer isn't allowed to disclose the details of a transaction to others (presumably for intellectual property protections for the accountant), a lawyer holding a patent on a tax strategy will only serve to draw attention to the strategy and get the whole thing shut down.
Boring but informative:
From the IRS Publication 550 on reportable transations:
Confidential transaction. A confidential transaction is one that is offered to you under conditions of confidentiality and for which you have paid an advisor a minimum fee. A transaction is offered under conditions of confidentiality if the advisor who is paid the fee places a limit on the disclosure of the tax treatment or tax structure on you and the limit protects the advisor's tax strategies. The transaction is treated as confidential even if the conditions of confidentiality are not legally binding on you.
The fact that Joe Employee has a bad credit history and a pending bankruptcy might make you think twice before you allow him access to your credit card db. People in desperate situations sometimes do desperate things when presented with temptations.
I once had an employee run a few credits through on her personal credit cards to reduce her balances. A nice person, but there were things going on with her finances that caused her to compromise her ethics. Had I know, I wouldn't have put her in a role that handled cc transactions.
A Summary Judgment is where the Judge makes a decision without a full trial. Sort of like moding a post as "troll" because the title reads "Buy Cheap Meds Online" (see experiment below).
The guy being attacked by the RIAA is just asking the Judge to decide the case without getting into all the expensive details of a long, bitter trial. He is effectively saying to the Judge that the RIAA has already presented all the evidence needed to make a correct decision in his favor.
I wouldn't get too excited. I assume most fights start out with one party saying "[This is stupid.] Now leave before I taunt you a second time!" (OMPQ)
And this is very likely how a dipshit in NJ was able to walk in to the local RadioShack and use my SSN to buy a new cell phone without an id. It was those damn tapes! He just showed them to the clerk and they signed him up. That makes me really mad!
What is to stop users from uploading information they've obtained by other means?
You mean from phonebooks, mailboxes, and tombstones? I assume they go by a stringent code of honor.
I fully support a person's right to limit the distribution of his contact info, however, my email sig and business cards are no longer mine when I publish them or give them away. It sucks that someone I don't know can send me an email or call me, but that's what I get for living in the world today.
Perhaps people could copyright and/or trademark their contact info so they can claim infringment when sites like Jigsaw publish them without permission.
-- AngryNick(TM), a product of AngryNick Identities LLC. Signature content (c)2006, AngryNick Identities LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this signature line may be reproduced, distributed, or otherwise used without express written permission from AngryNick Indentities LLC.
I have two locks on my front door AND an alarm system. Hell, even my crappy 1999-era desktop came with a case alarm. You'd think that DieBold would have installed something that would start beeping, flashing, or explode after you open the top on the case or pull the memory card.
Did Blackbox look for other, less obvious, IDS that may be in place?
I too am perplexed by their decision to ignore the TI-99/4a. It was cheap enough for just about any family to afford and supported both BASIC (for the kids) and assembler(for the dad). My dad wrote the code and I spent hours designing sprite graphics and translating sheet music into sound() funcs for use in a Frogger game (Toader). We sold enough tapes of that game to just about pay for a 32K memory upgrade cartridge.
Another great one that is missing is the Timex/Sinclar 1000, a $99 machine with 1k of RAM.
variations in the preparation method lead to dramatically different cheeses.
For example, change a few steps and you have Panir, a Persian cheese that tastes and looks a bit like fetta. That recipe calls for you to use regular milk, lime juice, retain the whey, and store the resulting compressed churd block back in the whey with a little salt.
Giving out unprotected CDs and free downloads implies that the error in Sony's ways was in their attempt at DRMing the CDs. So now you can rip your CD and make MP3 for all your friends...who cares?
It seems to me that the issue was their choice of HOW they enabled DRM. Installing a hidden rootkit that opened up millions of computers to hacks was the real damage they inflicted. How will a new CD secure these computers and remedy those affected in an appropriate way? It's like saying, "I'm sorry for smashing into your car. Please accept this tank of gas as compensation for my poor driving."
I guess it doesn't matter anyway...I'm no longer buying Sony products. They no longer exist to me.
Whatever you end up using as a teaching tool, PLEASE make your students write at least some code by hand. In the 15 years I've been in the business, I have seen a large degradation in the quality and performance of even the most basic projects.
I attribute much of this sloppy work to a growing dependency on the IDE and a fear of writing anything by hand. With advent of the modern IDE, with its fancy properties tabs and auto-magical code inserts, the "Drag-n-Drop generation" is becoming disconnected from their code. I'm constantly hearing "I'm afraid I might break the page," when asking for a minor change to layout or functionality. This tells me that the coder has no idea what makes the page look the way it does and that there is probably some scary stuff going on under the hood. (Unfortunately, company policy prevents me from calling the guy a wuss.)
To me, good code means that the programmer understands why it works and has the confidence to turn it upside down and shake it without fear of breaking it. I'm not against VI or syntax highlighting -- not even autocomplete or code snippets -- but I think 99% of the work should be taking place on the "Source" tab and that the "Design" tab is only there for the "Computers 101" class.
I agree. I've seen a lot of big names over the years and the recurring theme is the same: higher prices, more product marketing, and uneventful shows designed to prop up a recent album release.
At this point in my life it's not the price of the ticket that prevents me from going, it's the lack of entertainment value. I live 2 miles from a major venue and I only go there to take my kids to the circus.
Exception: I might be willing to pay $250 for a Pink Floyd concert. Their Division-Bell-promoting concert didn't suck at all. They played mostly older stuff...and it was only $50. Too bad they'll probably never tour again.
Secret conversation that took place recently inside the base:
G.I. 1: "Who stole my @#$^ING USB drive? Do you know how @#$%ing long it took me to collect all those @#$%ing kill songs?!? I will !@#$%ing turn the guy into @#$%ing pink mist when I @#$%ing find him."
G.I. 2: "Man, that sucks."
G.I. 1: "Sh!t! And ALL my @#$%ing pr0n was on their too!"
I don't know...I kind of like how the author cunningly used filler and overly descriptive phrases excessively to make for a complicated, yet thoughtlessly provoking, statement of nothingnessnessly:
"Due to this excessive usage, mobile users apparently feel hectically busy and except empathy, while leaving others flamingly frustrated.
If a live person calls they hear the tones followed by my voice on the answering machine. I doubt anyone would ever think we'd moved or had our phone disconnected.
I totally agree. I have been getting the exact same fax calls to my home phone number -- a number that has never had a fax attached to it.
For several months we had gotten some relief by recording a SIT on our answering machine so the dialer thinks the number is not in service, but we recently started getting calls again.
CIO magazine just ran a decent article on the fight...
FTFLA: A growing number of cities and towns want to develop their own public Wi-Fi networks. But they face stiff opposition from telecom and cable providers.
You will find that there are several state laws on the books as well as US House and Senate bills pending that would prohibit or limit a city's ability to provide WiFi services. To make things fun, there is a competing bill in the Senate that would make it illegal to make it illegal to make a law that would prohibit cities from offering services (!!=1).
Our political system amazes me...if we could only harness all that wasted energy.
Slashdot Mirror
I think he means Representative Nancy Pelosi (D - CA).
Geez, that sucked. I hope someone eventually used it.
You are correct. For example,Will Solve Captcha for Money?
I wonder how much of this is due to forums like /. raising the media's awareness of the the next impending Internet-based doom?
Forgive me if this is a stupid question...I don't know much about the Mozilla org, or for that matter, how open source collaboration works in real life.
Tax shelters, and other creative interpretations of the tax code, are the bane of the IRS's existence. In the late '90s and early '00s, a few accountants went overboard with their tax planning strategies and started selling them as if they were "products", not unlike the what the law firms appear to be doing today. As a result of their marketing of products called BLIPS, FLIP, OPIS, and SOS, KPMG ended up paying the IRS $456 million dollars in penalties. Since 2003, the IRS appears to have focused on cleaning up the accounting industry and the rules around "reportable transactions" (transactions with attributes common to tax shelters) and seems to have the accountants in check. It looks like it's time to turn their attention to the lawyers.
Just like the "confidential transactions" of the accounting industry, where the taxpayer isn't allowed to disclose the details of a transaction to others (presumably for intellectual property protections for the accountant), a lawyer holding a patent on a tax strategy will only serve to draw attention to the strategy and get the whole thing shut down.
Boring but informative:
From the IRS Publication 550 on reportable transations:
See also: Inside the KPMG mess
Please add the "red" state of Virginia to your list of sissy states. My daughter's school outlawed tag last year. They've also banned snowball fights.
I once had an employee run a few credits through on her personal credit cards to reduce her balances. A nice person, but there were things going on with her finances that caused her to compromise her ethics. Had I know, I wouldn't have put her in a role that handled cc transactions.
The guy being attacked by the RIAA is just asking the Judge to decide the case without getting into all the expensive details of a long, bitter trial. He is effectively saying to the Judge that the RIAA has already presented all the evidence needed to make a correct decision in his favor.
I wouldn't get too excited. I assume most fights start out with one party saying "[This is stupid.] Now leave before I taunt you a second time!" (OMPQ)
And this is very likely how a dipshit in NJ was able to walk in to the local RadioShack and use my SSN to buy a new cell phone without an id. It was those damn tapes! He just showed them to the clerk and they signed him up. That makes me really mad!
You mean from phonebooks, mailboxes, and tombstones? I assume they go by a stringent code of honor.
I fully support a person's right to limit the distribution of his contact info, however, my email sig and business cards are no longer mine when I publish them or give them away. It sucks that someone I don't know can send me an email or call me, but that's what I get for living in the world today.
Perhaps people could copyright and/or trademark their contact info so they can claim infringment when sites like Jigsaw publish them without permission.
-- AngryNick(TM), a product of AngryNick Identities LLC. Signature content (c)2006, AngryNick Identities LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this signature line may be reproduced, distributed, or otherwise used without express written permission from AngryNick Indentities LLC.
I have two locks on my front door AND an alarm system. Hell, even my crappy 1999-era desktop came with a case alarm. You'd think that DieBold would have installed something that would start beeping, flashing, or explode after you open the top on the case or pull the memory card.
Did Blackbox look for other, less obvious, IDS that may be in place?
Another great one that is missing is the Timex/Sinclar 1000, a $99 machine with 1k of RAM.
For example, change a few steps and you have Panir, a Persian cheese that tastes and looks a bit like fetta. That recipe calls for you to use regular milk, lime juice, retain the whey, and store the resulting compressed churd block back in the whey with a little salt.
It seems to me that the issue was their choice of HOW they enabled DRM. Installing a hidden rootkit that opened up millions of computers to hacks was the real damage they inflicted. How will a new CD secure these computers and remedy those affected in an appropriate way? It's like saying, "I'm sorry for smashing into your car. Please accept this tank of gas as compensation for my poor driving."
I guess it doesn't matter anyway...I'm no longer buying Sony products. They no longer exist to me.
I attribute much of this sloppy work to a growing dependency on the IDE and a fear of writing anything by hand. With advent of the modern IDE, with its fancy properties tabs and auto-magical code inserts, the "Drag-n-Drop generation" is becoming disconnected from their code. I'm constantly hearing "I'm afraid I might break the page," when asking for a minor change to layout or functionality. This tells me that the coder has no idea what makes the page look the way it does and that there is probably some scary stuff going on under the hood. (Unfortunately, company policy prevents me from calling the guy a wuss.)
To me, good code means that the programmer understands why it works and has the confidence to turn it upside down and shake it without fear of breaking it. I'm not against VI or syntax highlighting -- not even autocomplete or code snippets -- but I think 99% of the work should be taking place on the "Source" tab and that the "Design" tab is only there for the "Computers 101" class.
The version branded exclusively for /. members will be much cooler than those shown in the FA. It will come with tape pre-wrapped around the bridge.
The item description includes some information used in the FA.
At this point in my life it's not the price of the ticket that prevents me from going, it's the lack of entertainment value. I live 2 miles from a major venue and I only go there to take my kids to the circus.
Exception: I might be willing to pay $250 for a Pink Floyd concert. Their Division-Bell-promoting concert didn't suck at all. They played mostly older stuff...and it was only $50. Too bad they'll probably never tour again.
Must be a bug in Google.
G.I. 1: "Who stole my @#$^ING USB drive? Do you know how @#$%ing long it took me to collect all those @#$%ing kill songs?!? I will !@#$%ing turn the guy into @#$%ing pink mist when I @#$%ing find him."
G.I. 2: "Man, that sucks."
G.I. 1: "Sh!t! And ALL my @#$%ing pr0n was on their too!"
G.I. 2: "Damn ponies."
Is it possible that Fasterfox prefetching contributed to the /.ing that has been pounding the site all day?
I don't know...I kind of like how the author cunningly used filler and overly descriptive phrases excessively to make for a complicated, yet thoughtlessly provoking, statement of nothingnessnessly:
"Due to this excessive usage, mobile users apparently feel hectically busy and except empathy, while leaving others flamingly frustrated.
Pure art.
If a live person calls they hear the tones followed by my voice on the answering machine. I doubt anyone would ever think we'd moved or had our phone disconnected.
I totally agree. I have been getting the exact same fax calls to my home phone number -- a number that has never had a fax attached to it.
For several months we had gotten some relief by recording a SIT on our answering machine so the dialer thinks the number is not in service, but we recently started getting calls again.
FTFLA:
A growing number of cities and towns want to develop their own public Wi-Fi networks. But they face stiff opposition from telecom and cable providers.
You will find that there are several state laws on the books as well as US House and Senate bills pending that would prohibit or limit a city's ability to provide WiFi services. To make things fun, there is a competing bill in the Senate that would make it illegal to make it illegal to make a law that would prohibit cities from offering services (!!=1).
Our political system amazes me...if we could only harness all that wasted energy.