Internet service providers should be encouraged, though not required, to maintain detailed records of what their users are doing online. "Some industry members may not retain certain system data long enough to permit law enforcement to identify online offenders," the report says.
I work for an ISP/Abuse Dept. Do these people have any concept of the amount of data this entails for even a small ISP? Weekly SYSLOGs and proxy logs for 25K users is literally GBs of information. Where do they propose this data be archived? Will they subsidize aspirin and eyeglasses for the poor bastards who have to vgrep all that crap?
One more reason why, once again, my tax return will have "Fuck you, Big Brother" smeared across it. Bah.
Conveniently enough, even us Windows users can help ourselves with three minutes of regedit time. Aureate creates it's own key directory (two locations), and it's helpfully named "Aureate."
Deleting the entire key and doing a "Find File" to clean up any other niggling and dangling files seems to do a very good (albeit inelegant) job of rooting this shite out.
I can offer my sympathy and understanding to those who buy a "Cyrix xxx MHz" chip and see xxx -n MHz in the real world.
In my case, it was trying to drop Quake3 into a machine with a Cyrix 300 processor. "Oh, the chip runs like a P2 233" he says. Funny, Q3A's diagnostics report, "Pentium 180 MHz processor installed. This program may not function correctly."
One more reason for me to give a big "Thank You" to J. Carmack. . . I now have a way to benchmark unknown-quantity CPUs against known entities.
Of course, I've worn the W off of my keyboard. . .
"You know, Bob, I figure I put in about fifteen minutes of real work a day." - Office Space
I might do half an hour on productive days. Or when there's a deadline. Being unmotivated and in a dead-end position has that effect on a guy. Throw in a poor work environment (both inside and outside the office) and the drive to bust ass, both on and off the clock, drops precipitously.
onyxruby wrote: Imagine, "Installation of Personal Web Server will leave your system open to security risks at the following ports..."
This would actually be a Good Thing, IMO. It would improve security across the board because, suddenly, people would be AWARE of the security holes they're leaving open to malicious users, and could take steps to correct them.
Nahhh, that makes too much sense. It'd never work.
dsplat writes: how do we build those into the system, the expectation, the patterns of use?
What are the developers trying to do with Ansanova? Get her to react "correctly" to news conetne. With 30 years' sophistication, I suspect that that software that you spend a substantial amount of time will "learn" and "adapt" to your patterns and mannerisms.
This is true of web applets (which track cookies and, hence, browsing patterns) and even *gasp!* Windows98. . . it migrates your favorite apps and files to places where they can be used faster. I find it very easy to believe that more powerful and advanced technology would be able to learn and, in time, replicate human behavior.
Personally, I want to be plugged in like this, and hope I live long enough to see it happen. I'd volunteer.
I just wouldn't want to have conversations with the result. I tend to be a royal pain in the ass sometimes.;-)
The AOL/Time-Warner "Incubus"? A quick perusal of Wordsmyth gives us the classic and Katzian definitions:
1. an evil spirit in male form that is said to have sexual intercourse with women as they sleep. (Cf. succubus.) 2. a frightening dream. 3. anything that oppresses one.
Just to make a niggling point, almost no one uses senses 2 or 3. "Incubus" and "incubi" are almost exclusively used to depict male vampiric entities. (Anyone remember that clever Reebok rep who used the clever CLM of calling a running shoe the "Incubus" a couple years back *G*?)
Jon, I know you write for a living (despite what many other posters here consider what it is you do for a paycheck;-), so I'd expect that you'd aim for clarity of point, not cleverness of phrase. . . remember, if you say something and get misinterpreted because of ambiguity, the blame is shared equally.
Re:Broadband ISP's need different rules
on
@Home UDP Lifted
·
· Score: 2
Drakino writes: By having a faster internet connection and static IP's
This is not the case with all (perhaps not even the majority) of Cable/Broadband ISPs. The service I support uses dynamic IP addressing under DHCP to support our customer base. The only customers who have anything approaching a "static" IP address are those whose machines are on 24/7.
Running/hosting any kind of server on our service is not permitted under the AUP, as is attempting to bypass the DHCP process by assigning a static IP.
While this may upset more knowledgeable users who can -correctly- configure a box to do something, it cuts down on numerous problems. . . problems, apparently, that @Home attempted to ignore and sweep under the carpet.
Personally, I think their "open proxy" solution is 100% BS, and anticipate them getting re-slapped with the UDP within the 30 days they've been put on probation. The only way this might be averted, other than a sudden windfall of clues in their network management department, is if the spammers themselves decide that they like having a big, fat @Home pipeline available and lay low during the next month, only to resume activity once the hot-button interest cools.
There are two ways to respond to the premise put forward by several posters on the subject of "Well, so-and-so wouldn't flame me to my facr IRL!"
Well now, that makes two serious assumptions: One, that what incited the flame wasn't so abuse-worthy that whomever said it wouldn't get ridiculed if they said it among real humans in meatspace, and Two, that I have enough respect for them as an entity to avoid laying into them for Item One.
Having met literally hundreds of online acquantences (does this make me an expert? Maybe. Does it give me a substantial baseline from which to draw my conclusions? I like to think so. You may disagree at your leisure. 8-) in meatspace, there are some who translated so accurately from pixel to person that the reaction of those around them was utterly consistent between type and talk. . . for both the beloved and the reviled.
There are people who pissed me off digitally that I simply -cannot- be civil to them, regardless of medium. This seems to surprise a lot of people, not the least of which are the subjects of my derision. . . they assume that, "Hey, It Was Only Online," is a justifiable excuse. No, a$$hole, it's a copout.
Then again, there have been people who, despite a preponderance for making nothing but noise online actually have cogent and insightful (and funny) comments to share when among other real humans. Perhaps they don't take things as seriously ("It's not real life, it's only ones and zeroes.") as other folks. It's easy to get your knickers twisted. And some people make knicker-twisting a hobby, mission, or just plain are twits.
Some people tend to like me much more in person than they do online. Maybe it's because I'm cute. Maybe it's because I'm more polite and charming (or at least more overtly trying to get into their pants;-). Or maybe it's because I make it clear that I'm going to be consistent, regardless of medium, and my opinions are more palatable when heard but not seen.
I couldn't count the number of times people have said, "I thought you'd be this big ogre in person." It surprises me that people assume that being outspoken online translates into an imposing physique in meatspace.
Or maybe it is consistent after a fashion -- you wield your words a certain way, and that's all people have to see of you.
Big words + Big opinions = Big persona ?
Or maybe I take my online time too seriously. Who knows? But I'm not changing. I will still flame lusers, I will still agree to disagree with people whose views are irreconcilable with my own (on the basis of logic, evidence, or plain old gut feelings), and I will remain the same grouchy curmudgeon I've been since stumbling to a VAX terminal in 1992.
This particular collection of synapses and pixels has seen itself threatened by lawsuits from semiliterate, clueless morons (Gary, if you're still online and know how to read, vox vampiri, vox dei *smirk*), been kick-banned from IRC channels for simply disagreeing with a ChanOP over a song title, and, frankly, I enjoy being myself more than I enjoy making the majority of other people happy.
Ayn Rand called it The Virtue of Selfishness, which is as good a name for "looking out for #1" as any other. Rafe
According to the article, the UDP doesn't start for another week: Usenet Death Penalty will go into effect at the close of business, 17:00 PST, on Tuesday, 18 January 2000 (19 Jan 2000 01:00:00 GMT).
Presumably to give @home a chance to become YclueK compliant? Rafe
If you're just looking to track your stock holdings, money market funds, and that kind of thing and don't mind devoting a few minutes to actually building the information by hand, NASDAQ offers a portfolio tracking service for free on their site. I believe it's a cookie/java solution, so if you're frequently changing pc's or browsers, you might be SOL, but it's fairly simple and straightforward. I haven't played with it in a while, but recall asking them to include long-term growth charts for personal portfolios (like they have for individual stocks), so this might be extant by now. Rafe
So, now that you guys are on the brink of obscene wealth, and slashdotters have put up with well, stuff for so long (and the Natalie Portman trolls, and the ACs from hell, and. . . and. . . ), instead of granting Mod Points, will you be handing out Andover.net shares, too?;-)
Not able to find them at auction? *blink, blink* I have an alpha 500 sitting in a friend's basement that we went halfsies on 3 weeks ago and got for ~$850(US) on ubid. *shrugs* (sorry, this was offtopic, but the nice toys are available, or at least were before xmas;-) Rafe
Assume you own a server to run the following protocols: HTTP, POP/POP3, SMTP, NNTP, telnet, FTP. Can such a machine be secure under -any- OS? If this was sitting in your basement, what would you do with it (after loading Q3A/UT and distributed.net's latest client;-) to make sure the script kiddies didn't f*ck with you?
L0pht- As with any of the well-known infosec groups (you, cDc, &c), it's always a far-flung collective of folks who coalesce and make things happen. How did you meet and decide, "hey, we have common goals and interests, let's do this as a team"? Rafe
"Internet Appliance." Makes it sound like a retainer for your PC, or some kind of bizarre horror-movie add-on (of course, this is because they're not called "colostomy bags" anymore, they're now "ostomy appliances." Ewwww).
On the upside, combining one of these with an AIBO and one of those sub-dermal GPS chips leads to the ultimate in slack computing:
USER: "Beer me." AIBO: "What kind of beer?" USER: Sam Adams / Guinness / Coors / whatever
AIBO digitally checks the fridge, makes sure you're stocked (if you're out, it will purchase some online from your pre-defined list of vendors), trundles to the fridge, and brings it to you, homing in on your GPS signal.
Just think, attach a port-a-potty to AIBO and you'd never have to stand up again!
Someone mentioned the KKK's website(s) in one of the posts. This brings up an interesting (in the Eastern Curse sense of the word) consideration:
Everyone wants free speech, except when it infringes on their personal beliefs or chosen mores. I know I'm tremendously biased in favor of freedom -except- when it's "abused" IMnsHO by hate groups and other people who do things that offend my (albeit rather loose) morals.
My question boils down to: how do we reconcile perfectly free speech with the rights of individuals and groups to be free from abuse and hostility at the hands of others?
(Mutual Assured Respect seems to be a pipe dream, which is why I haven't risen to power in an anarchy yet.;-) Rafe
Wow, this hurt to read. Not only was it too dystopian for a Tuesday (this was pure Monday in a can), it was yet another inaccurate rehashing of Gattaca, apparently Katz' raison d' etre.
Dude, switch to latte or something. Lighten the fsck up. You can only parrot the same hackneyed line so often, and twice in two weeks is -way- too often. (My connection sucks, so digging up his last article is beyond me at this point but folks should remember his diatribe on this same exact subject last week or the one before.)
Gattaca was about (Jon, listen, please) segregation based on genetic makeup. . . NOT about making better people. There were flawed people in first-world countries, even in the "upper" class.
Please draw an accurate analogy. Or do everyone a favor and expand your video/dvd library to include another movie or two. . . like, say, "Dark City" so you can bemoan the march of technology as it pertains to construction.
Torpor, you hit the nail exactly on the head (and beat me to posting it, you cretin;-).
I'm no expert in the field, and this might even be construed as flamebait, but the wide array of "psychological disabilities" popping up almost daily smacks of companies creating a market for their wares. Pharmaceutical research is far from cheap (given all the testing and certification required, especially in the US), so these companies need to churn up consumption to get a suitable ROI. So instead of a big media blitz (at least, not until the last 18 months or so), they fund "studies" to show that people need to take their drugs because they're not "healthy."
These commercials that have started polluting television. . . *shakes head* Propecia for hair loss, this that and the other for depression. Nine bazillion allergy meds. And the Little Blue God, Viagra. Fer chrissakes, I DO -NOT- NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BOB DOLE'S ERECTILE DISFUNCTION, OKAY???
It's appalling, really. Doctors buy into it because they get paid by the insurance companies for the visit, regardless of whether or not the patient has an illness.
My best friend is a pharmacist, and his internal business model is this: "Keep the patient alive but just slightly sick for as long as possible. That way, they have to keep refilling their prescription."
It's a brilliant ploy. Tell people the reason they're not happy with their life is because of a chemical imbalance or deficiency, not because they work too hard, don't get enough fresh air and excercize, eat like sh*t [or spend too much time readking John Katz;-)], and they will buy it -- and the drugs to "fix" their problem.
Can I interest anyone in a bottle of Snake Oil? Cures what ails ya! Rafe
Maybe he didn't watch the same "End of Days" I did. Maybe he did a bong hit of bad acid that kept him from seeing any of the wit, the fine acting, or the merciful use of honest-to-god REAL explosions in lieu of the hordes of computer-generated crap (see also: SW:TPM for reference).
Lighten up, Katz. EoD wasn't supposed to be the heavy religious tome "Stigmata" was, even though it wasn't as good. It was an -action- flick that just happened to cast Satan in the role of villain.
A suggestion: Get a big bottle of vino, and make a Gabriel Byrne triple feature day of it, in this order:
Prophecy (the first one), Stigmata, and EoD.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a bride to find, and 28 days to do it.
Slashdot Mirror
Internet service providers should be encouraged, though not required, to maintain detailed records of what their users are doing online. "Some industry members may not retain certain system data long enough to permit law enforcement to identify online offenders," the report says.
I work for an ISP/Abuse Dept. Do these people have any concept of the amount of data this entails for even a small ISP? Weekly SYSLOGs and proxy logs for 25K users is literally GBs of information. Where do they propose this data be archived? Will they subsidize aspirin and eyeglasses for the poor bastards who have to vgrep all that crap?
One more reason why, once again, my tax return will have "Fuck you, Big Brother" smeared across it. Bah.
Rafe
V^^^^V
Conveniently enough, even us Windows users can help ourselves with three minutes of regedit time. Aureate creates it's own key directory (two locations), and it's helpfully named "Aureate."
Deleting the entire key and doing a "Find File" to clean up any other niggling and dangling files seems to do a very good (albeit inelegant) job of rooting this shite out.
Rafe
V^^^^V
I can offer my sympathy and understanding to those who buy a "Cyrix xxx MHz" chip and see xxx -n MHz in the real world.
In my case, it was trying to drop Quake3 into a machine with a Cyrix 300 processor. "Oh, the chip runs like a P2 233" he says. Funny, Q3A's diagnostics report, "Pentium 180 MHz processor installed. This program may not function correctly."
One more reason for me to give a big "Thank You" to J. Carmack. . . I now have a way to benchmark unknown-quantity CPUs against known entities.
Of course, I've worn the W off of my keyboard. . .
Rafe
V^^^^V
"You know, Bob, I figure I put in about fifteen minutes of real work a day." - Office Space
I might do half an hour on productive days. Or when there's a deadline. Being unmotivated and in a dead-end position has that effect on a guy. Throw in a poor work environment (both inside and outside the office) and the drive to bust ass, both on and off the clock, drops precipitously.
Rafe
V^^^^V
onyxruby wrote:
Imagine, "Installation of Personal Web Server will leave your system open to security risks at the following ports..."
This would actually be a Good Thing, IMO. It would improve security across the board because, suddenly, people would be AWARE of the security holes they're leaving open to malicious users, and could take steps to correct them.
Nahhh, that makes too much sense. It'd never work.
Rafe
V^^^^V
dsplat writes:
;-)
how do we build those into the system, the expectation, the patterns of use?
What are the developers trying to do with Ansanova? Get her to react "correctly" to news conetne. With 30 years' sophistication, I suspect that that software that you spend a substantial amount of time will "learn" and "adapt" to your patterns and mannerisms.
This is true of web applets (which track cookies and, hence, browsing patterns) and even *gasp!* Windows98. . . it migrates your favorite apps and files to places where they can be used faster. I find it very easy to believe that more powerful and advanced technology would be able to learn and, in time, replicate human behavior.
Personally, I want to be plugged in like this, and hope I live long enough to see it happen. I'd volunteer.
I just wouldn't want to have conversations with the result. I tend to be a royal pain in the ass sometimes.
Rafe
V^^^^V
The AOL/Time-Warner "Incubus"? A quick perusal of Wordsmyth gives us the classic and Katzian definitions:
;-), so I'd expect that you'd aim for clarity of point, not cleverness of phrase. . . remember, if you say something and get misinterpreted because of ambiguity, the blame is shared equally.
1. an evil spirit in male form that is said to have sexual intercourse with women as they sleep. (Cf. succubus.)
2. a frightening dream.
3. anything that oppresses one.
Just to make a niggling point, almost no one uses senses 2 or 3. "Incubus" and "incubi" are almost exclusively used to depict male vampiric entities. (Anyone remember that clever Reebok rep who used the clever CLM of calling a running shoe the "Incubus" a couple years back *G*?)
Jon, I know you write for a living (despite what many other posters here consider what it is you do for a paycheck
Rafe
V^^^^V
From the online poll conducted by the article:
Do you trust Microsoft security?
Yes 7% 823 votes
No 93% 10734 votes
Rafe
V^^^^V
I already get complimentary coasters from AOL.
Why would I want to buy them?
Rafe
V^^^^V
Drakino writes:
By having a faster internet connection and static IP's
This is not the case with all (perhaps not even the majority) of Cable/Broadband ISPs. The service I support uses dynamic IP addressing under DHCP to support our customer base. The only customers who have anything approaching a "static" IP address are those whose machines are on 24/7.
Running/hosting any kind of server on our service is not permitted under the AUP, as is attempting to bypass the DHCP process by assigning a static IP.
While this may upset more knowledgeable users who can -correctly- configure a box to do something, it cuts down on numerous problems. . . problems, apparently, that @Home attempted to ignore and sweep under the carpet.
Personally, I think their "open proxy" solution is 100% BS, and anticipate them getting re-slapped with the UDP within the 30 days they've been put on probation. The only way this might be averted, other than a sudden windfall of clues in their network management department, is if the spammers themselves decide that they like having a big, fat @Home pipeline available and lay low during the next month, only to resume activity once the hot-button interest cools.
Rafe
V^^^^V
Mike-
..|.. or how about oo!oo (for emphasis, of course *grin*)
A potential middle finger emoticon:
Or maybe the "binary four" notation referenced in The Jargon File , which is 00100
Of course, one could always just type "fsck you" and be done with it, but where's the fun in that? *laugh*
Rafe
V^^^^V
There are two ways to respond to the premise put forward by several posters on the subject of "Well, so-and-so wouldn't flame me to my facr IRL!"
;-). Or maybe it's because I make it clear that I'm going to be consistent, regardless of medium, and my opinions are more palatable when heard but not seen.
Well now, that makes two serious assumptions: One, that what incited the flame wasn't so abuse-worthy that whomever said it wouldn't get ridiculed if they said it among real humans in meatspace, and Two, that I have enough respect for them as an entity to avoid laying into them for Item One.
Having met literally hundreds of online acquantences (does this make me an expert? Maybe. Does it give me a substantial baseline from which to draw my conclusions? I like to think so. You may disagree at your leisure. 8-) in meatspace, there are some who translated so accurately from pixel to person that the reaction of those around them was utterly consistent between type and talk. . . for both the beloved and the reviled.
There are people who pissed me off digitally that I simply -cannot- be civil to them, regardless of medium. This seems to surprise a lot of people, not the least of which are the subjects of my derision. . . they assume that, "Hey, It Was Only Online," is a justifiable excuse.
No, a$$hole, it's a copout.
Then again, there have been people who, despite a preponderance for making nothing but noise online actually have cogent and insightful (and funny) comments to share when among other real humans. Perhaps they don't take things as seriously ("It's not real life, it's only ones and zeroes.") as other folks. It's easy to get your knickers twisted. And some people make knicker-twisting a hobby, mission, or just plain are twits.
Some people tend to like me much more in person than they do online. Maybe it's because I'm cute. Maybe it's because I'm more polite and charming (or at least more overtly trying to get into their pants
I couldn't count the number of times people have said, "I thought you'd be this big ogre in person." It surprises me that people assume that being outspoken online translates into an imposing physique in meatspace.
Or maybe it is consistent after a fashion -- you wield your words a certain way, and that's all people have to see of you.
Big words + Big opinions = Big persona ?
Or maybe I take my online time too seriously. Who knows? But I'm not changing. I will still flame lusers, I will still agree to disagree with people whose views are irreconcilable with my own (on the basis of logic, evidence, or plain old gut feelings), and I will remain the same grouchy curmudgeon I've been since stumbling to a VAX terminal in 1992.
This particular collection of synapses and pixels has seen itself threatened by lawsuits from semiliterate, clueless morons (Gary, if you're still online and know how to read, vox vampiri, vox dei *smirk*), been kick-banned from IRC channels for simply disagreeing with a ChanOP over a song title, and, frankly, I enjoy being myself more than I enjoy making the majority of other people happy.
Ayn Rand called it The Virtue of Selfishness, which is as good a name for "looking out for #1" as any other.
Rafe
V^^^^V
Corrinne-
:-)
Just because I forgot to mention this in a previous thread: You Rock.
Rafe
V^^^^V
According to the article, the UDP doesn't start for another week:
Usenet Death Penalty will go into effect at the close of business, 17:00 PST, on Tuesday, 18 January 2000 (19 Jan 2000 01:00:00 GMT).
Presumably to give @home a chance to become YclueK compliant?
Rafe
V^^^^V
If you're just looking to track your stock holdings, money market funds, and that kind of thing and don't mind devoting a few minutes to actually building the information by hand, NASDAQ offers a portfolio tracking service for free on their site. I believe it's a cookie/java solution, so if you're frequently changing pc's or browsers, you might be SOL, but it's fairly simple and straightforward. I haven't played with it in a while, but recall asking them to include long-term growth charts for personal portfolios (like they have for individual stocks), so this might be extant by now.
Rafe
V^^^^V
So, now that you guys are on the brink of obscene wealth, and slashdotters have put up with well, stuff for so long (and the Natalie Portman trolls, and the ACs from hell, and. . . and. . . ), instead of granting Mod Points, will you be handing out Andover.net shares, too? ;-)
Oh, shit, Signal11 is gonna be rich. . . .
Rafe
V^^^^V
Not able to find them at auction? *blink, blink* I have an alpha 500 sitting in a friend's basement that we went halfsies on 3 weeks ago and got for ~$850(US) on ubid. *shrugs* (sorry, this was offtopic, but the nice toys are available, or at least were before xmas ;-)
Rafe
V^^^^V
Assume you own a server to run the following protocols: HTTP, POP/POP3, SMTP, NNTP, telnet, FTP. Can such a machine be secure under -any- OS? If this was sitting in your basement, what would you do with it (after loading Q3A/UT and distributed.net's latest client ;-) to make sure the script kiddies didn't f*ck with you?
Rafe
V^^^^V
L0pht-
As with any of the well-known infosec groups (you, cDc, &c), it's always a far-flung collective of folks who coalesce and make things happen. How did you meet and decide, "hey, we have common goals and interests, let's do this as a team"?
Rafe
V^^^^V
"Internet Appliance." Makes it sound like a retainer for your PC, or some kind of bizarre horror-movie add-on (of course, this is because they're not called "colostomy bags" anymore, they're now "ostomy appliances." Ewwww).
On the upside, combining one of these with an AIBO and one of those sub-dermal GPS chips leads to the ultimate in slack computing:
USER: "Beer me."
AIBO: "What kind of beer?"
USER: Sam Adams / Guinness / Coors / whatever
AIBO digitally checks the fridge, makes sure you're stocked (if you're out, it will purchase some online from your pre-defined list of vendors), trundles to the fridge, and brings it to you, homing in on your GPS signal.
Just think, attach a port-a-potty to AIBO and you'd never have to stand up again!
Rafe
V^^^^V
Someone mentioned the KKK's website(s) in one of the posts. This brings up an interesting (in the Eastern Curse sense of the word) consideration:
;-)
Everyone wants free speech, except when it infringes on their personal beliefs or chosen mores. I know I'm tremendously biased in favor of freedom -except- when it's "abused" IMnsHO by hate groups and other people who do things that offend my (albeit rather loose) morals.
My question boils down to: how do we reconcile perfectly free speech with the rights of individuals and groups to be free from abuse and hostility at the hands of others?
(Mutual Assured Respect seems to be a pipe dream, which is why I haven't risen to power in an anarchy yet.
Rafe
V^^^^V
Wow, this hurt to read. Not only was it too dystopian for a Tuesday (this was pure Monday in a can), it was yet another inaccurate rehashing of Gattaca, apparently Katz' raison d' etre.
Dude, switch to latte or something. Lighten the fsck up. You can only parrot the same hackneyed line so often, and twice in two weeks is -way- too often. (My connection sucks, so digging up his last article is beyond me at this point but folks should remember his diatribe on this same exact subject last week or the one before.)
Gattaca was about (Jon, listen, please) segregation based on genetic makeup. . . NOT about making better people. There were flawed people in first-world countries, even in the "upper" class.
Please draw an accurate analogy. Or do everyone a favor and expand your video/dvd library to include another movie or two. . . like, say, "Dark City" so you can bemoan the march of technology as it pertains to construction.
Rafe
V^^^^V
Torpor, you hit the nail exactly on the head (and beat me to posting it, you cretin ;-).
;-)], and they will buy it -- and the drugs to "fix" their problem.
I'm no expert in the field, and this might even be construed as flamebait, but the wide array of "psychological disabilities" popping up almost daily smacks of companies creating a market for their wares. Pharmaceutical research is far from cheap (given all the testing and certification required, especially in the US), so these companies need to churn up consumption to get a suitable ROI. So instead of a big media blitz (at least, not until the last 18 months or so), they fund "studies" to show that people need to take their drugs because they're not "healthy."
These commercials that have started polluting television. . . *shakes head* Propecia for hair loss, this that and the other for depression. Nine bazillion allergy meds. And the Little Blue God, Viagra. Fer chrissakes, I DO -NOT- NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BOB DOLE'S ERECTILE DISFUNCTION, OKAY???
It's appalling, really. Doctors buy into it because they get paid by the insurance companies for the visit, regardless of whether or not the patient has an illness.
My best friend is a pharmacist, and his internal business model is this:
"Keep the patient alive but just slightly sick for as long as possible. That way, they have to keep refilling their prescription."
It's a brilliant ploy. Tell people the reason they're not happy with their life is because of a chemical imbalance or deficiency, not because they work too hard, don't get enough fresh air and excercize, eat like sh*t [or spend too much time readking John Katz
Can I interest anyone in a bottle of Snake Oil? Cures what ails ya!
Rafe
V^^^^V
John, you forgot one very compelling argument against widespread cloning:
SEX IS FUN.
Rafe
V^^^^V
I finally have a reason to call Katz a shmoo.
Maybe he didn't watch the same "End of Days" I did. Maybe he did a bong hit of bad acid that kept him from seeing any of the wit, the fine acting, or the merciful use of honest-to-god REAL explosions in lieu of the hordes of computer-generated crap (see also: SW:TPM for reference).
Lighten up, Katz. EoD wasn't supposed to be the heavy religious tome "Stigmata" was, even though it wasn't as good. It was an -action- flick that just happened to cast Satan in the role of villain.
A suggestion:
Get a big bottle of vino, and make a Gabriel Byrne triple feature day of it, in this order:
Prophecy (the first one), Stigmata, and EoD.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a bride to find, and 28 days to do it.
Rafe
V^^^^V