Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Bots Effectively DDoSing Perl CPAN Testers
at_slashdot writes "The Perl CPAN Testers have been suffering issues accessing their sites, databases and mirrors. According to a posting on the CPAN Testers' blog, the CPAN Testers' server has been being aggressively scanned by '20-30 bots every few seconds' in what they call 'a dedicated denial of service attack'; these bots 'completely ignore the rules specified in robots.txt.'"
From the Heise story linked above: "The bots were identified by their IP addresses, including 65.55.207.x, 65.55.107.x and 65.55.106.x, as coming from Microsoft."
I'm a right winger and I like to see smaller, less intrusive government, but, I think it is wrong to say that the US government is competent.
The US Gov't has successfully operated as a going concern for 220+ years, with a proven and reliable management structure. Few, if any corporations, have been able to do that.
Let's see...
War on Poverty - yeah, that worked out *real* well, didn't it.
War on Drugs - See any results there?
War on Terror - With this one, I can't really tell if it's bungling, or actual malice
Those are just the "big names".
The US Government is a well-designed structure. And it worked pretty darn well for a while. But as federal power has increased, the effectiveness of that structure has decreased. In short, the Republic of the Founding Fathers is showing it's years.
And, for the record, there are organizations such as Lloyd's of London that can trace their existence, in one form or another, back to the 17th century. And if you want a truly old corporation, look at Stora Kopparberg Bergslags Aktiebolag in Sweden, which has been around since the 1300's!
Most corporations wither and die after a while, since their markets can wither and die. The "market" of a government does not - the only way for a government to "die" is by armed force, either from within or without.
Don't tell me to get a life. I had one once. It sucked.
For every failure you list, I can give you three that succeeded.
War on Poverty - yeah, that worked out *real* well, didn't it.
Homestead act, Rural electrification act, Highways
War on Drugs - See any results there?
CDC, Peace Corp - cures smallpox worldwide. I don't know -any- government that can make that claim, but our US government.
Social Security, Medicare - unless you really want your grandma to move in and then die.
Food and Drug administration, Small Business Administration, Student Loans. Safe food, help for small businesses, put kids in college.
Fannie Mae - yeah, it blew up, but look at how many people actually have -homes-. The whole banking crisis could have been Bush's finest hour. When the Democrats were railing on about the mortgage meltdown, Bush could have said, "yeah, but we put people into homes. We tried to put people into homes and give them a chance, and for the 95% of people who did NOT default on their mortgages, it totally worked."
War on Terror - With this one, I can't really tell if it's bungling, or actual malice
That's on all of us. Americans overreacted. We voted for the war on terror and the invasion or Iraq. We lost our cool after 9/11, and now we pay the price for our own stupidity.
But, I'll see your war on drugs and raise you one US Military. Brings democracy to Japan and Germany, deters Commies from taking over europe. The military is a government operation, and for the most part, its actually worked pretty well.
PS. Whose saving lives in Haiti right now? Why, its fresh water from American aircraft carriers, US Marines acting as peacekeepers. Our government did that, and we should be proud.
This is my sig.