two-pot screamer dot com

From Slashdot | Americans Don’t Care About Domestic Spying ?

Ugh. I can’t stand this kind of journalism. (Score:5, Insightful)

by Fantastic Lad (198284) on Tuesday March 18, @09:54AM (#22782626)

“Hi! I’m a Mac.” “And I’m a PC.”

You’ve all heard that one. –A very pure example of one of the most insidious and powerful advertising techniques in the biz. It’s not about this feature over that feature. It’s not even about the perception that one is cool and the other not. Nope.

The true intent of such advertising is never stated or obvious. What is the true intent?

To program people with regard to how they identify themselves to themselves. It’s not, “Hi! I USE a Mac.” –Which is powerful enough, especially when the human brain is lulled into low revs on the EEG meter as a direct result of gazing at a flickering CRT, Television viewing instantly puts every person into a clinically measurable hypnotic state where suggestion becomes defacto reality to the personality. Even when you know intellectually that owning a PC is no different than owning a can opener, that part of your brain is short circuited and a deeper part of your personality is affected, no matter how strong your personal resolve, by the emotional knowledge that you are not young and hip in whatever way is being provided as the benchmark. (In this case, by a Mac user who uses faux love and respect to deliver demoralizing comments and knife jabs. The latest in a long stream of sick tactics in the game of social power.)

What has this got to do with Time Magazine?

The article in question doesn’t report so much as it instructs.

It tells us the abuse and it tells us that we do not care. Humans are social creatures; on an instinctive level we need to belong to the group, and so we will generally adopt whatever behavior is prevailing just to remain in the tribe, to stay part or the pack. Time Magazine is perhaps the top selling magazine in the U.S. Everybody knows this on some level; if Time speaks, it does so as an important voice of our tribe. So when it tells us what we think, on a deep level, we listen and for those who don’t actively learn how this kind of programming works, we very often obey.

Abuser to the victim: “I’m going to rape you until you rupture, and you’re not going to complain. You’re even going to defend me against potential rescuers.”

Stockholm Syndrom; When separated from the rest of the world for even a short time, fear and the instinctive desire to survive, causes people to automatically try to learn the rules of the tribe, (in this case the culture of hostages and power keepers), and fit in so that they are not rejected by the tribe leaders. (i.e., shot in the head.) So when the rescuers did arrive, they were actively fought by the hostages themselves. Stupid, but that’s the human machine, and advertisers and media conglomerates know this fact well.

If Time Magazine wanted to serve humanity, it would not tell us what we think with endless polls and such. It would tell us what is happening in the world and would remain unbiased at all times. You know. Responsible journalism. Instead we get the popular kid telling us what all the cool people think.

-FL

From Slashdot | What Programming Languages Should You Learn Next?

Get the Little Schemer (Score:5, Interesting)

by burris (122191) on Tuesday March 18, @01:55PM (#22785492)

Like a lot of people have commented on this thread, it’s past time for you to learn a functional language. I’m not sure if it is true, but new CS students at MIT used to have to learn Scheme as their first language. Learning a functional language will transform your programming ability.

I recommend the book The Little Schemer [neu.edu] This book is like no other programming book you have ever used. It is a socratic dialog between you and the interpreter. Questions on the left, answers on the right. It is meant to be used with an interpreter.

Once you make it through this book you’ll be a much, much better programmer. You’ll also have an easy time learning languages like Haskell, which is used quite a bit in academia and is useful for real world software.

So buy a copy of the Little Schemer and download an interpreter, Dr. Scheme is pretty good, and get cracking.

From Slashdot | House of Representatives To Discuss Wiretapping In Closed Session

Re:But it is a matter of principle (Score:5, Insightful)

by Cadallin (863437) on Thursday March 13, @11:55PM (#22747814)

Sorry, I’m going to have to pull Godwin’s law here. I hope that I will articulate why it is justified.

The Bush administration have operated illegally. They have violated the law not just in spirit, but in word. They have pushed warrantless searches and wiretaps. This is not legal. They have advocated, and used, torture in the interrogation of prisoners. This is not legal. They have lied, and used said lies as an excuse to wage aggressive war. This is not legal. They have conspired to hide their actions behind a cloak of shadows, lies, and secrecy. They have refused to disclose the the extent of their actions to the duly elected agents of the People of The United States of America while under oath. This is not Legal.

International Law applies whether one agrees to it or not. As much of the top Nazi brass discovered. The Bush administration have used the same tactics: Brute Force, Fear, and a blatant disregard for law, human rights, and human dignity. Any who aid or abet such actions bears blame. They could have refused. They did not.

No. No Immunity for Traitors. No Immunity for Cowards. No Immunity for those aid the destruction of the rights and liberties of free men.

If there is to be any hope for Freedom, for Democracy, hope for any kind of legacy to leave for future generations, on these things must we stand firm.

Re:Attention: “security personel” (Score:5, Insightful)

by jollyreaper (513215) on Thursday March 13, @11:29PM (#22747680)

We would absolutely love it if you would get a tape and give it to wikileaks. Or Youtube. Or John Stewart.

Mod down? No, mod parent up. This would be fucking awesome. Bush did a little song and dance at the Washington Press Whores dinner last week, closed to the public. He was yucking it up about obstructing justice, talking about going back to the ranch and saying hi to Cheney whose standing there with all the documents he’s withholding. This is the same asshole who joked about not being able to find WMD’s, miming looking under the podium “no wmd’s here”, the same asshole who said “You are the haves and the have more’s; some call you the moneyed elite, I call you my base.”

We need to damn these fuckers with their own words. People have been deservedly killed for less; I think we can all agree that voting them out of office is a peaceable compromise.

Re:Attention: “security personel” (Score:5, Insightful)

by BAM0027 (82813) <blo@27.org> on Friday March 14, @01:01AM (#22748188)
Homepage

Nah, you can’t vote them out or impeach them. You have to wait for them to do something _really_ heinous, something that would impact a whole bunch of people.

Something worse than the 4,000 military personnel and the thousands of citizens that’ve died in Iraq.

Something worse than the civil liberties that’ve been compromised.

Something worse than the trillions of dollars that’ve been borrowed against future generations for a baseless war.

Something worse than the loss of funds to pay for education.

Nah, just wait for them to do something _really_ awful, like pay for sex.

From Slashdot | House of Representatives To Discuss Wiretapping In Closed Session

Re:Interesting proposition (Score:4, Funny)

by ClickOnThis (137803) on Thursday March 13, @11:56PM (#22747816)
Journal

Someone should tell Alanis she can add another verse to her song.

Someone should tell Alanis what the word ironic actually means. Oh wait, someone has — comedian Ed Byrne:

“There’s nothing ironic about being stuck in a traffic jam when you’re late for something. Unless you’re a town planner. If you were a town planner and you were on your way to a seminar of town planners at which you were giving a talk on how you solved the problem of traffic congestion in your area, couldn’t get to it because you were stuck in a traffic jam, that’d be well ironic.”

“Rain on your wedding day is ironic only if marrying a weatherman and he set the date.”

“A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break, that’s inconsiderate office management. A no-smoking sign in a cigarette factory - irony.”“Ten thousand spoons? How big is your sink, Alanis? What do you need this knife for - to stab the bloke who keeps leaving spoons all over your house?”

[Thanks to wikipedia for the quotes.]

Re:Interesting proposition (Score:5, Funny)

by AuMatar (183847) on Friday March 14, @12:14AM (#22747916)

Aha, but a song about Irony with no irony in it- now that’s ironic.

Slashdot | Linux At the Point of Sale

Re:Your boss has responded (Score:5, Insightful)

by holophrastic (221104) on Sunday February 24, @06:38PM (#22539686)

Actually, quite the opposite. In that situation, the manager now needs to pay the programmer a much larger wage to keep working on it, or to train someone new.

You guys always think of the client’s interests, but you seem to forget that the client’s interests fall into five areas — not spending money, not spending time, not spending effort, not learning anything new, and still getting lots of work out of the vendor. That’s business.

The trick with any lock-in style effort is to balance the client’s interests with the vendor’s interests in order to achieve a relationship that grows both businesses, ultimately giving each side more money with less effort down the road.

There’s nothing wrong with supplying a solution that requires a compatent and trained individual to maintain it. And there’s nothing wrong with the original vendor being in the significantly better position to do so. In can actually be a great thing for the client when you consider the extra work that a vendor can do when the vendor knows it’s a long-term commitment.

In my company, we call it “aligned interests”. It’s the “you lose, we lose; you win, we win” philosophy that ultimately penalizes everyone should either party quit at any stage, and rewards everyone each time either party continues forward.

It’s also called being proud of and empassioned in your work.

What you guys keep suggesting, by favouring the client in every stage, is more of a “you lose, we lose; you win, we lose” scenario because when everything pans out perfectly for the client, and the solution works, and their business grows, the original vendor is undoubtedly replaced by someone cheaper — or no one at all.

Long-term business just doesn’t work that way. The business world isn’t the cosumer world where you sell a product, and hope to never pseak with the customer again — because customer service and technical support are expensive to supply — and hope the product breaks just after the warranty period — so the customer comes and buys another.

The idea of “aligned interests” is that the client and the vendor both want the same thing and both benefit from that thing. The client wants a solution that lasts forever. The vendor needs to want that too. The client wants to get the best quality parts. The vendow needs to want that too. Otherwise you get today’s consumer computers — cheap parts, low-quality components, crap customer service, worse techincal support, and really easy to purchase a new one. The companies tend to start with the letters “D”, “G”, “A”, or “H”. And of course that’s the case, they spend less money, charge more, and profit more. The only people who get screwed are the customers — who’ve come to expect the products to be crap, but don’t realize why.

In the business world, you can’t throw out your iPod and get a new one when it breaks. In the business world you can’t sell an iPod and replace it when it breaks. In the business world, you have to take the broken iPod and not only replace the device, but also replace the data stored on the device. Your clients are not consumers — they don’t consume your product/service. In the business world, the solution that you provide to your clients needs to be reliable enough for your client to base his business on — if that solution is integral to their business, obviously

From Slashdot | Pakistan Blocks YouTube

Re:Religion and its leaders (Score:5, Insightful)

by Deadstick (535032) on Sunday February 24, @02:03PM (#22536874)

Here in The Netherlands we had a nice one last night, around 01:00 in the night one of the public broadcasters decided to air the old Deep Throat movie, in (eager?) anticipation quite a few religious leaders protested as if they did not have an off button on their TV

They knew perfectly well they had an off button on their TV. They were angry because they didn’t have an off button connected to your TV.

rj

From Slashdot | Australian Internet Filter Enters Trial Phase

Re:No, no, a thousand times no. (Score:5, Informative)

by hool5400 (257022) on Tuesday February 26, @12:56PM (#22560910)

The stupid thing is, they already provide free filtering software to download. The government has paid for it, on our behalf.

The licence for the filter software cost them $AUD 85M, with only 145000 downloads of the software, and no doubt even less active users. Those that want it, have it. But it seems not many people care.

Dan Rutter brings some light on the insanity here [blogsome.com].

From Slashdot | Getting The Public To Listen To Good Science

Re:Don’t let facts get in the way of good fun (Score:5, Insightful)

by johnsonav (1098915) on Monday February 25, @09:29PM (#22554190)

I would argue that the USA’s peak of scientific interest was during the late 1960s when the space program was a national obsession and every second kid had a Nasa poster on their bedroom wall.

You’re probably right. But, I’m sure there were plenty of people back then that thought there were too many kids interested in The Beatles, not science. If anything, I believe that what has been lost is a generation of physicists and biologists to the siren’s song of computer science. If the Apollo program was what drew them in the ’60s, then dot-coms and OSS draw them now. There is no other field today where the barriers to entry are so low that almost anyone can make a real contribution.

The first step towards solving the problem, in my opinion, is stop making college degrees the minimum requirement for employment, regardless of major. There are too many people attending college today simply looking for any degree. This results in over-enrollment in so called easy majors, and less funding for science and engineering. You don’t see nearly as many foreign students in those programs because, for them, the job market back home requires real knowledge, not just a piece of paper.

From Slashdot | Richard Feynman, the Challenger, and Engineering

As a software quality professional… (Score:5, Interesting)

by gosand (234100) on Wednesday February 20, @01:43PM (#22491510)
Homepage

I’ve been in software quality and testing for 14 years. I’ve worked at very large corporations as well as startups. There is a WIDE gap in software development process in our industry. Many people like to call themselves software engineers when they are developers. There is a huge difference. Engineering is a discipline that follows well-defined rules, and it usually takes time. But I think the very important thing to point out is that some software requires engineering - other software does not. If I go into a startup company that is trying to develop a blog/wiki site and try to implement a NASA-like software development methodology, they will fail. Likewise, software to control a heart monitor should be engineered and closely controlled. Sometimes quality and perfection is the goal, other times it might be time-to-market that is critical. You have to fit the process to your business. A bridge is a bridge, and they should all be engineered pretty much in the same way. You can’t say the same thing about software.

I think that this is a very key point to software development. I have seen companies who spent entirely too much time and money trying to eliminate all defects from their software when it wasn’t the critical part of their business. Yes, we should always strive to eliminate defects, but you can’t get them all. You have to know when to pick your battles, and when to accept the risks. If we’re talking about life-or-death software, or security, or other very critical things - you need to focus on those.

There’s a grid I have seen used that is a great tool when doing projects.
Schedule, Cost, Quality, Scope.
1 can be optimized, 1 is a constraint, and the other 2 you have to accept. Period. It is a more useful version of the “fast, good, cheap - pick two”

From Slashdot | ICANN Finds No Wrong Doing in Domain Front Running

Re:Not even “fair” here. (Score:5, Informative)

by a_nonamiss (743253) on Saturday February 16, @12:12AM (#22443124)

I don’t think you’re stupid, the issue is somewhat complex. The $0.20 charge is not for the consumer, it’s for the registrant. The scripts would be written by folks like you and I, (or a million other nerds that read Slashdot) and they would be designed to generate lots and lots of noise so that the companies could stop using their positions of power to take advantage of the regular folks on the Internet.

Here is an experiment that I encourage you to try on your own: I just now, right now, made up the domain flipperjikk.com. Make up your own and follow along. Use long random strings of letters to make sure it’s not an accident. I went to GoDaddy and did a search and the domain is available. Great! I then went to Network Solutions and searched for the same domain name, just to be sure. Yep, it’s still available. Immediately, I went back to GoDaddy, and lo and behold, in the 15 seconds since I checked the first time, somebody else must have come up with the exact same domain name as I did, because flipperjikk.com appears to have now been registered, and is no longer available. And it cost Network Solutions nothing to register this, because they can just get a refund in 5 days if I decide not to register it. The insidious part is, odds are that domain may NEVER become available again, because once the 5-day period expires, some squatter will see it’s expiring, someone’s interested in it, and register it for themselves, using the same technique. Domains can sit in limbo for months going back and forth between different shell companies using this trial period. Nobody pays a dime (or two) for all this activity.

The script I mentioned could search the availability for random domains all day. djiuqeruoweit.com, agrhlreijilaer.com, wejhafkljherk,com, etc. The registrants would be overwhelmed with searches, and they would no longer be able to tell which domains people were actually interested in, and which ones were garbage. If they register all the searches using an automated script (which they clearly did with flipperjikk.com) it would cost them millions per day.

This $0.20 tax would in no way hurt you and I. It would just discourage the registrants from registering every domain that they think people might be slightly interested in, because now it costs them money.