I feel your pain brother... Mine was hit by lightning last year and went away for RMA service. They replaced the HD and now it does not recognize the access card. (DTV combo unit) Have not used the bugger in almost 9 months ago... the pain is still there though.. (whimper)
Okay, this irks me just a little bit. Someone in law enforcement (whether you are an officer or a prosecuter) should never say things like that. The problem our society faces is that mentality that once you are a criminal, you are always a criminal.
Recidivism is the leading cause for prison overcrowding. The problem is that the convicted felons are not given the opportunity to learn necessary skills (whether they be work skills or social skills) to make it in the real world. So when said prisoner gets out of the pen, they only know one thing, not to make the mistake that got them caught the first time.
It worries me to see prosecutors give up on people. I was charged with a felony, I was not exactly convicted (plea bargain for probation, no record cuz I was young) and the court actually gave me the opportunity to make things right. And I did. I also had studied criminology in college and knew the epidemic of recidivism that plagues our society. Understanding the problem and how to pull myself out of it was very important. I also had a support network of family and friends which is also important but that is a different story.
I guess my point is this... when somebody make a mistake or poor decision, it is not exactly good to label them a violator of the law for the rest of thier life. Yes, punishment and restitution is prudent, but labels are what cause that person to repeat the crime again. Prison is not so much of a deterrant once you have already been there... it becomes a training facility and the 'me versus them' attitude begins. If you make a mistake and you know that you were dumb and should have done better yet everyone keeps calling you a criminal and nobody tells you otherwise, you become just that... a criminal.. for life.
Yes, there are some that commit crimes that are so severe that you can only think that they are mentally damaged. That is a different story and I am not saying that we should just put murderers and pedophiles into counseling and then off to the real world where they will be perfect citizens for ever... I am saying that non-vilolent crimes that do not directly harm another individual should be treated with hope that the one that comitted the crime can be reformed and contribute to society in a meaningful way in the future.
It is scary, but here is a little theory of mine. If I were to have 100% knowledge of every law in the land, and I were to watch every move you make, I would be able to charge 95% of you with at least one felony be it federal or in your state. Would the case win? Not sure... but I bet I would have a good case.
Violators will also be subject to repeated body slams, suplexes, and various other forms of punishment by the Governor. Public viewing available on Pay-Per-View for only $29.95.
Uh, Michigan... not Minnesota.
Incidentally, it might not be bad to see Gov Granholm body slamming all hot female offenders...
well 3 different people with the same copyrighted song is still 3 instances of piracy
Which brings us back to the origional argument... why is person A being sued for person B's piracy? Person A is not even 'aiding and abetting' or coroborrating or whatever they will say... person A just wrote a search engine that persons C, D, E... all thought was great for illegally sharing MP3s. Makes me wish I never got into computing... Sure, I gave up coding so I cannot be sued for writing a useful app, but now as a net admin I am afraid I will be sued for hooking up a computer that someone someday uses to access child pr0n. Bam! There I am on the sex offenders list... just for hooking up a PC... If this RIAA logic goes through the court system and holds up, I am sure my analogy would not be too far behind. Especially if I am the wrong [color, religion, political affiliation] of the week.
Uh, no way. I'm sorry, I am at a loss for words... I am actually embarassed for you when you realize that this is the most obvious joke...
To your defense, you may live in a different region of the world where April 1 has no prank-related significance... hint: please use that excuse.
Now, I shall run with my rebuttal of this post and say that even if this were a true story, I think it is okay for/. to post it, advertising aside, because of the mere fact that it is something that appeals to the nerd audience...
Probably won't matter much to me anyway, since all the music I buy isn't popular enough to be profitable and hence doesn't employ copy protection...
Um.. I get your point and all but... does that mean that Natalie Imbruglia's 'White Lilies Island' CD and Celine Dion's 'A New Day Has Come' are popular?
Why else is he attacking Iraq, to control the long border with Iran, with which he can easily launch an attack to Iran.
Well well... we have a real plot now! Go over the AoE (Axis of Evil) checklist and you have 2 of 3. Not bad if el-presidente can bat.666 (oops, let's make it.667)
Of course, that leaves one left on the origional 3.. Naah, N. Korea is not a threat... At least not until next term. You never want to fight a losing war right before a re-election campaign!
That brings us to the XAoE (eXtended AoE) which includes Cuba, Libya and Syria... Small beans but nice little victories waiting to happen should the economy sink again before the election of 2004. Lastly, wait for the next wave of evil to be released! It is a matter of time before the administration names the AoES (AoE Sympathizers) You guessed it, France, Germany and Russia are on that list and it is not gonna be pretty. Bush is gonna treat them like Ashcroft treats anyone with brown skin and the 'al' component in his name.
This started as a small post, turned into a mini-rant but c'mon! We now have new acronyms!!!
I love talking about the old computers we used to use. I get to brag about my good old 300 baud modem on my commodore 64/128. Loved trying to hit BBSs with that thing. I think it was about 1988 when I got it. Then I saved up and got a 386SX 25 with 1mb ram (I think) and a HUGE 52MB HD. 1200 baud was so fast!!!
I am sure some old fogie has me beat big time, but I was only 11 for crying out loud!
Mouse gestures - I don't use them very often because I prefer radial context menus, but I know people who can't live without them. Very cool.
I live and dye by mine. I cannot stand switching to other browsers and catching myself doing a mouse gesture that does nothing. I find it really helpful when doing research and I am hopping from one page to another. Very nice addition to your list cuz that is just what I was thinking of.
Someone else elluded to this point but I wanted to elaborate... where does the $$ start, and where does it stop? Look at global economics. My dollar will go everywhere!
So, I just bought a Bic pen. Blue, medium ball. The money I used went to Bic, which went toward software licensing for BICWORLD web server which is IIS which is a Microsoft product.
So... MY$$ -> BIC -> MSFT -> Benevolence -> Al Queda -> Terror
Best not spend money. Of course that would ruin the US economy and the terrorists have won. So spend the money to stimulate the economy but then the people in the US will drive their SUVs more...
Nothing left to do. Might as well move to a cave but then your landlord is likely to be a tall guy named Osama. We are screwed!
Being that I work at a university, I understand your point. The thing I have found is that it is far easier to be fired from a University for misconduct than for poor performance. In this case however, someone is going to be fired. That is, if they can determine who is responsible and that person is still working there. Even then, (taking your point in consideration) it is entirely possible that the events that caused this system to be available occured far too long ago to really hold somebody accountable now. (Although, IMHO, some heads should roll for not doing proper security audits)
The thing is that Universities hate bad press... UT will likely do something public to show that they cannot allow this to happen in the future.
Of course you realize it is a violation of federal law for anyone other than the Social Security Administration to use you SSN.
My college (Drexel) back in the 90's had to go through and re-issue everyone a new Student ID number after a lawsuit. You will also note that your local DMV now issues its own number instead of your SSN.
My university had to switch too. It is too bad some had not switched!
Of course, this news broke after your post but if what you say is true, UT will be in it deep with the Feds...
"There are six to 12 ways we could have reduced the risk to the database," Updegrove said. "The sad thing is, we didn't do any of them."
It is good to see the University being so frank and honest about this matter. I am sure some heads are gonna roll, but at least the people affected will be provided with information and know how it happened.
Speaking of how it happened... the article does not go into technical details, but I am curious how this database was accessible to the world and was spitting out data to qualifying queries of SSNs without any security context... I am sure someone here on/. has an opinion as to how this happened?
That is why the business analyst and project manager are there. In an ideal world, they would be the ones that pick the customer's brain and determine exactly what needs to be done in order for the customer needs to be fufilled. I have found that getting a quality BA and PM on the job reduces the common miscommunications between customers and developers. The problem is that there are not too many quality BAs and PMs out there that are not already overworked!
Oh, and having the sales dolts sell a product that does not exist to the customer is not a good thing either. Not even a good project manager can help how the code ends up when the development team is asked to do stuff that is out of the scope of the current projects!
Additionally, I would like to propose that the US (of which you are a citizen, Michael) already has a system in which you and every US citizen has a unique ID. This unique national ID is required to gain access to all sorts of things like employment, credit, loans and in most cases state driver's permits.
Yup, you and I both have Social Security Numbers... Now, they started as an honest (I hope) component of "The New Deal" and started being assigned in the mid-1930's. The problems arose during the cold war.. that is when the US govt started using the SSN as a type of national ID number... so, have you ever applied for a credit card without a SSN? Have you ever used a credit card online? (Can you even make purchases/transactions online without a credit/debit card?)
ftr 8 yr thi kybord work wll too. om of th lttr do no work nymor, but who cn rgu with the fct tht oldr tchnology w md bttr thn th nw junk you buy tody!
Slashdot Mirror
Am I the only one craving a coconut brownie after all this talk about Coconut Trees?
I feel your pain brother... Mine was hit by lightning last year and went away for RMA service. They replaced the HD and now it does not recognize the access card. (DTV combo unit) Have not used the bugger in almost 9 months ago... the pain is still there though.. (whimper)
Okay, this irks me just a little bit. Someone in law enforcement (whether you are an officer or a prosecuter) should never say things like that. The problem our society faces is that mentality that once you are a criminal, you are always a criminal.
Recidivism is the leading cause for prison overcrowding. The problem is that the convicted felons are not given the opportunity to learn necessary skills (whether they be work skills or social skills) to make it in the real world. So when said prisoner gets out of the pen, they only know one thing, not to make the mistake that got them caught the first time.
It worries me to see prosecutors give up on people. I was charged with a felony, I was not exactly convicted (plea bargain for probation, no record cuz I was young) and the court actually gave me the opportunity to make things right. And I did. I also had studied criminology in college and knew the epidemic of recidivism that plagues our society. Understanding the problem and how to pull myself out of it was very important. I also had a support network of family and friends which is also important but that is a different story.
I guess my point is this... when somebody make a mistake or poor decision, it is not exactly good to label them a violator of the law for the rest of thier life. Yes, punishment and restitution is prudent, but labels are what cause that person to repeat the crime again. Prison is not so much of a deterrant once you have already been there... it becomes a training facility and the 'me versus them' attitude begins. If you make a mistake and you know that you were dumb and should have done better yet everyone keeps calling you a criminal and nobody tells you otherwise, you become just that... a criminal.. for life.
Yes, there are some that commit crimes that are so severe that you can only think that they are mentally damaged. That is a different story and I am not saying that we should just put murderers and pedophiles into counseling and then off to the real world where they will be perfect citizens for ever... I am saying that non-vilolent crimes that do not directly harm another individual should be treated with hope that the one that comitted the crime can be reformed and contribute to society in a meaningful way in the future.
It is scary, but here is a little theory of mine. If I were to have 100% knowledge of every law in the land, and I were to watch every move you make, I would be able to charge 95% of you with at least one felony be it federal or in your state. Would the case win? Not sure... but I bet I would have a good case.
Crap... I already lost my mod points earlier in this thread... I would have definately given you a +1 for that one!
Uh, Michigan... not Minnesota.
Incidentally, it might not be bad to see Gov Granholm body slamming all hot female offenders...
well 3 different people with the same copyrighted song is still 3 instances of piracy
Which brings us back to the origional argument... why is person A being sued for person B's piracy? Person A is not even 'aiding and abetting' or coroborrating or whatever they will say... person A just wrote a search engine that persons C, D, E... all thought was great for illegally sharing MP3s. Makes me wish I never got into computing...
Sure, I gave up coding so I cannot be sued for writing a useful app, but now as a net admin I am afraid I will be sued for hooking up a computer that someone someday uses to access child pr0n. Bam! There I am on the sex offenders list... just for hooking up a PC... If this RIAA logic goes through the court system and holds up, I am sure my analogy would not be too far behind. Especially if I am the wrong [color, religion, political affiliation] of the week.
Uh, no way. I'm sorry, I am at a loss for words... I am actually embarassed for you when you realize that this is the most obvious joke...
/. to post it, advertising aside, because of the mere fact that it is something that appeals to the nerd audience...
To your defense, you may live in a different region of the world where April 1 has no prank-related significance... hint: please use that excuse.
Now, I shall run with my rebuttal of this post and say that even if this were a true story, I think it is okay for
RTFA man! It is USB 2.0!
From the article: The George Foreman USB iGrill conveniently connects to your home or office PC using USB 2.0 technology
(I cannot believe I actually posted a RTFA comment about something that is a joke in the first place... my apologies)
Probably won't matter much to me anyway, since all the music I buy isn't popular enough to be profitable and hence doesn't employ copy protection...
Um.. I get your point and all but... does that mean that Natalie Imbruglia's 'White Lilies Island' CD and Celine Dion's 'A New Day Has Come' are popular?
The TV networks needed something to put on before the real show... I am suprised you could not download the .rm file on Sunday.
Why else is he attacking Iraq, to control the long border with Iran, with which he can easily launch an attack to Iran.
.666 (oops, let's make it .667)
Well well... we have a real plot now! Go over the AoE (Axis of Evil) checklist and you have 2 of 3. Not bad if el-presidente can bat
Of course, that leaves one left on the origional 3.. Naah, N. Korea is not a threat... At least not until next term. You never want to fight a losing war right before a re-election campaign!
That brings us to the XAoE (eXtended AoE) which includes Cuba, Libya and Syria... Small beans but nice little victories waiting to happen should the economy sink again before the election of 2004. Lastly, wait for the next wave of evil to be released! It is a matter of time before the administration names the AoES (AoE Sympathizers) You guessed it, France, Germany and Russia are on that list and it is not gonna be pretty. Bush is gonna treat them like Ashcroft treats anyone with brown skin and the 'al' component in his name.
This started as a small post, turned into a mini-rant but c'mon! We now have new acronyms!!!
I was wondering if anybody else would pick up on that! :)
Right, but who gets to kiss Kirsten then????
Time to find that old "Stunt Doubling for Dummies" book...
WTF? Am I totally biting on toll bait or what? Tell me where the jobs are and I am there!!!
I love talking about the old computers we used to use. I get to brag about my good old 300 baud modem on my commodore 64/128. Loved trying to hit BBSs with that thing. I think it was about 1988 when I got it. Then I saved up and got a 386SX 25 with 1mb ram (I think) and a HUGE 52MB HD. 1200 baud was so fast!!!
I am sure some old fogie has me beat big time, but I was only 11 for crying out loud!
Mouse gestures - I don't use them very often because I prefer radial context menus, but I know people who can't live without them. Very cool.
I live and dye by mine. I cannot stand switching to other browsers and catching myself doing a mouse gesture that does nothing. I find it really helpful when doing research and I am hopping from one page to another. Very nice addition to your list cuz that is just what I was thinking of.
Someone else elluded to this point but I wanted to elaborate... where does the $$ start, and where does it stop? Look at global economics. My dollar will go everywhere!
So, I just bought a Bic pen. Blue, medium ball.
The money I used went to Bic, which went toward software licensing for BICWORLD web server which is IIS which is a Microsoft product.
So... MY$$ -> BIC -> MSFT -> Benevolence -> Al Queda -> Terror
Best not spend money. Of course that would ruin the US economy and the terrorists have won. So spend the money to stimulate the economy but then the people in the US will drive their SUVs more...
Nothing left to do. Might as well move to a cave but then your landlord is likely to be a tall guy named Osama. We are screwed!
Dude.. you suck. Friends don't let friends post their URL to slashdot. :)
looks like your exfriends will never let you use that kegerator again...
Let's see here...
6969, harley, golf, pussy, mustang, baseball...
Looks like you admin a fraternity, eh?
Being that I work at a university, I understand your point. The thing I have found is that it is far easier to be fired from a University for misconduct than for poor performance. In this case however, someone is going to be fired. That is, if they can determine who is responsible and that person is still working there. Even then, (taking your point in consideration) it is entirely possible that the events that caused this system to be available occured far too long ago to really hold somebody accountable now. (Although, IMHO, some heads should roll for not doing proper security audits)
The thing is that Universities hate bad press... UT will likely do something public to show that they cannot allow this to happen in the future.
Of course you realize it is a violation of federal law for anyone other than the Social Security Administration to use you SSN.
My college (Drexel) back in the 90's had to go through and re-issue everyone a new Student ID number after a lawsuit. You will also note that your local DMV now issues its own number instead of your SSN.
My university had to switch too. It is too bad some had not switched!
Of course, this news broke after your post but if what you say is true, UT will be in it deep with the Feds...
"There are six to 12 ways we could have reduced the risk to the database," Updegrove said. "The sad thing is, we didn't do any of them."
/. has an opinion as to how this happened?
It is good to see the University being so frank and honest about this matter. I am sure some heads are gonna roll, but at least the people affected will be provided with information and know how it happened.
Speaking of how it happened... the article does not go into technical details, but I am curious how this database was accessible to the world and was spitting out data to qualifying queries of SSNs without any security context... I am sure someone here on
That is why the business analyst and project manager are there. In an ideal world, they would be the ones that pick the customer's brain and determine exactly what needs to be done in order for the customer needs to be fufilled. I have found that getting a quality BA and PM on the job reduces the common miscommunications between customers and developers. The problem is that there are not too many quality BAs and PMs out there that are not already overworked!
Oh, and having the sales dolts sell a product that does not exist to the customer is not a good thing either. Not even a good project manager can help how the code ends up when the development team is asked to do stuff that is out of the scope of the current projects!
Additionally, I would like to propose that the US (of which you are a citizen, Michael) already has a system in which you and every US citizen has a unique ID. This unique national ID is required to gain access to all sorts of things like employment, credit, loans and in most cases state driver's permits.
Yup, you and I both have Social Security Numbers... Now, they started as an honest (I hope) component of "The New Deal" and started being assigned in the mid-1930's. The problems arose during the cold war.. that is when the US govt started using the SSN as a type of national ID number... so, have you ever applied for a credit card without a SSN? Have you ever used a credit card online? (Can you even make purchases/transactions online without a credit/debit card?)
Just my $.02 on the matter...
ftr 8 yr thi kybord work wll too. om of th lttr do no work nymor, but who cn rgu with the fct tht oldr tchnology w md bttr thn th nw junk you buy tody!