TXCHLInstructor 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Microsoft Expands Program To Bribe Users Into Using Its Search

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 03 Oct, 2008 @ 06:04am

    Search...

    New Microsoft marketing slogan:

    "Search that sucks so bad we have to pay you to use it."

    Rather than bite at the rather meager reward for a search engine that forces the use of a non-standard virus-magnet browser, I'd settle for one that just gets me the results I'm looking for most of the time.

    ...like Google.

    BTW, I suspect that since you have to download a "tracking app", you will be penalized for using any other search engine.

    Note to M$: Call me, and I will explain to you exactly where you can stick that, and how far.
    --
    www.chl-tx.com Without the 2nd Amendment, the rest of the document is just wishful thinking.

  • On the post: Apple Finally Realizes That NDAs For Developers Are A Bad Idea

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 02 Oct, 2008 @ 07:13am

    "so that others don't steal our work"

    ...like we did with the work of Xerox PARC...
    --
    www.chl-tx.com Without the 2nd Amendment, the rest of the document is just wishful thinking.

  • On the post: Will Financial Crisis Drive Students Back To CS?

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2008 @ 05:23am

    If you don't believe in age discrimination...

    ...then you just haven't been around long enough. Programming's an ok living until you hit your 40's, then you will find out that somebody from India or China can do your job at half the salary.

    Also, note that companies like HP are actively recruiting H1-b's to replace US programmers, despite the fact there is NO PROGRAMMER SHORTAGE.

    Just remember that a programmer's job is always temporary, and that managers consider programmers to be fungible.
    --
    http://www.chl-tx.com Without the 2nd Amendment, the rest of the document is wishful thinking.

  • On the post: Turkey Bans Richard Dawkins' Website, Because It Offends A Creationist

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 19 Sep, 2008 @ 11:03am

    Re: Re: Not about Creationism

    So far, the government there is nominally secular. However, since the muslim superstition claims over half of the population of Turkey, that won't last much longer.
    --
    www.chl-tx.com

  • On the post: Turkey Bans Richard Dawkins' Website, Because It Offends A Creationist

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 19 Sep, 2008 @ 10:59am

    Islam

    Islam, the bronze-age superstition started by a pedophile, is currently the most dangerous superstition on the planet.

    I'm all for tolerance, but a superstition that preaches "submit, pay a special tax, or die" is not something I'm willing to tolerate. It does not merit tolerating, and its followers have no legitimate place in a world of decent people.
    --
    www.chl-tx.com

  • On the post: Apple Now Banning Potentially Competitive Apps From The iPhone

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 15 Sep, 2008 @ 03:17pm

    I *hope* Android won't have those problems...

    The actual marketing of Android apps hasn't really started yet, and the developers have been a little disappointed in how slowly the SDK is coming along.

    Yeah, I hope Android is better. I signed up as an iPhone developer, but I have pretty much lost interest. I was initially enthusiastic about the iPhone, but it slowly dawned on me that the one app I use the most on the iPhone, namely email, is generally done much better on other platforms, and I'm probably going to switch when my current contract is up. The iPhone is sorta neat in some ways, but not sufficiently neat to stand in line for, much less camp out all night.

    That said, I'm not going to sign on as an Android developer until I can actually buy and use an Android-based phone, and decide if it's good enough to warrant my attention.
    --
    Texas certified Concealed Handgun License Instructor
    http://www.chl-tx.com

  • On the post: Does The Public Have A Right To Know Where Surveillance Cameras Are Located?

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 12 Sep, 2008 @ 10:28am

    Crime deterrence.

    "what better way to deter crime than to let people know they're being watched"

    Hmmm... There is nothing that deters *violent* crime anywhere nearly as effectively as the possibility that the intended victim might shoot back. Nothing.

    There is nothing that *encourages* violent crime as much as certain knowledge that the intended victim is defenseless.

    For instance: Muslims hate Jews, so they hijack American airliners. Make sense? Why not hijack Israeli airliners? Answer: Israeli pilots (and some flight crews) are *armed*, US pilots and flight crews were defenseless.
    --
    http://www.chl-tx.com

  • On the post: Are IE Users Really Jumping To Chrome?

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2008 @ 05:41pm

    Shiny, but...

    I tried it for a few days. Slow and cumbersome. Not quite ready for prime time.

    Might try it again after a couple of releases, but for now, Firefox is MUCH easier to use.
    --
    TX CHL Instructer www.chl-tx.com

  • On the post: Is Privacy That Cuil?

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 28 Jul, 2008 @ 07:28pm

    Re: Re: N'yes...

    It may actually have been ranked fairly high -- mine was, but I missed it the first time I looked because of the random photo attached to my listing.
    --
    www.chl-tx.com

  • On the post: Is Privacy That Cuil?

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 28 Jul, 2008 @ 07:06pm

    Not quite ready for Prime Time

    I looked up my own site on Cuil.com (keywords=CHL Plano Texas), and the listing for my site had a picture with it that had nothing to do with my site, and did not appear anywhere on my site. I checked out several of the other listings in the same category, and found similar results. Their "FAQ" on where they get their pictures is just plain wrong. In fact, they get the pictures that they put on their listings from some random place unrelated to the sites they list.

    Since Google is far more than just a search engine, my guess is that Cuil is no threat to them. They are definitely not ready for Prime Time.
    --
    www.chl-tx.com

  • On the post: iPhone 3G Illustrates What A Real Contract Looks Like

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 25 Jul, 2008 @ 04:46am

    Waiting in line?

    When I learned that the Apple fanatics where camping out on Thursday night, I scrapped my plans to go to the AT&T store for a new iPhone on my birthday (the 11th). That decision turned out better than I expected, given the hassles folks experienced that day getting their iBricks.

    I might still get a 3G iPhone 2.0. Or maybe wait until 2.1, or until the price goes down again, or maybe just check out the competition. After all, I'm still amazed that somebody could call something a 'smart' phone when it doesn't have a search feature for its calender, or even a simple cut & paste between applications.

    Sorry, SJ, I'm not one of your mindless minions.
    --
    www.chl-tx.com
    Without the 2nd Amendment, the rest of the document is just wishful thinking

  • On the post: Fun With Statistics: How Many Companies Are Blocking Facebook?

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 16 Jul, 2008 @ 04:51am

    The bank where I used to work...

    The large, multinational bank where I used to work had the most strict restrictions on internet use I have ever seen. Among other things, any site associated with porn, guns, political commentary, social networking, job search, or streaming video of any kind was filtered out. I'm not 100% sure, but I think some religious sites where blocked. Occasionally, I would trip the filters without knowing why the site was banned, but that pretty much stopped happening after I downloaded one of the available HOSTS files that vectors most adware sites to localhost. I'm certain that at least part of the process was done by a live person reviewing sites that were visited by employees; my own site (www.chl-tx.com) was accessible for a couple of weeks after the first time I accessed it from work before the filters started blocking it. The site has been there for years; I brought it up just to see if the filters would catch it about a month before I quit. It was blocked by the time I left the bank.

    There was another place I worked a few years ago that had much more reasonable access restrictions. You couldn't get to known porn sites any time, but you could access streaming media, ebay, social networking sites, and the like, but not from 8am-noon or 1pm-5pm.

  • On the post: Competitors Using Software To Mark Each Other's Craigslist Postings As Spam

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 05 May, 2008 @ 04:54pm

    Re: CAPTCHA

    CAPTCHAs have been pretty handily defeated. There is one company that farms out CAPTCHAs all over the 'net, offering free porn for solving a CAPTCHA. Typical CAPTCHA is solved in about 10-15 seconds with that system.

    Even the OCR (and neural net) programs are getting pretty good at solving CAPTCHAs.

    CAPTCHA is not the answer. Wish I knew what was.
    --
    http://www.chl-tx.com Concealed Handgun License Training in North Dallas, Tx.

  • On the post: Don't Blame The Taser, Doctor Bro… Or Else We Sue

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 05 May, 2008 @ 05:12am

    Training...

    Ah, there's the rub. How much are you going to train with something that costs more than $10/round to fire?

    The Irving, TX "taser specialist" called out to try to prevent a suicide a couple of years back missed a relative easy shot, and I'd bet money the root cause was lack of sufficient training. I use that example in my CHL classes. Probably should write it up for my blog.

  • On the post: What If Sneaky Adware Died And No One Noticed?

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 02 May, 2008 @ 04:56pm

    Re: Re: Questionable business practices

    Because spam does not cost the sender anything, so a response rate of 0.000001% is profitable. If email cost one cent per 100 messages, the spam problem would disappear.

  • On the post: Another Spammer Sent To Prison

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 02 May, 2008 @ 02:56pm

    e-postage

    A universal "e-postage" charge of one cent per 100 emails (preferably payable to the recipient) would stop spam dead instantly, without seriously impacting any legitimate emailer. All we need is a good system to handle micropayments securely.

  • On the post: How Do People Find The Time To Watch Television?

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 29 Apr, 2008 @ 03:53am

    TV?

    Whenever I hear a conversation at work involving names I don't recognize, it's generally somebody talking about a TV program. I have not watched commercial television since FarScape ended. It was then that I canceled my satellite TV service. I do watch a DVD movie about twice a year...

    I have no clue how anybody watches 20+ hours/wk of TV. I simply don't have the time, and last time I checked, there was absolutely nothing worth spending that amount of time on there.
    --
    Does the 2nd Amendment actually mean anything?
    www.chl-tx.com

  • On the post: Blue Jean Cable Shows One Way To Respond To Overly Broad Patent Threats

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2008 @ 06:58pm

    Scratch Monster Cables

    I'm going to look into buying Blue Jean cables from now on. I LIKE that guy's attitude.

    Not that I ever bought Monster Cables anyway. After all, copper wire is copper wire, and the connectors either fit properly, or not. I certainly can't hear the difference between Monster and Radio Shack, and I suspect anybody who says he can is deluding himself (or herself) or just imagining things that aren't really there.

  • On the post: Amazon Says It Will Only Sell Print-On-Demand Books That It Gets To Print

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2008 @ 04:06pm

    Re: Stocking PoD?

    I thought the point of PoD was that you didn't have to stock any books.

  • On the post: Will The Freemium Model Work For Photoshop?

    TXCHLInstructor ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2008 @ 07:54pm

    The GIMP works well enough for me

    I use The GIMP for my photo-processing needs. I do passport photos for my CHL students, and I just need to crop them and size them for my printer, and do some minor corrections for the color balance of my camera.

    Works great, and the price is right. AFAICT, The GIMP does everything PhotoShop can do.

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