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4626
Living Room / Re: What A Different World Than What I Grew Up In :(
« Last post by Renegade on October 16, 2012, 11:30 AM »
One of the things you regret as an adult is that you didn't stand up enough for those who were picked on at school, didn't extend your hand enough to the outcasts.

For those of you on this forum who are still young and in school.  If you see someone being picked on, stand up for them, show them a friendly face and reach out your hand.  You'd be surprised at how much it can mean to someone to have someone reach out to them and extend a friendly hand.

+1
4627
Living Room / What A Different World Than What I Grew Up In :(
« Last post by Renegade on October 16, 2012, 11:07 AM »
Reading through the news, I've constantly come across articles about "Amanda Todd". I finally did a search and saw this:

CAUTION: This is pretty disturbing.



I've heard about cyber-bulling before, but really never looked into it.

The poor girl took her life over it.

I really don't know what else to say. It should be pretty obvious.

Some members of Anonymous have claimed to identify the "stalker":

From Anonymous
Anonymous' Identiy Configuration
 
Amanda Todd's Punisher
 
Extorted amanda todd for pictures. This is the pedophile that social engineered Amanda Todd into supplying him nude pictures.
 
Identity: Kody Maxson
Online Username: kody1206
Location:Sapper St, New westminster,BC
Birthdate 1980, age 30
Video:
 
http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=pYk19SD4FCs
 
We Are Anonymous.
We Are Legion.
We Do Not Forgive.
We Do Not Forget.
Kody Maxson.
Expect us!


Perhaps what's perhaps a sadder state is that when you search for "Amanada Todd" in YouTube, then click a link, the "related results" on the left are enough to make you vomit.

It's utterly disgusting how some people use these wonderful technological tools. I'm simply speechless.
4628
Living Room / Re: Outing the Internet's worst troll.
« Last post by Renegade on October 16, 2012, 10:27 AM »
I've been following this for a while, and have a few comments...

Betraying trust is betrayal. Pretty simple. Nothing further to say there.

For myself, I don't try to hide. I know it's futile. Everything I say I stand behind, though I must confess that many things I say are drunken farts. ;D Other things are simple nonsense, and many things are in jest. I know that many things I say cannot be taken literally, and really don't care much. Literalists are often total morons. Oh, and I meant that literally. :P ;D

For the media, well, they have no restraint or semblance of decency. Nothing more can be expected. They're whores. Dirty, disgusting, filthy whores. I don't mean that as a stain on prostitution. I have much more respect for prostitutes than for them. (I'm counting on other people's disdain for the profession here.) I hold prostitution in higher regard than many other professions, e.g. lawyers, doctors, politicians, bureaucrats, MSM journalists/presstitutes, etc. Prostitutes are at least honest about what they do. They do honest work for honest pay. (Comparatively.)

So, I probably have a skewed view compared to many other people. I don't apologize for it.

I also have little sympathy for the guy being "outed". If you can't stand behind what you say, then STFU.

I don't sit on any "side" here. I just see a disaster. And really don't have any position. Perhaps I'm ignorant of some facts. But from what I've seen here and elsewhere, I just see this as a big, dirty mess.

It hasn't really occupied much mindshare for me though, and I could be missing something. I just don't see any real problem here though. Guy was a douche, and got outed for it. Well... yeah. That was to be expected at some point. ? No?
4629
Living Room / Re: Apple Tracking Users Again
« Last post by Renegade on October 16, 2012, 09:33 AM »
"The tracking control is titled "Limit Ad Tracking," and must be turned to ON, not OFF, in order to work. That's slightly confusing — "ON" means ads are off! — so a large number of people will likely get this wrong."

I wouldn't have found this, and I follow this stuff. I just switched it off now.

P.s. I am also looking at other iPhone browsers.


Ignorance is Strength...
4630
Welcome to the site Jim  :up:

Suggestion: Think about some screenshots to your web pages.

Suggestion #2: Check out this thread on our forum, about our NANY event; it might be something you would like to participate in.

+1 for screenshots. I visited the page earlier, and was wondering a bit what it was about.

One approach to screenshots is to "tell a story", but that takes planning, and isn't really applicable to everything. It's rarely used, except in tutorials, but is extremely effective.

Oh, and Screenshot Captor is an excellent program for going just that! (I'll plug it for mouser as he's far too humble most of the time. :) And I've been using it for about 7 years or so, and it's 1 of the first (very few) programs I put on any new computer install.)  ;)
4631
Living Room / Apple Tracking Users Again
« Last post by Renegade on October 16, 2012, 08:43 AM »
While Apple is generally tight-lipped about their products before release, they also seem to be pretty tight-lipped about some "features" after their product's release...

http://www.businessi...campaign=advertising

Apple's launch of the iPhone 5 in September came with a bunch of new commercials to promote the device.

But Apple didn't shout quite so loud about an enhancement to its new mobile operating system, iOS 6, which also occurred in September: The company has started tracking users so that advertisers can target them again, through a new tracking technology called IFA or IDFA.

Previously, Apple had all but disabled tracking of iPhone users by advertisers when it stopped app developers from utilizing Apple mobile device data via UDID, the unique, permanent, non-deletable serial number that previously identified every Apple device.

For the last few months, iPhone users have enjoyed an unusual environment in which advertisers have been largely unable to track and target them in any meaningful way.

In iOS 6, however, tracking is most definitely back on, and it's more effective than ever, multiple mobile advertising executives familiar with IFA tell us. (Note that Apple doesn't mention IFA in its iOS 6 launch page).

Users can switch off that targeting, but it's tricky, as we discovered a couple of days ago. Although at least iOS 6 users are able to turn off tracking, which they weren't before.

More at the article there, as per usual.

Anyways, a bit of an interesting twist of events there for privacy for Apple iDevice users.
4632
Living Room / Re: Tracking Brainwaves to Protect Our Borders
« Last post by Renegade on October 16, 2012, 07:25 AM »
I'm going to go to sleep tonight dreaming about that babe over in DHS... oh wait...

I think you've got things backwards... It's THEIR job to molest YOU. ;) :P
4633
In case anyone is interested, the temperature in Hell right now is about 3 degrees Celsius...

4634
Living Room / Faster Than Light Math
« Last post by Renegade on October 16, 2012, 06:39 AM »
In the never ending stream of cool stuff, today, faster than light math!

http://www.cosmosmag...vertakes-speed-light

New mathematical formulas have expanded Einstein’s theory of special relativity to allow for travel beyond the speed of light, potentially changing the way we view the Universe and judge distances.

Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity, published in 1905, interprets motion based on different frames of reference in space and time. The new mathematical formulas are based on the same principles, but – unlike Einstein – the mathematicians have allowed for a hypothetical infinite velocity.

Interesting. Einstein's speed of light is a limit that can't be crossed, so I'm wondering if this new math allows for that limit to be crossed. (Einstein's C allows for faster than the speed of light travel, but not slowing down below it, or speeding up across it.)


And when is someone going to make a software simulator for all this cool new stuff? :D
4635
Looks pretty good! :)

I downloaded a set of math lectures to brush up.

But regarding the "dumbing down of education", there's a bit more to it than simply "getting educated" - we need the right education on the right topics. Probably the most important single topic is "critical thinking" in the classical sense, i.e. argumentation theory, informal logic, formal logic, etc. These form the basis of philosophy, math, physics, and pretty much every other discipline (in the classical sense, and not the modern, bastardized versions). It is from these that we get goodies like the scientific method. (Thumbs up to Karl Popper for a lot of good work there.) e.g. Being indoctrinated by a history course doesn't really help much, but being able to sort through the skewed account and ask pointed questions that expose the bias is an excellent skill to have, and probably only available to those that have more a classical education.

The problem of... ooops... I'm really getting off topic here, and that should be in the other thread...

Anyways...

I find that there are a lot of fantastic materials out there from non-traditional sources, i.e. not universities, schools, or "educational institutions". Often you need to sort through a lot of the materials, and take some with a grain of salt, but they are out there.

Here are a few examples (mostly video as I prefer videos to relax - yes education is relaxing for me - primarily because I read in excruciating detail all day):

http://theurbanfarmingguys.com/

Some great little videos there for things like how to make laundry soap for $0.20 a gallon, or how to make a $4,000 vortex filter for under $100. While few people need a vortex filter, I rather doubt there are many people here at DC that couldn't use the information on how to make laundry soap, especially as you'll pay $5 or more for a gallon, i.e. 25x as much. Pretty useful I'd say. :)

http://www.thunderbolts.info/

A very good film with a lot of information on an alternate view of physics and cosmology. Check for the video on YouTube to watch it.

The Big Bang Never Happened:
http://www.youtube.c...eature=youtube_gdata

Just an example of some scientists (astronomers) that walk through evidence that contradicts mainstream science/cosmology. (Gets into red shift a lot and has some really interesting stuff in it.)

Abortion: Black Genocide in 21st Century America
http://www.maafa21.com/
https://www.youtube..../watch?v=3B2YG7vtwXA

Walks through a lot of history that never seemed to make it into any history classes in any school I've ever heard of. (Highly recommended.)

Open Source Ecology
The Global Village Construction Kit
http://opensourceecology.org/

Some really cool stuff happening there, though it is all very practical, and not theoretical. However, if you wanted to contribute, you would have to know quite a bite of theory.

Khan Academy
http://www.khanacademy.org/

Mostly traditional topics, but a lot of very good materials there. I brushed up on some vector math there a while back. Helped to refresh my mind on cross and dot products. As a random lesson, this might be fun for some people: Why dividing by zero is undefined - http://www.khanacade...by-zero-is-undefined :D (I'm quite sure it will be above the heads of anyone involved in monetary policy in Australia, Canada, Sweden, and New Zealand.)

Another more or less random video lecture:
Blackhat 2010 - Extreme-Range RFID
http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=c2jjciETUdI

Great treatment of RFID and how to steal credit card numbers from everyone within a given radius of you. Recommended viewing for anyone remotely interested in just how easily some financial security measures are defeated in the real world. ;)


The number of fantastically, mind-numbingly, stupendous materials available out there just boggles the mind. But you can find them all over the place, and limiting oneself to "educational" sites cuts down on the possibilities drastically.

Most of the examples I have above are meant to spur on more questions, and for anyone that watches them (mostly video there), they would probably have more questions about the topic at hand that they never would have asked in a "traditional" education setting. I find that there is great value in those things that call us to question our beliefs, be they about religion, history, science, philosophy, or whatever. We all hold false or contradictory beliefs - what makes some of us different from others is our willingness or unwillingness to change beliefs.

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle


Hmmm... As a bit of an afterthought, it would be kind of cool/fun to make an educational portal to point to a lot of these kinds of resources... Sigh... Don't have time... Still, it sounds like fun! :)
4636
I could be wrong, of course, but I thought Canada had long ago given away a lot of its civil liberties/freedoms, especially freedom of speech.

Pretty close. Policy in Ottawa is mostly imported from Washington D.C. So, it usually takes a little bit longer for Canadians to have their freedom stripped than it does for the Americans, though that's not always true. Our Prime Minister is currently selling off large chunks of Canada to China. Not sure whether we'll be Chanada or Chinada in the near future. But, y'know... All the typical stuff that treason is made of, that's our PM.
4637
CETA appears still to be kicking.

https://www.eff.org/...ceta-replicates-acta

Canada-EU Trade Agreement Replicates ACTA’s Notorious Copyright Provisions


Big surprise... Stephen Harper hard at work making Canadians ashamed to be Canadian... He's an embarrassment.

Canada is free and freedom is its nationality.
-Wilfrid Laurier - 7th Prime Minister of Canada

Nothing will prevent me from continuing my task of preserving at all costs our civil liberty.
-Wilfrid Laurier - 7th Prime Minister of Canada

As long as there is a drop of blood in my body they won't stop me from talking about freedom.
-John Diefenbaker - 13th Prime Minister of Canada

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.
-John Diefenbaker - 13th Prime Minister of Canada

Mr. Harper would do well to follow in the footsteps of some of his distinguished predecessors instead of some of his fascist contemporaries.
4638
Living Room / Re: Pumpkin carvings which are not to be missed.
« Last post by Renegade on October 15, 2012, 11:28 PM »
Holy Crap! Those are cool!

+1!

#6 and #10 were my favourites.
4639
Living Room / Re: Tracking Brainwaves to Protect Our Borders
« Last post by Renegade on October 15, 2012, 11:19 PM »
Sigh...

From the article:

However, for the conspiracy theorists among us, I can already hear the outcries of Big Brother is watching (or, in this case, listening). In this instance, I can see how they could come to this conclusion, but at some point, one has to decide to trust those in power. In other words, do we want to see our nation, and therefore our borders, protected from terrorist entry, or are we willing to take the chance that a dangerous drug cartel or terrorist group will find a gaping security hole along our border defense? I know I wish that we didn’t find ourselves in this position, but the powers that be feel that the best way to protect us and those who serve us is by patrolling our long borders. As always, I am curious to hear your input, so please feel free to comment.

Let's translate that into realityville...

However, for the conspiracy theorists among us,


Wow. An attempt to shut down conversation on the topic by throwing around the "conspiracy theorist" label. Didn't see that one coming...  :-\

I can already hear the outcries of Big Brother is watching (or, in this case, listening).


Ummm... Because they are? Just how idiotic is this writer? Didn't notice the thousands upon thousands of surveillance cameras everywhere? Or maybe he didn't notice all the online surveillance? Maybe he's just blind...

In this instance, I can see how they could come to this conclusion,


Really? You can understand how increased surveillance at every step is kind of something like maybe Big Brother? How perceptive of you~! :P

but at some point, one has to decide to trust those in power.


BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA~!

Seriously? Is this guy for real?

Trust those in power. Let's have a nice little list of "those in power"... Or maybe we'll just skip it. We all know where that ends up... (mass graves)

In other words, do we want to see our nation, and therefore our borders, protected from terrorist entry,


Oh yes! The massive hordes of terrorists throwing themselves against the border, wave after wave of relentless terrorist hordes! Oh god... How many "terrorists" has the DHS caught? Didn't think so...

or are we willing to take the chance that a dangerous drug cartel


Like the CIA, perhaps?

or terrorist group


Like those you find in Washington D.C.?

will find a gaping security hole along our border defense?


Like the ones the CIA uses for muling drugs into the US? Or the ones that the US military uses?

I know I wish that we didn’t find ourselves in this position, but the powers that be feel that the best way to protect us and those who serve us is by patrolling our long borders.


"The powers that be" = Big Brother. Which part of that was difficult to understand?

And better be careful about those darn Canadians! God knows they're all filled with piss & vinegar and looking to destroy the US at any opportunity...  :-\

As always, I am curious to hear your input, so please feel free to comment.

No. He's not. He just wants people to scream out in fear about imaginary "terrorists" and congratulate him on screaming for fewer freedoms and a bigger police state. Describing him as "disingenuous" would be kind.

This guy needs to understand 1 thing... When you send drones to bomb people at weddings, you're going to have a few people pissed off at you.

Just unreal. Completely surreal. I don't know whether to vomit in disgust or cry in despair.
4640
Living Room / Re: The Next "They Live" - "Branded"
« Last post by Renegade on October 15, 2012, 08:14 PM »
Idiocracy is hilarious.  I've got it on DVD....

+1 ;D A great flick, and a favourite!
4641
Living Room / Re: Dumbing-down of the educational system?
« Last post by Renegade on October 15, 2012, 05:03 AM »
Thanks!

I think I found the whole thing as a single piece -- a couple of options:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43-Zr2tbX9Y
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ77AJUENCQ


Even better! The first link has 720p HD~! (Downloading it now.)

And yes - it's the one I was thinking of before. Quite good. It's one of those that is worth watching again.
4642
Living Room / Re: Dumbing-down of the educational system?
« Last post by Renegade on October 15, 2012, 01:38 AM »
I just came across this:

http://www.edu-lu-tion.com/

In my 10+ years of teaching, "school sucks"  is perhaps the most common phrase I've heard students use to describe their feelings about public education. But this seemingly bitter and reductive slogan is actually quite clever. When taken literally, "school sucks"  is perhaps the most accurate and astute synopsis of the system I've ever heard. Here's why...

 
1. The twelve-year process of an American public education has a dramatic effect on the mind of a child. When we first enter school at age six, many of our best personal attributes are already in place. We are curious, innovative, unique, creative and hopeful in ways that we will rarely be able to replicate throughout the rest of our lives. But over time, school sucks those essential attributes out of too many of us...and replaces them with predictability, obedience and apathy.   
 
2. The public school system sucks off the productive capacity of hard-working people. The system is funded through taxation.  In other words, whether public education succeeds or fails (spoiler alert: it fails) at providing real education to the public, the cost goes up every year. There are no refunds.

They have a poster there, that I think you'll really enjoy, Iain:

aTi7B.jpg

I did anyways. :)
4643
Living Room / Re: Dumbing-down of the educational system?
« Last post by Renegade on October 15, 2012, 12:22 AM »
Oh - Check here:

http://www.youtube.c...t=PLB14C115443F2A882

Looks like part 7/10 is missing, but the rest seem to be there.
4644
Living Room / Re: Dumbing-down of the educational system?
« Last post by Renegade on October 15, 2012, 12:20 AM »
https://theultimatehistorylesson.com/

When looking into this a bit, came across:

  What You've Been Missing

A special episode of that may be?


Ah yes... I think I've seen that film before. If it's what I'm thinking, it has clips (like so many other documentaries) used for educational/commentary purposes, which while it doesn't violate copyright law, violates the feelings of the MAFIAA, and so...

I'll need to check on that MediaGoblin. Don't think I've seen it before.
4645
Living Room / Re: Dumbing-down of the educational system?
« Last post by Renegade on October 15, 2012, 12:15 AM »
I can't understand all that stuff. There's so many words !
(Joke!)

It's not the words that are a problem for me... It's the letters~! ;D

(Need to brush up on so much math... forgotten far too much...)
4646
General Software Discussion / Re: Does the browser Opera suck?
« Last post by Renegade on October 14, 2012, 11:50 PM »
Does the browser Opera suck?
Yes.

Very enthralling answer. Your deep insight has inspired me. Please, share more?

I would like to interject with an equally exciting answer...

No. ;D

  Can I throw a "Maybe" in there?   ;)

Perhaps. ;)
4647
Living Room / Apple Licenses Clock
« Last post by Renegade on October 14, 2012, 11:36 PM »
This is kind of funny:

http://www.huffingto...5.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

Apple iOS 6 Clock Deal Stuck: iPhones And iPads Get To Keep Their Clocks

Apple, sensitive about protecting its own designs, has struck a deal to use Swiss railway operator SBB's trademark station clock design on iPads and iPhones.

SBB, which holds the trademark for a 1944 design by Zurich-born engineer Hans Hilfiker, said last month it might challenge the U.S. company after the clock appeared on a new operating system for the iPad.

"For the use of the clockface on certain Apple devices such as iPads and iPhones, the parties have negotiated an arrangement that enables Apple to use the SBB station clock under a licence agreement," SBB said on Friday.

The cost of the licensing fee and further detail of the agreement will remain confidential.

It's even funnier when they refuse to license telecommunications technologies from other patent holders, but will license a design for a clock. :D

4648
Developer's Corner / Re: Hot Tech on Tech Pron
« Last post by Renegade on October 14, 2012, 11:15 PM »
^^ I won't disagree in principle...

However... I don't think a DB should be designed in 3NF. Starting in 5NF is the best approach. After that, you can denormalize down to 3NF, and 2NF if absolutely necessary. But the 5NF principle is the best starting point. From there, you clearly understand everything, and the 3NF is just a subclass of 5NF, and easier to deal with. But not understanding the 5NF for a DB is just, well, I don't like it. :P

Understood. And that's why you're a coder and I'm in systems. ;D

A while back I was doing optimization for a MySQL database. It was quite fun! You really need to dig down pretty deep to find out WHY/HOW things work the way they do, and then work your design based on that. Sticking to XNF theory just isn't useful as everything comes down to implementation.

I still think I enjoy the purity of abstracting data into a normal form more than doing actual optimization though. They're not the same thing by any stretch. Apples and green tea ice cream I suppose. :D
4649
Living Room / Re: Dumbing-down of the educational system?
« Last post by Renegade on October 14, 2012, 11:10 PM »
Coincidentally, I was reminded of this when I read this comment on the Cartesian Product blog about the Maths "A" level papers in the UK, where a comparison is made between "A" level papers from 1982 and modern-day:

"A" ("Advanced") level exams in the UK used to be amongst the hardest exams a student might face until his/her 2nd or 3rd year at university. Not any more, it seems.
Presumably science (chemistry, physics, biology) and liberal studies are all getting the same sort of treatment. This could probably help to explain a lot.

Errmmm... yeah... humbling... I've not done that kind of math in quite a while, and really need to brush up...

Good to be humiliated every now and then. :D
4650
Living Room / Re: Dumbing-down of the educational system?
« Last post by Renegade on October 14, 2012, 11:09 PM »
I recently found an excellent set of interviews:

https://theultimatehistorylesson.com/

http://www.youtube.c...t=PL463AA90FD04EC7A2

They are more of these videos where they put them out for free, and ask people to buy DVDs to help support the producers, etc. etc. Lots like that out there.

The guy there walks through a phenomenal amount of history on issues related to education. It's quite long, but a very eye-opening treatment.

Now, for the part that will blow you away...

Everything is referenced. Everything. You can download transcripts along with indepth footnotes/endnotes on the topics and references in the interview.

These guys did their homework~! :D


Probably the most important thing that I can say about the interviews, is that I need to go back and watch again. They're simply too packed with information, and not something that you can absorb all of very quickly. Definitely a 10 lb steak meal there. None of that nancy-pansy 12 oz salad nonsense~! :D We're talking MEAT~! :D Get your intellectual carnivore hat on~! :D
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