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User: rockiams

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  1. Re:Now this is what I call entertainment. on John McAfee Collapses At Guatemala Detention Center · · Score: 1

    There was an article in 2010(I think, maybe 2009) that Wired ran about McAfee and how he baited some Wired reporter that was trying to do a big expose on him. He made up outrageous claims of bribing the police and such. When I first saw these headlines a few weeks back, I immediately thought he had moved beyond one magazine and was baiting the whole world. I still haven't read anything that convinces me that this isn't a hoax(but I admit I haven't RTFA on any of them.) My google-fu is weak and I don't know where my dead tree versions of Wired are right now.

  2. Re:Paying for a fix that should have in place? on Hotel Keycard Lock Hack Gets Real In Texas · · Score: 2

    I would argue that the muffler is not as important, more akin to the management of cards or the 'wow factor.' A car's main function is transportation, so if it fails that it almost can't impress anyone. So a lock can have several ancillary features but if it is easily defeated, it gets a fail in my book.

    And I am not sure how you would measure a lock to get the 99.99% and if that number is even possible for a lock(Google 'myth 5 9s')

    And I am happy with my hippie GNU friends...and I let MUNI drive me around, so I'm probably not impressing anyone who would be impressed by a car. I would love to drive a Tesla for a couple of days though.

  3. Re:Paying for a fix that should have in place? on Hotel Keycard Lock Hack Gets Real In Texas · · Score: 1

    I don't think your car analogy is accurate. In this case I bought the BMW(and really a 325 impresses my friends? I need better friends!) to impress my friends, not to protect the platinum in my muffler. If someone steals my muffler, my friends should still be impressed by my status symbol, so long as it isn't running. (Unless my friends are Joe Dirt, and then that loud roar is badass, yeeehaawww!)

    A lock on the other hand, was purchased for the sole purpose of denying entry to unauthorized people. It failed to do so.

    So I guess a better car analogy would be I bought a BMW 750i to impress my friends, but since they are all hippie GNU users who shun material things, it failed to do so. I would have been better off buying a Tesla Motors car to appeal to their green side.

    Oh wait, the car didn't fail, my friends failed to appreciate the Ultimate Driving Machine. Sorry, my car-analogy-fu is weak today.

  4. Fox reports on itself? on Fox News Parent NewsCorp May Face Corruption Investigation · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yeah, what he said....I don't watch Fox News, but it seems if they are as crooked as it has been reported, will they even report on this? And if they do, I wonder how they will spin it..."Liberal lefty media trying to discredit Fox again!"

  5. Phallic similarity? on Supermassive Black Holes Not So Big After All · · Score: 1

    I am sure there is a great joke here, but I am not witty enough to put it in words

    -1 Offtopic, I know.

  6. Re:We don't use sudo? on Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin · · Score: 1

    Agreed.

  7. Re:We don't use sudo? on Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin · · Score: 1

    Wow, did I touch a nerve there? I didn't run X on servers, and the only time the root password is typed is if you are at the console. Just because we didn't use sudo doesn't mean we didn't have our own system for access control and auditing.

    And I have to agree with visualight, if you are spending 99% of your time as a regular user, then you are not a Unix admin, but more likely an app support/dev person who is in /etc/sudoers.

    Either way, I thought the article was funny and was just having some fun with it.

  8. Re:We don't use sudo? on Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin · · Score: 1

    I think what I didn't make clear is the fact that we had separate groups that ran the non-root services. With hundreds of systems and a small group of us that had root access(restricted by IP and ssh key-based auth, heavily monitored and any exception was emailed from central syslog, among other things) if we were logging into a server, it was to do something that needed root access. We weren't logging in to troubleshoot apache as root. Well, sometimes, but we had everything scripted so we wouldn't start things up with the wrong UID.

    We didn't even have sudo installed on the really old systems and any su would trigger alerts.

    I guess my original point was, as root I was aware of the loaded gun I was carrying, but that was my job. It seems that many of the admins in this thread may be of the small shop variety that are wearing more than just the # hat. That is fine too, and if you do have to wear different hats, then sudo is probably a great thing.

    And really, lighten up kids, you too will be old and bearded someday and will get a kick out of arguing the merits of old school vs. new school. Hell, when I started security was an after thought and if you wanted to harden a system, you were considered a security nazi.

  9. Re:We don't use sudo? on Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin · · Score: 1

    When you have hundreds of systems, you don't build any software on anything close to production anyway. But I agree with the point.

  10. Re:We don't use sudo? on Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin · · Score: 1

    I didn't say that. There is more than one way to skin a cat. Everything that was ever done as root on the systems in question were logged. And I am not sure what you mean by separation of duties, but app support, dbas and root tasks are all performed by their own accounts and staff. If I needed to help a dba, I would sit with them and use their login.

  11. Re:We don't use sudo? on Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin · · Score: 1

    Ok, you win. I am inexperienced and have never had to clean up after other root users.

  12. Re:We don't use sudo? on Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Yes. If it doesn't need to be run as root, then it is not my job. You need to grep a video directory for every instance of 'justin bieber"? Go ask someone who has nothing better to do and is thrilled to wield the power of grep. I will be busy mocking Winders admins and tossing them quarters.

  13. Re:We don't use sudo? on Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Really? When your job is entirely about being root, sudo is just getting in the way. I happen to have run systems in a serious environment, and we never used sudo. I would say if you have something to do that ISN'T root, you sir are teh nub.

  14. Re:The Problem With Veteran Unix Admins on Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin · · Score: 0

    I got a FP on Xmas for a robot article...was pretty jazzed about it too. So take that whippersnapper!

  15. I for one... on What Robots Do For Christmas · · Score: 2

    Say Merry Xmas to our new robotic overlords

  16. Re:Why stop at shipping? on Foodtubes Proposes Underground, Physical Internet · · Score: 1

    Every time I fly, I envision a 'freight class' where a passenger is neatly tucked into a rigid container(a coffin comes to mind) that has a self-contained oxygen system and is monitored for failure. These containers are then stacked and secured in the plane and delivered to the final destination. You can cram more people into a plane, thereby reducing costs and increasing efficiency (in theory) of the entire system. For the flyer, I imagine a lounge where you are drugged and slipped into the container, and then gently come to in a lounge at your destination. I am sure this sounds too impersonal for many, but I would sign up for it in a heartbeat...no foul odors, no pushing and shoving, no crying babies, etc. Add this system and you could extend the travel efficiency beyond just the airports.

  17. Is Prince channeling Beavis and Butthead? on Prince Says Internet Is Over · · Score: 1

    Butt-head: Uhhhh... I'm, like, angry at numbers.
    Beavis: Yeah, there's like, too many of them and stuff.

    Either way I am glad that stupid fad is over. Can't wait to start going to the library and taking hours to do what can be done in milliseconds now.

  18. Re:One Thing I Miss on Modern Tech Versus the Past · · Score: 1

    You searched somewhere other than Google?

  19. Re:misleading title on Who Are My Neighbors, Mr.Search Engine? · · Score: 1

    yea, citysearch.com has been doing this since I think 1996. Crawling the web and indexing those results is a LOT easier than doing local search...a lot of local businesses don't even have a website...how do you crawl that?

    Disclaimer: I work for citysearch

  20. Re:Gentoo Doesn't have it yet... Damn on XFce Desktop 4 Released · · Score: 1

    How well does xfce work with gentoo and xinerama? I have 4 video cards/monitors and plan to add 3 more/each. I had some trouble getting deadrat..er redhat to play nice with gtk2+ and glib2, any advice?

  21. Re:The pain of Solaris on Economist article on Sun's Linux Strategy · · Score: 1

    www.sunfreeware.com has prebuilt packages to get you going quickly. Since you are obviously new to Solaris, stay away from rpm and learn Solaris pkg first.

  22. Re:Lost? Lost? on The Roots Of BSD · · Score: 1

    rm -fr /*

  23. Re:FUD from Forbes on Updates On The Caldera IPO · · Score: 1

    I think that is his point. The guy in the article leads you to believe the "only" reason to use Linux is cost. While the cost can be a factor, the previous poster was alluding to the fact that you should use Linux because you aren't married to Microsoft,Sun,etc. Not to mention you should use it for the stability.

    Or I could be completely wrong...time to get some coffee.

  24. Here...Hear...? on SAS Institute Announces Linux Port Of SAS Software · · Score: 0

    Whatever! Typo.

  25. refreshing... on SAS Institute Announces Linux Port Of SAS Software · · Score: 1

    to here a company say..."well, we might as well jump on the bandwagon."

    Sorry, I was born cynical.