And there's so much talk on here (particularly by foreigners) about how bad the U.S. has gotten. I guess nobody in Greece allows unmoderated comments on their blogs...
Some would argue that AIDS is a disease caused by lack of self-control as well... I guess the cause and seriousness of either disease are a matter of perspective
Ignoring problems is the new American Way. We're doing the same thing with budget deficits, social security, medicare, and solving the root cause of global terrorism. Since a politician's time in office is typcially short (2-8 years), it's always far less costly during their tenure (politically and economically) to push off problems than to tackle the issue and risk losing voter support.
Unfortunately, global warming is a problem who's impact is even less tangible to Americans than problems like future social security shortfalls. As such, I doubt the government will support action until we're in the midst of cataclysmic environmental impact at a nationwide level.
Over the next few years as we see more governments organizations (and some schools) moving to desktop Linux solutions, I think we'll see a corresponding upswing in home use. Maybe massive citywide conversions like Munich's will be the catalyst that the desktop Linux market needs to gain traction. For the everyday user, if they use Linux at work, they'll probably want to use Linux at home... assuming they can get a distro that's easy enough to install and maintain.
I'm sure it's been discussed, but I think the risk of losing home users is the real impetus behind Microsoft basically giving away software to schools, and offering STEEP discounts to governments.
I'm not a regular Mac user, so I don't really understand the significance of this news story. Is publishing a few specs really news? I'd expect this on a Computer site like Tom's Hardware, but not on slashdot, so I'm wondering if there is some unstated greater significance.
From what I can find, this C2D is a laptop that Apple Stores started selling over the past couple days. If it's already out, what will it provide me that other Mac's won't?
While his actions do endanger everyone's security, I disagree that he could have pursuaded officials to make security changes just by publicly announcing the flaw. If Senator Charles Schumer couldn't get security officials and Northwest to change their policies (which he tried to do), how can a grad student? The only way is to publicly bypass the security and make people worry.
It's no different than computer viruses. Nobody really cares too much about computer security until they get their first virus/worm/etc.
Even faced with potential jail time, some people have a burning desire to be in the limelight. I wonder why Christopher Soghoian didn't just create a site anonymously. It would likely have the same effect, and he'd stay out of prison.
It's unfortunate that exposing holes in our security gets no press until someone actually leverages the hole to cause harm. For years before 9/11, the U.S. knew our airports were pitifully insecure, particularly Boston Logan, yet failed to do anything about it. So even though we'll be safer as a result of Christopher's work, he may be in prison. Unfortunately our society aplauds the whistleblower only well after the whistle has been blown, and the government aplauds them almost never at all.
Here's a thought I haven't seen before... allow each page to have a static copy that has been independantly verified by approved moderators. When a moderator (e.g. a professor, expert, significant contributor, etc.) finds a page with problems, (s)he can make corrections and then flag it as 'static'... or if they find a page that is fine, they can just flag it as Verified. Internally it could work kind of like source code control, where you have tons of revisions that may or may not make it into a release, then one tested/verified copy that is tagged for release.
The user could then view either the static/verified content or regular updated copy (or both concurrently using some type of 'View Changes' feature).
I don't have a fixation on English speakers, it just makes the transition a little easier. I would fully intend to learn the language... but if I'm fumbling for the right word, it's a lot easier to say "how do I say 'one beer for me and two for my lady'" than to point and use my fingers like the dumb American that I am;)
I love America, and don't want to leave; however, I see multiple reasons why I may be 'forced' to leave: the impact of our massive debt on the future economy, the shift to a stronger executive branch (and what this might yield), and the impact of a swelling unsupported lower/debtor class.
If in a situation where I felt I had no other options, I'd move to Vienna, Austria. Every time I've been there, I've been enthralled by the people, the cleanliness, the relatively hands-off government (at least compared to some European and particularly Scandinavian countries), the wealth of job opportunities, the high proportion of English speakers, and the area's focus on health and fitness. It has always seemed like a home away from home.
Sounds like a fantastic product for people who have a legitimate use for it. However, I wonder how many additional 'all spam' sites will be created as a result (e.g. those that have no content other than google ads, links to paid advertisements, etc.).
Although researchers often use human cells in mice (remember the ear they grew on the back of a mouse?), you're certainly correct in saying that this isn't exactly accurate in predicting human outcomes. I think your idea of having a comparative study with mice stem cells is a good one, although it might be difficult considering the difficulty of finding the dopamine producing cells in very small embryonic mice.
Hehe... I wish I remembered enough C64 basic to write a webserver in it. You made me wonder if such a thing exists... apparently it does (or did a few years ago).
Maxing out CPU on a shared server is actually really easy. With 100's to even 1000's of websites sharing a single server, you learn very quickly what can and can't be run effectively. For instance, if more than a couple people use the web based mail system on our server, we get CPU warnings... this doesn't mean we use up the whole CPU, just our small portion of it.
One of the most often overlooked issues with AJAX is the huge bandwidth that most AJAX implementations consume. Everyone is out rushing to build AJAX apps into even the simplest applications, and the result is slow loading time and greatly increased server loads. These enhancements often don't enhance the user experience any more than adding an extra cupholder or pinstripe add to the functionality of a car.
Many small to medium sized companies host on shared servers and think "Oh, I have 1TB of transfer, so I can build really cool AJAX apps and watch the customers flock to my site", and then wonder why their site can't handle more than a few concurrent users. The developers implementing AJAX apps need to consider the server-side infrastructure, and often ignore this (or are forced to ignore this by their managers) simply to have "pretty sites".
The site that I help work on found this out the hard way. We tried using a simple AJAX enabled 'send to a friend' form. It looked GREAT, but kept causing our server to hit its allotted CPU max. Since we removed this feature, we've had a 10-fold increase in traffic (not as a result), but have never come close to reaching the CPU max. Sure, it could have been a poorly written AJAX app, but I think it's almost undeniable that a static html + php site is far better suited for performance when a company has limited bandwidth/CPU.
It seems a little silly to base 2006 missions on results from a 30 year old set of space technology. Sure, we were in our heyday of space exploration during the 70's, but our analytical equipment was light years behind where we are now. The largest computes had fractions of the computing power of today's Blackberry's, and we couldn't transmit data faster than ~300 bps back then. Both of these limitations (which don't exist today), would seriously impede the ability to detect signs of life.
Rather than try to deduce why the analyses of 1976 didn't show signs of organic compounds on the surface, why not just perform better tests now with the next Mars mission?
This guy has staying power!
on
An Ode To Al
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· Score: 5, Interesting
There's no doubt that Weird Al is seriously funny. How many comedians or comedic singers are around for 25 years, and have people remember their songs? I doubt even funnymen like Adam Sandler will have followings like him in another 10-15 years. My personal favorite song... 'This is the Life', probably released in 1985 or so. I eat filet mignon seven times a day, my bathtub's filled with perrier and I have women lined up outside my door, they've been waiting there since the week before, who can ask for more, this is the life. Genius =).
While he had more duds than hits over the past 10 years, it seems like he's had some resurgance... particularly over the past 2 years. Note: the link above is to a work-appropriate humor site I contribute to... I couldn't resist, hopefully I don't get flamed too hard, I'm a die-hard fan.
These are great thoughts - particularly about ensuring the money were to be used over time rather than all at once (unless the $100M is just an initial influx of a much larger grant).
My only concern would be that the money would have strings attached. For all its shortcomings, Wikipedia is a great resource for preliminary research and 'fact' finding (as long as the info is backed up by other sources). What makes it so great is the huge community of contributors and its openness. $100M is a pretty big carrot that may cause the founder to tighten the screws enough that Wikipedia loses some of its current resourcefulness.
Now if it is truly a no strings attached grant... I'd vote for putting research journals and textbooks online. It's a shame that there is so much knowledge locked away in schools and libraries where the vast majority of people can't/won't go.
Parasites, yes. But would you rather have them as a parasite or Microsoft to build its own set of Parasitic software. Unfortunately, Microsoft still isn't fixing their O/S to create something as secure as Linux or Mac... they're just following the same path that McAfee and Symantec have in the past. What's worse is that Microsoft now has an incentive (although an unethical one) to create holes for viruses - they could create insecure code, put the fix in their OneCare product, then exclaim to the world that their virus scanner is the only one that protects against the vulnerability.
If Microsoft were to succeed in shutting out security vendors (which I don't think they really want), they'd be digging their own grave. Many of Microsoft's security problems now stem from their dominance in the browser market - had Netscape won the browser wars, Microsoft would likely not be vilified to the extent it is today since security would not be as big of an issue.
The one thing that has made Microsoft's products at least somewhat secure are the third party security products. If Microsoft shut out these security products, it is unlikely they could provide the same level of security that users expect from their O/S's. Take away McAfee, Norton, and the other security vendors and Microsoft's profit and revenues would be impressive until users became tired of the constant security breaches and holes.
If Microsoft moves forward with shutting out 3rd party security companies, Linux vendors and Apple will be the big winners, not Microsoft
Mark Hurd has been the best thing that's happened to HP in a long time. His decision to bring a trusted advisor from NCR to be in charge of Ethics is hardly baffling - this same individual was able to stop leaks and other unethical behavior at NCR while keeping the activities fully legal and 'above the board'. The scandal at HP arose from Mark directing subordinates to take care of the leak problem, but the subordinates not being trustworthy enough to take care of the problem legally and ethically.
The Computerworld story seems unfair in characterizing this decision as cluelessness - who wouldn't bring in their most trustworthy colleagues to solve their toughest problem?
In all seriousness, I wonder how many alcoholics and repeat drunk driving offenders will look for ways to skirt the system? If employed nationwide, a cottage industry of fingerprint concealment/modification techniques could pop up that eventually could negatively impact other areas of crime prevention.
Also, how are they going to prevent people from drinking themselves into a stupor at a friend's home then getting in the car? In the end, this could be a pretty significant blow for the bars and restaurants, kind of like the smoking ban in some U.S. cities.
With all the vulnerabilities in voting machines, it amazes me that the states do not mandate paper trails. Someone wouldn't even need access to the source code to start changing votes. For example, in this report from ABC News on October 1st, they discuss a method to almost invisibly manipulate both votes recorded and logs, all with only a couple minutes access to a voting machine.
Here's an excerpt:
In a paper last month, "Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine," (available at http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/) Princeton computer professor Edward W. Felten and two graduate students Ariel J. Feldman and J. Alex Halderman discussed a common Diebold machine. They showed that anyone who gets access to the machine and its memory card for literally a minute or two could easily install the group's invisible vote-stealing software on the machine. (Poll workers and others have unsupervised access for much longer periods.) Changing all logs, counters, and associated records to reflect the bogus vote count that it generates, the software installed by the infected memory card (similar to a floppy disk) would be undetectable. In fact, the software would delete itself at the end of Election Day.
Skip to the end. There's a mostly nude model wearing a massive hat and a thin veil like gown. She truly does look like a big skinny lamp. All of a sudden, the hat starts pulling up the gown until she's standing their completely nude - really rather ridiculous.
So basically, women in the future will walk around naked with lampshades on their heads? This seems like integrating technology in clothing just for shock value... I can't imagine most women will want to wear giant hats just so they automatically change/rearrange their clothes.
However, I think there will certainly be some really cool tech clothing in the future. For example, Philips has displayed really cool animated LED t-shirts (if you haven't seen the video, check it out here), that if they could be made washable would probably spread like wildfire through our schools. Integrated music, computers, and even temperature control are possible/probably in the near future.
Slashdot Mirror
And there's so much talk on here (particularly by foreigners) about how bad the U.S. has gotten. I guess nobody in Greece allows unmoderated comments on their blogs ...
Some would argue that AIDS is a disease caused by lack of self-control as well ... I guess the cause and seriousness of either disease are a matter of perspective
Darn, I wish I had mod points ... very insightful/funny reply. I honestly wonder if there is some truth to it as well.
Ignoring problems is the new American Way. We're doing the same thing with budget deficits, social security, medicare, and solving the root cause of global terrorism. Since a politician's time in office is typcially short (2-8 years), it's always far less costly during their tenure (politically and economically) to push off problems than to tackle the issue and risk losing voter support.
Unfortunately, global warming is a problem who's impact is even less tangible to Americans than problems like future social security shortfalls. As such, I doubt the government will support action until we're in the midst of cataclysmic environmental impact at a nationwide level.
Over the next few years as we see more governments organizations (and some schools) moving to desktop Linux solutions, I think we'll see a corresponding upswing in home use. Maybe massive citywide conversions like Munich's will be the catalyst that the desktop Linux market needs to gain traction. For the everyday user, if they use Linux at work, they'll probably want to use Linux at home ... assuming they can get a distro that's easy enough to install and maintain.
I'm sure it's been discussed, but I think the risk of losing home users is the real impetus behind Microsoft basically giving away software to schools, and offering STEEP discounts to governments.
I'm not a regular Mac user, so I don't really understand the significance of this news story. Is publishing a few specs really news? I'd expect this on a Computer site like Tom's Hardware, but not on slashdot, so I'm wondering if there is some unstated greater significance.
From what I can find, this C2D is a laptop that Apple Stores started selling over the past couple days. If it's already out, what will it provide me that other Mac's won't?
Thanks!
While his actions do endanger everyone's security, I disagree that he could have pursuaded officials to make security changes just by publicly announcing the flaw. If Senator Charles Schumer couldn't get security officials and Northwest to change their policies (which he tried to do), how can a grad student? The only way is to publicly bypass the security and make people worry.
It's no different than computer viruses. Nobody really cares too much about computer security until they get their first virus/worm/etc.
Even faced with potential jail time, some people have a burning desire to be in the limelight. I wonder why Christopher Soghoian didn't just create a site anonymously. It would likely have the same effect, and he'd stay out of prison.
It's unfortunate that exposing holes in our security gets no press until someone actually leverages the hole to cause harm. For years before 9/11, the U.S. knew our airports were pitifully insecure, particularly Boston Logan, yet failed to do anything about it. So even though we'll be safer as a result of Christopher's work, he may be in prison. Unfortunately our society aplauds the whistleblower only well after the whistle has been blown, and the government aplauds them almost never at all.
Here's a thought I haven't seen before ... allow each page to have a static copy that has been independantly verified by approved moderators. When a moderator (e.g. a professor, expert, significant contributor, etc.) finds a page with problems, (s)he can make corrections and then flag it as 'static' ... or if they find a page that is fine, they can just flag it as Verified. Internally it could work kind of like source code control, where you have tons of revisions that may or may not make it into a release, then one tested/verified copy that is tagged for release.
The user could then view either the static/verified content or regular updated copy (or both concurrently using some type of 'View Changes' feature).
Thoughts?
I don't have a fixation on English speakers, it just makes the transition a little easier. I would fully intend to learn the language ... but if I'm fumbling for the right word, it's a lot easier to say "how do I say 'one beer for me and two for my lady'" than to point and use my fingers like the dumb American that I am ;)
I love America, and don't want to leave; however, I see multiple reasons why I may be 'forced' to leave: the impact of our massive debt on the future economy, the shift to a stronger executive branch (and what this might yield), and the impact of a swelling unsupported lower/debtor class. If in a situation where I felt I had no other options, I'd move to Vienna, Austria. Every time I've been there, I've been enthralled by the people, the cleanliness, the relatively hands-off government (at least compared to some European and particularly Scandinavian countries), the wealth of job opportunities, the high proportion of English speakers, and the area's focus on health and fitness. It has always seemed like a home away from home.
Sounds like a fantastic product for people who have a legitimate use for it. However, I wonder how many additional 'all spam' sites will be created as a result (e.g. those that have no content other than google ads, links to paid advertisements, etc.).
Although researchers often use human cells in mice (remember the ear they grew on the back of a mouse?), you're certainly correct in saying that this isn't exactly accurate in predicting human outcomes. I think your idea of having a comparative study with mice stem cells is a good one, although it might be difficult considering the difficulty of finding the dopamine producing cells in very small embryonic mice.
Hehe ... I wish I remembered enough C64 basic to write a webserver in it. You made me wonder if such a thing exists ... apparently it does (or did a few years ago).
Maxing out CPU on a shared server is actually really easy. With 100's to even 1000's of websites sharing a single server, you learn very quickly what can and can't be run effectively. For instance, if more than a couple people use the web based mail system on our server, we get CPU warnings... this doesn't mean we use up the whole CPU, just our small portion of it.
One of the most often overlooked issues with AJAX is the huge bandwidth that most AJAX implementations consume. Everyone is out rushing to build AJAX apps into even the simplest applications, and the result is slow loading time and greatly increased server loads. These enhancements often don't enhance the user experience any more than adding an extra cupholder or pinstripe add to the functionality of a car.
Many small to medium sized companies host on shared servers and think "Oh, I have 1TB of transfer, so I can build really cool AJAX apps and watch the customers flock to my site", and then wonder why their site can't handle more than a few concurrent users. The developers implementing AJAX apps need to consider the server-side infrastructure, and often ignore this (or are forced to ignore this by their managers) simply to have "pretty sites".
The site that I help work on found this out the hard way. We tried using a simple AJAX enabled 'send to a friend' form. It looked GREAT, but kept causing our server to hit its allotted CPU max. Since we removed this feature, we've had a 10-fold increase in traffic (not as a result), but have never come close to reaching the CPU max. Sure, it could have been a poorly written AJAX app, but I think it's almost undeniable that a static html + php site is far better suited for performance when a company has limited bandwidth/CPU.
It seems a little silly to base 2006 missions on results from a 30 year old set of space technology. Sure, we were in our heyday of space exploration during the 70's, but our analytical equipment was light years behind where we are now. The largest computes had fractions of the computing power of today's Blackberry's, and we couldn't transmit data faster than ~300 bps back then. Both of these limitations (which don't exist today), would seriously impede the ability to detect signs of life.
Rather than try to deduce why the analyses of 1976 didn't show signs of organic compounds on the surface, why not just perform better tests now with the next Mars mission?
White and Nerdy - need I say more?
... 'This is the Life', probably released in 1985 or so. I eat filet mignon seven times a day, my bathtub's filled with perrier and I have women lined up outside my door, they've been waiting there since the week before, who can ask for more, this is the life. Genius =).
... particularly over the past 2 years. Note: the link above is to a work-appropriate humor site I contribute to ... I couldn't resist, hopefully I don't get flamed too hard, I'm a die-hard fan.
There's no doubt that Weird Al is seriously funny. How many comedians or comedic singers are around for 25 years, and have people remember their songs? I doubt even funnymen like Adam Sandler will have followings like him in another 10-15 years. My personal favorite song
While he had more duds than hits over the past 10 years, it seems like he's had some resurgance
These are great thoughts - particularly about ensuring the money were to be used over time rather than all at once (unless the $100M is just an initial influx of a much larger grant).
... I'd vote for putting research journals and textbooks online. It's a shame that there is so much knowledge locked away in schools and libraries where the vast majority of people can't/won't go.
My only concern would be that the money would have strings attached. For all its shortcomings, Wikipedia is a great resource for preliminary research and 'fact' finding (as long as the info is backed up by other sources). What makes it so great is the huge community of contributors and its openness. $100M is a pretty big carrot that may cause the founder to tighten the screws enough that Wikipedia loses some of its current resourcefulness.
Now if it is truly a no strings attached grant
Parasites, yes. But would you rather have them as a parasite or Microsoft to build its own set of Parasitic software. Unfortunately, Microsoft still isn't fixing their O/S to create something as secure as Linux or Mac ... they're just following the same path that McAfee and Symantec have in the past. What's worse is that Microsoft now has an incentive (although an unethical one) to create holes for viruses - they could create insecure code, put the fix in their OneCare product, then exclaim to the world that their virus scanner is the only one that protects against the vulnerability.
If Microsoft were to succeed in shutting out security vendors (which I don't think they really want), they'd be digging their own grave. Many of Microsoft's security problems now stem from their dominance in the browser market - had Netscape won the browser wars, Microsoft would likely not be vilified to the extent it is today since security would not be as big of an issue.
The one thing that has made Microsoft's products at least somewhat secure are the third party security products. If Microsoft shut out these security products, it is unlikely they could provide the same level of security that users expect from their O/S's. Take away McAfee, Norton, and the other security vendors and Microsoft's profit and revenues would be impressive until users became tired of the constant security breaches and holes.
If Microsoft moves forward with shutting out 3rd party security companies, Linux vendors and Apple will be the big winners, not Microsoft
Mark Hurd has been the best thing that's happened to HP in a long time. His decision to bring a trusted advisor from NCR to be in charge of Ethics is hardly baffling - this same individual was able to stop leaks and other unethical behavior at NCR while keeping the activities fully legal and 'above the board'. The scandal at HP arose from Mark directing subordinates to take care of the leak problem, but the subordinates not being trustworthy enough to take care of the problem legally and ethically.
The Computerworld story seems unfair in characterizing this decision as cluelessness - who wouldn't bring in their most trustworthy colleagues to solve their toughest problem?
In all seriousness, I wonder how many alcoholics and repeat drunk driving offenders will look for ways to skirt the system? If employed nationwide, a cottage industry of fingerprint concealment/modification techniques could pop up that eventually could negatively impact other areas of crime prevention.
Also, how are they going to prevent people from drinking themselves into a stupor at a friend's home then getting in the car? In the end, this could be a pretty significant blow for the bars and restaurants, kind of like the smoking ban in some U.S. cities.
With all the vulnerabilities in voting machines, it amazes me that the states do not mandate paper trails. Someone wouldn't even need access to the source code to start changing votes. For example, in this report from ABC News on October 1st, they discuss a method to almost invisibly manipulate both votes recorded and logs, all with only a couple minutes access to a voting machine.
Here's an excerpt:
In a paper last month, "Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine," (available at http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/) Princeton computer professor Edward W. Felten and two graduate students Ariel J. Feldman and J. Alex Halderman discussed a common Diebold machine. They showed that anyone who gets access to the machine and its memory card for literally a minute or two could easily install the group's invisible vote-stealing software on the machine. (Poll workers and others have unsupervised access for much longer periods.) Changing all logs, counters, and associated records to reflect the bogus vote count that it generates, the software installed by the infected memory card (similar to a floppy disk) would be undetectable. In fact, the software would delete itself at the end of Election Day.
Skip to the end. There's a mostly nude model wearing a massive hat and a thin veil like gown. She truly does look like a big skinny lamp. All of a sudden, the hat starts pulling up the gown until she's standing their completely nude - really rather ridiculous.
So basically, women in the future will walk around naked with lampshades on their heads? This seems like integrating technology in clothing just for shock value ... I can't imagine most women will want to wear giant hats just so they automatically change/rearrange their clothes.
However, I think there will certainly be some really cool tech clothing in the future. For example, Philips has displayed really cool animated LED t-shirts (if you haven't seen the video, check it out here), that if they could be made washable would probably spread like wildfire through our schools. Integrated music, computers, and even temperature control are possible/probably in the near future.