I have to disagree with you there. The purpose is to start some sort of grassroots campaign or a watchdog group that will monitor what your senators are doing and try to force a level of transparency with them. This isn't really going to change human behavior, I'll agree with you there, but RTFA next time. It is trying to change the way politics are done. Your citation of apathy seems to be pretty accurate since all you are doing is sitting back complacent about the sad state of politics but don't care enough to try and change that.
I wonder if this is because of the caliber of programmers/engineers who are willing to make some sort of DRM over those who want free access of data, or rather just an arms-race between DRM and the crackers (heh).
So, PC game developers whip up these massive, beautiful games (Crysis), wherein no earthly system of the time can possibly run it at a decent speed, and what can people do?
My brother's setup can run it just fine, and it looks fan-fucking-tastic if I say so myself. I wouldn't say that it is unreachable for most PC gamers, since the only upgrade that I would need would be a DX10 gpu, and i would think that most people who would classify themselves as PC gamers have built their own PCs, and haven't been ripped off by buying some stock PC. While I agree with you that the console market is designed for allowing for any game that developers release on it to be played on it, but that limits the developers to what the console can do.
PC devs can design practically anything that is capable of being run on a top-line computer. So right now I have two PCs I built that outdo anything consoles out there can do, but what happens when the consoles fall far behind? You wait until another one comes out and you can shell out another $300-500 for it, maybe even more. But all I have to do is possibly purchase a new gpu.
You also fail to see that most people who do have a console will also have a PC. So why spend $500-1000 on a PC or laptop, plus $300-500 on a console when you can invest in a superior PC that will outdo both of those?
But like I said earlier, my biggest gripe is that the console is physically limited with what you can do. You can't upgrade, you can't use it for anything else than what it is designed for (with the exception of modded consoles). People like me like flexibility with what they can do. That's why pointing out one or two PC games which your specs aren't capable of reaching doesn't signal that the PC gaming market is dying. PC games which are outperforming console games are still the same price, if not less, than those console games. So I wouldn't say either one is dying, they just have a different market.
I suppose if it were handled like trespassing then the owner of wireless LAN could request that you leave it, and call the "cyber police" if you don't. Wait, I guess they'd be calling the secret service? Or would it be the FBI?
What a ridiculous premise. If people are stupid enough to leave their wireless routers open, then it's their fault if someone uses it. Secure your router or don't complain when someone hops onto it. The other ridiculous part of this bill is that it classifies accessing someone's computer a misdemeanor.
According to the bill, intentional unauthorized access to another person's computer, network, database or software is a misdemeanor.
But then goes on to say this:
He said he didn't want unintentional use like that to be prosecuted the same as computer hacking.
Doesn't computer hacking including unauthorized access to someone's computer? Sorry, but you lost me.
The big deal with it is that they now have a proven method for using spectrum analysis to determine the presence of organic molecules. From the actual research paper:
As these bands can overlap in wavelength, and the corresponding signatures from them are weak, decisive identification requires precision infrared spectroscopy. Here we report a near-infrared transmission spectrum of the planet HD 189733b that shows the presence of methane.
for the proverbial bitch-slap that will follow this from the FCC and customers. If this does in fact get a counter-suit from Comcast, the Supreme Court may end up deciding what to do on this matter, in another 5 years. In the meantime let's see if Congress can grow a pair and implement some net neutrality to topple this "network management."
Well Steve Jobs pretty much represents Apple so that's where the tie-in is. The rest of the article goes on to describe the management design he has within Apple as it is full of secrecy and how Jobs tied the software to the hardware, although I thought OSX will run on any hardware (someone correct me if I'm wrong). There were naysayers who said that idea would fail, but somehow it flourished. I won't spoon feed you the rest of the article, but it basically says he's responsible for the past 10 years of what Apple has done.
If there's no easy-to-find spot and he's in a hurry, Jobs has been known to pull up to Apple's front entrance and park in a handicapped space. (Sometimes he takes up two spaces.)
At the risk of being modded into oblivion, what a dick move. But then again how many handicapped people frequent their office?
It may not be confidential information but it is however informative about the prevalence of the sort of abuse that goes on with investing. You can't tell me that you were aware of such a blatant tool designed to aid with insider trading. It may be technically legal, but 100% unethical. And even more so for an investment firm to prepare a "how-to for dummies." I'm not sure how aware the SEC is of this problem, but that may get wind of it now if you weren't aware of it before.
While I agree with everything else, I don't know about the no known adverse health effects. When smoked it has been linked to an increased risk of gum disease. So maybe eating it or drinking it as tea has no adverse health effects. Plus in general it prevents and helps with glaucoma, one thing I know I'll never get.
What will you do to get more Oregon beer east of the Mississippi river?
But seriously, you state that The manipulation of scientific data and government reports by political appointees must end. And we must stop the revolving door that has put industry lobbyists in charge of protecting our natural resources. How would attempt to improve the reliability of the EPA's research and encourage transparency within its ranks as to thwart its recent politicization and "bullying" of its scientists who don't produce data to support a political agenda?
The cat concentration camps in Beijing have already gotten some bad responses. They are basically culling cats in the city, and it looks like people are being encouraged to give their pet cats to teams who round up cats in the city. The govt says it is to prevent disease, but civet cats wasn't really the problem with SARS so this is just a campaign to clean up their image, which may actually be doing the opposite.
Exactly true, but who's to say that these ISPs will even follow the code that they help write. And what about if they fail to follow it? Obviously they won't do anything to rectify any ethical wrongdoing on their part or government mandated, so why bother if this is just some sort of ethical "contract" with Chinese citizens that doesn't do anything to protect them as customers. It may be a small step, but at least it's in the right direction.
The fact that it is termed a code of conduct seems to me like some sort of appeal to honor that is in Chinese culture. Who knows, that may not be deliberate.
The code is due in the next couple of months and comes in the run up to the Beijing Olympic Games that begin in August.
I am interested in what will happen when the Olympics go the China and the press/visitors/athletes respond to the censorship there. I doubt it would change anything automatically but no doubt will put some pressure on the government since it will be under the scrutiny of the entire world.
Today it is actually fairly hard for people to get away from a computer. At work people need to have one to get emails from coworkers or clients and whatnot and to utilize whatever programs/databases they need to work. They are becoming more prevalent in schools, especially in colleges. Some people may take it to the extreme and spend every waking hour on or near a computer but who complains when someone reads books "too much?" It only becomes a problem is it is an obsessive behavior that interferes with important activities, and who's to say whether a person's addiction to the internet is due to them having an addictive personality in general? I actually love leaving my technology behind when I go on vacation because it completely is a ball and chain. I wonder how many "addictions" arise when something new comes out?
History is informative here, and IMO the risk in the US that "they" will ever come for "me" is nil
That may be true at the moment, but imagine if the spying is allowed to continue and someone gets into power who wants to target people like you, whatever you may be like. The only reason people are upset with the current people in power is that they are the ones who are abusing their power and conducting an illegal spying agenda. That would be the same no matter what person were in power.
Which is exactly why Comedy Central can air things 100% uncensored in their "secret stash." You get Richard Pryor, Robin Williams and any other movies in all their [expletive deleted] glory.
Fox Broadcasting Co., along with ABC, CBS and NBC, challenged the new policy after the commission said broadcasts of entertainment awards shows in 2002 and 2003 were indecent because of profanity uttered by Bono, Cher and Nicole Richie.
I, personally, am offended by anything that comes from the brains of two of those three people.
Like one other poster pointed out, the older seem to be more likely to execute anything they receive in emails or click on the intarwebs. My brother worked in IT for an engineering firm and believe it or not engineers would still open malicious files and infect the network. It may or may not be generational but anyone can be educated about these things.
The PDA thing appears to me to be resisted by young and old. Yeah it's cool you can get internet connectivity but that means you can be reached potentially anytime to do something work related. Your boss can email something to your phone for you to work on at home or on the weekend. That is blurring the line between work life and home life, and I would prefer not to be bothered (unless it's something extremely important) if I'm not at work with something that can wait 12 hours.
I would gather that this is another medium of long-distance communication that uses less energy than current ones do. You do know how saturated the spectrum of communication is, so why nay-say a possibly useful advancement that is in testing and research stages. Innovation is always welcome as long as it serves some sort of purpose, but your skepticism is most likely warranted.
Although is it particle communication or wave communication? If it were a wave then it would just be another wavelength of radiation to shoot into space. And I'm not even sure if particle communication is a real term, but a quick google proves me wrong (or right).
Slashdot Mirror
I have to disagree with you there. The purpose is to start some sort of grassroots campaign or a watchdog group that will monitor what your senators are doing and try to force a level of transparency with them. This isn't really going to change human behavior, I'll agree with you there, but RTFA next time. It is trying to change the way politics are done. Your citation of apathy seems to be pretty accurate since all you are doing is sitting back complacent about the sad state of politics but don't care enough to try and change that.
I wonder if this is because of the caliber of programmers/engineers who are willing to make some sort of DRM over those who want free access of data, or rather just an arms-race between DRM and the crackers (heh).
PC devs can design practically anything that is capable of being run on a top-line computer. So right now I have two PCs I built that outdo anything consoles out there can do, but what happens when the consoles fall far behind? You wait until another one comes out and you can shell out another $300-500 for it, maybe even more. But all I have to do is possibly purchase a new gpu.
You also fail to see that most people who do have a console will also have a PC. So why spend $500-1000 on a PC or laptop, plus $300-500 on a console when you can invest in a superior PC that will outdo both of those?
But like I said earlier, my biggest gripe is that the console is physically limited with what you can do. You can't upgrade, you can't use it for anything else than what it is designed for (with the exception of modded consoles). People like me like flexibility with what they can do. That's why pointing out one or two PC games which your specs aren't capable of reaching doesn't signal that the PC gaming market is dying. PC games which are outperforming console games are still the same price, if not less, than those console games. So I wouldn't say either one is dying, they just have a different market.
(just smile and nod, smile and nod. they'll never know you have no idea what this means)
I suppose if it were handled like trespassing then the owner of wireless LAN could request that you leave it, and call the "cyber police" if you don't. Wait, I guess they'd be calling the secret service? Or would it be the FBI?
Here is the abstract.
for the proverbial bitch-slap that will follow this from the FCC and customers. If this does in fact get a counter-suit from Comcast, the Supreme Court may end up deciding what to do on this matter, in another 5 years. In the meantime let's see if Congress can grow a pair and implement some net neutrality to topple this "network management."
Well Steve Jobs pretty much represents Apple so that's where the tie-in is. The rest of the article goes on to describe the management design he has within Apple as it is full of secrecy and how Jobs tied the software to the hardware, although I thought OSX will run on any hardware (someone correct me if I'm wrong). There were naysayers who said that idea would fail, but somehow it flourished. I won't spoon feed you the rest of the article, but it basically says he's responsible for the past 10 years of what Apple has done.
It may not be confidential information but it is however informative about the prevalence of the sort of abuse that goes on with investing. You can't tell me that you were aware of such a blatant tool designed to aid with insider trading. It may be technically legal, but 100% unethical. And even more so for an investment firm to prepare a "how-to for dummies." I'm not sure how aware the SEC is of this problem, but that may get wind of it now if you weren't aware of it before.
While I agree with everything else, I don't know about the no known adverse health effects. When smoked it has been linked to an increased risk of gum disease. So maybe eating it or drinking it as tea has no adverse health effects. Plus in general it prevents and helps with glaucoma, one thing I know I'll never get.
Damn that pesky DiHydroOxide. It's already concentrated in your body through the years. Your own body is 60% concentrated with DiHydroOxide!
What will you do to get more Oregon beer east of the Mississippi river?
But seriously, you state that The manipulation of scientific data and government reports by political appointees must end. And we must stop the revolving door that has put industry lobbyists in charge of protecting our natural resources. How would attempt to improve the reliability of the EPA's research and encourage transparency within its ranks as to thwart its recent politicization and "bullying" of its scientists who don't produce data to support a political agenda?
The cat concentration camps in Beijing have already gotten some bad responses. They are basically culling cats in the city, and it looks like people are being encouraged to give their pet cats to teams who round up cats in the city. The govt says it is to prevent disease, but civet cats wasn't really the problem with SARS so this is just a campaign to clean up their image, which may actually be doing the opposite.
Exactly true, but who's to say that these ISPs will even follow the code that they help write. And what about if they fail to follow it? Obviously they won't do anything to rectify any ethical wrongdoing on their part or government mandated, so why bother if this is just some sort of ethical "contract" with Chinese citizens that doesn't do anything to protect them as customers. It may be a small step, but at least it's in the right direction.
The fact that it is termed a code of conduct seems to me like some sort of appeal to honor that is in Chinese culture. Who knows, that may not be deliberate.
Today it is actually fairly hard for people to get away from a computer. At work people need to have one to get emails from coworkers or clients and whatnot and to utilize whatever programs/databases they need to work. They are becoming more prevalent in schools, especially in colleges. Some people may take it to the extreme and spend every waking hour on or near a computer but who complains when someone reads books "too much?" It only becomes a problem is it is an obsessive behavior that interferes with important activities, and who's to say whether a person's addiction to the internet is due to them having an addictive personality in general? I actually love leaving my technology behind when I go on vacation because it completely is a ball and chain. I wonder how many "addictions" arise when something new comes out?
Which is exactly why Comedy Central can air things 100% uncensored in their "secret stash." You get Richard Pryor, Robin Williams and any other movies in all their [expletive deleted] glory.
[expletive deleted] != Fuck
Just kidding.
Like one other poster pointed out, the older seem to be more likely to execute anything they receive in emails or click on the intarwebs. My brother worked in IT for an engineering firm and believe it or not engineers would still open malicious files and infect the network. It may or may not be generational but anyone can be educated about these things.
The PDA thing appears to me to be resisted by young and old. Yeah it's cool you can get internet connectivity but that means you can be reached potentially anytime to do something work related. Your boss can email something to your phone for you to work on at home or on the weekend. That is blurring the line between work life and home life, and I would prefer not to be bothered (unless it's something extremely important) if I'm not at work with something that can wait 12 hours.
I would gather that this is another medium of long-distance communication that uses less energy than current ones do. You do know how saturated the spectrum of communication is, so why nay-say a possibly useful advancement that is in testing and research stages. Innovation is always welcome as long as it serves some sort of purpose, but your skepticism is most likely warranted.
Although is it particle communication or wave communication? If it were a wave then it would just be another wavelength of radiation to shoot into space. And I'm not even sure if particle communication is a real term, but a quick google proves me wrong (or right).
We got a decent firing photon cannon.