Don't forget the folks who believe it's morally wrong to block ads. I had a long conversation with a college professor of programming who believes that quite strongly.
I used to just remove the context menu key and the insert key from my keyboard. But about 10 years ago, I mapped the context menu key to launch zombo.com. It seems most folks aren't familiar with the key's purpose - a fun prop for showing newbs how modern computing is so advanced, a single key-click is the only thing that stands between you and your ability to "do anything you want..."
Information doesn't want anything, of course, as far as the word is normally understood; it's argued that the idea that everything that is, is, in essence, information, is, in part, that which makes the "information age" different/interesting, especially when things like music and movies are, by time/technology, presented as information one can easily manipulate, share, copy, e.c. In this way, if the only wars that have ever been fought have been wars for information, it makes sense that the movie/music companies feel as though they're being attacked. But it's rather like a bad dream, where no matter how thick the will surges, one punches as though under water - and it ends up looking like the silly death dance of an expiring culture. Science almost demands that thinkers regard everything as information; normal, non-thinking people, including those who sell movies/music, will now have their chance to contribute to the discussion about what stuff is. I'm learning lots from the discourse, but the whole thing makes me grumpy!
NoScript and AdBlock Plus do the trick for me. I just block script and images from facebook.com so I don't ever have to see them or worry about tracking. And, obviously, don't use the service in the first place.
I experience the camera-perspective phenomenon quite regularly. The thing that gets me, is that it always seems to be the loudest (and most listened-to) gadgetry advocates that are guilty of this. The folks who, at this point, have to whip out their Macintosh personal computer at such occasions because it's... expected of them or something. So they do, and then proceed to do precisely as you noted.
It's pretty telling when I attend a meeting, and all of the tech representatives have a piece of paper and a pencil, and all of the managers, deans, etc. have Macintosh personal computers. If there were some variation to this phenomenon, perhaps it would require more thought.
I've always wondered if the odd, round-shaped area in the "Northeast Kingdom" of Vermont was one, though I've never mentioned it to anyone until now. I used to wallpaper my room with topographic and relief maps as a kid, and that has always rather stuck out whenever I look at a relief map of VT.
Principia Mathematica is a more recent composition by Bertrand Russell and Alfred Whitehead. I only mention this because I have a (33 year old) friend who learned calculus from Newton's untranslated Latin text. She can do square roots in her sleep...
First, the parent poster to your comment didn't say that Facebook specifically makes money from selling private information. I heard it explained very well on NPR a day or so ago. I think this is more analogy than technical, but here goes:
1. Advertisers have been collecting information on your browsing habits for some time. Data has been stored without a distinct identifier. Picture a huge file with tons of very revealing data about you, with no actual name attached.
2. You provide your real name on Farcebook, click on a few things.
3. The identifying data in the URL of your referring location broadcasts your real name to advertisers.
4. Advertisers suddenly can put a distinct name the massive folder of online browsing habits they have been amassing.
5. Advertisers profit. They keep paying Farcebook to keep turning a blind eye. Farcebook profits. Everyone is happy, including the user who meant to do this when they signed up for the great new service that skewers your information at no cost to the user. ~
For me, the rub is that the service, from their perspective, *exists* solely to do the above. And yet they basically lie very openly to their users in stating that they are "shocked" that this kind of thing is going on. I think TFA addresses this frustration.
Agreed. I was just explaining this to a friend moments before I read your post.
As for the Twit-Hate noted earlier, (and in every post on/. about the service), appropriation of the octothorpe is irritating, middle-managers convinced that Twit-marketing will solve all their problems is tedious, lame Twits are... twits, but my main complaint is the irritating name. I'm just so tired of the all the irritating names... it's enough to make me start to hate he kinds of spiffy technologies that used to bring me great joy. I'm still not over the whole ''i'' thing. I'll never forget the Kindle marketing release video, how the ''i'' swims right out at you when the name dissipates to bring in the next frame. I'm just tired of it all.
"Shalom, they call me the Alpha Scientist. I own a nutraceuticals
company; I own a Human testing facility in the University of Florida
and have hundreds of researchers working under me. I have spent 24
years of my life in medicine quantifying scientific and medical
breakthroughs. As you have heard I received the first glycemic patent
worldwide and I received the first patent on L- Arginine in the
production of the anti-aging hormones for growth hormone and
testosterone, which are the main mechanism of aging.
I am a multi-millionaire many times over for my patents. One of my
patents was named breakthrough product of the year by success magazine
and I beat Bill Gates out that year for the award. It is always nice
to beat Bill Gates at anything I think the message I want to deliver
is: I am head of the Agel medical advisory board, the Scientific
advisory board so anything that goes in your mouth is my
responsibility. I take that real seriously. So in order for you to
trust the products, you need to trust me. And in order to trust me you
need to know who I am and what I stand for. That is the most important
thing..."
It goes on for quite a while beyond that, and gets progressively funnier. LINK
Naw - he's just being all 1337 and using the ampersand instead of the word "at" (_much_ hipper!), and probably telling him to join those two IRC channels for assistance, though he forgot to note the server. Talk about IT fail(ure)!
Concurred; I'd have no problem with these kind of classes if the "scholars" were all well-versed (at least) in the Classics, History, and Philosophy prior to taking these courses.
As a Liberal Arts student who specifically went (waay) out of my way to cultivate a Classical LA education, I find it despicable that anyone would waste time with stuff like this when there is enough time-tested literature to last a lifetime of traditional study.
And before flaming, consider that I too took a class or two like this, and couldn't believe how immeasurably useless it was compared to later transferring and studying Classics and the Concepts of the Hero, etc., at Harvard.
In my experience, a directory/book for private high schools and colleges which shows a head-shot of each student and faculty member, gives their address on campus and their home address, has been called a "Facebook" for a long time. And seeing as Facebook was originally open to only.edu users, I'm pretty sure that was the idea.
That's what it was called at the school I attended in the early 90's anyway.
You got it! I've heard myself painting that exact scenario for younger gamers. Those late-night sessions were some of the most impressionably freaky moments of my life!
Schopenhauer wrote about compassion as the real primary/genuine moral incentive ("Foundation of Ethics", p.173, EFJP).
If ravens do this too, is this fodder for (moral) Realism - even in an existentialist or materialist context?
I'll acknowledge that it's partly deranged, but I love computers. I love solving errors, learning new languages, modding hardware, accessing networks, or relieving someone's stress over what is often an easy, though evasive solution. I enjoy the challenges, (I consult, develop, and support - and have enjoyed computers since my first, in 1981), and I love when they do what they're supposed to - which is _most_ of the time...
Hating idiot users is understandable. But being fairly sure there aren't any non-idiots on the planet, I always deal with my supervisor, and his malformed, icon-tangle-desktop with a dose of taoism.
Hatred for imperfect systems and needless complexity is obvious; computer-love is still inspired though... modern technology is one of the only everyday-accessible realms of wonder we have at this point in history.
Slashdot Mirror
Hahaa yeah!
Which means they're likely skipping class to play Dungeons & Dragons!
I loved the afk yo-yo!
Don't forget the folks who believe it's morally wrong to block ads. I had a long conversation with a college professor of programming who believes that quite strongly.
I used to just remove the context menu key and the insert key from my keyboard. But about 10 years ago, I mapped the context menu key to launch zombo.com. It seems most folks aren't familiar with the key's purpose - a fun prop for showing newbs how modern computing is so advanced, a single key-click is the only thing that stands between you and your ability to "do anything you want..."
All wars have been wars for information.
Information doesn't want anything, of course, as far as the word is normally understood; it's argued that the idea that everything that is, is, in essence, information, is, in part, that which makes the "information age" different/interesting, especially when things like music and movies are, by time/technology, presented as information one can easily manipulate, share, copy, e.c. In this way, if the only wars that have ever been fought have been wars for information, it makes sense that the movie/music companies feel as though they're being attacked. But it's rather like a bad dream, where no matter how thick the will surges, one punches as though under water - and it ends up looking like the silly death dance of an expiring culture. Science almost demands that thinkers regard everything as information; normal, non-thinking people, including those who sell movies/music, will now have their chance to contribute to the discussion about what stuff is. I'm learning lots from the discourse, but the whole thing makes me grumpy!
NoScript and AdBlock Plus do the trick for me. I just block script and images from facebook.com so I don't ever have to see them or worry about tracking. And, obviously, don't use the service in the first place.
I experience the camera-perspective phenomenon quite regularly. The thing that gets me, is that it always seems to be the loudest (and most listened-to) gadgetry advocates that are guilty of this. The folks who, at this point, have to whip out their Macintosh personal computer at such occasions because it's... expected of them or something. So they do, and then proceed to do precisely as you noted.
It's pretty telling when I attend a meeting, and all of the tech representatives have a piece of paper and a pencil, and all of the managers, deans, etc. have Macintosh personal computers. If there were some variation to this phenomenon, perhaps it would require more thought.
I've always wondered if the odd, round-shaped area in the "Northeast Kingdom" of Vermont was one, though I've never mentioned it to anyone until now. I used to wallpaper my room with topographic and relief maps as a kid, and that has always rather stuck out whenever I look at a relief map of VT.
http://www.vermont-map.org/vermont.jpg
Did you mean to reference Newton's Principles of Math in Nature (Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica)?
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/newton-principia/
Principia Mathematica is a more recent composition by Bertrand Russell and Alfred Whitehead. I only mention this because I have a (33 year old) friend who learned calculus from Newton's untranslated Latin text. She can do square roots in her sleep...
First, the parent poster to your comment didn't say that Facebook specifically makes money from selling private information. I heard it explained very well on NPR a day or so ago. I think this is more analogy than technical, but here goes:
1. Advertisers have been collecting information on your browsing habits for some time. Data has been stored without a distinct identifier. Picture a huge file with tons of very revealing data about you, with no actual name attached.
2. You provide your real name on Farcebook, click on a few things.
3. The identifying data in the URL of your referring location broadcasts your real name to advertisers.
4. Advertisers suddenly can put a distinct name the massive folder of online browsing habits they have been amassing.
5. Advertisers profit. They keep paying Farcebook to keep turning a blind eye. Farcebook profits. Everyone is happy, including the user who meant to do this when they signed up for the great new service that skewers your information at no cost to the user. ~ For me, the rub is that the service, from their perspective, *exists* solely to do the above. And yet they basically lie very openly to their users in stating that they are "shocked" that this kind of thing is going on. I think TFA addresses this frustration.
Nope, that's a googol...
Media love is usually a good indicator of things I can safely and happily ignore. Good to know that I can happily continue ignoring Apple.
Agreed. I was just explaining this to a friend moments before I read your post.
/. about the service), appropriation of the octothorpe is irritating, middle-managers convinced that Twit-marketing will solve all their problems is tedious, lame Twits are... twits, but my main complaint is the irritating name. I'm just so tired of the all the irritating names... it's enough to make me start to hate he kinds of spiffy technologies that used to bring me great joy. I'm still not over the whole ''i'' thing. I'll never forget the Kindle marketing release video, how the ''i'' swims right out at you when the name dissipates to bring in the next frame. I'm just tired of it all.
As for the Twit-Hate noted earlier, (and in every post on
It just gets better! From "medkb.com"
"Shalom, they call me the Alpha Scientist. I own a nutraceuticals company; I own a Human testing facility in the University of Florida and have hundreds of researchers working under me. I have spent 24 years of my life in medicine quantifying scientific and medical breakthroughs. As you have heard I received the first glycemic patent worldwide and I received the first patent on L- Arginine in the production of the anti-aging hormones for growth hormone and testosterone, which are the main mechanism of aging.
I am a multi-millionaire many times over for my patents. One of my patents was named breakthrough product of the year by success magazine and I beat Bill Gates out that year for the award. It is always nice to beat Bill Gates at anything I think the message I want to deliver is: I am head of the Agel medical advisory board, the Scientific advisory board so anything that goes in your mouth is my responsibility. I take that real seriously. So in order for you to trust the products, you need to trust me. And in order to trust me you need to know who I am and what I stand for. That is the most important thing..."
It goes on for quite a while beyond that, and gets progressively funnier. LINK
Naw - he's just being all 1337 and using the ampersand instead of the word "at" (_much_ hipper!), and probably telling him to join those two IRC channels for assistance, though he forgot to note the server. Talk about IT fail(ure)!
Hear! Hear! My thoughts exactly.
Concurred; I'd have no problem with these kind of classes if the "scholars" were all well-versed (at least) in the Classics, History, and Philosophy prior to taking these courses. As a Liberal Arts student who specifically went (waay) out of my way to cultivate a Classical LA education, I find it despicable that anyone would waste time with stuff like this when there is enough time-tested literature to last a lifetime of traditional study.
And before flaming, consider that I too took a class or two like this, and couldn't believe how immeasurably useless it was compared to later transferring and studying Classics and the Concepts of the Hero, etc., at Harvard.
Stop all the downloadin'!
#15!
I can't help but bring Penn Jillette's essay on Walkmans into this, which someone has posted here: Being Morally Opposed to the Walkman Carries with it Certain Responsibilities
In my experience, a directory/book for private high schools and colleges which shows a head-shot of each student and faculty member, gives their address on campus and their home address, has been called a "Facebook" for a long time. And seeing as Facebook was originally open to only .edu users, I'm pretty sure that was the idea.
That's what it was called at the school I attended in the early 90's anyway.
You got it! I've heard myself painting that exact scenario for younger gamers. Those late-night sessions were some of the most impressionably freaky moments of my life!
Schopenhauer wrote about compassion as the real primary/genuine moral incentive ("Foundation of Ethics", p.173, EFJP). If ravens do this too, is this fodder for (moral) Realism - even in an existentialist or materialist context?
Comic Louis CK put it best in his criticism of impatience and lack of appreciation for technology.
I'll acknowledge that it's partly deranged, but I love computers. I love solving errors, learning new languages, modding hardware, accessing networks, or relieving someone's stress over what is often an easy, though evasive solution. I enjoy the challenges, (I consult, develop, and support - and have enjoyed computers since my first, in 1981), and I love when they do what they're supposed to - which is _most_ of the time...
Hating idiot users is understandable. But being fairly sure there aren't any non-idiots on the planet, I always deal with my supervisor, and his malformed, icon-tangle-desktop with a dose of taoism.
Hatred for imperfect systems and needless complexity is obvious; computer-love is still inspired though... modern technology is one of the only everyday-accessible realms of wonder we have at this point in history.