It's really disturbing to think that the Internet's stability rests on the shoulders of these people, half of whom probably don't even understand the concept of keeping up-to-date with security patches.
I think it's safe to say that most people on Slashdot are not only competent enough to apply patches, but interested enough in computers (for work or a hobby or whatever) to actually do it.
But we're not a typical cross-section of the public. People are used to buying something and having it work. They don't need to patch their TV every couple of months to prevent people abusing it, and they just don't (and probably never will) see why they should do this for their PC, which is just another appliance (to them at least). And I'll bet that 95% or more of Slashdotters wouldn't fix their car themselves if it started burning a lot of oil - it's all a matter of whether you're willing and able to do the job.
The only way you're going to stop people like this propagating worms or virii or whatever in this manner is by taking that need for vigilance out of their hands. Quite how you do that without infringing on their privacy is beyond me. But just think about the fuss that would be kicked up here on Slashdot if Microsoft wrote it's software to require MS full access to it's OS at all times over the phone line under the pretext of helping home users keep their machines up to date.
Don't criticise the regular consumers unless you've got a better solution. And I don't count banning them from the net as better (even if it does have a certain appeal).
Um, really. I know the beam spreads out a bit, but is it according to the inverse square law?
For example - take a laser pointer. Hold it about 30 cm (approx 1 foot) away from a surface and make a rough guess what sort of area the beam is covering. Let's say a circle with a 1mm radius to make things simple. Now stand 3m (about 10 feet) away. You're now 10 times as far away, and 10^2 is 100. Is the beam now hitting an area 100 times in size? Following the inverse square law, the area that the beam hits should go from about 3.1 square millimetres to 301 square millimetres (or 10mm radius). If it is then your laser pointer is broken.
I'm afraid I can't remember the physics of why lasers work this way, but they do.
Re:Just remebered - Ford Prefect
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Optical SETI
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· Score: 1
Incidentally, the Ford Prefect is no more - we now also have the Ford Escort (though I think it's a bit different to the US model [no, not just with the steering wheel on the other side]). Oddly, Escort is also the name of a pr0n mag over here. Not really worthy of note, except we also have the Ford Fiesta, which is also the name of a pr0n mag. Weird, huh?
Just remebered - Ford Prefect
on
Optical SETI
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· Score: 2
Didn't Ford do something like this? IIRC he beamed a "pencil-thin" signal from the speaking clock that he'd picked up off the sub-etha net back to Earth as a practical joke.
Don't have my copy of The Guide to hand though, so I can't verify this I'm afraid - anyone else know?
ID:4 Aliens all slap foreheads in unison
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Optical SETI
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· Score: 2
If only the Independence Day aliens had though of shooting us with a laser from outer space - then Will Smith would never have whipped their butts.
Just in case that wasn't enough to spook people, Yahoo threw in this old favourite just to scare people even more:
Blair writes that a later version of software sent to the Russians -- Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 -- "not only contained the same bug (though much less virulent) but also had a critical security flaw that would allow easy access to the sensitive nuclear database by hackers or unauthorized personnel." [my emphasis, obviously]
I quote (from your user bio) "...I am the founder and lead developer for Algorithims Unlimited Ltd. We are based out of India..." (emphasis added by me).
How does giving away a domain for an entirely different country stop your company from being great (as you claim)? It's not like they're giving away.com addresses. And India has it's own TLD (.in).
I don't understand your reasoning, unless your company has some sort of bizarre business plan to sell.us, which doesn't seem all that probable (and why would a company called Algorithims Unlimited Ltd. be selling domains in the first place?). Please explain.
Oh, BTW, that's a dreadful company name (Ltd. is short for Limited, so you've got Unlimited Limited in there), and I hope you got someone who can spell to register the company name - Algorithms only has one "i".
No way - weighed down by all those corporate logos the bombers will never manage to take off.
Anyway, each side would know exactly what the other side was doing because they'd both be using their own propriety encryption protocols developed by the Adobe (AY ROT-13 ABTU) arm and Microsoft (Security? Huh?) arm of the respective zaibatsus, which would no doubt have already been cracked wide open by noncons (non-consumers) and publicised on the evil underground internet outside of the AOL and MSN borders. Senior ranking officers from Mega-Corp and The Conglomerate would just read each others emails ("You have corporate secrets!" / "Who do you want to spy on today?"), then dodge any attacks.
...what I really like about Google (besides the sleek interface and the cache), is the fact that the first 30 results on a query, like "gcc usages nuclear physics linux", aren't something like:
Atomic chicks to blow away your gcc-perverted brain by playing with their Linux PDAs or some such shit.
I always thought that was a pretty good feature of search engines. Y'know - do some research and get pr0n at the same time. WHISPER Incidentally, do you have any good links for Atomic chicks to blow away my gcc-perverted brain by playing with their Linux PDAs?/WHISPER
My site rates first on its category in Google, and does not appear in this one. Good luck to you guys!
Ditto (or at least top 5, depending on what search phrase you use, but any obvious ones seem to work). Like I said, not the most scientific method and I guess it's all down to how effective their spiders are. Having said that, I'm still going to take it personally : (
Huh. No Google cache. No Google Groups. I think Google will remain my favourite for a little while yet (though it's interesting to see that this engine has clearly modelled it's interface after the simple Google one).
Oh, and it doesn't seem to have indexed as much of the web as Google yet (admittedly, tested using the not-very-scientific method of searching for myself and my site), but I guess that'll come with time.
Yup, silicon atoms just don't like attaching themselves to other silicon atoms like carbons does. IIRC, over about 6 atoms in a chain is totally unstable. My high-school chemistry teacher spent about a 1/4 hour going into (too much) detail as to why silicon-based life just wouldn't happen (prompted by that X-Files episode with some sort of plant/fungus thing that was silicon-based [I don't really remember the plot, but I'm sure plenty of folk here do]). Carbon's just really good at forming the sorts of molecules needed to make an organism.
Of course, we could always find a planet populated by robots a la Transformers....
All those record labels are American (I think). RIAA is an acronym for Recording Industry Association of America. Makes sense that they're members of it in the same way that other industries have associations (banking, accountancy, etc.).
That said, I'm not condoning the way the RIAA behaves. I'm just trying to explain why those companies are on the list. Perhaps they should take a moral stand, and quit the association, but who wants to be first to stick their neck out against industry giants? Besides, they're probably being force-fed a bunch of BS by the RIAA dons about how they'll go bust if they don't tow the association line.
Here in the UK we have second level domains that reflect the top level domains but end in the.uk TLD:
.co.uk - companies (equivalent to.com)
.gov.uk - government
.ac.uk - Academic institutions (like.edu)
.org.uk
.net.uk - (I'm sure you get the idea now)
Perhaps a similar scheme could be adopted for.us
All the major multinationals in the UK have a.co.uk as well as a.com, all universities have had.ac.uk for ages, and the others are gaining in popularity now as well.
Nice to hear that they're getting back to what it's all about over at JPL. Granted, you shouldn't be carrying rockets in your aeroplane luggage, but I think that a lot of companies go through the making-up-rules-as-we-go-along process and end up with a mountain of red tape and middle-management to plough through to get anything done (I know this has been true everywhere I've worked).
Let's face it - everyone would like to get on with their job, so why make it so difficult to proceed? I hope Naderi goes on a business lecture tour to spread the idea around a bit. Note; I'm not saying abolish management altogether (I think most of us need someone to keep us on course), just look for which bits are redundant.
Well, I've had Slashdot up since 8am this morning (British summertime), and although I refreshed the main page several times I didn't get anything new till some time between 1pm and 2pm (I'd given up watching it reload since nothing new was coming up).
Suddenly there was not just 1 new story, but 5, all claiming to be from different times even though from my POV they'd all show up at about the same time. Maybe Michael just forgot to click "Send" or whatever, because now I think about it I've not noticed any other problems with IE and it's been refreshing everything else on demand without problems. Still, I'd be intrigued if anyone has actually been watching that whole time and had no problems whatsoever.
I think I'll have a browse around now it's been an hour or two and look for other people with this problem....
Hell yeah! Well said. I've been running Linux myself for a couple of years now (Mandrake softens the blow somewhat) - I use it for coding, for The Gimp, and for a few other bits and pieces, and I'm very happy with it. But all my best games are in Windows, and although I've had my TV card and USB scanner for a few months I can't be bothered (and don't have the time) to go to all the effort of getting them working.
Yeah, I'm not 1337, but I'm not really interested in being 1337. I use Linux where it's better and fall back on Windows when I find it lacking. I don't have time to go digging out some obscure rmp (I probably would at work, but I don't want to bug the firewall admins).
If Linux is going to become mainstream it needs a simple straightforward user interface that requires less effort to get to grips with (including getting stuff working).
Mozilla also ships without a JVM, and the first time you try to access a site that needs Java it'll tell you about that and ask if you want to download.
But most of the people who use Mozilla aren't intimidated by the prospect of seeking out a JVM (indeed, most folk have to go looking for Mozilla itself rather than it being pre-installed with their O/S).
IE, OTOH, shows up on most new PCs and that's all Joe Sixpack needs to worry about. He's unlikely to go get another browser if he already has one, and he's just as unlikely to bother with the download of a JVM (or even truly appreciate why he should).
We could all fix this in no time, but most regular users will just see a message saying "Would you like to download potentially dangerous software to view this site's potentially dangerous content? Yes/No?" and click the No option.
Slashdot Mirror
But we're not a typical cross-section of the public. People are used to buying something and having it work. They don't need to patch their TV every couple of months to prevent people abusing it, and they just don't (and probably never will) see why they should do this for their PC, which is just another appliance (to them at least). And I'll bet that 95% or more of Slashdotters wouldn't fix their car themselves if it started burning a lot of oil - it's all a matter of whether you're willing and able to do the job.
The only way you're going to stop people like this propagating worms or virii or whatever in this manner is by taking that need for vigilance out of their hands. Quite how you do that without infringing on their privacy is beyond me. But just think about the fuss that would be kicked up here on Slashdot if Microsoft wrote it's software to require MS full access to it's OS at all times over the phone line under the pretext of helping home users keep their machines up to date.
Don't criticise the regular consumers unless you've got a better solution. And I don't count banning them from the net as better (even if it does have a certain appeal).
(my sincere apologies to any Russians out there)
Wow. You said it much more clearly than I did. And to think; all this technical discussion came from a rubbish joke I made....
For example - take a laser pointer. Hold it about 30 cm (approx 1 foot) away from a surface and make a rough guess what sort of area the beam is covering. Let's say a circle with a 1mm radius to make things simple. Now stand 3m (about 10 feet) away. You're now 10 times as far away, and 10^2 is 100. Is the beam now hitting an area 100 times in size? Following the inverse square law, the area that the beam hits should go from about 3.1 square millimetres to 301 square millimetres (or 10mm radius). If it is then your laser pointer is broken.
I'm afraid I can't remember the physics of why lasers work this way, but they do.
Incidentally, the Ford Prefect is no more - we now also have the Ford Escort (though I think it's a bit different to the US model [no, not just with the steering wheel on the other side]). Oddly, Escort is also the name of a pr0n mag over here. Not really worthy of note, except we also have the Ford Fiesta, which is also the name of a pr0n mag. Weird, huh?
Don't have my copy of The Guide to hand though, so I can't verify this I'm afraid - anyone else know?
If only the Independence Day aliens had though of shooting us with a laser from outer space - then Will Smith would never have whipped their butts.
I quote (from your user bio) "...I am the founder and lead developer for Algorithims Unlimited Ltd. We are based out of India..." (emphasis added by me).
How does giving away a domain for an entirely different country stop your company from being great (as you claim)? It's not like they're giving away .com addresses. And India has it's own TLD (.in).
I don't understand your reasoning, unless your company has some sort of bizarre business plan to sell .us, which doesn't seem all that probable (and why would a company called Algorithims Unlimited Ltd. be selling domains in the first place?). Please explain.
Oh, BTW, that's a dreadful company name (Ltd. is short for Limited, so you've got Unlimited Limited in there), and I hope you got someone who can spell to register the company name - Algorithms only has one "i".
Ditto (or at least top 5, depending on what search phrase you use, but any obvious ones seem to work). Like I said, not the most scientific method and I guess it's all down to how effective their spiders are. Having said that, I'm still going to take it personally : (
Oh, and it doesn't seem to have indexed as much of the web as Google yet (admittedly, tested using the not-very-scientific method of searching for myself and my site), but I guess that'll come with time.
Of course, we could always find a planet populated by robots a la Transformers....
That said, I'm not condoning the way the RIAA behaves. I'm just trying to explain why those companies are on the list. Perhaps they should take a moral stand, and quit the association, but who wants to be first to stick their neck out against industry giants? Besides, they're probably being force-fed a bunch of BS by the RIAA dons about how they'll go bust if they don't tow the association line.
Perhaps a similar scheme could be adopted for .us
All the major multinationals in the UK have a .co.uk as well as a .com, all universities have had .ac.uk for ages, and the others are gaining in popularity now as well.
Let's face it - everyone would like to get on with their job, so why make it so difficult to proceed? I hope Naderi goes on a business lecture tour to spread the idea around a bit. Note; I'm not saying abolish management altogether (I think most of us need someone to keep us on course), just look for which bits are redundant.
In fact (now I've checked) even the First Post trolls didn't manage to reply to this story until lunchtime even though it's dated the middle of the night. http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=01%2F07%2F18%2 F2331237&cid=&pid=0&startat=&threshold=-1&mode=nes ted&commentsort=0&op=Change - see? Weird, huh?
Suddenly there was not just 1 new story, but 5, all claiming to be from different times even though from my POV they'd all show up at about the same time. Maybe Michael just forgot to click "Send" or whatever, because now I think about it I've not noticed any other problems with IE and it's been refreshing everything else on demand without problems. Still, I'd be intrigued if anyone has actually been watching that whole time and had no problems whatsoever.
I think I'll have a browse around now it's been an hour or two and look for other people with this problem....
Yeah, I'm not 1337, but I'm not really interested in being 1337. I use Linux where it's better and fall back on Windows when I find it lacking. I don't have time to go digging out some obscure rmp (I probably would at work, but I don't want to bug the firewall admins).
If Linux is going to become mainstream it needs a simple straightforward user interface that requires less effort to get to grips with (including getting stuff working).
Awwwww; I was hoping that at least 1 person would moderate me as "Flamebait" : )
Are you sure you want to vote for [candidate name]?
You chose to vote for [candidate name]. Are you sure you want to cast this vote?
Your vote is about to be cast for [candidate name]. Please click OK to continue.
etc.
Incidentally, do you think Slashdot helps develop quickfire debating/joking skills?
IE, OTOH, shows up on most new PCs and that's all Joe Sixpack needs to worry about. He's unlikely to go get another browser if he already has one, and he's just as unlikely to bother with the download of a JVM (or even truly appreciate why he should).
We could all fix this in no time, but most regular users will just see a message saying "Would you like to download potentially dangerous software to view this site's potentially dangerous content? Yes/No?" and click the No option.