Just thought I should point out that while high speed broadband (i.e. 8Mbps and faster) may not be commonly available in the US, there are plenty of other countries where it is.I'm in Australia, and we've had 8Mbps for a while now, with ADSL2+ (up to 24Mbps) being rolled out in the next year or two. Don't even get me started on what Korea and Japan have available.
My point is that there are markets outside the US ready for these types of innovations *now*, and I don't see why we should be waiting for the US to get it first.
I feel that I should point out a flaw in your argument. You say that the water will be "almost instantly" expelled from the other end. Maybe in a short tube, but the time between you applying pressure on one end and the time water comes out the other end is the time taken for the pressure wave to move throughout the medium (I think this is normally the speed of sound in the medium, although special cases exist).
In short, this does not hold for large systems. Yes, I am a physicist.
Joss: We shall rule over all this show, and we shall call it... this show. Fox: I think we should call it your grave! Joss: Argh, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! Fox: Raaaaaaaarghhhhhhh! Joss: Raaaaaaaarghhhhhhh!
I loved the series and I can't wait to see this. No doubt Joss will give us something that leaves us begging for more.
Meanwhile, a hint about my thoughts on Fox...
: We shall rule over all this show, and we shall call it... this show. : I think we should call it your grave! : Argh, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! : Raaaaaaaarghhhhhhh! : Raaaaaaaarghhhhhhh!
CNN is reporting in a developing story that SpaceShipOne attained an altitude of over 62.5 miles (100 km) in its historic flight earlier today, making it the first privately built craft to fly in space. More information can be found courtesy of Scaled Compositeshere and Space.com also has a story.
"Space flight is not only for governments to do," Rutan said. "Clearly, there's an enormous pent-up hunger to fly into space and not just dream about it." "We are heading to orbit sooner than you think," he said. "We do not intend to stay in low-earth orbit for decades. The next 25 years will be a wild ride.... One that history will note was done for the benefit of everyone."
Not as far as I know. The ice is sitting on bedrock, and that's not going anywhere. I don't think that the hole moves significantly in the course of a year anyway.
Even if it did move, as long as you have the correct depth you should still get the same general results. Although, we have seen some slight differences in heavy metal levels from site to site (there are things like mountains which obstruct air flow). This is one of the reasons that there are a number of sites being analysed - so that we can compare the results.
You probably want to keep in mind that the ice sheet has been there for roughly a million years (maybe a bit less). Over the bedrock, the only significant event affecting the ice is the depositing of snow every year, which becomes compacted, becomes firn (really dense snow) and then ice. From year to year this is insignicant, but over hundreds of thousands of year you build up an ice sheet with a climatic record preserved in it.
Hmm... it's a surprise to see this on Slashdot. I suppose some explanation is in order.
I'm part of an isotope science research group at my university (please, no pasting links - they're not that hard to find anyway). I'm just finishing my honours degree on new meteorite dating techniques, but other students/professors/staff do a lot of work on heavy metal contamination of the environment (mainly lead as an indicator of industrialisation and global dust levels, and indium and bismuth as volcanic indicators). We collaborate with a number of research groups around the world, including the one in Grenoble and others in Venice and Tasmania.
The work we do mainly involves Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (TIMS - uses a solid sample), while other labs use TIMS as well as Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS - uses a liquid or gas source). We have and are analysing the Vostok, Dome C and Law Dome samples. One professor in my lab has used TIMS to show how the lead in the ice cores has risen dramatically in response to such events as the Roman Empire processing large ore bodies (to make weapons, shields etc - this was published in Nature ~1994) and also the start of the industrial revolution. Our general focus at the moment is completing a climatic record going back as far as we can. However, due to the extreme cleanliness of the ice cores, processing must be carried out in Class 10 clean rooms (initially at sub-zero temperatures to prevent the ice from melting) to prevent contamination. We routinely measure amounts of lead on the order of a few picograms (10^-12 grams) or less. It is rather slow going.
To give an idea about the problems involved in drilling the ice cores, you have to realise that 3km underground there is a lot of pressure due to the weight of the ice sitting above. 3km is roughly Antarctic bedrock, which is a far down as we can drill. The further down you go, the denser the ice becomes and hence harder to drill. However, you can't just speed up the drill to get the ice faster because you will melt it. The last few hundred metres before bedrock will take a lot longer to drill than the ice above it.
The initial decontamination procedure of the ice cores is somewhat lengthy and inconvenient. As we are looking to find heavy metals in the ice, we have to remove any contamination caused by the drill. So we use a plastic lathe (all of our lab equipment is teflon and is soaked in 10M HNO3 for about 3 months before use) to strip the outer layers of the ice core in succession (the core samples we receive range from ~0.3-1.5m in length). Keep in mind you are working at about -18 degress C here for about 6 hours at a time - not fun. Then we analyse small chunks of the inner core. The decontamination is normally done in Tasmania, and then we get samples shipped on dry ice to us and other labs around the world. There have been some rather tense moments as planes have been late and baggage delayed!! While I remember, a 30cm ice core might be worth around $30k (total cost of drilling / length of ice recovered).
Um, I think that's most of what I can add without going into extremem technical detail, but I'll try to answer any questions anyone has.
is the fact that while Hubble can view things in the optical, James Webb will be looking at things in the infra-red. The two Wiki links (from the article) provide much more information.
I applaud the authors for their attitude and their willingness to make this textbook available for free download. However, I think that they may be over-estimating the value of a good textbook.
Let me clarify that last statement - I think that a good textbook is an essential element of a good education on a particular subject, but I do not think that it is the only element required. A well-rounded education should also include hands-on lab time (costs money) and people you can ask to help you and to explain what you are having problems understanding (costs money).
Now, if this book is aimed at people for whom money is a problem, isn't it naive to think that they have access to a computer (and enough time on that computer to read and understand the text)?
This book could quite possibly replace existing texts and lower the cost of an education, but I doubt that it would become the entire education. However, I don't think that you can have too many alternative texts on a subject, especially when they are free.
This is just idle speculation, but Obsidian Entertainment hasn't announced what it's "Delaware" project is yet (nor have they announced who the publisher is). They are also hiring, possibly indicating another project. There is plenty of speculation on the forums, but no official word yet.
If they were finishing off FO3, I'd definitely buy it. Look who founded Obsidian, any of those names look familiar?
I agree with the parent post - keep your sensitive information physically disconnected when you don't need it. I would advocate a firewire or usb hard drive though. Assuming that you're not constantly accessing the drive for long periods of time, their performance is more than adequate. Simply disconnect when you don't need the data. This also means that you can carry your data around if you need it. I've got a 40Gb usb2 drive and I love it.
The other thing that I would look at closely is which version of Windows you are running (you didn't specify). My connection is on most of the time, and I haven't ever had any problems - I'm running 98 (no servers or anything though). I simply keep my AV up to date, windows update every so often, and a use firewall. If you are running 2000/2003/XP, make sure you know what vulnerabilities exist, have them patched/firewalled/whatever, and take as many other precautions as practical. There are most likely more vulnerabilities out there that haven't been found yet, but a sensible setup should (hopefully) be able to avoid any problems.
One more thing - if you're worried about spammers using your computer to send mass emails, monitor your network traffic, and go looking for problems when it spikes WAY above normal.
but it'll probably be years before we see it commercially.
Imagine using voice commands to control your computer remotely - you're on a croweded bus, using your cell phone to connect to your house computer, telling it subvocally to turn on the airconditioning in time for when you get home, to turn on the coffee maker and download some work from the office and a movie for later. And no one hears anything, and the only thing they can see moving is your throat. What about dictating a letter on your way home, or other documents?
What about secret service agents? Or the military? No more needing to talk into their sleeves or using noisy radio to give away their position. You could have the conversation turn up on a pda screen, or have an artifical voice piped into ear phones. How cool would that be?
I'm sure there's lots more stuff you could use this for that I haven't even thought of yet, but I'm betting it is still years away.
1. Can you get leave from your current job for the duration of your tour? 2. Can you do your IT job remotely (you didn't mention exactly what you do)?
Also, maybe you could go searching for IT work overseas? Not every economy is in the state the US is in, and overseas experience is always a plus. If you don't know if either proposition (music or IT) will work out, which one do you want more? Go with that.
I think most at NASA would tell the reason that Hubble is being abandoned is due the remaining shuttle being designed to service the ISS. I believe Columbia was the last shuttle that could easily reach the orbit of the Hubble, and be equipped to service it. Plus there are scarce enough mission slots now to maintain the ISS. NASA is also now looking ahead to "The James Webb Space Telescope" Hubble's successor.
Just wanted to clarify this. Columbia was the only shuttle with a large enough cargo bay to fit Hubble inside it. This is only a problem when you want to bring it back to earth safely (although IIRC Columbia was used to launch Hubble, but that's not a problem anymore).
It's probably not the only reason for cancelling the service mission, but a shuttle can't reach the ISS from Hubble's orbit. Thus no lifeboat if something goes wrong (besides sending up another shuttle). Never mind that this has been the case for all (5-6?) previous Hubble missions.
You guys make it sound like Hubble is the last telescope we will ever make, let alone put up in orbit.
The James Webb telescope isn't scheduled to go up until 2010. Hubble is expected to fail between 06-08 without maintenance. Also, Hubble has capabilities (particularly UV detection) that no other currently planned telescope has. They are not replacements, but companions.
The other thing that needs to be brought up is that O'Keefe said only 40 million will be saved by not fixing Hubble. Over 200 million has already been spent on developing the new instruments and the replacement parts (batteries, gyros etc) for it. The astronauts want to volunteer to fix it, safety concerns be damned, and the proposed rockets to maneuver it safely through the atmosphere (so it comes down in the ocean) are likely to cost more than the shuttle mission.
Hubble is a unique resource (and a piece of history) that IMO should be kept operational for as long as possible, and then be brought back to the Smithsonian. Sure we have lots of data to analyse, but why shouldn't we keep making new discoveries and learning about the universe we live in?
One of my uni lecturers uses Bigpond as his ISP. He also has his uni email accounts redirected to his Bigpond address. He had problems a while ago when Bigpond went down. He normally accepts assignments via email, but everything sent to him got delayed a few days. Thankfully he accepted assignments which had been sent to him on time, otherwise a lot of people would have inconvenienced.
This lecturer also has other responsibilities (I won't go into detail here) which require him to him to send out newsletters to all of the students in our department, plus international committees and a large number of university staff. We are a small department, but still have ~100 students. Sending out a student newsletter would trip the new email limit. I don't know how he's going to get around this from home (obviously he can send it using our uni mail server when he's at work).
Just another example of Bigpond not being up to scratch these days. I personally use a competing ISP, and have never had a problem. I don't know how Bigpond is going to keep its customers with shit like this.
I feel I should point out that Mozilla Firebird does not need to be installed, and doesn't occupy that much space (less than 20Mb anyway). A good alternative, even for people "forced" to use IE. I've been using it for a while, and it's great.
I moved house a few years back, and the guy who built my current house definitely knew about the wisdom of never having too many outlets. Every single electrical outlet in the house is a double outlet, and each room has at least two of them. The kitchen, the lounge room and the game room have 3 each. They're very handy. We also have a gas outlet in each room, which we haven't used too much, but are also handy on the odd occasion we need one (useful for gas lamps during blackouts).
The two complaints I have are that there aren't enough tv aerial connections (only two in the whole house), and that there isn't cat 5/6 throughout the house.
If I had to build a house now, I would definitely recommend going overboard with the electricity, gas, aerial and cat 6 cabling. You may not use it now, but better to have too many outlets than not enough. Besides, who knows what you'll be running in a few years?
Um, to try and stay a bit more on topic, I'm surprised that this hasn't happened earlier in college dorms. Personal computers and stereos and a million other electrical goods have been around for a while now...
You're absolutely right. For some reason, everyone else seems to be overlooking the fact that there is (or appears to be) an unknown root exploit out there.
Yes, you can probably guess/crack/social engineer a password if you try hard enough. That's why security is about layers, compartmentalisation and multiple types of protection, not just a single password.
If this was your box, would you be more worried that someone had managed to sniff an (unprivileged) password? Or that any one of your users can now root your box? I know which one I would lose sleep over.
Here's to hoping that the root exploit is found and patched nice and quick. Even better if it something else that's been missed and is fixed in the latest patch.
All right, feeling less lazy now. Cryo lego man is here. The penny-arcade custom stickers are here.
Meanwhile, I think I have worked out a nice business plan:
1. Make (lame) X-Box case mod. 2. Make self-congratulatory webpage (don't forget to have a sucker friend pose in the photos). 3. Put X-Box on E-Bay. 4. Post to/. 5. Profit???
Methinks my business plan has been stolen already...
Slashdot Mirror
Just thought I should point out that while high speed broadband (i.e. 8Mbps and faster) may not be commonly available in the US, there are plenty of other countries where it is.I'm in Australia, and we've had 8Mbps for a while now, with ADSL2+ (up to 24Mbps) being rolled out in the next year or two. Don't even get me started on what Korea and Japan have available.
My point is that there are markets outside the US ready for these types of innovations *now*, and I don't see why we should be waiting for the US to get it first.
I feel that I should point out a flaw in your argument. You say that the water will be "almost instantly" expelled from the other end. Maybe in a short tube, but the time between you applying pressure on one end and the time water comes out the other end is the time taken for the pressure wave to move throughout the medium (I think this is normally the speed of sound in the medium, although special cases exist).
In short, this does not hold for large systems. Yes, I am a physicist.
6 invites here too. First in best dressed.
skulic AT iinet DOT net DOT au
Should have previewed, /. mangled it...
Joss: We shall rule over all this show, and we shall call it... this show.
Fox: I think we should call it your grave!
Joss: Argh, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Fox: Raaaaaaaarghhhhhhh!
Joss: Raaaaaaaarghhhhhhh!
(Apologies to Joss Whedon).
I loved the series and I can't wait to see this. No doubt Joss will give us something that leaves us begging for more.
Meanwhile, a hint about my thoughts on Fox...
: We shall rule over all this show, and we shall call it... this show.
: I think we should call it your grave!
: Argh, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
: Raaaaaaaarghhhhhhh!
: Raaaaaaaarghhhhhhh!
(Apologies to Joss Whedon).
Sorry for replying to my own post, but the Scaled press release I linked to was the old one (June 2).
As of this posting there is no new press releases on the Scaled website.
CNN is reporting in a developing story that SpaceShipOne attained an altitude of over 62.5 miles (100 km) in its historic flight earlier today, making it the first privately built craft to fly in space. More information can be found courtesy of Scaled Composites here and Space.com also has a story.
... One that history will note was done for the benefit of everyone."
"Space flight is not only for governments to do," Rutan said. "Clearly, there's an enormous pent-up hunger to fly into space and not just dream about it." "We are heading to orbit sooner than you think," he said. "We do not intend to stay in low-earth orbit for decades. The next 25 years will be a wild ride.
Not as far as I know. The ice is sitting on bedrock, and that's not going anywhere. I don't think that the hole moves significantly in the course of a year anyway.
Even if it did move, as long as you have the correct depth you should still get the same general results. Although, we have seen some slight differences in heavy metal levels from site to site (there are things like mountains which obstruct air flow). This is one of the reasons that there are a number of sites being analysed - so that we can compare the results.
You probably want to keep in mind that the ice sheet has been there for roughly a million years (maybe a bit less). Over the bedrock, the only significant event affecting the ice is the depositing of snow every year, which becomes compacted, becomes firn (really dense snow) and then ice. From year to year this is insignicant, but over hundreds of thousands of year you build up an ice sheet with a climatic record preserved in it.
Hmm... it's a surprise to see this on Slashdot. I suppose some explanation is in order.
I'm part of an isotope science research group at my university (please, no pasting links - they're not that hard to find anyway). I'm just finishing my honours degree on new meteorite dating techniques, but other students/professors/staff do a lot of work on heavy metal contamination of the environment (mainly lead as an indicator of industrialisation and global dust levels, and indium and bismuth as volcanic indicators). We collaborate with a number of research groups around the world, including the one in Grenoble and others in Venice and Tasmania.
The work we do mainly involves Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (TIMS - uses a solid sample), while other labs use TIMS as well as Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS - uses a liquid or gas source). We have and are analysing the Vostok, Dome C and Law Dome samples. One professor in my lab has used TIMS to show how the lead in the ice cores has risen dramatically in response to such events as the Roman Empire processing large ore bodies (to make weapons, shields etc - this was published in Nature ~1994) and also the start of the industrial revolution. Our general focus at the moment is completing a climatic record going back as far as we can. However, due to the extreme cleanliness of the ice cores, processing must be carried out in Class 10 clean rooms (initially at sub-zero temperatures to prevent the ice from melting) to prevent contamination. We routinely measure amounts of lead on the order of a few picograms (10^-12 grams) or less. It is rather slow going.
To give an idea about the problems involved in drilling the ice cores, you have to realise that 3km underground there is a lot of pressure due to the weight of the ice sitting above. 3km is roughly Antarctic bedrock, which is a far down as we can drill. The further down you go, the denser the ice becomes and hence harder to drill. However, you can't just speed up the drill to get the ice faster because you will melt it. The last few hundred metres before bedrock will take a lot longer to drill than the ice above it.
The initial decontamination procedure of the ice cores is somewhat lengthy and inconvenient. As we are looking to find heavy metals in the ice, we have to remove any contamination caused by the drill. So we use a plastic lathe (all of our lab equipment is teflon and is soaked in 10M HNO3 for about 3 months before use) to strip the outer layers of the ice core in succession (the core samples we receive range from ~0.3-1.5m in length). Keep in mind you are working at about -18 degress C here for about 6 hours at a time - not fun. Then we analyse small chunks of the inner core. The decontamination is normally done in Tasmania, and then we get samples shipped on dry ice to us and other labs around the world. There have been some rather tense moments as planes have been late and baggage delayed!! While I remember, a 30cm ice core might be worth around $30k (total cost of drilling / length of ice recovered).
Um, I think that's most of what I can add without going into extremem technical detail, but I'll try to answer any questions anyone has.
I would assume people want to use AAC instead of MP3 because you get higher quality sound out for the same bitrate.
Personally I think it's all very subjective and heavily dependent on where and how you're listening to stuff, but people like what they like.
is the fact that while Hubble can view things in the optical, James Webb will be looking at things in the infra-red. The two Wiki links (from the article) provide much more information.
e scope
p e
/. is screwing up the text, but the links should still work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Tel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telesco
Grr...
This one has a bit more information.
2 3%255E15306,00.html
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,95497
Beware the (sometimes flash) ads.
I applaud the authors for their attitude and their willingness to make this textbook available for free download. However, I think that they may be over-estimating the value of a good textbook.
Let me clarify that last statement - I think that a good textbook is an essential element of a good education on a particular subject, but I do not think that it is the only element required. A well-rounded education should also include hands-on lab time (costs money) and people you can ask to help you and to explain what you are having problems understanding (costs money).
Now, if this book is aimed at people for whom money is a problem, isn't it naive to think that they have access to a computer (and enough time on that computer to read and understand the text)?
This book could quite possibly replace existing texts and lower the cost of an education, but I doubt that it would become the entire education. However, I don't think that you can have too many alternative texts on a subject, especially when they are free.
This is just idle speculation, but Obsidian Entertainment hasn't announced what it's "Delaware" project is yet (nor have they announced who the publisher is). They are also hiring, possibly indicating another project. There is plenty of speculation on the forums, but no official word yet.
If they were finishing off FO3, I'd definitely buy it. Look who founded Obsidian, any of those names look familiar?
I agree with the parent post - keep your sensitive information physically disconnected when you don't need it. I would advocate a firewire or usb hard drive though. Assuming that you're not constantly accessing the drive for long periods of time, their performance is more than adequate. Simply disconnect when you don't need the data. This also means that you can carry your data around if you need it. I've got a 40Gb usb2 drive and I love it.
The other thing that I would look at closely is which version of Windows you are running (you didn't specify). My connection is on most of the time, and I haven't ever had any problems - I'm running 98 (no servers or anything though). I simply keep my AV up to date, windows update every so often, and a use firewall. If you are running 2000/2003/XP, make sure you know what vulnerabilities exist, have them patched/firewalled/whatever, and take as many other precautions as practical. There are most likely more vulnerabilities out there that haven't been found yet, but a sensible setup should (hopefully) be able to avoid any problems.
One more thing - if you're worried about spammers using your computer to send mass emails, monitor your network traffic, and go looking for problems when it spikes WAY above normal.
but it'll probably be years before we see it commercially.
Imagine using voice commands to control your computer remotely - you're on a croweded bus, using your cell phone to connect to your house computer, telling it subvocally to turn on the airconditioning in time for when you get home, to turn on the coffee maker and download some work from the office and a movie for later. And no one hears anything, and the only thing they can see moving is your throat. What about dictating a letter on your way home, or other documents?
What about secret service agents? Or the military? No more needing to talk into their sleeves or using noisy radio to give away their position. You could have the conversation turn up on a pda screen, or have an artifical voice piped into ear phones. How cool would that be?
I'm sure there's lots more stuff you could use this for that I haven't even thought of yet, but I'm betting it is still years away.
1. Can you get leave from your current job for the duration of your tour?
2. Can you do your IT job remotely (you didn't mention exactly what you do)?
Also, maybe you could go searching for IT work overseas? Not every economy is in the state the US is in, and overseas experience is always a plus. If you don't know if either proposition (music or IT) will work out, which one do you want more? Go with that.
I think most at NASA would tell the reason that Hubble is being abandoned is due the remaining shuttle being designed to service the ISS. I believe Columbia was the last shuttle that could easily reach the orbit of the Hubble, and be equipped to service it. Plus there are scarce enough mission slots now to maintain the ISS. NASA is also now looking ahead to "The James Webb Space Telescope" Hubble's successor.
Just wanted to clarify this. Columbia was the only shuttle with a large enough cargo bay to fit Hubble inside it. This is only a problem when you want to bring it back to earth safely (although IIRC Columbia was used to launch Hubble, but that's not a problem anymore).
It's probably not the only reason for cancelling the service mission, but a shuttle can't reach the ISS from Hubble's orbit. Thus no lifeboat if something goes wrong (besides sending up another shuttle). Never mind that this has been the case for all (5-6?) previous Hubble missions.
You guys make it sound like Hubble is the last telescope we will ever make, let alone put up in orbit.
The James Webb telescope isn't scheduled to go up until 2010. Hubble is expected to fail between 06-08 without maintenance. Also, Hubble has capabilities (particularly UV detection) that no other currently planned telescope has. They are not replacements, but companions.
The other thing that needs to be brought up is that O'Keefe said only 40 million will be saved by not fixing Hubble. Over 200 million has already been spent on developing the new instruments and the replacement parts (batteries, gyros etc) for it. The astronauts want to volunteer to fix it, safety concerns be damned, and the proposed rockets to maneuver it safely through the atmosphere (so it comes down in the ocean) are likely to cost more than the shuttle mission.
Hubble is a unique resource (and a piece of history) that IMO should be kept operational for as long as possible, and then be brought back to the Smithsonian. Sure we have lots of data to analyse, but why shouldn't we keep making new discoveries and learning about the universe we live in?
One of my uni lecturers uses Bigpond as his ISP. He also has his uni email accounts redirected to his Bigpond address. He had problems a while ago when Bigpond went down. He normally accepts assignments via email, but everything sent to him got delayed a few days. Thankfully he accepted assignments which had been sent to him on time, otherwise a lot of people would have inconvenienced.
This lecturer also has other responsibilities (I won't go into detail here) which require him to him to send out newsletters to all of the students in our department, plus international committees and a large number of university staff. We are a small department, but still have ~100 students. Sending out a student newsletter would trip the new email limit. I don't know how he's going to get around this from home (obviously he can send it using our uni mail server when he's at work).
Just another example of Bigpond not being up to scratch these days. I personally use a competing ISP, and have never had a problem. I don't know how Bigpond is going to keep its customers with shit like this.
I feel I should point out that Mozilla Firebird does not need to be installed, and doesn't occupy that much space (less than 20Mb anyway). A good alternative, even for people "forced" to use IE. I've been using it for a while, and it's great.
I moved house a few years back, and the guy who built my current house definitely knew about the wisdom of never having too many outlets. Every single electrical outlet in the house is a double outlet, and each room has at least two of them. The kitchen, the lounge room and the game room have 3 each. They're very handy. We also have a gas outlet in each room, which we haven't used too much, but are also handy on the odd occasion we need one (useful for gas lamps during blackouts).
The two complaints I have are that there aren't enough tv aerial connections (only two in the whole house), and that there isn't cat 5/6 throughout the house.
If I had to build a house now, I would definitely recommend going overboard with the electricity, gas, aerial and cat 6 cabling. You may not use it now, but better to have too many outlets than not enough. Besides, who knows what you'll be running in a few years?
Um, to try and stay a bit more on topic, I'm surprised that this hasn't happened earlier in college dorms. Personal computers and stereos and a million other electrical goods have been around for a while now...
Law #1: If a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, it's not your computer anymore.
Two words: Outlook, IE.
Oh the irony.
You're absolutely right. For some reason, everyone else seems to be overlooking the fact that there is (or appears to be) an unknown root exploit out there.
Yes, you can probably guess/crack/social engineer a password if you try hard enough. That's why security is about layers, compartmentalisation and multiple types of protection, not just a single password.
If this was your box, would you be more worried that someone had managed to sniff an (unprivileged) password? Or that any one of your users can now root your box? I know which one I would lose sleep over.
Here's to hoping that the root exploit is found and patched nice and quick. Even better if it something else that's been missed and is fixed in the latest patch.
All right, feeling less lazy now. Cryo lego man is here. The penny-arcade custom stickers are here.
/.
Meanwhile, I think I have worked out a nice business plan:
1. Make (lame) X-Box case mod.
2. Make self-congratulatory webpage (don't forget to have a sucker friend pose in the photos).
3. Put X-Box on E-Bay.
4. Post to
5. Profit???
Methinks my business plan has been stolen already...