Actually, I believe Slashdot did run a story on the release of a minor revision to a Windows operating system... You may have seen it - it was the announcement for the release of Windows XP!!!
Perhaps you have heard of it otherwise referenced as Windows NT 5.1!
In fact, IIRC, Microsoft - not to mention the majority of tech the world - made quite a huge commotion about the release of this new OS. And despite the XP operating system being touted as a revolutionary new step in computing, it still only garnished enough pull within the closed ranks of the windows developer community to qualify for an increment of the minor revision to the Windows version...
But hey, that's just Microsoft...why would we - a technically knowledgeable, primarily Linux community - get excited over a minor revision to the Red Hat Linux. After all, it is only one of the most stable - not to mention commercial - distros currently in existence!:-)
A Potentially Lucrative Proposition� :-)
on
The Plague of Frogs
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
First, approximately halfway through the article, we come to learn that "At one point, a hotel was paying bounty hunters $75 a frog, dead or alive."
We then learn later in the article that some areas possess frog population densities of up to "20,000 individuals an acre".
Now perhaps it is just me, but does this not sound as though it could be a quite lucrative prospect for a person with the appropriate amount of ingenuity and good old-fashioned entrepreneurial spirit... Just with some quick math, the potential industry of ridding the islands from the scourge of uninvited amphibians could be worth as much as $1.5 million per acre.
Of course, this is purely theoretical and such activities would hardly amount to such monetary windfalls, but it does make you think!!!
I wish it were possible to moderate the initial article submission as being off-topic, because from what I have gathered from actually reading this excellent article is that the individual who submitted this story completely overlooked the primary topic on which the article was written...
The speed comparison of SCSI vs. IDE was most certainly referenced within the story context of the story; however, that was by no means the intended takeaway that the author had for his readers - it was but a supporting factoid of his other conclussions and thoughts. The article was a very written analysis, history and summation of the practice of Network Forensics. While it did cover a wide range of technologies (including hard disks) that aid in the collecting of such forensic intelligence, by no means was his observation of the increased speed of IDE drives intended to monopolize the reader's attention or be the central focus!!!
Even worse, the majority of posters have (unsurprisingly) focused on everything but the article's intended subject matter. Now ensues the typical flame-war of people supporting their preferred technology instead of having intelligent discourse concerning this exciting and evolving new field of I/T security...
Oh well...if you can't beat them, I suppose you might as well join them! For the record, my vote remains with the tried and true performance and quality of SCSI...
That was a rather sexist comment! I would say there are plenty of men (myself included) whom fully understand and agree with the stated postion on the DMCA...:-)
For it being the 'holy grail' in software development, it seems like the poster could have dug up some sort of linkage for those not hip with exactly what STL truly is all about...
For the ill-informed, please see the following links concern the C++ Standard Template Library (STL):
Maybe he simply meant that they have intentionally left port 7 open on the firewall protecting the sub he is referencing...thus it is "Echo Friendly"
Just a thought - you never know, it could happen!:-)
Alternatively, perhaps he's just another one of non-spelling idiots who habitually and hypocritically criticize the/. editors for their spelling mistakes - hard to say...
If I may make a suggestion, I would like to see this beast of a super-computer used to assist the SETI@home project...
With this thing's horsepower I would expect to have conclusive findings of extra terrestial life within a matter of weeks and be shaking hands with E.T. by the end of summer...:-)
Also, I must throw in the obligatory comment of "wouldn't you just love a beowulf cluster of these things...".
Obviously, it is the initials of famous singer/actress/model J. Lo. That's right, the infamous Jennifer Penelope Lopez!!!
And yes...she has been working with Dark Matter for some time now in hopes of not only exploring the depths of the ocean on Europa, but also exploring the mystery that is her giant butt...
Jet Propulsion Laboratory...where do you guys come up with this stuff!!!:-)
"I never got kidnapped and thrown into a trunk without an internal release."
So, are you saying that you did get kidnapped, but that when you were thrown into the trunk it did have an internal release??? Just trying to clarify here....
Perhaps you were never kidnapped, but you were thrown into a trunk...ahhhh...and that trunk did have an internal release...
Any clarification that you could provide on this state would be greatly appreciated!!!:-)
Do what the professionals do...
on
Cable Chaos
·
· Score: 3, Informative
While I certainly concur with the many previous posts pointing out how positively unnecessary owning this mass of redundant equipment truly is, I also admit to being a bit of a electronics junky myself. From my audiophile tendencies to my true geek nature, if it's electronics - I want it!
As such, I have encountered many similar cable management issues of my own such as those being alluded to in this 'ask Slashdot'. In my experience, the best available answer is to follow the lead of professionals and use professional-grade cable management solutions.
The easiest and most cost effective that I have found is simple conduit. Examples can be found and purchased online here and here...
Dollar for dollar, this is the most affordable and, if done right, most attractive and eloquent solution available for the cable intensive electronics aficionado. Plus, all-important to an environment such as a dorm, this is a rather invasive solution that is both low impact to existing structures and portable!!!
Or, of course, he could simply follow one of the many creative suggestions on proper "disposal" of said equipment - not discounting throwing it out the proverbial window...:-)
"The science in this movie, by the way, is insultingly bad, and exceptionally inconsistent. It seems to me if you are going to offer some kind of crappy vampire virus you might as well make it somewhat consistent. It's airborne! It's blood borne! It turns out it's script borne, infecting those who it's convienient to infect and missing, strangely, Blade and his pals."
So exactly what is that you expected from this...a REALISTIC Vampire movie!!! Isn't that a bit of an oxymoron???
I am all for realism in film, but to complain about the "science" in a movie whose plot revolves around vampires, even for a self-respecting geek such as myself, may be a bit much!!!:-)
"Microsoft is currently trying to get the EAL4 for its Windows 2000 OS, and Dean argues that for Linux to be competitive at places like government agencies, where security ratings are used as a big evaluation tool for buying technology products, SELinux also needs the EAL4 rating."
While I can certainly understand the value derived through attaining a prestigious security rating such as this and truly advocate this undertaking as I believe it will benefit OSS as a whole, I have a hard time believing that is a necessity in terms of staying competitive with M$ Windows.
With the rather suspect security record (to say the least...) of the Windows operating system, I could never fathom a security conscious sect of the government ever selecting Windows in lieu of a POSIX compliant OS such as Unix (or Linux, FreeBSD, etc...) that is designed specifically with security in mind. Even more, I would be quite suspect of any organization that would actually certify the operating system as being secure!!!
Though Windows 2000 may win in a consumer-based market or even that of a commercial world due to it many bug-ridden features, these same traits open it up for failure any truly security conscious environment...
I don't personally know whom the site proprietor, Patrick, is or anything, but for his little site's sake I really hope that this article is either regarded as disinteresting by the masses of/. or that his ISP is in for one hell of a shock...
While this IS certainly an interesting idea and possibly even worth an article on Slashdot, his content is a bit thin and I have his usual site traffic is basicly not existant....until NOW that is!!!
So anyways...Pat, if you are reading this...good luck and I hope you are being charged for bandwidth by the Mb!!! Of course, you could always take a page from this guy and ask that the Slashdot community reimburse you...
I, personally, am in what I would expect to be a rather unique situation as a developer. My company has seen fit to provide me with both a rather large cubicle (complete with window) and a 'community' development lab that is available to all developers. What may come as a surprise to many is that I use my office primarily for storage and the displaying of my personal affects (a.k.a. Linux Propaganda & books) and maintain my primary residence in the 'development dungeon' as it has become know...
Even more, I am far from being alone in my decision to interact with my fellow geeks. Of the regulars whom I associate with in our development lab (which, BTW is a moderately sized, locked door office w/o windows), there are five of us - all architecture-level software developers within our corporation - whom maintain coexistence between the lab and our 'official' offices.
So, why you may wonder, would anyone in their right mind (especially a geek) not only resist the temptation of being solitary, but actually seek out the company of others??? Simple, to me it is all about shared learning! Everyone (ok, most everyone...) has an expertise or a forte of some sort within his or her field of interest. In a public environment such as the one I share we all benefit from our collective knowledge, experience and style in a manner in which increases our overall performance, quality and output!!! Management loves it because we pump out more code; we love it because we continually challenge and learn from one another!!!
Admittedly, I do not have any type of study or graphs (a.k.a. manager worthy content) to support my conclusions, however I do have considerable, personal real-world experience that confirms these ideas...
"The better question is, why would NASA want to create this stuff in the first place? It's obvious that, barring undreamable technology breakthroughs, putting livestock into space is unworkable -- sheesh...it's practically unworkable keeping livestock on earth once the population starts approaching 10 billion;)"
Perhaps you misunderstand the point of this exercise or the significance of this advancement in bio technology - this new methodology for "growing" meat is intended to allow for the consumption of meat during prolonged space travel without carrying the burden of taking actual living animals into space. I believe it is the wide consensus that taking livestock into space is unrealistic - although the thought of a cow wearing a space suit is quite comical...
"Spending money developing weird meat substitutes seems like a gross misappropriation of this agency's funds, when better and cheaper food alternatives are available."
While at the surface this investment may see quite frivolous and unnecessary, one could likely have said the same when the agency was working on the development of Velcro when something as common as zippers was already available. However, that advancement (regardless or how seemingly insignificant and wasteful at time) later became marketed to the masses and today holds tight the shoes of many a geek!!! Ultimately, whenever there is a perceived need someone will attempt to develop a solution - it is then up to the public at large how we leverage the resulting technologies...
"After all, shouldn't Nasa's money, as much as possible, go to space exploration?"
The concepts of good nutrition and regenerative food sources are all important to the long-term goals of prolonged space inhabitance and travel. With the refinement of this technology, it is conceivable that this could prove as a sustainable source of food and provide necessary nutritional benefits to an astronaut. Just because this activity doesn't involve a space shuttle or big bad moon rocket does not mean that it is not tightly linked to the strategic direction of space exploration...
Though often dismissed for its common use in annoying web advertisements and over-developed corporate web sites, I have had considerable success in leveraging Flash media for the creation of web-based e-learning tools for everything from offline CBT's to online distance learning programs.
With the introduction of the new Flash MX version, the abilities inherent to this tool are reported much expanded. This advancement in Flash media technology was discussed on Slashdot here and pays reference to this article at news.com.
Among its benefits, Flash it cross-platform and supported by most current main-stream browsers. For more information, you can visit their website.
7. Last May, Citizens Against Government Waste, a group that received funding from Microsoft, is caught simulating a "grassroots" campaign to get state attorneys general to drop their antitrust suit against the software giant. One detail that gives the scheme away: Some of the letters supporting Microsoft are from people who have long since died.
Personally, I can think of many other, much more comical MS events...one of my personal favorites being this...
Anyone else with any votes for stupid MS trick of the year?
As someone who has seen the movie 'Twister' no less than a dozen times, I believe the answer to capturing the ultimate 'Torn Porn' is painfully obvious. Simply do the following:
(1) Purchase a gross of small, clear plastic balls (this can be substituted by a large number of the clear plastic eggs that silly putty comes in...)
(2) For a solid week, every time you see one of those highly-annoying X-10, wireless camera ads while cruising the net actually purchase one - if my calculations are correct that should give the average browser approximately 538 wireless cams within a seven day period...:-)
(3) Insert a single X-10 wireless cam (with newly hacked, longer lasting self contained power source) in each of the clear plastic balls/eggs.
(4) Next...as they learned in 'Twister', you need to attach twisty-twirly-thingy-mabobs ® made from old pop cans to the balls to help them enter the tornado's vortex safely.
(5) And finally, create a large tin can with a half-moon Plexiglas top that looks like a cross between R2D2 and the first Lunar Lander to house all of these video-balls.
Now that we have created the device, it is time for deployment. Once again, I will take a page from the movie 'Twister' and suggest that you strap the launcher into the back of a very large (not to mention, expensive) 4x4 truck. Then, simply find a big-ass tornado, put on the cruise, drive straight at it and jump out at the last minute!!!
This may be a bit anal of me, but did anyone else notice the verbiage in the first paragraph of the article... I have supplied the bolding to highlight the peculiar wording in the excerpt below...
"[...] paying more than $30 billion a year for a national intelligence and counterintelligence community to protect it from both traditional state-based threats and unconventional non-state actors, the events of 9-11 demonstrated our inability to detect and prevent bold asymmetric attacks [...]"
Non-state ACTORS , huh? Hmmm... I can definitely think of some actors that could be of a real and present danger to the US - most of whom are imports from our friends to the north, Canada!
And for those of you who appreciate long and confusing acronym's, try this one on for size: The Open Source Intelligence International Non-State Actors Watch List, or as its friends call it - the OSINT INSAWL....
From the supposed real-life example in the article:
"Its disk contains, in addition to Mary's own files, encrypted fragments of thousands of other files. Occasionally one of these fragments is read and transmitted; it's part of a movie that someone is watching in Helsinki."
I wonder how upset this individual in Helsinki would be if Mary decided to format her hard disk in the midst of his movie... Oh, but you say that the same information is distributed on other workstations as a redundancy precaution. I wonder how much bandwidth that cost to prevent this 'just in case' scenario?
While I can certainly appreciate the added value of distributed processing power and multilocational data sources, exactly how is having these massive amounts of data running over the net affecting bandwidth availability?
In my opinion, the lack of a truly distributed ISOS is a bit trivial until we achieve a higher grade of internet connectivity for everyone!
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, I believe Slashdot did run a story on the release of a minor revision to a Windows operating system... You may have seen it - it was the announcement for the release of Windows XP!!!
:-)
Perhaps you have heard of it otherwise referenced as Windows NT 5.1!
In fact, IIRC, Microsoft - not to mention the majority of tech the world - made quite a huge commotion about the release of this new OS. And despite the XP operating system being touted as a revolutionary new step in computing, it still only garnished enough pull within the closed ranks of the windows developer community to qualify for an increment of the minor revision to the Windows version...
But hey, that's just Microsoft...why would we - a technically knowledgeable, primarily Linux community - get excited over a minor revision to the Red Hat Linux. After all, it is only one of the most stable - not to mention commercial - distros currently in existence!
First, approximately halfway through the article, we come to learn that "At one point, a hotel was paying bounty hunters $75 a frog, dead or alive."
We then learn later in the article that some areas possess frog population densities of up to "20,000 individuals an acre".
Now perhaps it is just me, but does this not sound as though it could be a quite lucrative prospect for a person with the appropriate amount of ingenuity and good old-fashioned entrepreneurial spirit... Just with some quick math, the potential industry of ridding the islands from the scourge of uninvited amphibians could be worth as much as $1.5 million per acre.
Of course, this is purely theoretical and such activities would hardly amount to such monetary windfalls, but it does make you think!!!
I wish it were possible to moderate the initial article submission as being off-topic, because from what I have gathered from actually reading this excellent article is that the individual who submitted this story completely overlooked the primary topic on which the article was written...
The speed comparison of SCSI vs. IDE was most certainly referenced within the story context of the story; however, that was by no means the intended takeaway that the author had for his readers - it was but a supporting factoid of his other conclussions and thoughts. The article was a very written analysis, history and summation of the practice of Network Forensics. While it did cover a wide range of technologies (including hard disks) that aid in the collecting of such forensic intelligence, by no means was his observation of the increased speed of IDE drives intended to monopolize the reader's attention or be the central focus!!!
Even worse, the majority of posters have (unsurprisingly) focused on everything but the article's intended subject matter. Now ensues the typical flame-war of people supporting their preferred technology instead of having intelligent discourse concerning this exciting and evolving new field of I/T security...
Oh well...if you can't beat them, I suppose you might as well join them! For the record, my vote remains with the tried and true performance and quality of SCSI...
That was a rather sexist comment! I would say there are plenty of men (myself included) whom fully understand and agree with the stated postion on the DMCA...
In fact...aren't YOU a man?
For it being the 'holy grail' in software development, it seems like the poster could have dug up some sort of linkage for those not hip with exactly what STL truly is all about...
For the ill-informed, please see the following links concern the C++ Standard Template Library (STL):
*** Mumit's STL Newbie guide
*** Standard Template Library Online Reference Home Page
*** Another Informational Link
There, I feel much better.... and hopefully you do, as well!!!
I wonder if a stripped down version of the Windows OS would yeild better performance with the decreased overhead of the needless features...
:-)
If so, that would be great...you could then get Microsoft's patented "blue screen of death" in half the time!!!
Maybe he simply meant that they have intentionally left port 7 open on the firewall protecting the sub he is referencing...thus it is "Echo Friendly"
:-)
/. editors for their spelling mistakes - hard to say...
Just a thought - you never know, it could happen!
Alternatively, perhaps he's just another one of non-spelling idiots who habitually and hypocritically criticize the
If I may make a suggestion, I would like to see this beast of a super-computer used to assist the SETI@home project...
:-)
With this thing's horsepower I would expect to have conclusive findings of extra terrestial life within a matter of weeks and be shaking hands with E.T. by the end of summer...
Also, I must throw in the obligatory comment of "wouldn't you just love a beowulf cluster of these things...".
Great...all my encryption problems are solved!!! And not a moment too soon, either...
:-)
After all, I was getting a bit nervous with respect to my encryption needs in light of the retirement of further development of PGP and the possible inadequacies of GnuPG...
But for anyone interested in the actual link posted in the story, here is the google cache version...
Silly man...everyone knows what JPL stands for!!!
...
:-)
Obviously, it is the initials of famous singer/actress/model J. Lo. That's right, the infamous Jennifer Penelope Lopez!!!
And yes...she has been working with Dark Matter for some time now in hopes of not only exploring the depths of the ocean on Europa, but also exploring the mystery that is her giant butt
Jet Propulsion Laboratory...where do you guys come up with this stuff!!!
"I never got kidnapped and thrown into a trunk without an internal release."
:-)
So, are you saying that you did get kidnapped, but that when you were thrown into the trunk it did have an internal release??? Just trying to clarify here....
Perhaps you were never kidnapped, but you were thrown into a trunk...ahhhh...and that trunk did have an internal release...
Any clarification that you could provide on this state would be greatly appreciated!!!
While I certainly concur with the many previous posts pointing out how positively unnecessary owning this mass of redundant equipment truly is, I also admit to being a bit of a electronics junky myself. From my audiophile tendencies to my true geek nature, if it's electronics - I want it!
:-)
As such, I have encountered many similar cable management issues of my own such as those being alluded to in this 'ask Slashdot'. In my experience, the best available answer is to follow the lead of professionals and use professional-grade cable management solutions.
The easiest and most cost effective that I have found is simple conduit. Examples can be found and purchased online here and here...
Dollar for dollar, this is the most affordable and, if done right, most attractive and eloquent solution available for the cable intensive electronics aficionado. Plus, all-important to an environment such as a dorm, this is a rather invasive solution that is both low impact to existing structures and portable!!!
Or, of course, he could simply follow one of the many creative suggestions on proper "disposal" of said equipment - not discounting throwing it out the proverbial window...
From the review:
:-)
"The science in this movie, by the way, is insultingly bad, and exceptionally inconsistent. It seems to me if you are going to offer some kind of crappy vampire virus you might as well make it somewhat consistent. It's airborne! It's blood borne! It turns out it's script borne, infecting those who it's convienient to infect and missing, strangely, Blade and his pals."
So exactly what is that you expected from this...a REALISTIC Vampire movie!!! Isn't that a bit of an oxymoron???
I am all for realism in film, but to complain about the "science" in a movie whose plot revolves around vampires, even for a self-respecting geek such as myself, may be a bit much!!!
From the article:
"Microsoft is currently trying to get the EAL4 for its Windows 2000 OS, and Dean argues that for Linux to be competitive at places like government agencies, where security ratings are used as a big evaluation tool for buying technology products, SELinux also needs the EAL4 rating."
While I can certainly understand the value derived through attaining a prestigious security rating such as this and truly advocate this undertaking as I believe it will benefit OSS as a whole, I have a hard time believing that is a necessity in terms of staying competitive with M$ Windows.
With the rather suspect security record (to say the least...) of the Windows operating system, I could never fathom a security conscious sect of the government ever selecting Windows in lieu of a POSIX compliant OS such as Unix (or Linux, FreeBSD, etc...) that is designed specifically with security in mind. Even more, I would be quite suspect of any organization that would actually certify the operating system as being secure!!!
Though Windows 2000 may win in a consumer-based market or even that of a commercial world due to it many bug-ridden features, these same traits open it up for failure any truly security conscious environment...
At least, that would be my view on the matter...
I don't personally know whom the site proprietor, Patrick, is or anything, but for his little site's sake I really hope that this article is either regarded as disinteresting by the masses of /. or that his ISP is in for one hell of a shock...
While this IS certainly an interesting idea and possibly even worth an article on Slashdot, his content is a bit thin and I have his usual site traffic is basicly not existant....until NOW that is!!!
So anyways...Pat, if you are reading this...good luck and I hope you are being charged for bandwidth by the Mb!!! Of course, you could always take a page from this guy and ask that the Slashdot community reimburse you...
SLASHDOT + PS2 + LINUX = oreillynet.com slashdotted
:-)
The google cache of the site is here
Now...who can honestly say they are not in love with and sexually attracted to google!!!
I, personally, am in what I would expect to be a rather unique situation as a developer. My company has seen fit to provide me with both a rather large cubicle (complete with window) and a 'community' development lab that is available to all developers. What may come as a surprise to many is that I use my office primarily for storage and the displaying of my personal affects (a.k.a. Linux Propaganda & books) and maintain my primary residence in the 'development dungeon' as it has become know...
Even more, I am far from being alone in my decision to interact with my fellow geeks. Of the regulars whom I associate with in our development lab (which, BTW is a moderately sized, locked door office w/o windows), there are five of us - all architecture-level software developers within our corporation - whom maintain coexistence between the lab and our 'official' offices.
So, why you may wonder, would anyone in their right mind (especially a geek) not only resist the temptation of being solitary, but actually seek out the company of others??? Simple, to me it is all about shared learning! Everyone (ok, most everyone...) has an expertise or a forte of some sort within his or her field of interest. In a public environment such as the one I share we all benefit from our collective knowledge, experience and style in a manner in which increases our overall performance, quality and output!!! Management loves it because we pump out more code; we love it because we continually challenge and learn from one another!!!
Admittedly, I do not have any type of study or graphs (a.k.a. manager worthy content) to support my conclusions, however I do have considerable, personal real-world experience that confirms these ideas...
To address some of the comments made above:
;)"
"The better question is, why would NASA want to create this stuff in the first place? It's obvious that, barring undreamable technology breakthroughs, putting livestock into space is unworkable -- sheesh...it's practically unworkable keeping livestock on earth once the population starts approaching 10 billion
Perhaps you misunderstand the point of this exercise or the significance of this advancement in bio technology - this new methodology for "growing" meat is intended to allow for the consumption of meat during prolonged space travel without carrying the burden of taking actual living animals into space. I believe it is the wide consensus that taking livestock into space is unrealistic - although the thought of a cow wearing a space suit is quite comical...
"Spending money developing weird meat substitutes seems like a gross misappropriation of this agency's funds, when better and cheaper food alternatives are available."
While at the surface this investment may see quite frivolous and unnecessary, one could likely have said the same when the agency was working on the development of Velcro when something as common as zippers was already available. However, that advancement (regardless or how seemingly insignificant and wasteful at time) later became marketed to the masses and today holds tight the shoes of many a geek!!! Ultimately, whenever there is a perceived need someone will attempt to develop a solution - it is then up to the public at large how we leverage the resulting technologies...
"After all, shouldn't Nasa's money, as much as possible, go to space exploration?"
The concepts of good nutrition and regenerative food sources are all important to the long-term goals of prolonged space inhabitance and travel. With the refinement of this technology, it is conceivable that this could prove as a sustainable source of food and provide necessary nutritional benefits to an astronaut. Just because this activity doesn't involve a space shuttle or big bad moon rocket does not mean that it is not tightly linked to the strategic direction of space exploration...
Though often dismissed for its common use in annoying web advertisements and over-developed corporate web sites, I have had considerable success in leveraging Flash media for the creation of web-based e-learning tools for everything from offline CBT's to online distance learning programs.
With the introduction of the new Flash MX version, the abilities inherent to this tool are reported much expanded. This advancement in Flash media technology was discussed on Slashdot here and pays reference to this article at news.com.
Among its benefits, Flash it cross-platform and supported by most current main-stream browsers. For more information, you can visit their website.
Microsoft came in at a disappointing #7 with:
7. Last May, Citizens Against Government Waste, a group that received funding from Microsoft, is caught simulating a "grassroots" campaign to get state attorneys general to drop their antitrust suit against the software giant. One detail that gives the scheme away: Some of the letters supporting Microsoft are from people who have long since died.
Personally, I can think of many other, much more comical MS events...one of my personal favorites being this...
Anyone else with any votes for stupid MS trick of the year?
As someone who has seen the movie 'Twister' no less than a dozen times, I believe the answer to capturing the ultimate 'Torn Porn' is painfully obvious. Simply do the following:
:-)
:-)
(1) Purchase a gross of small, clear plastic balls (this can be substituted by a large number of the clear plastic eggs that silly putty comes in...)
(2) For a solid week, every time you see one of those highly-annoying X-10, wireless camera ads while cruising the net actually purchase one - if my calculations are correct that should give the average browser approximately 538 wireless cams within a seven day period...
(3) Insert a single X-10 wireless cam (with newly hacked, longer lasting self contained power source) in each of the clear plastic balls/eggs.
(4) Next...as they learned in 'Twister' , you need to attach twisty-twirly-thingy-mabobs ® made from old pop cans to the balls to help them enter the tornado's vortex safely.
(5) And finally, create a large tin can with a half-moon Plexiglas top that looks like a cross between R2D2 and the first Lunar Lander to house all of these video-balls.
Now that we have created the device, it is time for deployment. Once again, I will take a page from the movie 'Twister' and suggest that you strap the launcher into the back of a very large (not to mention, expensive) 4x4 truck. Then, simply find a big-ass tornado, put on the cruise, drive straight at it and jump out at the last minute!!!
Oh well...just a thought!!!
This may be a bit anal of me, but did anyone else notice the verbiage in the first paragraph of the article... I have supplied the bolding to highlight the peculiar wording in the excerpt below...
"[...] paying more than $30 billion a year for a national intelligence and counterintelligence community to protect it from both traditional state-based threats and unconventional non-state actors, the events of 9-11 demonstrated our inability to detect and prevent bold asymmetric attacks [...]"
Non-state ACTORS , huh? Hmmm... I can definitely think of some actors that could be of a real and present danger to the US - most of whom are imports from our friends to the north, Canada!
And for those of you who appreciate long and confusing acronym's, try this one on for size: The Open Source Intelligence International Non-State Actors Watch List, or as its friends call it - the OSINT INSAWL....
From the supposed real-life example in the article:
"Its disk contains, in addition to Mary's own files, encrypted fragments of thousands of other files. Occasionally one of these fragments is read and transmitted; it's part of a movie that someone is watching in Helsinki."
I wonder how upset this individual in Helsinki would be if Mary decided to format her hard disk in the midst of his movie... Oh, but you say that the same information is distributed on other workstations as a redundancy precaution. I wonder how much bandwidth that cost to prevent this 'just in case' scenario?
While I can certainly appreciate the added value of distributed processing power and multilocational data sources, exactly how is having these massive amounts of data running over the net affecting bandwidth availability?
In my opinion, the lack of a truly distributed ISOS is a bit trivial until we achieve a higher grade of internet connectivity for everyone!
He could have taken a page from former Vice President Al Gore's book and claimed to have INVENTED Spam! ;-)