Based on the strings at https://bitcoinstrings.com/all, it appears someone encoded the entire Hidden Wiki main page's text into the chain. Is this the abusive content they're referring to?
There's a thing called the RedFly which lets you basically add a subnotebook-sized console to your mobile phone via bluetooth or USB.. It has no CPU or storage, per se, but appears to work kinda like a thin client: it adds a 7" screen, QWERTY, touchpad, and some host USB ports. I dunno how well or fast it works, but it's definitely out there. http://www.celiocorp.com/ about $300 IIRC..
Wowie! I want one!
Oh, wait a second. My HTC 8925/Tilt/TyTN-II IS such a computer!
"It can connect to the Internet using a standard Wi-Fi connection, or it can use your cell phone's mobile broadband connection via Bluetooth.."
Yep. This here 8925 does all that, QWERTY keyboard, et c, PLUS has its own internal mobile carrier access, independent of Bluetooth (which it also has!) That seems to be at least one notch better than TFA's "mobile computer" if you ask me.
HTC 8925 = Windows Mobile = Pocket PC = Pocket Personal Computer. (computer being the operative word here)
As the legendary Blackbeard once said, "This arrrrren't news...!" ^_^
I have a PocketPC, which contains TWO batteries, the main one and a nonremovable auxiliary one which keeps the VRAM alive while the main one is drained or removed.
I doubt that the iXXXXes have any such backup battery system, which I imagine is a cost-saving manufacturing move when coupled with the nonremovable battery "feature."
Therefore, IMO, besides the obvious re-engineering required to build a battery door and bay and electric contacts, et c., they would have to make some kind of backup system to preserve whatever's in battery-backed RAM.. Hence the "shit, I got my iPhone back working but it's wiped!"
Of course, if the iXXXXes store their OS and related settings on the NV storage, this whole post is moot. I honestly don't know because I generally avoid things which seem to have to remind me that they were "Designed in California" (*oooooooooooooooooooooh!*)
OK, i shoulda RTFA first, it isn't the same attack.. Kinda similar, and just as evil.. Apparently the strength of both attacks is in the process of sending a FLOOD of spoofed packets and hope that just one of them makes it through in the correct sequence.
Eeeevil.
I, for one, believe that every human should have an inalienable right to be NOT bombarded by advertising, but the sad truth is it just isn't possible.
No matter where you go, some schmuck is trying to sell you something.. Whether it's a simple sign stuck on the side of the road for XYZ diet pills, or an empty soda can someone littered on the ground in the middle of a pristine forest meadow.. You see and recognize the branding, and it's completely pervasive.
If you want to block ads in IE, you can use the built-in "Restricted Sites" features in the Security tab of the Internet Options. It's so handy, you can even use wildcards. For instance, with a simple addition of "*.intellitxt.com", you can render quite a few websites instantly less annoying.
I wish this guy's site wasn't under DoS/SlashdotEffect/whatever, because I'd absolutely LOVE to get his personal, unique AdSense URL and post it for all to explicitly add to their adblockers/Restricted Sites/etc!!
Screw you, Danny Carlton. People with stupid agendas are one thing, but those who try and make their agenda your agenda, should be minding their own damn business.
Maybe some miscreants could click his ads with unnatural frequency, causing a click-fraud investigation/forfeiture to occu--- *cough* er, did I say that out loud?
Although this post is technically only relevant to the OP's commentary, please don't mod me OffTopic..
I was wondering, "wtf? dragons? maps?" and rather than post an annoying OT question, I looked it up. Very interesting, and if you're wondering about the OP's reference above, I found a useful page here and here.
And don't flame me for not knowing this either. At least I'm sharing the knowledge now:)
-W5i2
1) "Gypsies" should be capitalized like any other proper noun. They are an ethnic group, like Jews or Serbs or Albanians or Koreans, and should be capitalized as such.:)
2) This reminds me of an article I read some years ago, maybe in Popular Science, which mentioned how certain people (in this case, those with a rare genetic-abnormality-caused blindness) would marry others with the same condition and have children, and the article pointed out how very BAD an idea this is, since both parties' recessive genetic abnormalities would now become a dominant trait, and guarantee the offspring to have the same genetic abnormality!
3) I apologize for possibly baiting flames here, but I must mention that I've long been of the opinion that the human race is ultimately doomed to failure for one simple reason: Unlike EVERY other species on the planet, we allow our weak to survive and persist.. Of course, with my godawful 20/160 eyesight, I certainly consider myself among the "weak" and probably deserve to be NaturallySelected(tm) out of the picture..
Microwaves tend to manifest their damage in the corneal epithelial cells first, rather than the retinal receptors.. As one is exposed to microwave radiation (specifically, the 2.4GHz frequency of water molecules) they will begin to experience opthalmic effects similar to cataracts. By the time your retina is past the point of no return, you're likely already trying your damnedest to see through some extremely cloudy (and incidentally irreparable) corneas..
Microwaves bad. Magnetron bad. Klystron bad. Radiant EMF energy is bad for our meaty shells.
This guy and his deep-fried immersion-cooled antics are extremely foolish. Two words: Lead Poisoning. It's a serious threat, even from merely HANDLING circuit boards and components and not washing your hands. This is coming from a guy who works in electronics fab. NIOSH/OSHA rules surrounding lead-based solder-related materials are there for a very good reason.
I'm only stating this because from TFA (the fry-guy one), there wasn't but one or two brief mentions of the toxicity of doing such a thing, and I think it's likely someone's gonna see this and try it themselves without knowing the consequences (long-term nervous system damage, reproductive harm, etc..)
I imagine that since these X360 heatsinks are NOT designed for cooking anything intended for human consumption, they probably don't do a whole lot at the factory to make sure the cooling vanes (or any other exposed components, for that matter) are free of heavy metals and other residual nasties they use during fabrication: conformal coatings, solvents, fluxes, paints, etc.. This one reason why they don't allow bunny-suited employees to eat their meatloaf whilst inside the clean room..
It's just a Bad Idea(TM), whichever way you look at it. Everyone should know this stuff. Just google it up: Heavy Metal Poisoning
It looks to me like they were wanting a name playing off of "Firefox" (since it is a derivative), following the "" naming convention.
Perhaps they went through various attempts, such as SteamWombat, DirtPossum, WaterVole, AirSloth, et c., until deciding upon "IceWeasel" since it also shares the Matt Groening reference.
Software has been using pop-culture name references for a while now, and I think it's nice to see the poor-snowmobile-bastard-eating Ice Weasels get their turn in the spotlight.. but maybe that's just me.:)
No flame here, but I must point out that you're wrong about the "free speech" approach. "end users ability to receive free speech" ?? WTF?!
You're also assuming a utopian situation where "opt-in" violators don't exist. I don't recall "opting in" to the V1AGR4 and "h0rse d1ckky" e-mails! As an "end user", I STRICTLY PROHIBIT these troglodytes from sending me ANY advertising crap!
Bottom line: My right to not be bothered by scumbags supercedes ANYONE ELSE'S RIGHT to bother me, whether the foul stuff pouring from their mind is "free speech" or not! These spammers obviously violate that [very personal] rule, and judging by the mere existence of SpamHaus, I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Right in line with the EFF's stance on spam-blocking, end users do have the CHOICE to use SBL or not use SBL. SpamHaus doesn't force anyone to use their SBL, which they provide as a public service! SpamHaus is not infringing on ANYONE'S "first-amendment right" to send unsolicited "free-speech" advertisements (cough, cough) in any way, shape or form.
If I manufacture catapults, and somehow it's not illegal for me to launch large bundles of elephant dung across the city, do I have a right to sue the inevitable company who would market an effective flying-elephant-poo shield? I seriously doubt it..
What, next it'll be illegal for MTA admins to block spammer servers using their own blacklists?
They should implement explosive packet payloads into IPv6. ^_^
Let's not forget that microprocessors aren't capable of generating true randomness. An external source of entropy is required, such as a Lava Lamp, decaying Cesium-137 atoms, or something else..
Now, I gotta say it would be pretty cool if these iPods use a vibration-sensing mechanism to gather enough entropy to seed the PRNG!
There's a distinct difference between pornography, erotic art, and just plain 'ol photography.
A picture of a naked 14-year-old boy or girl, just standing there in a neutral kind of way, not sexually suggestive at all, is completely legal as an artistic shot. My parents have photos of me as a baby, all nekkid with my little baby wee-wee and everything (curses!!) but I highly doubt they could even be considered remotely illegal.
Now, that same 14-yr-old doing something suggestive or posing in a not-for-kids manner would definitely be considered porn and thusly illegal. I'm not sure what the rules are regarding erotica and minors.
There are many professional photographers who aren't kiddie-pornographers, who take nude photos of their subjects whether they're of legal age or not.. This could also include medical imaging, as well as anything else it could include which I can't remember right now.
I wonder how long before someone uses CGI to make artificial kiddie-pr0n.. "but she's not underage, Your Honor! Right here in the code, her age is commented: Nine hundred." Loopholes, glorious loopholes. Just FYI, IANACP.
Thanks, Raven, for your informative reply. I believe I read a reprint of the same article not too long ago, during the whole Ionic Breeze furor.
As to where I learned this... all hail Popular Mechanics. An article way back in the late 70's demonstrated these, but not to make ions... they demonstrated a grid powerful enough to take off. Imagine a perfectly silent helicopter with no moving parts, trailing a thick heavy power cable (because they couldn't generate enough electricity onboard to lift it on its own). Definitely a nifty idea.
I once stumbled across these 'lifter' thingies which seem to be a similar topic, and a smaller scale version of the helicopter you mentioned. They apparently operate around 24 kilovolts, and consume about 70 watts of power. (WARNING: potential crackpot alert at the above site.. Don't flame me; you were duly warned.)
Do they make an "Ibonic Breeze" for the African-American markets? (Joke, sheesh!)
Article: Male avatars (whether created by a man or a woman) stood further apart than female avatars, for instance, and were more likely to avert their gaze. And when an avatar gets within a few metres of another, the user reduces eye contact by moving their character to face slightly to the right or the left of the other 'person'.
Now, as a semi-regular presence in Second Life, I must say that the statements above are not necessarily true. The SL avatar's gaze follows the UI mouse pointer, and considering that the average user spends a lot of time in the UI navigating through inventory/item edit/whatnot, I think it can be said that a good portion of an avatar's gaze direction is a side-effect of the real user's actions at the time. Even if they are "moving their character to face slightly to the right or the left of the other 'person'.", their eyes don't remain fixed on one location. It's just as easy to have [the virtual-world equivalent appearance of] eye-contact with the other individual(s) as if you're facing them directly.. It's all about what you're doing with the mouse at the time.
Argh. tddoog said: "Be careful what you wish for. Bulk mailing helps subsidize the current mail system. Without it, either prices would go up or there would be a reduction in service (mail delivery every other day). Remember the USPS is one of the few gov't organizations that supports itself without taxes. All of the bureaucracy and none of the pork."
Whaaat?! You're kidding, right? So we pay $$$ for stamps for what reason? You seem to be a bit factually impaired:
Those bulk obnoxious "Smart Shopper" mailouts are not affiliated with the USPS in any way! They are marketing spam sent out by private companies who are only interested in profits, and not the public message delivery infrastructure (beyond the enabling of their trade, that is..)
Ever get those newspaper-like ads, and nested in the middle of them is the "Missing Person" card? THAT is your culprit right there. Federal postal regulations require that ALL spammy mailouts must contain a reference to the actual company sending it out. Look for the card, contact the company who made the card, and request that they remove you from their marketing lists. Simple. And doing so does not hurt the USPS in any way.
The main companies responsible for the junk? ADVO Inc., PennySaver, The Flyer, Val-Pak. Note that none of these are the United States Postal Service. Again, I must point out the ever-inflating price of postage stamps. I remember when postage for a standard letter was only $0.23! If mail delivery is subsidized by junk mail, then where does my stamp money go?
evilviper said:
"FreeDOS has really poor compatibility with everything I try. Try to run some MS-DOS program, and it aborts before showing anything, or perhaps acts in very weird ways, sometimes doing real damage."
Perhaps?? What, you're not sure how it's acting? Sometimes doing real damage..??? What?! Like how, causing your hard disk to burst into flames? Causing your monitor's side paneling to melt off? Please, be specific about how FreeDOS "perhaps, does real damage" to your computer! It is extremely hard to do any "real" damage to a computer through software means. The worst-case scenario is BIOS-failure-based bricking of your box, and if FreeDOS is capable or likely to do that, I would be very afraid, but this is simply not the case.
It generally takes a very specific and directed effort to cause "real damage" to a PC. It's well known that there have been a couple of viruses in the past which were capable of nuking your CMOS. However, a sledgehammer is just as useful if you're looking for "real damage".
evilviper also said:
"The main thing I tried it for, quite recently, was partitioning/formatting, as Windows has a few limitations in that regard. After finishing the job, Windows couldn't even read the partion. FreeDOS is a LONG way from 100% compatible."
Which version of Windows couldn't see the partition? How big was the FreeDOS partition you tried? Does your BIOS support the size of the hard drive you were testing? In order to make such statements, one should be specific with the details. And if you really want to convince people to NOT use FreeDOS, you should maybe explain just how it "is a LONG way from 100% compatible." besides vague failures.. For all we know, the problem could actually exist between the keyboard and the chair, you evil viper you!
You seem to have a lot of Anti-FreeDOS FUD with no real facts to back it up.. You work for Microsoft, perhaps?
My personal reasons to love FreeDOS (recent Win32-ports aside): Terminal Velocity, DOOM, DOOM II, Descent 1 & 2, Death Rally, Epic Pinball.. The list is almost endless! And it's not for the gaming, it's for the nostalgia and memories.
I realize this totally misses the point of TFA, but..
Just go to http://www.bootdisk.com/ and download one of many different illicit/fuzzy/licit DOS bootable images, among others. These guys have been around for some time.. ^_^
It's so disappointing when fundamentalists have to go and screw it up for the rest of the human race. That seems to be the trend these days, all over the world.:P
This story seems to contain yet another example of the press/media tendency to misconstrue certain facts in order to further their FUD-based agendas (no, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. It is a well-known fact that FUD sells-- See "Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley!)
Molotov cocktails are not bombs. Bombs explode. Molotovs burn. They are what's known as an "incendiary". A molotov will only burn when thrown and allowed to rupture, thus spreading the flammable contents and furthering its incendiary goals.
In summary: Incendiaries do not ablate! They conflagrate!!
If you light a molotov (let's assume one made of a glass cola bottle filled with gasoline and stuffed with a pretty blue cotton shop rag) and leave it sitting there, you'll end up with a poorly-ventilated flame after the rag finally burns away. Up to that point, it will behave like an oil lamp, wicking up the fuel until the liquid level drops below the rag's lower height.
Once the flame reaches a certain point, oxygen can't get down into the lip of the bottle due to the heavier fuel vapor filling the container, so the flame goes out. The flame will never burn hot enough to melt the glass bottle. In the end, you're left with a slightly charred hot glass bottle full of warm fuming gasoline. Shatter the bottle before the flame extinguishes, and that's a whole different story.. With many flammable liquids, the efficiency is relative to the amount of surface area exposed to the oxidizer. Combustion engines vaporize the fuel and mix it with air at or before the intake vent, in order to maximize this surface area..
I know these things from personal experience. I did my share of experimentation as a kid, and I learned all the dynamics of the standard childhood-discoveries arsenal: firecrackers, bicycles, gasoline, tennis balls, anthills, slingshots, BB guns, nudie magazines.. (nothing beyond the normal teen hijinks, mind you. I'm no delinquent!)
Back to the subject.. For anyone to "leave" a molotov cocktail, lit or unlit, is just plain ineffective. It's like those people who believe that you can ignite a service-station full of gasoline just by dropping your lit cigarette in a puddle.. Not true! I've extinguished lit cigarette butts in gasoline, and they all just went "sssssst!" as if I'd dropped them in water. Again, it comes down to the lack of oxygen.. It's difficult to consider anything a "bomb" or "explosive" (and certainly not "ablative!") if it isn't capable of self-oxidizing:-P
Just my $0.02 Ameros. (cringe)
--Weasel
Disclaimer: I'm not saying that all self-oxidizing flammables are ablatives or incendiaries. It varies; for example, thermite is self-oxidizing, and is definitely an incendiary and not an ablative.
Slashdot Mirror
Based on the strings at https://bitcoinstrings.com/all, it appears someone encoded the entire Hidden Wiki main page's text into the chain. Is this the abusive content they're referring to?
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention..
There's a thing called the RedFly which lets you basically add a subnotebook-sized console to your mobile phone via bluetooth or USB.. It has no CPU or storage, per se, but appears to work kinda like a thin client: it adds a 7" screen, QWERTY, touchpad, and some host USB ports. I dunno how well or fast it works, but it's definitely out there. http://www.celiocorp.com/ about $300 IIRC..
-W5i2
Wowie! I want one!
Oh, wait a second. My HTC 8925/Tilt/TyTN-II IS such a computer!
"It can connect to the Internet using a standard Wi-Fi connection, or it can use your cell phone's mobile broadband connection via Bluetooth.."
Yep. This here 8925 does all that, QWERTY keyboard, et c, PLUS has its own internal mobile carrier access, independent of Bluetooth (which it also has!) That seems to be at least one notch better than TFA's "mobile computer" if you ask me.
HTC 8925 = Windows Mobile = Pocket PC = Pocket Personal Computer. (computer being the operative word here)
As the legendary Blackbeard once said, "This arrrrren't news...!" ^_^
-W5i2
I have a PocketPC, which contains TWO batteries, the main one and a nonremovable auxiliary one which keeps the VRAM alive while the main one is drained or removed.
I doubt that the iXXXXes have any such backup battery system, which I imagine is a cost-saving manufacturing move when coupled with the nonremovable battery "feature."
Therefore, IMO, besides the obvious re-engineering required to build a battery door and bay and electric contacts, et c., they would have to make some kind of backup system to preserve whatever's in battery-backed RAM.. Hence the "shit, I got my iPhone back working but it's wiped!"
Of course, if the iXXXXes store their OS and related settings on the NV storage, this whole post is moot. I honestly don't know because I generally avoid things which seem to have to remind me that they were "Designed in California" (*oooooooooooooooooooooh!*)
0.020175,
Weasel
OK, i shoulda RTFA first, it isn't the same attack.. Kinda similar, and just as evil.. Apparently the strength of both attacks is in the process of sending a FLOOD of spoofed packets and hope that just one of them makes it through in the correct sequence. Eeeevil.
http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/dns/1567.php
Jeez folks, the answer is quite clear.
Comcast's AUP bandwidth limit is measured in Gigabytes, while the customer was consuming Gibibytes of bandwidth.
Therefore, the secret "overage amount" is obviously some multiple of 24.
[/sarcasm]
I, for one, believe that every human should have an inalienable right to be NOT bombarded by advertising, but the sad truth is it just isn't possible.
No matter where you go, some schmuck is trying to sell you something.. Whether it's a simple sign stuck on the side of the road for XYZ diet pills, or an empty soda can someone littered on the ground in the middle of a pristine forest meadow.. You see and recognize the branding, and it's completely pervasive.
If you want to block ads in IE, you can use the built-in "Restricted Sites" features in the Security tab of the Internet Options. It's so handy, you can even use wildcards. For instance, with a simple addition of "*.intellitxt.com", you can render quite a few websites instantly less annoying.
I wish this guy's site wasn't under DoS/SlashdotEffect/whatever, because I'd absolutely LOVE to get his personal, unique AdSense URL and post it for all to explicitly add to their adblockers/Restricted Sites/etc!!
Screw you, Danny Carlton. People with stupid agendas are one thing, but those who try and make their agenda your agenda, should be minding their own damn business.
Maybe some miscreants could click his ads with unnatural frequency, causing a click-fraud investigation/forfeiture to occu--- *cough* er, did I say that out loud?
$0.02
-W5i2-
heheh, SybianOS?
:)
If it can run J2ME apps, I'd totally get one for my girlfriend
Although this post is technically only relevant to the OP's commentary, please don't mod me OffTopic..
:)
-W5i2
I was wondering, "wtf? dragons? maps?" and rather than post an annoying OT question, I looked it up. Very interesting, and if you're wondering about the OP's reference above, I found a useful page here and here.
And don't flame me for not knowing this either. At least I'm sharing the knowledge now
A couple of things:
:)
1) "Gypsies" should be capitalized like any other proper noun. They are an ethnic group, like Jews or Serbs or Albanians or Koreans, and should be capitalized as such.
2) This reminds me of an article I read some years ago, maybe in Popular Science, which mentioned how certain people (in this case, those with a rare genetic-abnormality-caused blindness) would marry others with the same condition and have children, and the article pointed out how very BAD an idea this is, since both parties' recessive genetic abnormalities would now become a dominant trait, and guarantee the offspring to have the same genetic abnormality!
3) I apologize for possibly baiting flames here, but I must mention that I've long been of the opinion that the human race is ultimately doomed to failure for one simple reason: Unlike EVERY other species on the planet, we allow our weak to survive and persist.. Of course, with my godawful 20/160 eyesight, I certainly consider myself among the "weak" and probably deserve to be NaturallySelected(tm) out of the picture..
Microwaves tend to manifest their damage in the corneal epithelial cells first, rather than the retinal receptors.. As one is exposed to microwave radiation (specifically, the 2.4GHz frequency of water molecules) they will begin to experience opthalmic effects similar to cataracts. By the time your retina is past the point of no return, you're likely already trying your damnedest to see through some extremely cloudy (and incidentally irreparable) corneas.. Microwaves bad. Magnetron bad. Klystron bad. Radiant EMF energy is bad for our meaty shells.
This guy and his deep-fried immersion-cooled antics are extremely foolish. Two words: Lead Poisoning. It's a serious threat, even from merely HANDLING circuit boards and components and not washing your hands. This is coming from a guy who works in electronics fab. NIOSH/OSHA rules surrounding lead-based solder-related materials are there for a very good reason.
I'm only stating this because from TFA (the fry-guy one), there wasn't but one or two brief mentions of the toxicity of doing such a thing, and I think it's likely someone's gonna see this and try it themselves without knowing the consequences (long-term nervous system damage, reproductive harm, etc..)
I imagine that since these X360 heatsinks are NOT designed for cooking anything intended for human consumption, they probably don't do a whole lot at the factory to make sure the cooling vanes (or any other exposed components, for that matter) are free of heavy metals and other residual nasties they use during fabrication: conformal coatings, solvents, fluxes, paints, etc.. This one reason why they don't allow bunny-suited employees to eat their meatloaf whilst inside the clean room..
It's just a Bad Idea(TM), whichever way you look at it. Everyone should know this stuff. Just google it up: Heavy Metal Poisoning
It looks to me like they were wanting a name playing off of "Firefox" (since it is a derivative), following the "" naming convention.
:)
Perhaps they went through various attempts, such as SteamWombat, DirtPossum, WaterVole, AirSloth, et c., until deciding upon "IceWeasel" since it also shares the Matt Groening reference.
Software has been using pop-culture name references for a while now, and I think it's nice to see the poor-snowmobile-bastard-eating Ice Weasels get their turn in the spotlight.. but maybe that's just me.
-W5i2
No flame here, but I must point out that you're wrong about the "free speech" approach. "end users ability to receive free speech" ?? WTF?!
You're also assuming a utopian situation where "opt-in" violators don't exist. I don't recall "opting in" to the V1AGR4 and "h0rse d1ckky" e-mails! As an "end user", I STRICTLY PROHIBIT these troglodytes from sending me ANY advertising crap!
Bottom line: My right to not be bothered by scumbags supercedes ANYONE ELSE'S RIGHT to bother me, whether the foul stuff pouring from their mind is "free speech" or not! These spammers obviously violate that [very personal] rule, and judging by the mere existence of SpamHaus, I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Right in line with the EFF's stance on spam-blocking, end users do have the CHOICE to use SBL or not use SBL. SpamHaus doesn't force anyone to use their SBL, which they provide as a public service! SpamHaus is not infringing on ANYONE'S "first-amendment right" to send unsolicited "free-speech" advertisements (cough, cough) in any way, shape or form.
If I manufacture catapults, and somehow it's not illegal for me to launch large bundles of elephant dung across the city, do I have a right to sue the inevitable company who would market an effective flying-elephant-poo shield? I seriously doubt it..
What, next it'll be illegal for MTA admins to block spammer servers using their own blacklists?
They should implement explosive packet payloads into IPv6. ^_^
--W5i2
Let's not forget that microprocessors aren't capable of generating true randomness. An external source of entropy is required, such as a Lava Lamp, decaying Cesium-137 atoms, or something else..
Now, I gotta say it would be pretty cool if these iPods use a vibration-sensing mechanism to gather enough entropy to seed the PRNG!
--Weasel
Just a heads up, TFA is a bloaty PDF.
There's a distinct difference between pornography , erotic art , and just plain 'ol photography.
A picture of a naked 14-year-old boy or girl, just standing there in a neutral kind of way, not sexually suggestive at all, is completely legal as an artistic shot. My parents have photos of me as a baby, all nekkid with my little baby wee-wee and everything (curses!!) but I highly doubt they could even be considered remotely illegal.
Now, that same 14-yr-old doing something suggestive or posing in a not-for-kids manner would definitely be considered porn and thusly illegal. I'm not sure what the rules are regarding erotica and minors.
There are many professional photographers who aren't kiddie-pornographers, who take nude photos of their subjects whether they're of legal age or not.. This could also include medical imaging, as well as anything else it could include which I can't remember right now.
I wonder how long before someone uses CGI to make artificial kiddie-pr0n.. "but she's not underage, Your Honor! Right here in the code, her age is commented: Nine hundred." Loopholes, glorious loopholes. Just FYI, IANACP.
--A
I once stumbled across these 'lifter' thingies which seem to be a similar topic, and a smaller scale version of the helicopter you mentioned. They apparently operate around 24 kilovolts, and consume about 70 watts of power. (WARNING: potential crackpot alert at the above site.. Don't flame me; you were duly warned.)
Do they make an "Ibonic Breeze" for the African-American markets? (Joke, sheesh!)
--Weasel
Article: Male avatars (whether created by a man or a woman) stood further apart than female avatars, for instance, and were more likely to avert their gaze. And when an avatar gets within a few metres of another, the user reduces eye contact by moving their character to face slightly to the right or the left of the other 'person'.
Now, as a semi-regular presence in Second Life, I must say that the statements above are not necessarily true. The SL avatar's gaze follows the UI mouse pointer, and considering that the average user spends a lot of time in the UI navigating through inventory/item edit/whatnot, I think it can be said that a good portion of an avatar's gaze direction is a side-effect of the real user's actions at the time. Even if they are "moving their character to face slightly to the right or the left of the other 'person'.", their eyes don't remain fixed on one location. It's just as easy to have [the virtual-world equivalent appearance of] eye-contact with the other individual(s) as if you're facing them directly.. It's all about what you're doing with the mouse at the time.
$0.02
--Weasel
ATTFA, it only produces 0.12 gigawatts a day!!
It would take at least 10 of these plants to power a single shot into the future.. I wonder how many AOL CDs that is..
Argh. tddoog said: "Be careful what you wish for. Bulk mailing helps subsidize the current mail system. Without it, either prices would go up or there would be a reduction in service (mail delivery every other day). Remember the USPS is one of the few gov't organizations that supports itself without taxes. All of the bureaucracy and none of the pork."
Whaaat?! You're kidding, right? So we pay $$$ for stamps for what reason? You seem to be a bit factually impaired:
Those bulk obnoxious "Smart Shopper" mailouts are not affiliated with the USPS in any way! They are marketing spam sent out by private companies who are only interested in profits, and not the public message delivery infrastructure (beyond the enabling of their trade, that is..)
Ever get those newspaper-like ads, and nested in the middle of them is the "Missing Person" card? THAT is your culprit right there. Federal postal regulations require that ALL spammy mailouts must contain a reference to the actual company sending it out. Look for the card, contact the company who made the card, and request that they remove you from their marketing lists. Simple. And doing so does not hurt the USPS in any way.
The main companies responsible for the junk? ADVO Inc., PennySaver, The Flyer, Val-Pak. Note that none of these are the United States Postal Service. Again, I must point out the ever-inflating price of postage stamps. I remember when postage for a standard letter was only $0.23! If mail delivery is subsidized by junk mail, then where does my stamp money go?
Check out http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs4-junk.htm for more information, loads of facts, and many suggestions on how to reduce junk mail (in the US, anyway)
--Weasel
evilviper said: "FreeDOS has really poor compatibility with everything I try. Try to run some MS-DOS program, and it aborts before showing anything, or perhaps acts in very weird ways, sometimes doing real damage."
Perhaps?? What, you're not sure how it's acting? Sometimes doing real damage..??? What?! Like how, causing your hard disk to burst into flames? Causing your monitor's side paneling to melt off? Please, be specific about how FreeDOS "perhaps, does real damage" to your computer! It is extremely hard to do any "real" damage to a computer through software means. The worst-case scenario is BIOS-failure-based bricking of your box, and if FreeDOS is capable or likely to do that, I would be very afraid, but this is simply not the case.
It generally takes a very specific and directed effort to cause "real damage" to a PC. It's well known that there have been a couple of viruses in the past which were capable of nuking your CMOS. However, a sledgehammer is just as useful if you're looking for "real damage".
evilviper also said: "The main thing I tried it for, quite recently, was partitioning/formatting, as Windows has a few limitations in that regard. After finishing the job, Windows couldn't even read the partion. FreeDOS is a LONG way from 100% compatible."
Which version of Windows couldn't see the partition? How big was the FreeDOS partition you tried? Does your BIOS support the size of the hard drive you were testing? In order to make such statements, one should be specific with the details. And if you really want to convince people to NOT use FreeDOS, you should maybe explain just how it "is a LONG way from 100% compatible." besides vague failures.. For all we know, the problem could actually exist between the keyboard and the chair, you evil viper you!
You seem to have a lot of Anti-FreeDOS FUD with no real facts to back it up.. You work for Microsoft, perhaps?
My personal reasons to love FreeDOS (recent Win32-ports aside): Terminal Velocity, DOOM, DOOM II, Descent 1 & 2, Death Rally, Epic Pinball.. The list is almost endless! And it's not for the gaming, it's for the nostalgia and memories.
--Weasel
I realize this totally misses the point of TFA, but..
Just go to http://www.bootdisk.com/ and download one of many different illicit/fuzzy/licit DOS bootable images, among others. These guys have been around for some time.. ^_^
--Weasel
It's so disappointing when fundamentalists have to go and screw it up for the rest of the human race. That seems to be the trend these days, all over the world. :P
:-P
This story seems to contain yet another example of the press/media tendency to misconstrue certain facts in order to further their FUD-based agendas (no, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. It is a well-known fact that FUD sells-- See "Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley!)
Molotov cocktails are not bombs. Bombs explode. Molotovs burn. They are what's known as an "incendiary". A molotov will only burn when thrown and allowed to rupture, thus spreading the flammable contents and furthering its incendiary goals.
In summary: Incendiaries do not ablate! They conflagrate!!
If you light a molotov (let's assume one made of a glass cola bottle filled with gasoline and stuffed with a pretty blue cotton shop rag) and leave it sitting there, you'll end up with a poorly-ventilated flame after the rag finally burns away. Up to that point, it will behave like an oil lamp, wicking up the fuel until the liquid level drops below the rag's lower height.
Once the flame reaches a certain point, oxygen can't get down into the lip of the bottle due to the heavier fuel vapor filling the container, so the flame goes out. The flame will never burn hot enough to melt the glass bottle. In the end, you're left with a slightly charred hot glass bottle full of warm fuming gasoline. Shatter the bottle before the flame extinguishes, and that's a whole different story.. With many flammable liquids, the efficiency is relative to the amount of surface area exposed to the oxidizer. Combustion engines vaporize the fuel and mix it with air at or before the intake vent, in order to maximize this surface area..
I know these things from personal experience. I did my share of experimentation as a kid, and I learned all the dynamics of the standard childhood-discoveries arsenal: firecrackers, bicycles, gasoline, tennis balls, anthills, slingshots, BB guns, nudie magazines.. (nothing beyond the normal teen hijinks, mind you. I'm no delinquent!)
Back to the subject.. For anyone to "leave" a molotov cocktail, lit or unlit, is just plain ineffective. It's like those people who believe that you can ignite a service-station full of gasoline just by dropping your lit cigarette in a puddle.. Not true! I've extinguished lit cigarette butts in gasoline, and they all just went "sssssst!" as if I'd dropped them in water. Again, it comes down to the lack of oxygen.. It's difficult to consider anything a "bomb" or "explosive" (and certainly not "ablative!") if it isn't capable of self-oxidizing
Just my $0.02 Ameros. (cringe)
--Weasel
Disclaimer: I'm not saying that all self-oxidizing flammables are ablatives or incendiaries. It varies; for example, thermite is self-oxidizing, and is definitely an incendiary and not an ablative.