Something Random

[Clocker]

I like Lady Gaga.

She was my first ever music purchase on the internet. I used Amazon MP3 to buy a a few of her songs.

 

[Handruin]

I like Lady Gaga.

She was my first ever music purchase on the internet. I used Amazon MP3 to buy a a few of her songs.

Did someone hack your account? I'll investigate this.

 

[Stereodude]

Did someone hack your account? I'll investigate this.

A good idea, but there's no accounting for poor taste. :hurl:

 

[Clocker]

She actually has some talent. Heard her singing without all the background and synthesizers and I was impressed. I was a little shocked by her at first and figured I would hate her stuff but after watching her concert on HBO I was pretty surprised. That's when I learned that she had a huge following in the gay community too, not that I care. It's also entertaining just to see what she'll do next.

 

[Clocker]

Don't be a drag, just be a queen! ;-)

 

[MaxBurn]

10 reasons why US is no longer the land of the free.

As a side note the washington post requires a login after reading a page once so make sure you are done with it because you can't go back without cleaning your browser out. Also the intrusive adds in the article and on the sides with the article itself being a thin column of shifting text makes me sick. I am sure everyone wants to give them their email address. Old media completely failing to adapt.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...-of-the-free/2012/01/04/gIQAvcD1wP_story.html

 

[BingBangBop]

The US has never been the land of the free as much as the land where profit is king.

I used to comment significantly in my local newspaper's web site. Unfortunately, my local newspaper (owned by Gannet) is now requiring Facebook to comment. I refuse to get a Facebook account, so no commenting on stories any more. At least I can still read my local paper on the web for free even if I have to suffer from some really annoying adds.

 

[Handruin]

The US has never been the land of the free as much as the land where profit is king.

I used to comment significantly in my local newspaper's web site. Unfortunately, my local newspaper (owned by Gannet) is now requiring Facebook to comment. I refuse to get a Facebook account, so no commenting on stories any more. At least I can still read my local paper on the web for free even if I have to suffer from some really annoying adds.

There have been a growing number of services I won't use because of a facebook login. I have an account, but won't support them as my authentication for other services. Maybe that seems misguided, but I draw the line there. Most recently a newer website called Pinterest which requires the facebook login to use their new tool. I got my invite (not knowing this beforehand). I sent them an email asking if there was an alternative way to create an account and no response back so far after 5-6 days.

 

[BingBangBop]

I won't even visit Facebook's web site. It is my understanding that they track you (and sell that info) at every site that has a facebook +1 link which is an awefull lot of sites now and it totally bypasses any privacy agreements they have with their users. Their privacy agreement pertains to what info you put on their site, not what they track outside of it. Really it is not much different than spywhere or advertising cookies being tracked other than it is more pervasive i.e. Facebook is almost everywhere now.

However, if you don't have a Facebook cookie from visiting their site, they don't track you. So I won't even visit their home page...

 

[MaxBurn]

Never had a facebook account and it looks like I never will. I am happy when I google my real name and see nothing that is actually me at all, well for things I have control over anyway. Don't know how or if I should kill the LinkedIn thing.

My maxburn identity was almost exclusively me for all results on the first and second pages of google. Then about eight months ago some fat burning exercise thing took all my results, not that I care. When I started using it I could use that identity anywhere but lately I have noticed that there are a lot of imitators that stole my name on various sites, this does vaguely annoy me but what am I going to do? Can't really protect a false identity.

I think the first step to identity protection is to never use your real identity online. Throwaway email accounts etc.

 

[Handruin]

I won't even visit Facebook's web site. It is my understanding that they track you (and sell that info) at every site that has a facebook +1 link which is an awefull lot of sites now and it totally bypasses any privacy agreements they have with their users. Their privacy agreement pertains to what info you put on their site, not what they track outside of it. Really it is not much different than spywhere or advertising cookies being tracked other than it is more pervasive i.e. Facebook is almost everywhere now.

However, if you don't have a Facebook cookie from visiting their site, they don't track you. So I won't even visit their home page...

I also like to run Ghostery and the NoScript plugins for firefox which aids in stopping this cross pollination of tracking. I know that people shouldn't have to use such plugins, but that's my method of control for their extra pervasive tracking.

 

[Handruin]

Never had a facebook account and it looks like I never will. I am happy when I google my real name and see nothing that is actually me at all, well for things I have control over anyway. Don't know how or if I should kill the LinkedIn thing.

My maxburn identity was almost exclusively me for all results on the first and second pages of google. Then about eight months ago some fat burning exercise thing took all my results, not that I care. When I started using it I could use that identity anywhere but lately I have noticed that there are a lot of imitators that stole my name on various sites, this does vaguely annoy me but what am I going to do? Can't really protect a false identity.

I think the first step to identity protection is to never use your real identity online. Throwaway email accounts etc.

I can't argue with the simplicity of keeping one's data off the net as a means of controlling it. You're making a solid choice. I do have a FB account and even with it, googling my real name returns nothing of significance. In fact, I see nothing specific to facebook in the results. LinkedIn comes up before anything else. Also, there seems to be a lot of people with my name getting more hits than me (which is fine with me). I'm still on the fence with LinkedIn. I don't use it for any personal related content, it's all for job-related networking. I've had several job inquiries through LinkedIn so far, so it seems to at least be somewhat useful for its intended purpose.

 

[mubs]

That's because it's still too hot to eat dinner at 7pm DST, and going to bed at 10pm DST is diabolical (you need to realize that very few houses are fully air-conditioned).

Daylight Saving is supposed to give people more daylight leisure hours, and I've certainly appreciated it in other climates, but here, it's more a case of waiting for the daylight to end. On hot days, I don't venture out for my afternoon walk before 6-6:30pm, meaning I can get back and eat dinner after 7pm. With daylight saving, it would be 5-5:30pm, which can be 3C hotter, so I'd be less likely to exercise.

That's why you need DST. Daylight Shortening Time.

 

[Mercutio]

've had several job inquiries through LinkedIn so far, so it seems to at least be somewhat useful for its intended purpose.

LinkedIn does something besides generate spam?

 

[Handruin]

LinkedIn does something besides generate spam?

Strange to hear that feedback as I've have no spam through LinkedIn. What kind of spam do you get?

 

[Stereodude]

I've gotten a fair amount of interest in me on a professional level via linked in. I basically just tell them I'm not interested.

 

[timwhit]

I got my current job by being on LinkedIn.

 

[Mercutio]

Strange to hear that feedback as I've have no spam through LinkedIn. What kind of spam do you get?

(Someone I just barely know but might've had a meeting with one time for 10 minutes) has invited you to join LinkedIn!

I have LinkedIn and Facebook invites killed by the same filter rule.

 

[Handruin]

(Someone I just barely know but might've had a meeting with one time for 10 minutes) has invited you to join LinkedIn!

I have LinkedIn and Facebook invites killed by the same filter rule.

Can you not adjust those notifications inside their website? I've seen messages like those come in, but I don't mind expanding the network. I feel like it helps recruiter searches, but I have no data to support that opinion.

 

[Mercutio]

I couldn't find any place that gave me the option of turning off their spam. I distinctly recall following unsubscribe-type links a number of times, but the messages eventually started coming again. I suspect I got new messages every time a different member told linkedin to spam everyone in their address book or something.

LinkedIn just sounds like it's an internet-wide version of Chamber of Commerce meetings, where everyone goes in the hopes that they'll meet a person they can sell their crap to, even though they have no other interest in being there and don't want to buy anyone else's crap.

 

[ddrueding]

I've gotten a bunch of decent job offers through LinkedIn, and a few friends got jobs there. The only messages I get are when people want me to link with them (this is obviously required for the service to work).

 

[Mercutio]

I'm just not interested in quantifying my relationships for datamining purposes or winning popularity contests.

 

[Howell]

I think that is a huge over statement.

 

[Handruin]

I'm just not interested in quantifying my relationships for datamining purposes or winning popularity contests.

I've never used it as a popularity contest and could care less about that. The more contacts you connect, the greater the networking possibilities. If you're currently unhappy with your job, you may have the chance for other opportunities. I was recently contacted by LinkedIn about open job position at LinkedIn. I declined to continue discussions because it would require relocating to Mountain View, CA. If you're as unhappy as you've indicated with your current job, you could find opportunities like this through LinkedIn. There are already several examples of direct hiring already mentioned above. That's a valuable tool in my book. If you don't want to do anything about where you are with your job...keep filtering LinkedIn into your spam bucket.

 

[ddrueding]

Mountain View is 5 miles from my favorite Audi dealer...that is something

 

[Handruin]

Mountain View is 5 miles from my favorite Audi dealer...that is something

If I was in a different place in my life, I'd of considered the move. Not to be close to your favorite Audi dealer...just because I like it out there.

 

[MaxBurn]

Interesting point on "The President's challenge"

http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/01/the-presidents-challenge.html

"Washington needs to hear your best ideas about how to clamp down on rogue Web sites and other criminals who make money off the creative efforts of American artists and rights holders," reads Saturday's statement. "We should all be committed to working with all interested constituencies to develop new legal tools to protect global intellectual property rights without jeopardizing the openness of the Internet. Our hope is that you will bring enthusiasm and know-how to this important challenge."

All I can think is: we gave you the Internet. We gave you the Web. We gave you MP3 and MP4. We gave you e-commerce, micropayments, PayPal, Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, the iPad, the iPhone, the laptop, 3G, wifi--hell, you can even get online while you're on an AIRPLANE. What the hell more do you want from us?

Take the truck, the boat, the helicopter, that we've sent you. Don't wait for the time machine, because we're never going to invent something that returns you to 1965 when copying was hard and you could treat the customer's convenience with contempt.

 

[MaxBurn]

The rise and fall of personal computing
Horace Dediu

http://www.asymco.com/2012/01/17/the-rise-and-fall-of-personal-computing/

The last graph is really something.

 

[Bozo]

Interesting point on "The President's challenge"

http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/01/the-presidents-challenge.html

What most legislators fail to realize, is a crook is a crook and a scumbag is a scumbag. For these people laws are just words written on paper.

 

[Chewy509]

The black out has begun...

(The protest against SOPA/PIPA by major players)...

 

[MaxBurn]

I work for an amazing company. They're going to fly me out to a customer site to troubleshoot several workstations that won't display our web application correctly. We already know that the workstations in question work for a a while and when they are experiencing a problem they have other workstations that work fine. Browser in question is IE 8. They also know they can fix it by downgrading to IE 7 and then reinstalling IE 8. I know of no other software vendor that will troubleshoot the customers computer on site especially when we have hundreds of customers with the same app countrywide that are fine.

 

[Mercutio]

Contrast that with Prometric, whose testing software, the software needed to certify candidates on Microsoft software like Exchange and SQL Server, wouldn't run on 64-bit Windows, Vista, Windows 7 or Server 2008, and even required that administrators skip certain Windows updates on older versions of Windows until just a few months ago.

 

[Mercutio]

I suspect this is an epic tale with which we are all familiar and so I share it with all of you.

Last time I visited my aunt and uncle, I fixed their desktop, removed spyware and reset the screen resolution on their new, widescreen laptop to something other than 800x600, secured their wireless router, added their BD player to their universal remote and got it talking to Netflix, showed my aunt how to import CDs into iTunes again, hooked up a set of computer speakers, and installed a Grace Internet Radio and configured it to work with Pandora.

I'm not the only one that happens to, right?

 

[ddrueding]

I suspect this is an epic tale with which we are all familiar and so I share it with all of you.

Last time I visited my aunt and uncle, I fixed their desktop, removed spyware and reset the screen resolution on their new, widescreen laptop to something other than 800x600, secured their wireless router, added their BD player to their universal remote and got it talking to Netflix, showed my aunt how to import CDs into iTunes again, hooked up a set of computer speakers, and installed a Grace Internet Radio and configured it to work with Pandora.

I'm not the only one that happens to, right?

Nope. It has gotten to the point where I don't even ask anymore. If we are invited to dinner at someone's house, at some point in the evening I'll excuse myself and start cleaning up their computer. At some point the party will migrate to the den/office/whatever I am and the tech questions will begin. Over the next week I'll have a handful of house calls and make ~$1k across the whole thing.

 

[BingBangBop]

Definely nope! Every time I visit any of my relatives I'm expected to fix any issues they have on any of their machines. I've gotten to the point that I just ask how Mr. (or Mrs.) Computer is doing before I visit so I can allocate extra time to the visit, if needed.

 

[DrunkenBastard]

Read the captain has been detained and was reported to have left the ship with passengers and crew still aboard.

So we now know that the gutless wonder "tripped and fell into a lifeboat", refused several orders from the coastguard to return to the ship to oversee the evacuation, and compounded his gross error in judgement of steering too close to shore by delaying the order to abandon ship for over 1 hour. It is more than likely that an earlier evacuation (before the list became so severe that many lifeboats couldn't be launched) would have meant only those affected by the initial hull breach would have died. His last minute crash turn may well have drowned those who were below the water line and previously on the "dry side"). He may or may not have been drinking copious amounts of wine whilst courting some filly:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...cordia-Captain-Coward-eye-English-dancer.html

What's absolutely staggering is that he was known to be basically unstable and yet he was put in a position by management where he was responsible for over 4,000 lives....

"He continued: ‘I enjoy moments when something unpredictable happens, when you can diverge a bit from standard procedures.’"

This is not someone you would put in charge of a hot dog cart let alone a massive cruise liner.

The critical point in my mind is when people were told to "return to their cabins, it's just a power outage". It's like those who were on the 2nd tower who were told to return to their offices after the first tower was hit on 9/11. Many never made it out alive. If I ever do go on a cruise, I'll be remaining near the lifeboats during an unexpected grounding thanks.

 

[MaxBurn]

The cowardly call.

http://gawker.com/5876864/listen-to...-captain-refuse-to-return-to-his-sinking-ship

 

[Bozo]

And when he feel into the life boat, he had is laptop with him!

 

[Stereodude]

And when he fell into the life boat, he had is laptop with him!

:erm: I just hate it when that happens.

 

[LunarMist]

What a dimwit and a chickenshit. I wonder how he will do in prison.