Posts by Mark 85 12884 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Nov 2012
For all you commentards of the "doesn't matter, I have nothing to hide" mentality, think about the verse from Martin Niemöller:
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me."
This also applies to those not bothered by the activities of various 'intelligence' organzations. As it is, there's no telling how much of Google's data is being sucked off and for what purpose. Personally, I think we should all be afraid, very afraid.
I have an account...and I've not seen anything, email, news or otherwise from AOL about this. It's funny that you have to read it about it elsewhere. I guess they're using the Yahoo! business model of "don't tell users jack sh**!!! or they'll get pissed and leave". Not many of us left, I guess but you'd think they would still let everyone know. Hell, it might even gain them a few users if they were upfront instead of hiding things like everyone else.
The lucky ones??? I'm not so sure. It's been my experience with Charter that hold times are high, the call center is somewhere in India and totally scripted without an ounce of brains. The installers are all contractors for the most part and their idea of a good connection is one that doesn't spark or melt the wiring. I could go on but I won't. I'll just sympathize with those coming to Charter.
As for switching... I could but it would be to Centurylink (formerly QWest) which is DSL only and the low end of DSL at that. In my view, the only thing to hope for is Google to lay some fiber... Yeah.. it's that bad.
My guess is that the powers that be and keep us safe from terrorism already have what they need for this phone. Plus all the public airwaves. The black hat group will probably hit hard if they feel the need for a challenge as will the white hats which means it won't be all that secure. Actually, it'll probably be less secure since the hat types will want to break it anyway they can.
there was a law/act that required DoD suppliers to "buy/build/etc. American". The rationale was that if war occurred, they wanted their supplies to not be dependent upon an enemy. On the plus side, the money spent on such items stayed in this country. So... we're using Russian engines to launch spy satellites as the Russians more and more become less friendly. If they cut off the engine deliveries, the USAF spy satellite program is screwed. I have to wonder where DoD's collective head is....
It probably won't bother the US government as much as the people and the companies. There's a cost involved to the companies and that will be passed on to the customer. Then there's the privacy and sovereignty issues...
But, if we can do it, so can every other country in the name of crime-fighting. So if you have nothing to hide and have done no wrong, you have nothing to fear... right? </sarcasm>
Quote: . If the current user is under 13, Cortana will refuse to answer queries.
Which raises a question and then takes away all the points: How does it know if the user is under 13? The way this is worded is that it's an imperative statement or pure marketing BS.
Interesting that it can be put in and not be destroyed but what happens after the payload has been delivered? Does it dissolve or break apart? Is it filtered out by the kidneys, etc.? Or does it just hang around and possibly create another set of issues?
Even so, this is in it's infancy and looks promising.
Somehow, the results of this don't surprise me. First this: http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2014/04/17/killer_robots_dna_tampering_and_peeping_cyborgs_the_future_looks_bright/ and now this one.
We're a nation who puts more faith in the brainpower of celebrities than science. Elections are won and lost on the number of celebrities on a candidates side, not the strength or logic of the issues and answers. Even for those following the religious right deal with the mindless celebrity bit. We've dumbed down our schools so much because "we can't leave any child behind" that rational thinking and logic have disappeared and been replaced with "feel-good" subjects.
Meh.... my fellow citizens sometimes disgusts me.
It does make one wonder, doesn't it? Apple, who's been in everyone's legal face is a major investor in a patent troll which set up another company the day before filing suits against longtime thorn in their side, Google. They then get a judge who sees through the smoke and mirrors.... this will be worth following.
You're spot on. Have an upvote.
We Americans have too many among us that listen to celebrities who, in the real working world would wear a paper hat and ask you if you'd like fries with that burger. We elect Congress critters that get to run NASA while believing (the Congress critter and his constituents) the universe is only 6000 +/- years old. We also believe that the government will protect us and we can give our personal info to anyone who asks because they wouldn't do anything evil.
This is also the same country that puts kids into school and expects the schools to teach them about sex, technology, popular culture and then we scream because the kid can't read and do simple math. And we teach our kids that they are the most important people in the world and that their feelings, wants, and desires come first and then scream like hell when they act on that belief and kill, rape, etc.
As for improving genetics, I've met way too many people who's family tree is a straight line and theyare proud of it.
</rant off>
Sadly, I've met an awful lot of intelligent and informed people but their voices get lost in the vocal madness of the majority who get their information and news from People Magazine.
We already have our share of non-qualified administrators. The last place I worked was in health insurance. One of the VP's had a degree in.... wait for it.... geology. Rocks and insurance... good professional fit. Our government has the same good-old-boy politics. Consider the Kennedy's as a prime example. Then there's the Senator on the NASA budget committee who's a fundamental type and thinks the universe is only 6000 years old.
I think Australia's 19th is the day before the California 19th because of the International Dateline. So they will drug into the office on Easter Sunday if the release is early enough... otherwise, on Monday while everybody else does it on Sunday.
Oh.. an you poor guys in the UK... midnight call in.
I think this more about China's aspirations. Russia and China have been feuding and warring long before the USA got involved. Putin has high hopes of being he Russian Savior and this would go a long way towards that by settling or at least "topping" some old grudges.
And I quote: What's to stop them from saying, "if you want our contract, you hand over the source code, so if you can't or won't support it, we will"?"
Support and government are not same thing. I can't imagine any government agency trying to support an OS themselves. If they could, wouldn't they be using Linux or similar? Nor can I imagine someone who could do that kind of support who would be willing to work for the government at government wages. Yeah.. they can outsource the support but we all know how well that works with government.
Quote: "In a quirk, Bezos also said Amazon offers employees money to leave the company, a program called Pay to Quit, modeled after a similar program at Zappos. Once a year, the company offers $2,000 to quit, adding $1,000 a year, up to a maximum of $5,000."
http://www.aol.com/article/2014/04/10/bezos-offers-update-on-groceries-drones/20867249/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl28%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D463405
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