Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Slashback

Slashback: Stapler, Interface, Gaming 295

Posted by timothy from the fax-something-unique-to-8889771577 dept.
Slashback tonight (read on below) has updates on next-generation aircraft, KDE user-interface improvements and suggestions, a special warning for those obsessed with Milton's stapler from Office Space, SmartFilter's attitude toward SourceForge, and more.

You've got to admit it's getting better all the time. Gentu writes: "In parallel to the KDE 3.1-alpha release today, OSNews published an interesting article discussing a number of User Interface issues found on KDE 3. The article suggests a number of changes, some small, some pretty drastic. Towards the end of the two-part article, the author discusses the 'integration' problem found in today's X11 desktop environments, and how fixing this issue would bring Unix closer to average Joe's desktop."

Yes, you're allowed to have more than one friend. A NuKeFaN writes: "Following the article titled Are you a Friend of GNOME I wanted to point you out that the most used GPL'd software for the Web, PHP-Nuke, also has a similar page/system for their friends. It's a Club (MandrakeClub like) where you can be a member for a little monthly fee and you can get some extra benefits. You can access the Club area to know more about it. This can be, maybe, another example of how to get some money to fund a free software project, the matter is if we, as users, will support those project's developers this way? I think we can."

Wait, the scam was to take just a few pennies from everyone! MrBlue VT writes "In reference to the previous Slashdot article about the red Swingline Staplers, I click on the add to cart button on the Swingline website, and it pops open an ordering window with a 4 staplers added to the shopping cart. Ok, I think it's a little strange, but change the quantity back to 1, and hit continue to checkout. Next thing I know, I'm looking at an order form with all the text boxes filled out with somebody else's personal information. He's from Bellvue, WA apparently (I'm in Virginia). It also has his credit card number and expiration date!

This has to be the worst security I've ever seen in an online shopping site. The company who apparently provides the online shopping service for Swingline appears to be an outfit called SureSource.

I just wanted to let anyone who happened to order from them know about this. Your credit card info could very well be compromised."

Please fasten your belts. hondo77 submitted this follow-up to this article about next-generation aircraft, writing "Boeing says that their blended-wing aircraft will be ready for test flights in 2006. The article also has a picture of a 3% scale model. See, it doesn't look like the B-2 at all."

But thanks anyhow. flonker writes "Smartfilter no longer lists sourceforge.net! Link for those who want to see for themselves."

Great at stealing them, too. MrDingusMcGee writes "After the recent posting about a study suggesting that video games decrease brain activity, I thought it would be interesting to read the results of another study which has shown that video game players score better on a range of attention tasks (mirror here)done by Shawn Green at the University of Rochester Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, and that this could possibly rate video game players as better drivers. Worth seeing the other side of the argument and having some validation for those hours of gaming."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Slashback: Stapler, Interface, Gaming More

Slashback: Stapler, Interface, Gaming

Comments Filter:

  • Staplers (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:05PM (#3867962)
    You did order the man 4 staplers, right? And then another 4? And then 4 more, just to be nice?

    • Re:Staplers (Score:5, Funny)

      by unicron ( 20286 ) <unicron AT thcnet DOT net> on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:15PM (#3868031) Homepage
      I..I um, I um..I believe you have my credit card.

    • Re:Staplers (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Jonny Ringo ( 444580 )
      He's from Bellvue, WA apparently
      which is right next to Redmond, most Microsofties live in Bellvue.
      So, I'm just saying its probably justified is all :-)
    • $28? No way!

      I'll stay with my burgundy Swingline stapler, thank you very much.

      Besides, the damn thing does NOT look like the one in "Office Space." It's just...wrong.

    • Re:Staplers (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12, 2002 @12:07AM (#3868929)

      First of all, the Swingline website was down this morning. And no, it was not Slashdotted -- it was Wall Street Journaled. (Really, you people amaze me. Any international news website gets more hits in an hour than Slashdot gets in a day. Consequently, the potential for a real news site to DOS a website is incredible. Slashdot is not a big deal to anyone who isn't a Linux-loser FUDdite.) Swingline's bandwidth was hosed and they put up a "we are fixing a technical problem" message for a few hours.

      When the site finally came back up, tens of thousands of Office Space fans rushed in, wanting they're very own 'tapler.

      Unfortunately, SureSource -- the unprofessional cockgobblers whom Swingline unfortunately chose as their e-commerice parter -- are apparently a bunch of amateurs. Either they were running a blatantly broken web application, or they never did any load testing. Either way, their shopping cart got confused and lost track of which cookies belonged to which sessions. Consequently, when User A tried to add a red Swingline to his shopping cart, he may have been adding it to User B's shopping cart. So, when User B went to check out, he might have seen several more staplers in his shopping cart than he expected to see. User B would then try to go back and delete the extra staplers, but in fact was deleting staplers from User C's cart. And because SureSource stores the user's already-entered personal data in the session, User C might see User B's name, address, phone number, and email address prepopulating the address form when he goes to check out.

      That, my friends, is a problem. But the really big fucking problem is that SureSource were storing already-entered credit-card information somewhere in the session, too. There's a chance that anyone who tried to check out saw anyone else's credit card data.

      I know this because I, very happy to finally be ordering the stapler after several hours of Swingline's downtime, attempted to fix my shopping cart several times before coming to the conclusion that SureSource are a bunch of fucktards. I was not very happy when, several hours later, I received several warning emails from some kind souls who happened to see my contact information and credit card info. I also received several phone calls.

      I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who emailed or phoned any person whose personal data they saw to warn them. For some of you, those were long distance phone calls. We are very, very grateful.

      Swingline heard about the fiasco pretty quick, and pulled the SureSource shopping cart link from their website. They've added a SureSource telephone number that you can call to order instead. Ha! In order for their telephone operators to fuck up as badly as they're "web developers" did, they would have to answer the phone by saying, "Hello, this is SureSource, would you like several people's credit card and billing information free of charge?"

      The bottom line is that SureSource are unprofessional scum. I have never seen such maliciously broken software on the Web in years, and I hope that they get their dumb asses shut down by the Better Business Bureau. Hey, guys! If you're a bunch of lightweights, don't take contracts from companies with real volume!

      Swingline, I hope, will drop SureSource by the end of the week. You, reader, can expedite that. Please, don't call SureSource and order a 'tapler. Instead, contact Swingline and tell them that you will not purchase a stapler until they find a different e-commerce partner. As it is, Swingline is a party to what is one of the most potentially damaging credit card problems I've seen on the Web. I'm not bullshitting you. The Wall Street Journal has a large userbase, and that link propagated to sites like Slashdot well before the morning was over. Think about how many people have seen that page. Think about how many have ordered. And think about the fact that for every person kindhearted enough to warn his fellow man to watch his credit card statement, there is probably another person evil enough to cut'n'paste the data into a text file. SureSource gave those people my name, billing address, email address, phone number, credit card number, credit card type, and expiration date. If that isn't enough to pull of some heinous identity theft, I don't know what is.

      And if you don't boycott Swingline for others' sake, do it for your own sake. If SureSource is unprofessional enough to use untested software on an e-commerce site -- and believe me, that's the kind of shit that QA folks find pretty quick -- then who's to say that their internal credit card databases aren't just as easily compromised?

      Even Milton, my friends, didn't need his 'tapler that bad.

      Thank you for your time.

      • Re:Staplers (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Kallahar ( 227430 )
        One thing about those big sites is that they rarely link to another site. I can't tell you how many times I've read a CNN story that had ZERO links or domain names. They often will link internally to their own stories, but they try hard to not send people off their site. Slashdot, on the other hand, exists solely on links, with just minor blurbs to get people to go to the site.

        But you do bring up many good points :)

        Travis

  • Swingline's site (Score:2, Informative)

    by CheechBG ( 247105 )
    it would appear that they took out the online purchase option, opting instead for phone orders through SureSource. Oh well, I really had no need for a fire-engine red stapler anyway :)

  • Staplers Now Off-Line (Score:5, Informative)

    by Myriad ( 89793 ) <myriad@the[ ]d.com ['bso' in gap]> on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:07PM (#3867980) Homepage
    I just checked the Swingline website and it looks like the on-line order button has been removed and replaced with:

    To place an order for the Rio Red Stapler (SKU#: S7074740), Please call SureSource at: 1-800-544-3243.

    • Re:Staplers Now Off-Line (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      ...it looks like the on-line order button has been removed...

      But other products [swingline.com] still have the order button.

      Weird.

      And they're slashdotted, too! Poor Swingline.

    • Re:Staplers Now Off-Line (Score:5, Informative)

      by douglas jeffries ( 585519 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:38PM (#3868107) Homepage Journal
      it appears they just commented out the html. seems like a quick hack, but who views source anyway?

      <!--<a href="#"onClick="javascript:popUp2('http://www.acc o-store.com/cgi-bin/sgic0101.exe?HKW=CO01DIV01+COD IV=0101+QTY=1+UID=1613471026418266609+ITN=S7074740 ')"><img border="0" src="/images/sw/sw-add-to-cart.gif" alt="Buy from SureSource"></a>-->

      • viewing source is dangerous to your mental health (Score:5, Funny)

        by Erris ( 531066 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @10:20PM (#3868533) Homepage Journal
        I'm just dying at this [suresource.com] silly page, where the sure source dopes think people want to steal their "photos and art". Who realy wants to publish pictures of Todd [suresource.com], or the cubes he commands [suresource.com] or of their building [suresource.com]?!

        Have some respect, now, and don't be a pirate for the mighty security firm might come get you. Tee-heee! Oh wait, I'm not a news organization and I don't have their permision to download, or did I because they sent it to me when I requested without asking who I was? Did I violate their silly text telling me that the pictures are " for exclusive use by members of the news media. These items may not be downloaded or reproduced by other individuals or organizations without the express permission of SureSource."? Or did they realy mean that I should, "Please click on the desired image to enlarge & download." Don't forget to check out the purple warehouse here, a DEEEEEEEEEEEP DEVILISH LINK. [suresource.com] Please click to enlarge! Please click to Download! Wheeee! Wizards of Web! Untitled Document Creators? What awsome d000ds they are! Function MM_JumpMenu seems to come from Dreamweaver [k12.ut.us], but I doubt that firm wants to take credit. Note, when making simple static pages use a text editor or something simple like Bluefish. When you want to make complicated Flash stuff, please don't. When you use a big giant flash making editor to design simple static pages, sigh, I give up. It was funny at first but the more I look into it the dumber it gets. I'm embarased for them.

  • fax-something-unique-to-8889771577 ? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cperciva ( 102828 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:08PM (#3867990) Homepage
    Can someone explain where the fax-something-unique-to-8889771577 bit comes in? I can't see any connection to any of the stories.
    • They will hate me for putting this idea into people's minds...but everyone I explain this to gets a kick out of it, so here goes.

      1. Take 5 sheets of black construction paper.
      2. Scotch tape them into a single 5 sheet long sheet.
      3. Place start of "page" into fax machine.
      4. Dial the "recipient".
      5. Watch sheet start going into the fax machine with glee.
      6. Once out the other side, Scotch Tape beginning of "sheet" to end of sheet forming a giant black loop.
      7. Giggle like a teenage girl and show your co-workers. Trust me, the showing co-workers step is needed for the full satisfaction. Choose co-workers carefully.
      8. You Are Done! Not only that, but the recipient is now out of ink or toner.

      Not that I have ever done this...but I know someone who has done this to someone who kept sending them spam faxes.

      I hold no responsibility for your actions yada yada...

      -Pete
      BTW - comment posting is screwed.

      • Re:fax-something-unique-to-8889771577 ? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Russ Steffen ( 263 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @09:04PM (#3868218) Homepage

        Unless your "victim" has something more sophisticated than a fax machine, like say a PC with a fax modem or a fax server. In that case you're just tying up a phone line.

        And, why bother with the construction paper? Just a FAX modem, an all-black TIFF file and some know-how and you can do the same job in a much more reliable way (the tape seams tend to fray and split after 15 or so passses). And, it'll be more impressive to your cow-orkers.

        • while it very well might be easier to just use a fax modem, I just don't think it would provide the same level of satisfaction that you would get from watching the black paper loop through the machine over and over again until you are disconnected. It also beats pasting that same black tiff into a document till it 1000 pages long
        • And, why bother with the construction paper? Just a FAX modem, an all-black TIFF file and some know-how and you can do the same job
          in a much more reliable way (the tape seams tend to fray and split after 15 or so passses). And, it'll be more impressive to your cow-orkers.

          Nah, I think you lose some of the sheer glee of watching that black loop go around and around and around and around...

          It's a truly euphoric experience!
      • But you're not really 133t until you twist the fifth sheet through 180 degrees before attaching it to the first. For best results, fax from 662-487... (MOBIUS).
      • can be a bit thick..
        I usually just run a few pages out of the photocopier with the lid open.
      • You Rock!

        How's this? (never tried it yet)

        In States that charge for pop-can / soda-can deposits, we have automated machines that you stick the cans in for your refund. You stick the can in the machine, it gets crushed, and when you're done a refund receipt gets printed out.

        My idea

        Cut out the UPC symbol from a refundable bottle/can

        Get a long stick and a roll of scotch tape

        Tape the UPC on the stick

        "Probe" the machine with the stick.

        Not sure if it would work.
        There might be a mechanism that determines if a can has been crushed.


        I hold no responsibility for machines you start probing.

    • As found on Google: (Score:4, Informative)

      by datastew ( 529152 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:45PM (#3868137)
      Its a fax number for a printer-supplies co. that spammed someone named jeffrey back in Feb. 2002.
      The google search [google.com]

      The top google link [goldmark.org]

      Jeffrey's notes on spammers that he has toll-free numbers listed for. [goldmark.org]

      You're right, I still don't see the connection. Maybe timothy is trying for a fax slashdotting.

  • Shopping Cart (Score:5, Informative)

    by jfroot ( 455025 ) <darmok@tanagra.ca> on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:09PM (#3867993) Homepage
    These kind of errors are usually caused by the shopping cart using your IP address to identify your session. If you and someone else are both shopping on the site and are going through the same proxy, you will see each others cart.
    • UM. NO.

      this was caused by an overloaded server, with poor coding that allowed for race conditions.

      no more, no less.
    • but if i use the link(from a previouse comment) i see somebody elses info. [acco-store.com]

      Somebody did clear the credit card info. too bad.

    • Actually, I think these kinds of errors are usually caused by seeing the quoted rates of the contractor you wanted to get to create your ecommerce site and saying, "Can't we get anyone cheaper?" :)

  • Games and Driving (Score:5, Funny)

    by URoRRuRRR ( 57117 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:11PM (#3868010) Journal
    this could possibly rate video game players as better drivers.

    Except for those who learn everything from GTA. I can see them at the DMV...

    Let's see.. When traffic backs up you should... A. Be patient B. Honk Horn C. Make a U-Turn D. Drive on the sidewalk then exit your vehicle and try to destroy the vehicles that held you up.

    • The correct repsonse if secret answer E - use the 'Tanks from Heaven' cheat code to have a M1 Abrams precision dropped nearby. Use said tank to teach the cars blocking your way a quick physics lesson. Cover the chapters on projectile motion, elastic collisions, momentum, and rapid combustion thoroughly.

      • The correct repsonse if secret answer E - use the 'Tanks from Heaven' cheat code to have a M1 Abrams precision dropped nearby.

        *pfft* Pansy. Work your way up to six stars and get it the honest way.

        On a completely unrelated topic, has anyone else's user page stopped displaying their exact karma? (Mine just reads "Excellent" as of this posting.) Also, why does &quot; no longer produce a double-quote? It always did before. Someone's messing with Slashcode and not telling us (or me, anyway).

    • Except for those who learn everything from GTA.

      Ugh... I've been playing that game incessantly, and now when I'm driving I have "GTA3 moments," like seeing a cop driving towards me and getting the urge to bop his car hard enough to get him to pursue me, just for the thrill of the chase.

      Oh, and then popping a cap in his ass and taking his cruiser to go on vigilante missions. :-)

      ~Philly
    • Instructor: "OK Jim, please slowly pull away from the curb and start driving down the road."
      I: "Good."
      I: "Ok, now please take a right here"
      I: "Excellent"
      I: "Please accellerate hard towards that delivery truck with the fish symbol on the side, attempt to sideswipe it, and preferably block it's escape"
      I: "Very nice"
      I: "Now, please exit the car, and beat the be-gesus out of the driver of the truck"
      I: "Oh dear"
      I: "It appears you've been Wasted Jim"

    • Except for those who learn everything from GTA. I can see them at the DMV...

      Let's see.. When traffic backs up you should... A. Be patient B. Honk Horn C. Make a U-Turn D. Drive on the sidewalk then exit your vehicle and try to destroy the vehicles that held you up.

      E. Pull over and pick up the nearest hooker, bring her into the car (which actually increases hit points) and then beat her to get your money back. [cybergamingnet.com]

  • No purchase link at SwingLine (Score:3, Funny)

    by peterdaly ( 123554 ) <{petedaly} {at} {ix.netcom.com}> on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:12PM (#3868015)
    I just visited the SwingLine Red Stapler page. The link to purchase the Stapler is not either disabled...or very very hard to find. There is the "Purchase*" hading, which says you will be purchasing through a distributor, but no link beneath the heading.

    They may be aware of the problem. I'd be scared sh*tless if I were in charge of their ecommerce right now. The whole site may have just been a slashdot credit card swap lovefest.

    -Pete

  • Heh (Score:5, Funny)

    by B3ryllium ( 571199 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:13PM (#3868017) Homepage
    but, but ... somebody took my credit card ... i've already been defrauded three times ... but, but, if they take my credit card again, i might have to burn the building down ...

    but, but ... i want my stapler back ... somebody took my stapler ...

    (Oh my god I'm bored :)

  • Didnt take them long (Score:3, Funny)

    by sargon666777 ( 555498 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:15PM (#3868028) Homepage
    It seems it didn't take them long at all after this went up to make the online ordering option... no longer an option, but you gotta give em one thing... it is the most convient online ordering system ever. After all not only do you not have to fill in your own forms. But its already paid for!

  • RE: Your Order (Score:4, Funny)

    by tedDancin ( 579948 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:18PM (#3868041)
    TO: MrBlue VT
    RE: Your Order

    Dear MrBlue,

    We have shipped [1] x Swingline Stapler to you.

    Along with you order, we have automatically opted you into our "Loyalty Program": each order placed online will be processed with a random user's credit card.

    Thankyou for your ordering online with Swingline.

    :)

  • Always hated the "About" menu item (Score:5, Insightful)

    by FattMattP ( 86246 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:18PM (#3868042) Homepage
    There's one thing about pretty much every GUI program that I really hate. It's the About menu item. It never tells me about the program. It just tells me who wrote it and what the copyright is. That sort of stuff should be moved into a Credits menu item and the About menu item should devote a few sentences to telling me what the program does.

    I ran into this problem a lot when I first started using both GNOME and KDE. I had no idea what half the programs did and there was no clue within the program itself. After a while it became too much of a drag to go find the docs just to read a one paragraph summary of what a given program was. I would hope that in the future developers would start putting a small description of their program within the About menu item.

    • Personally, I've never understood why exiting a program is a "File" operation, either.

    • But they already do... (Score:4, Informative)

      by marm ( 144733 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:48PM (#3868151)

      I would hope that in the future developers would start putting a small description of their program within the About menu item.

      Ummm, have you actually used KDE or are you simply pontificating pointlessly?

      Open Konqueror. Go to Help->About Konqueror. In the about box that pops up, on the default 'About' tab, it says: 'Web browser, file manager, ...' which sums up pretty well what Konq does.

      Similarly, in the same place in KMail: 'The KDE Email client'.

      Or in Kate: 'Kate - KDE Advanced Text Editor'.

      Or in KSirc: 'KDE Irc Client'.

      Or in Konsole: 'X terminal for use with KDE.'

      Pretty much every KDE program has exactly this. You get the about dialog for free when you use the KDE framework, and all the developer has to do is fill in a few blanks.

      Not to mention, of course, that the app gets a description in the K Menu as well - for instance, KMail's entry looks like:
      KMail (Mail Client)

      Perhaps GNOME doesn't do these things, I can't tell you (I haven't had GNOME 1.4 installed for about a year and GNOME 2.0 was installed for a total of about an hour whilst I checked it out and decided I didn't like it) but as far as KDE is concerned, you're dead wrong.

      • I am pontificating but not pointlessly. You assume that I'm talking about KDE in particular and therefore missed my point. KDE does now have short descriptions but it didn't when I first started to use it. GNOME didn't have these either. There are still many GUI based programs that are not KDE- or GNOME-based that don't provide a summary of what they do.

        Also, something as brief as "KDE Advanced Text Editor" may be enough to describe a text editor but it's still rather skimpy on the details. As another poster pointed out [slashdot.org], it would help to have some more detail so that the end user could make a better decision about which program to use.

        An example of a better description for Kate:

        Kate is a multi document editor, based on a rewritten version of the kwrite editing widget of KDE, offering all the features of that plus a bunch of its own including unicode support, syntax highlighting, and a plugin interface.
    • This is a good point, especially in the era of free software. With commercial software, if you are running it you probably know what it does. At least I hope you had some idea before you paid for it. But with free software, you might have hundreds of programs installed that you've never heard of. And since half the GUI apps out there look essentially the same, with some menus, a toolbar on the top, maybe a palatte on the left and some sort of workspace taking up the balance of the window. A short paragraph saying what the program does, and what makes it special would be nice.

      Take editors. My system has three apps under the Editor item on my Kmenu: Kate, KEdit, and KWrite. Here's what how they describe themselves:

      "KWrite - Leightweight Kate"
      "Kate - KDE Advanced Text Editor"
      and the winner for least information:
      KEdit "A KDE Text Editor"

      A few sentences describing what makes each one special or unique would be helpful. I don't want to have to scrub thru all the menu's trying to figure out what differs. Oh well.

  • Do your civic duty! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Kredal ( 566494 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:19PM (#3868050) Homepage Journal
    Click here [securecomputing.com] and change the category from "none" to "criminal skills". Don't let your children (or cow-orkers) visit a criminal orgainization!

    • Re:Do your civic duty! (Score:4, Funny)

      by VRisaMetaphor ( 87720 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:45PM (#3868136)
      Damn cow-orkers can visit goatse for all I care! If I ever catch them orking my cows again, I will shoot them, I swear.

    • Re:Do your civic duty! (Score:4, Funny)

      by cant_get_a_good_nick ( 172131 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @10:53PM (#3868633)
      OK, so I can classify www.microsoft.com, but what category?

      Cults/Occult
      The cult of Bill is strong in this one my master.
      Criminal Skills
      Microsoft has stolen more of my time than you will ever believe.
      Drugs
      Many things from there seem to be designed with the aid of drugs
      Entertainment
      Ha! IE crashed again and took out my shell, FUNNY!!!!
      Extreme
      Prices, yes.
      Gambling
      20-1 Blue Screen of death on next restart...
      Hate Speech
      Read the opinions on Sun, or Linux, or MacOS, or Java, or...
      Humor
      "We only do things to help our customers, we like innovating, not squelching competition".. Hilarious
      Investing
      I Invest too much time in MS crap.
      Job Search
      Can i find a job that doesn't require Exchange and Outlook on the desktop?
      MP3
      After the new MS patch erases all of yours, you'll be looking for more.
      Mature
      I'll grow old before this works
      Nude
      YIKES! A bunch of large gutted psty faced, large gutted engineers, I'd rather look at goatse.cx
      Politics/Religion
      Billy has bought a bunch of politicians, and it the cult of MS certainly is a religion.
      Self Help
      They sure ain't helping ya.
      Sports
      Monitor chucking? Or shotgun blasts (keeping with the Office Space [slashdot.org] theme)
      Travel
      "Calgon, take me away!!!!

      No trolls were harmed in the making of this message.

  • Newton's 3rd Law of Studies (Score:5, Funny)

    by prockcore ( 543967 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:24PM (#3868062)
    For every study, there is an equal and opposite study.
  • In the KDE UI article, he suggests only letting root browse the / directory, and everyone else only their home directory. Why? Normal users need to browse the main directory tree, and can be limited from areas they shouldn't be with the mode bits. Dropping that ability would just be plain annoying.
    • Actually, I don't think that's what he's recommending. He's talking about the desktop context menu, and whether or not it should include a "Quick Browser" item like the KMenu does. He thinks that a normal user should have his home directory available there, and root should have / available there. Both of which seem quite reasonable. Being able to open a new window to any directory with a right click on the desktop is a feature I use a lot in BeOS. It's not unreasonable to reduce clutter by only have ~ there for normal users. They can still get to / thru other means if they need to.

    • No, no, you've got it all wrong. It says "Browse /." It's an efficiency improvement, so the KDE user can always get to his or her favourite web site within a couple of clicks.

  • driving games (Score:3, Funny)

    by jcsehak ( 559709 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:30PM (#3868075) Homepage
    It's true!

    Mushrooms make me drive a lot faster, just like in Mario Kart.

  • PHP-Nuke Club (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MoThugz ( 560556 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:32PM (#3868085) Homepage
    Other than the club, PHP-Nuke [phpnuke.org] also has a donation link as well as an Amazon wishlist for Mr. Burzi (developer for PHP-Nuke). The club contains priviledged downloads for unreleased (beta and alpha codes) versions of PHP-Nuke. Members also get to download released versions five days earlier than non-members.

    Although the club is a good idea, I prefer the donation method... or maybe Mr. Burzi could create some PHP-Nuke merchandise such as mugs, t-shirts or caps and sell them on the site. It's nice to have material things to cherish as mementos for the support you gave.

    • You seem to know something about PHP-Nuke, so maybe you can you answer this question. What's with this incredibly bold, unsubstantiated claim in the original story:
      ...
      the most used GPL'd software for the Web...
      First, it would be almost impossible to prove. Second, PHP-Nuke isn't used on any sites I regularly visit, but several of its workalikes are. Finally, although I've checked it out & know what it is, I'd bet 99.9% of web users have never heard of it.
  • This article is so true! Even though I don't have my license yet, all that time playing Crazy Taxi will finally pay off!

  • While Your're generous (Score:4, Funny)

    by asv108 ( 141455 ) <asv@nOspam.ivoss.com> on Thursday July 11, 2002 @08:52PM (#3868161) Homepage Journal
    Can you please donate to my charity. [amazon.com]
  • Uhm... NO categories for most of the web sites I visit. Nothing about technology sites, hardware reviews, computer programming...

    I half expected to see Tom's Hardware listed as a porn site.

  • Plane problems (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Michael Woodhams ( 112247 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @10:17PM (#3868523) Journal
    1) Evacuation - people are on average much further from the edge of the plane. This probably isn't too big an issue - people already often have to go quite a way along the airplane to get to the closest exit.

    2) Cargo - the constant cross-section of cylindrical planes means you can have standard size cargo pallets that fit anywhere in the plane. This plane has a much less regular shape. Perhaps they have sufficient volume they can afford to waste some.

    3) Engine maintenance. The engines on this plane are very high and hard to access from the ground. This is already the case for the number 2 engines of DC-10, MD-11 and L1011's, so there is prior experience in handling this, but it will add to maintenence cost.

    4) Manufacturing cost. In a constant cross-section fusilage, many panels, ribs etc. can be used many times over.

    5) Difficulty in adjusting size. You can stretch or (rarely) shrink the length of a cylindrical fusilage fairly easily.

    Of course, you can accept quite a few negatives in return for a 30% gain in economy.

    Finally, there is the risk of the unexpected - revolutionary designs frequently stumble over unexpected problems that take a while to iron out - e.g. Comet (metal fatigue in presurized airframe), high tail planes like the DC 9 ('deep stall'), A320 (human/computer interface problems).

  • Thanks you mister smartsy pants. Now us s00per h4x0rs will 0wns your site! Please to tell us where you keep your spare house key! Thanxors!

  • PHPNuke and GPL Issues (Score:4, Informative)

    by crisco ( 4669 ) on Friday July 12, 2002 @12:46AM (#3869064) Homepage
    Why contribute to PHPNuke when only a year ago they were considering [newsforge.com] abandoning [thebix.com] the GPL because of petty personal differences.

    Why not support PostNuke [postnuke.com], a fork of PHPNuke that has a much better attitude toward open source development and security.

  • From reading the site, now that the link to actually purchase online is gone, it does not seem as if this is Swingline's fault as the poster states:

    "The company who apparently provides the online shopping service for Swingline appears to be an outfit called SureSource."

    Whereas the site clearly states:

    " * Please note that you will be purchasing from SureSource, a distributor of Swingline products.
    To place an order for the Rio Red Stapler (SKU#: S7074740), Please call SureSource at: 1-800-544-3243."

    SureSource is simply a distributor, and as such, Swingline would have about as much control over their e-commerce site as I do over the weather.
  • I have to check what exactly was tested.
    But if the brain is very active, it only
    shows that the person is thinking very
    hard.
    In other words the easier it is for you
    to complete a task, the less active is
    your brain.

  • From what i've heard KWin and specially it's multiple Desktop management still sux like in 2.2.2. Or gotten even worse.
    For example: In 2.2.2, if you middleklick on the scrollbar, QT jumps to the position of the mousecursor. Good thing that. Missing in QT3. Windows doesn't have it, so we don't need it.
    Bad idea! (Please correct me if I'm wrong and this issue got fixed!!)
    Another KWin issue: The Desktop Pager. In Fluxbox - by default - if I turn the mouseweel over the Desktop it switches. Good thing that. In KDE I have to use the Kicker and AFAIK there are VERY little options for improving mutiple Desktop management.

    Bottom line: KDEs big downfall is KWin, which is something like a lame Windows rippof when it comes to workspace management. THAT has to change.
    Imagine KWin with E's funktionality. That would be just right.

Slashdot Top Deals

Without life, Biology itself would be impossible.

Close