You have hit the nail on the head. They are looking for someone with a degree or some other qualification. Go back to school, get a degree. This will get you past 98% of the useless HR filtering.
I recently gained some insight into the hiring practices where I work. They scan resumes for key words. "Ohhh.. no BSc... DELETED!"
You would be amazed at the number of candidates I have to sift through with degrees from unaccredited universities and colleges simply because HR saw those three magic letters that met the criteria to be forwarded to the next stage of the process.
If you think for a second that this is going to get better, you're dead wrong. Look at LinkedIn[1]. You can specify what level of education your ads are targeted for. Only want post-grads to see an advertisement on Facebook? Easy.
If you want to play this game, you need to work within their rules or find weaknesses in their rules (such as unaccredited universities). (Incidentally, this is now something that I check for - have I at least *heard* of their university?)
If you really have a wealth of experience, it will be trivial for you to challenge a bunch of courses at your local university. Screw paying full tuition. Show up, pay a quarter of the cost, write the exams, get the grade, eventually get the degree. This can be done part time so that you can keep whatever job you currently have.
If you start taking classes as a mature student, you will understand classroom politics and processes *FAR* better than someone who arrived fresh out of high school. Do what I did when I went back after a decade for my masters. Sit in the front row. Ask questions. Shape the class to YOUR needs - hell, you're the one paying for it, not mom and dad. Get your money's worth.
In the end this is your career and your education. You might find some insight on the Internet, but it's generally a horrible place to go for advice. Nobody online will ever care about your circumstances as much as you do. Put a plan together. Ask for feedback from your peers and mentors. Make a decision. Act on it.
Back when I first bought a CD burner, I did it to archive. Back then, a "big" consumer harddrive was around 1.2G and a CD held about half of that. Not bad for the time.
These days a "big" consumer harddrive is around 250G to 300G, and this "great new technology" (yet to be released) will allow for about one fifth of that.
That's simply not enough for me to justify using it as a method of data archiving or backup. To backup a single 250G volume I'd need 5+ blanks.
On the consumer side of the equation, I can't see people moving from DVD to this unless there is some justification better than "you'll have to swap discs one third as often".
Now, on the topic of size, since most optical media is recorded radially, why not make the physical size of the discs bigger? Not as big as LDs, because those were a little unmanageable, but another inch or two in diameter would GREATLY increase the capacity of even a DVD-R. Some will point out that it would no longer fit in a 5.25" bay, but who cares. This is why we have firewire and USB2.
At least Linux as a server container works, because it has the same API as standard UNIX.
There is no such thing as "standard UNIX", so even on that level it doesn't work.
Personally, I think the biggest problem with standards is that there are so many to choose from. Think about how you get software for your linux boxen..RPM? Tarball?.DEB? tgz? tar.bz2? Source?
Each method has some benefits over others, and a team a zealots waiting to tell you why their's is best.
Now think about CD distributions. Or is it DVD? Now is that DVD-9?
See where I'm going with this? Linux is a personal choice. If you want a BigMac, go to MacDonalds. If you want good food, you need to make it yourself. Standards do nobody any good.
Everyone should learn how to live within their means. Yes, that means you can't have fun every waking moment. Yes, it means thinking about the future. Yes, it means planning for the worst and hoping for the best.
I was in the mall last weekend. So was Santa. Yes, it seems that the christmas shopping season starts earlier every year. No, I no longer call it the "Christmas Season", it's now the "christmas shopping season".
Now, I see christmas gift ideas... "stocking stuffers" on Slashdot.
Yes, this is off topic.
This year, I'm doing my best not to buy anything for the chirstmas shopping season. I don't need an excuse to purchase something for my significant other. I'm not about to spend $20 on little pieces of plastic that will be tired of within a few hours for my niece.
For the past couple years, when people have asked what I wanted for Christmas/birthdays/other occasions, I have said "nothing". I have everything I *need*. I'm well educated, I have a job, and I'm in the process of getting back into physical shape. I also like to think that I have a good life and I'm happy. Do I need the latest games, toys, and distractions? No. If I needed it, I'd buy it myself.
This frustrates a fair number of people. "What do you mean you don't want anything?!? I need to get you something!" No, you don't. Save your money. One day you may need it to visit a dying loved-one. One day, you may not have a job anymore.
A friend and I have an understanding. I never buy anthing for him, he never buys anything for me. It's the only way that we don't feel like we stiffed each other. It's been working quite well for 6 years now.
Anyway, I don't really have a point. Just a collection of ideas I wanted to share. How do you people feel about the chirtmas shopping season?
Email needs to be reliable communication medium. If a message can not be delivered, it has to be returned to the sender. It is absolutely unacceptable to simply discard a message.
Want a better idea? Try _blocking_ the message. When I see any executable attachment in a message, my server does not accept the message. It returns a 5xx series message and tells the person to resend it without the attachment. I do the same thing for common virus Subject: lines. The message is rejected with a 5xx error and the user is told to change the subject line.
For the benefit of less SMTP-savy, here are a couple of things you need to keep in mind.
Unless you want to open yourself to the rumplestiltskin attack, you must accept every message for delivery, and THEN decide on the action.
In fact, returning a 5XX is a bounce. It's not blocking them from sending it. You have still received the data, and nothing is going to undo that.
Email is NOT a reliable form of communication. It is not now, and it will never be.
First of all, you have the Two Armies Problem.
Two armies are on opposite sides of a common enemy. If they attack that common enemy on their own, they will lose, so they must attack at the same time. How do you send messages to each other with knowledge of receipt? You can't. If I send the "Go" and you send the "OK", how do you know that I got the "OK"? I send an ACK. How do I know you got the "ACK"? You send me another ACK... and so on.
The Second problem with EMail is that a good number of routers that use the leaky bucket protocol will see that it's only port 25, not something important like port 21, and drop the packet. Tannenbaum talks about this in his networking book.
I'd just like to point out that user "volkerdi" is Patrick Volkerding - the head Slackware guy.
Personally, I laughed out loud when I saw this post.
I think it's unfortunate that Mr. Volkerding, who has worked very hard for MANY years to help Linux, is rarely recognized.
Or maybe it just seems that way...
Beware TPB
Re:I'd buy the book if it could explain this...
on
Managing RAID on Linux
·
· Score: 3, Informative
If the drive is fairly new, it may be SMART capable. Go and install http://www.linux-ide.org/smart/smartsuite-2.1.tar. gz. This can be done with (as root):
wget http://www.linux-ide.org/smart/
smartsuite-2.1.tar.gz
tar -xzvf smartsuite-2.1.tar.gz
cd smartsuite-2.1
make
make install
You might get some non-fatal type errors. The makefile doesn't always work for setting up the rc.d scripts.
I'm assuming the bad disk is/dev/hda, but change it to suit your needs. If you get some errors, then SMART may not be enabled, so you'll need to run:
/usr/local/sbin/smartctl -e/dev/hda
Anyway, when you run smartctl with the -a, it will tell you all about hardware failures and whatnot. For more info on the codes it returns, go to this page: http://www.ariolic.com/activesmart/docs/smart-attr ibute-meaning.html
As I recall, the original hack was done by Steve Ciarcia, who was working for Byte Magazine at the time. Now he runs an equally interesting magazine/website Circuit Cellar Inc. (http://www.circuitcellar.com/)
Steve has a number of projects that the average lay-person could do, including a touch screen for computers (used the parallel port). He also has a crapload of funny stories about "one-up'ing" his neighbour in some of his older books.
First let me start out by saying that I'm an elitist in a lot of ways.
Cars are probably the most user friendly device on the market. Just think about the potential reduction in deaths due to drunk drivers if cars were LESS user friendly.
Now, let's go to the computer side of things. Grade school children are able to find images online and print them out because of the current state of user friendlyness. I've heard of "computer class" where this is taught and encouraged, while at the same time, children who use paper, scisors and glue instead are somewhat shunned. (I think Clifford Stoll makes reference to this in "High-Tech Heretic".)
To a very high degree, user friendlyness removes control from the user and uses "logic" to try to make assumptions about what the user really wants. Just look at MS-Word and "auto-correct" which changes "Teh" to "The". (I had a classmate in university with the last name "Teh"... in the end I used vi.)
Am I big on user friendlyness? No. I use console Slackware. I use vi. I drive a stick. Perhaps I like to know that I control the output, and nothing will happen except what I tell it to do.
Is there anyone else out there that feels the same way?
As I recall, we were having a sale on them. The guy picked up two at the same time. He didn't bother to hold them seperatly (they were the old Gravis Gamepad... small... light...)
I worked for 1.5 years as a till-monkey at a big chain. We were allowed to buy the games, play them for a night or two, and return them for full refund. We were asked not to scratch anything, and to make sure that everything was included.
I once sold a joystick box to a customer... no joystick... it had been "forgotten". And yes, the box had been shrinkwrapped. Customer came back the next day for an exchange.
While working there, I was taught techniques to removing the adhesive "seal" that the manufacturers put on computer games and DVDs so that it could be re-applied. "Good as new."
I'd wager a guess that this is fairly common. Where exactly does it say that you're buying new merchandise? It doesn't. Learn to tell the difference between a commercial shrinkwrap job, and a $6/hour-I-hate-my-life shrinkwrap job.
Commercial plastic wrap tends to crinkle. It often has crisp folds. There is often a thicker piece of plastic - a tab - to help you unwrap the rest of the plastic.
Back room (underhanded) shrinkwrap is soft to the touch. There are no folds (they shrink when heat is applied). There will be seems along at least two sides.
Next time you go to a DVD store, have a look at the different plastic wrappings. You'll see what I mean.
Two years ago when I first heard about SACDs, I was concerned for a brief moment about compatibility. Sony had this nice web page that made all of my fears go away. (Copyright 1999)
Mind you, those players and discs are still way to expensive for me.
I think the best course of action is to expand existing education of children where we tell them not to accept candy from a stranger and not to get into cars with anyone they dont know to include the internet.
I agree that education is often a good solution, but it may be difficult as the children can not see that the bad guy is actually 45. For all they know, the bad guy is another 12 year old just like them. Most children are not suspicious and jaded like adults.
Equiping the children to identify these people themselves is the only way we can be sure they are safe, they cannot be supervised 24-7.
Will kids use it? How will it be enforced? Could they be faked? Will kids know why they should use it? Can you trust content comming from a potentially malicious user?
Secondly, no, kids probably can't be supervised 24-7, but the parents are still responsible for their kids 24-7. It was the decision of the parents to have the kids, not the other way around. It's about time that parents started taking responsibility.
Realistically, I see no easy solution. If anyone has kids that are actively using the net, then the parents should know what they're getting up to.
Perhaps it's not just the children who need to be educated... perhaps it's parents as well.
Complete security is impossible. If someone wants access, they will eventually get it.
The most secure authentication scheme I've seen in a while is talked about in great detail here:
http://www.rsasecurity.com/products/securid/hard wa re_token.html
The idea is that if you need a physical token, and some knowledge to authenticate, you have added another level of security. These tokens are (from my understanding) REALLY hard to reverse engineer. They generate a number (that looks random, but isn't) every minute. On the other side of the connection, the same pseudo-random number is generated. If they match at authentication time, you get access, if they don't, try again.
The other thing you were wondering about was DOS attacks. Go read this article on GRC:
http://grc.com/dos/intro.htm
It boils down to this: if it's distributed there is little you can do.
On the flip side, since these signals would require massive antenae, you can triangulate the source in a matter of seconds, and send some guys (cops, navy, army, etc) over to shut them down.
Either way it goes, this is an interesting problem. Keep us posted with the results.
Alot of people are going to think that you are starting a flamewar. Some people get way too fanatical about anime. Being someone who likes *some* anime, I can find a few problems with your conclusions.
In order to cast vague generalizations, you must meet some criteria. Namely, that you have watched every single anime ever made. As this is unrealistic (and a waste of time) I'm going to prove by counterexample.
Another thing to keep in mind; just like in North America, some shows just suck. Will people still make the effort to bring sucky shows from Japan to North America? Yes. In fact, several animation translation firms have made alot of money doing this. *cough*animego*cough* *cough*disney*cough* *cough*vizvideo*cough*
Reductio ad absurdum:
1) Bad stories
My Neighbour Totoro doesn't even have a story. Or conflict. In fact, it's aimed at people about 6 years old, and is just a strange sequence of random events.
2) Bad animation, jerkiness with poor color composition
This is not true of all anime. For example, Cowboy Bebop had some of the nicest artwork and detail I've seen in years. Macross Plus is also up there.
3) Bad translations of
If you're watching it with english dialog, yeah. If you're willing to read subtitles, the translation quality will typically increase several times.
4) Bad dialogue
Some things simply can't be translated from Japanese to English. Having studied the language formally for a year, I can sometimes see when the English translation just doesn't cut it. Also, if the anime is geared at 10-year-olds, odds are it will sound lame in any language.
5) A bunch of people OBSESSED with this shit to a sickening point.
I hear that! I'm so sick to death of people whining about how much money they don't have because they *MUST* go to convention Y and spend $5,000,000 on trinkets. Let's get some perspective here.
And for all those posts in this thread that start with "Wai! Wai!"... YOU ARE NOT JAPANESE! STOP FOOLING YOURSELF. SAYING STUPID THINGS DOES NOT MAKE YOU JAPANESE. YOU WILL NEVER BE JAPANESE.
"Nobody should enjoy WATCHING something that much, you should save your fanaticism for creating things."
Agreed. In the last week, I've watched about half an hour of TV. In the past year, I don't think I've topped 24 hours. It's amazing how much more I can accomplish when I'm not tied to the idiot box.
It just goes to show how little real world experience students have. It's a bit disturbing considering they will be the next generation of technology workers.
Having just finished my BSc in Computer Science, I've found that those who want real world experience will go out and find it on their own. Formal education is there to assist your learning, not to spoon-feed you.
Alot of the students are at school for the piece of paper, not to learn and enjoy the subject matter. We attempt to filter job applicants based on a "geekiness" scale to help remove those who are not interested in the field.
Beware TPB
OT: naming servers after LOTR caracters
on
The Hype of the Rings
·
· Score: 5, Funny
We name our servers after LOTR caracters... one day someone asked what type of network we were using. The answer:
While I agree with Schon that Security through obscurity is not a good security model, it can complement an existing security model. By no means is a standard Slackware install completely secure, but because of its use of older services, it is more likely that the major security holes have been patched.
While Tannhaus is right with respect to kicking monitors in general, when you have 30 people who could be billing out at $85/hour, except they can't because they're waiting for RedHat to reboot, a person can get a little frustrated. Each extra minute it takes to check for new hardware has an opportunity cost of $42.50.
I first installed Slackware years ago. (I tried to find the version, and all I could find was "March".) Yes, if you don't know Linux, it is harder to install. If you're willing to read a couple of HOW-TOs, you'll be fine.
I've been trying to install Red Hat for 2 years now. I have never been 100% successful. If you want the "standard" RedHad distro, you can just do a next-next-next-finish install. But, if you're willing to do that, why not just install Windows.
Slackware allows me to have complete control over everything. The init (rc.d) file structure is easily understood. Only solid deamons and applications are included into the standard distribution. Slackware doesn't rely on RPMs or any sort of post-install binary package.
If you want security and to run Linux, Slackware is for you. Few script kiddies have heard of Slackware... can you say "security through obscurity"?
Slackware lets - and expects - you to do things yourself. There are no "add hardward" wizards. (For the love of root, I saw this in RedHat and almost kicked my monitor.) If you are interested in learning Linux, Slackware is the distro for you. If you really want to learn, disable module support.
If you want a distro that can boot faster than any other, use Slackware. If you don't want a bunch of useless daemons running when you first boot, use Slackware. If you want a distro that runs fast, even on a 486, use Slackware.
If you want a distro to hold your hand, and second-guess you, by all means, use RedHat.
When designing a "conventional" CPU, you can have a clock that essentially drives events and datamovement.
If you design a multiplier circuit using a bunch of full-adders, you'll notice that the output take a long of time to settle. In fact, depending on what numbers you are multiplying together, the circuit may take more or less time before the output settles.
You can always determine the worst-case scenario for a multiply operation to settle. If the multiply takes longer than any other operation, then the multiply op is the "critical path".
A chip's frequency is the inverse of the period of the critical path (in most cases). So, if it's possible to do 100 million critical path operations in a second, then your machine can run at 100MHz.
What the article is hinting at is the amount of wasted time because everything is (currently) done on the clock cycle. Allow me to illustrate: Let's say a multiply takes 5 seconds, but an add only takes 1. A fixed clock rate (or having a clock at all) forces that add instruction to take the extra 4 seconds, and use it for nothing. Wasted computer time.
Now, the reason people are skeptical is because there is no efficient way to tell if a multiply operation (or any other operation) has actually completed and the outputs have settled.
Incidentally, if this interests you, go grab a free program called "diglog" or "chipmunk". The software (for linux/windows) allows you to simulate almost any digital circuit.
Another thing to keep in mind about current CPUs is the way they execute an instruction. Every instruction is actually made of smaller instructions (called microinstructions). Microinstructions take one clock cycle each, but there is an arbitrary number of microinstructions for each larger instruction. The microinstructions perform the "fetch execute cycle" - the sequence that decodes the instruction, grabs the associated data, performs the desired task, and goes back for more.
If you're interested in designing a CPU yourself, go grab a book by Morris Mano called "Computer System Architecture". With that book and DigLog, it's pretty easy, but it takes a long time.
Realistically, since the threat originates abroad, you would need to make all countries of the world follow this law. Also keep in mind that terrorists don't usually follow laws. Thirdly, home grown crypto is easy because Applied Cryptography (great book) costs $40.
Slashdot Mirror
You have hit the nail on the head. They are looking for someone with a degree or some other qualification. Go back to school, get a degree. This will get you past 98% of the useless HR filtering.
I recently gained some insight into the hiring practices where I work. They scan resumes for key words. "Ohhh.. no BSc... DELETED!"
You would be amazed at the number of candidates I have to sift through with degrees from unaccredited universities and colleges simply because HR saw those three magic letters that met the criteria to be forwarded to the next stage of the process.
If you think for a second that this is going to get better, you're dead wrong. Look at LinkedIn[1]. You can specify what level of education your ads are targeted for. Only want post-grads to see an advertisement on Facebook? Easy.
If you want to play this game, you need to work within their rules or find weaknesses in their rules (such as unaccredited universities). (Incidentally, this is now something that I check for - have I at least *heard* of their university?)
If you really have a wealth of experience, it will be trivial for you to challenge a bunch of courses at your local university. Screw paying full tuition. Show up, pay a quarter of the cost, write the exams, get the grade, eventually get the degree. This can be done part time so that you can keep whatever job you currently have.
If you start taking classes as a mature student, you will understand classroom politics and processes *FAR* better than someone who arrived fresh out of high school. Do what I did when I went back after a decade for my masters. Sit in the front row. Ask questions. Shape the class to YOUR needs - hell, you're the one paying for it, not mom and dad. Get your money's worth.
In the end this is your career and your education. You might find some insight on the Internet, but it's generally a horrible place to go for advice. Nobody online will ever care about your circumstances as much as you do. Put a plan together. Ask for feedback from your peers and mentors. Make a decision. Act on it.
Good luck.
[1] http://www.linkedin.com/company/linkedin/linkedin-talent-finder-3437/product
Back when I first bought a CD burner, I did it to archive. Back then, a "big" consumer harddrive was around 1.2G and a CD held about half of that. Not bad for the time.
These days a "big" consumer harddrive is around 250G to 300G, and this "great new technology" (yet to be released) will allow for about one fifth of that.
That's simply not enough for me to justify using it as a method of data archiving or backup. To backup a single 250G volume I'd need 5+ blanks.
On the consumer side of the equation, I can't see people moving from DVD to this unless there is some justification better than "you'll have to swap discs one third as often".
Now, on the topic of size, since most optical media is recorded radially, why not make the physical size of the discs bigger? Not as big as LDs, because those were a little unmanageable, but another inch or two in diameter would GREATLY increase the capacity of even a DVD-R. Some will point out that it would no longer fit in a 5.25" bay, but who cares. This is why we have firewire and USB2.
Thoughts comments?
At least Linux as a server container works, because it has the same API as standard UNIX.
.RPM? Tarball? .DEB? tgz? tar.bz2? Source?
There is no such thing as "standard UNIX", so even on that level it doesn't work.
Personally, I think the biggest problem with standards is that there are so many to choose from. Think about how you get software for your linux boxen.
Each method has some benefits over others, and a team a zealots waiting to tell you why their's is best.
Now think about CD distributions. Or is it DVD? Now is that DVD-9?
See where I'm going with this? Linux is a personal choice. If you want a BigMac, go to MacDonalds. If you want good food, you need to make it yourself. Standards do nobody any good.
Beware TPB
Everyone should learn how to live within their means. Yes, that means you can't have fun every waking moment. Yes, it means thinking about the future. Yes, it means planning for the worst and hoping for the best.
I was in the mall last weekend. So was Santa. Yes, it seems that the christmas shopping season starts earlier every year. No, I no longer call it the "Christmas Season", it's now the "christmas shopping season".
Now, I see christmas gift ideas... "stocking stuffers" on Slashdot.
Yes, this is off topic.
This year, I'm doing my best not to buy anything for the chirstmas shopping season. I don't need an excuse to purchase something for my significant other. I'm not about to spend $20 on little pieces of plastic that will be tired of within a few hours for my niece.
For the past couple years, when people have asked what I wanted for Christmas/birthdays/other occasions, I have said "nothing". I have everything I *need*. I'm well educated, I have a job, and I'm in the process of getting back into physical shape. I also like to think that I have a good life and I'm happy. Do I need the latest games, toys, and distractions? No. If I needed it, I'd buy it myself.
This frustrates a fair number of people. "What do you mean you don't want anything?!? I need to get you something!" No, you don't. Save your money. One day you may need it to visit a dying loved-one. One day, you may not have a job anymore.
A friend and I have an understanding. I never buy anthing for him, he never buys anything for me. It's the only way that we don't feel like we stiffed each other. It's been working quite well for 6 years now.
Anyway, I don't really have a point. Just a collection of ideas I wanted to share. How do you people feel about the chirtmas shopping season?
Beware TPB
For the benefit of less SMTP-savy, here are a couple of things you need to keep in mind.
Unless you want to open yourself to the rumplestiltskin attack, you must accept every message for delivery, and THEN decide on the action.
In fact, returning a 5XX is a bounce. It's not blocking them from sending it. You have still received the data, and nothing is going to undo that.
Beware TPB
First of all, you have the Two Armies Problem. Two armies are on opposite sides of a common enemy. If they attack that common enemy on their own, they will lose, so they must attack at the same time. How do you send messages to each other with knowledge of receipt? You can't. If I send the "Go" and you send the "OK", how do you know that I got the "OK"? I send an ACK. How do I know you got the "ACK"? You send me another ACK... and so on.
The Second problem with EMail is that a good number of routers that use the leaky bucket protocol will see that it's only port 25, not something important like port 21, and drop the packet. Tannenbaum talks about this in his networking book.
Beware TPB
Personally, I laughed out loud when I saw this post.
I think it's unfortunate that Mr. Volkerding, who has worked very hard for MANY years to help Linux, is rarely recognized.
Or maybe it just seems that way...
Beware TPB
This can be done with (as root):
wget http://www.linux-ide.org/smart/
smartsuite-2.1.tar.gz
tar -xzvf smartsuite-2.1.tar.gz
cd smartsuite-2.1
make
make install
You might get some non-fatal type errors. The makefile doesn't always work for setting up the rc.d scripts.
Now run:
I'm assuming the bad disk is /dev/hda, but change it to suit your needs. If you get some errors, then SMART may not be enabled, so you'll need to run:
Anyway, when you run smartctl with the -a, it will tell you all about hardware failures and whatnot. For more info on the codes it returns, go to this page: http://www.ariolic.com/activesmart/docs/smart-attr ibute-meaning.html
I hope this helps
Beware TPB
As I recall, the original hack was done by Steve Ciarcia, who was working for Byte Magazine at the time. Now he runs an equally interesting magazine/website Circuit Cellar Inc. (http://www.circuitcellar.com/)
Steve has a number of projects that the average lay-person could do, including a touch screen for computers (used the parallel port). He also has a crapload of funny stories about "one-up'ing" his neighbour in some of his older books.
Beware TPB
Cars are probably the most user friendly device on the market. Just think about the potential reduction in deaths due to drunk drivers if cars were LESS user friendly.
Now, let's go to the computer side of things. Grade school children are able to find images online and print them out because of the current state of user friendlyness. I've heard of "computer class" where this is taught and encouraged, while at the same time, children who use paper, scisors and glue instead are somewhat shunned. (I think Clifford Stoll makes reference to this in "High-Tech Heretic".)
To a very high degree, user friendlyness removes control from the user and uses "logic" to try to make assumptions about what the user really wants. Just look at MS-Word and "auto-correct" which changes "Teh" to "The". (I had a classmate in university with the last name "Teh"... in the end I used vi.)
Am I big on user friendlyness? No. I use console Slackware. I use vi. I drive a stick. Perhaps I like to know that I control the output, and nothing will happen except what I tell it to do.
Is there anyone else out there that feels the same way?
Beware TPB
As I recall, we were having a sale on them. The guy picked up two at the same time. He didn't bother to hold them seperatly (they were the old Gravis Gamepad... small... light...)
I once sold a joystick box to a customer... no joystick... it had been "forgotten". And yes, the box had been shrinkwrapped. Customer came back the next day for an exchange.
While working there, I was taught techniques to removing the adhesive "seal" that the manufacturers put on computer games and DVDs so that it could be re-applied. "Good as new."
I'd wager a guess that this is fairly common. Where exactly does it say that you're buying new merchandise? It doesn't. Learn to tell the difference between a commercial shrinkwrap job, and a $6/hour-I-hate-my-life shrinkwrap job.
Commercial plastic wrap tends to crinkle. It often has crisp folds. There is often a thicker piece of plastic - a tab - to help you unwrap the rest of the plastic.
Back room (underhanded) shrinkwrap is soft to the touch. There are no folds (they shrink when heat is applied). There will be seems along at least two sides.
Next time you go to a DVD store, have a look at the different plastic wrappings. You'll see what I mean.
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Mind you, those players and discs are still way to expensive for me.
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I agree that education is often a good solution, but it may be difficult as the children can not see that the bad guy is actually 45. For all they know, the bad guy is another 12 year old just like them. Most children are not suspicious and jaded like adults.
Equiping the children to identify these people themselves is the only way we can be sure they are safe, they cannot be supervised 24-7.
Will kids use it? How will it be enforced? Could they be faked? Will kids know why they should use it? Can you trust content comming from a potentially malicious user?
Secondly, no, kids probably can't be supervised 24-7, but the parents are still responsible for their kids 24-7. It was the decision of the parents to have the kids, not the other way around. It's about time that parents started taking responsibility.
Realistically, I see no easy solution. If anyone has kids that are actively using the net, then the parents should know what they're getting up to.
Perhaps it's not just the children who need to be educated... perhaps it's parents as well.
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Complete security is impossible. If someone wants access, they will eventually get it.
d wa re_token.html
The most secure authentication scheme I've seen in a while is talked about in great detail here:
http://www.rsasecurity.com/products/securid/har
The idea is that if you need a physical token, and some knowledge to authenticate, you have added another level of security. These tokens are (from my understanding) REALLY hard to reverse engineer. They generate a number (that looks random, but isn't) every minute. On the other side of the connection, the same pseudo-random number is generated. If they match at authentication time, you get access, if they don't, try again.
The other thing you were wondering about was DOS attacks. Go read this article on GRC:
http://grc.com/dos/intro.htm
It boils down to this: if it's distributed there is little you can do.
On the flip side, since these signals would require massive antenae, you can triangulate the source in a matter of seconds, and send some guys (cops, navy, army, etc) over to shut them down.
Either way it goes, this is an interesting problem. Keep us posted with the results.
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Alot of people are going to think that you are starting a flamewar. Some people get way too fanatical about anime. Being someone who likes *some* anime, I can find a few problems with your conclusions.
In order to cast vague generalizations, you must meet some criteria. Namely, that you have watched every single anime ever made. As this is unrealistic (and a waste of time) I'm going to prove by counterexample.
Another thing to keep in mind; just like in North America, some shows just suck. Will people still make the effort to bring sucky shows from Japan to North America? Yes. In fact, several animation translation firms have made alot of money doing this. *cough*animego*cough* *cough*disney*cough* *cough*vizvideo*cough*
Reductio ad absurdum:
1) Bad stories
My Neighbour Totoro doesn't even have a story. Or conflict. In fact, it's aimed at people about 6 years old, and is just a strange sequence of random events.
2) Bad animation, jerkiness with poor color composition
This is not true of all anime. For example, Cowboy Bebop had some of the nicest artwork and detail I've seen in years. Macross Plus is also up there.
3) Bad translations of
If you're watching it with english dialog, yeah. If you're willing to read subtitles, the translation quality will typically increase several times.
4) Bad dialogue
Some things simply can't be translated from Japanese to English. Having studied the language formally for a year, I can sometimes see when the English translation just doesn't cut it. Also, if the anime is geared at 10-year-olds, odds are it will sound lame in any language.
5) A bunch of people OBSESSED with this shit to a sickening point.
I hear that! I'm so sick to death of people whining about how much money they don't have because they *MUST* go to convention Y and spend $5,000,000 on trinkets. Let's get some perspective here.
And for all those posts in this thread that start with "Wai! Wai!"... YOU ARE NOT JAPANESE! STOP FOOLING YOURSELF. SAYING STUPID THINGS DOES NOT MAKE YOU JAPANESE. YOU WILL NEVER BE JAPANESE.
"Nobody should enjoy WATCHING something that much, you should save your fanaticism for creating things."
Agreed. In the last week, I've watched about half an hour of TV. In the past year, I don't think I've topped 24 hours. It's amazing how much more I can accomplish when I'm not tied to the idiot box.
I await the flames.
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Having just finished my BSc in Computer Science, I've found that those who want real world experience will go out and find it on their own. Formal education is there to assist your learning, not to spoon-feed you.
Alot of the students are at school for the piece of paper, not to learn and enjoy the subject matter. We attempt to filter job applicants based on a "geekiness" scale to help remove those who are not interested in the field.
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We name our servers after LOTR caracters... one day someone asked what type of network we were using. The answer:
Tolkien Ring
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While I agree with Schon that Security through obscurity is not a good security model, it can complement an existing security model. By no means is a standard Slackware install completely secure, but because of its use of older services, it is more likely that the major security holes have been patched.
While Tannhaus is right with respect to kicking monitors in general, when you have 30 people who could be billing out at $85/hour, except they can't because they're waiting for RedHat to reboot, a person can get a little frustrated. Each extra minute it takes to check for new hardware has an opportunity cost of $42.50.
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I first installed Slackware years ago. (I tried to find the version, and all I could find was "March".) Yes, if you don't know Linux, it is harder to install. If you're willing to read a couple of HOW-TOs, you'll be fine.
I've been trying to install Red Hat for 2 years now. I have never been 100% successful. If you want the "standard" RedHad distro, you can just do a next-next-next-finish install. But, if you're willing to do that, why not just install Windows.
Slackware allows me to have complete control over everything. The init (rc.d) file structure is easily understood. Only solid deamons and applications are included into the standard distribution. Slackware doesn't rely on RPMs or any sort of post-install binary package.
If you want security and to run Linux, Slackware is for you. Few script kiddies have heard of Slackware... can you say "security through obscurity"?
Slackware lets - and expects - you to do things yourself. There are no "add hardward" wizards. (For the love of root, I saw this in RedHat and almost kicked my monitor.) If you are interested in learning Linux, Slackware is the distro for you. If you really want to learn, disable module support.
If you want a distro that can boot faster than any other, use Slackware. If you don't want a bunch of useless daemons running when you first boot, use Slackware. If you want a distro that runs fast, even on a 486, use Slackware.
If you want a distro to hold your hand, and second-guess you, by all means, use RedHat.
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When designing a "conventional" CPU, you can have a clock that essentially drives events and datamovement.
If you design a multiplier circuit using a bunch of full-adders, you'll notice that the output take a long of time to settle. In fact, depending on what numbers you are multiplying together, the circuit may take more or less time before the output settles.
You can always determine the worst-case scenario for a multiply operation to settle. If the multiply takes longer than any other operation, then the multiply op is the "critical path".
A chip's frequency is the inverse of the period of the critical path (in most cases). So, if it's possible to do 100 million critical path operations in a second, then your machine can run at 100MHz.
What the article is hinting at is the amount of wasted time because everything is (currently) done on the clock cycle. Allow me to illustrate: Let's say a multiply takes 5 seconds, but an add only takes 1. A fixed clock rate (or having a clock at all) forces that add instruction to take the extra 4 seconds, and use it for nothing. Wasted computer time.
Now, the reason people are skeptical is because there is no efficient way to tell if a multiply operation (or any other operation) has actually completed and the outputs have settled.
Incidentally, if this interests you, go grab a free program called "diglog" or "chipmunk". The software (for linux/windows) allows you to simulate almost any digital circuit.
Another thing to keep in mind about current CPUs is the way they execute an instruction. Every instruction is actually made of smaller instructions (called microinstructions). Microinstructions take one clock cycle each, but there is an arbitrary number of microinstructions for each larger instruction. The microinstructions perform the "fetch execute cycle" - the sequence that decodes the instruction, grabs the associated data, performs the desired task, and goes back for more.
If you're interested in designing a CPU yourself, go grab a book by Morris Mano called "Computer System Architecture". With that book and DigLog, it's pretty easy, but it takes a long time.
Realistically, since the threat originates abroad, you would need to make all countries of the world follow this law. Also keep in mind that terrorists don't usually follow laws. Thirdly, home grown crypto is easy because Applied Cryptography (great book) costs $40.
Keep in mind that there is also IStockPhoto. All images are free for use, similar to the GPL.
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Who would have guessed that piracy would cost so much?
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