Messages - Jimdoria [ switch to compact view ]

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I'm not sure I get this. So they show you stuff from your history and your bookmarks? So what? That doesn't mean THEY, or anyone else, is able to see your history.

JavaScript runs in the browser, and has access to the same info the browser does. The program runs in YOUR browser, gets information from YOUR browser and shows it TO YOU. How exactly is this a security breach?

Seems like this is just a trick based on people's ignorance of how this stuff is supposed to work. I didn't trace through the code, but I don't see anything really amiss here.

Start panic indeed. That's all they're trying to do. Or maybe that and collect some e-mail addresses.

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If you're on Windows, it may be possible to do this using NTFS file permissions. It's built right in.

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Living Room / Re: How many furries here at DC?
« on: April 23, 2009, 12:31 AM »
Oh boy...  :-\

Furry is definitely the most maligned fandom out there. Probably plenty of reasons. Most people associate talking animals with cartoons for kids, so adults who like that stuff are suspected of gross immaturity (at best.) A related issue is the juxtaposition of imagery that most people see as child-related with adult (sexualized) themes and situations. Maybe it's that the hard-core sci-fi fandom geeks need an even smaller, more despised minority that can be seen as lower on the social totem pole to make themselves feel less like rejects. Or maybe it's something about people who are drawn to the furry fandom that invites abuse, like chronic low self-esteem. Or some combination of all of these?

Whatever the cause, what should probably be seen as a fairly harmless pastime somehow pushes all sorts of ugly emotional buttons for a lot of people. Yeah there are people who get their jollies while dressing up in character costumes, but it's hardly the weirdest fetish I've ever heard of, and it's probably vanishingly rare. There's that one lady who always wears her Star Trek uniform even to work, and talks like she's really in Starfleet, but that somehow doesn't paint all sci-fi fans as kooks in the public's mind.

And just to be perfectly clear, I am absolutely not saying that sci-fi fans are social rejects or that all furries are pathetic losers. That would be absurd and worse, incorrect. I'm talking in a broad sense about feelings and perceptions, not objective reality as it relates to these things.

If I were speaking objectively, I'd feel obliged to point out that human interest in human-animal hybrids goes back to prehistoric times, and that humans assuming animal shapes or communing with animal spirits is part of nearly every society's mythology and cultural tradition. Human interest in assuming the shape of a war robot from outer space is a much more recent invention.

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If I'm understanding Kartal correctly, I also have to disagree.

If words are the boards, nails, pipes and wires of language, grammar is the plan for how to build a house rather than just have a pile of stuff. When you build a house, there are rules you follow. Some of these are even dictated by laws. Is this elitist? Is it oppressive to insist there's a "right" way to support a roof or install a circuit breaker box? I don't think it is, because the rules are based on experience of what worked and what didn't, and how the final product can be made better: be built faster, not leak, not collapse after 20 years, etc.

It's not a perfect analog, but grammar rules are much the same. I've found reading prose from the early eighteenth century or earlier can often be difficult, not jut because of vocabulary or spelling changes, but because some of the rules of grammar were not yet firmly established. Not observing grammatical rules doesn't necessarily eliminate clarity, but it can impede it.

Saying that proper grammar is the language of the upper classes and therefore of liars really has no bearing on anything. Lies can be told in any language and in any dialect. They're probably as old as language itself, and nobody has an exclusive on them. Would oppression be any less objectionable if it were conveyed in "street talk"?

Before they gut YouTube of all the good stuff, take some time to look up and listen to the words of Martin Luther King Jr., James Baldwin and Malcolm X. One could hardly argue that their message against oppression was weaker or in any way compromised because they used clear, grammatically-correct language. In fact, I think the opposite becomes obvious.

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Just a thought - but is it possible you've got some kind of a bug that is interfering with your browsing? I know Conficker includes a component that blocks access to anti-virus and anti-spyware websites. Can you visit the main vendors (symantec, microsoft, etc.) without a problem?

You might also want to double-check your HOSTS file, and if you use Ad Block Plus in Firefox, try checking its config or disabling it.

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