It's a bit like talking to Yoda isn't it? Lucky for me I lived in Miami for a while so I'm used to detangling this sort of thing. To bad I couldn't manage to pick up any of the non-English langs while I was at it.
If you got into computers or engineering for the money then I'd say you're screwed. Myself I do it because I can't help myself. I've always lived and breathed this stuff and keep throwing out new programs and gadgets regardless to being paid or not.
If you want steady work that pays well I'd suggest getting a degree in a non-computer field with either a minor in computers or just study on your own. Bioinformatics and various other cross-over fields is where you want to be. Really it can be anything. Get a degree in education and specialize in developing software for schools. Get a degree in marine biology and write software for tracking endangered marine species. Those sort of things.
There are lots of IT/programming people that have been pumped out with no real interest in computers. They can do their job but they aren't going to be as happy or as likely to excel as those who have a life long addiction. If you want to sepperate yourself from that group you need to show your ability to understand topics outside of pure computing.
Am I the only person that uses Google and a wireless web device to fake knowledge during conversations? I pick out keywords as people talk and read about it while half listening and then reply as if I actually knew about the subject. Of course I kind of do know about the subject then but it never fails to impress people that you know about everything they are interested in. If you're good they won't even notice you looking stuff up.
I can only imagine more of this as we get more into wearable computers or even wetware.:)
Re:Why not? Lots of people google for employees
on
Googling For Dates?
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· Score: 2
I help employers out by using an imaginary word (I made it up) to post my projects under. That way if an employer wants to know what I've done I can just tell them to go to Google and type in my magic word and see the 915 results that pop up. Of course there is good and bad mixed together in such search results (possibly embarassing things I've posted in mailing lists) but I've found that mixed results is better than no results.
If you banned everything that could be dangerous if stupid people used it you'd have to pass an IQ test to use the toilet. Before you start banning WiFi as a security risk you'd do well to ban all software, all motor vehicles, all toasters, etc.
As someone experienced at demostrating possible hack-entrys for my job I'll tell now if you have a dial-up account your just as easy to spy on or hack as a WiFi system. Or if you run Windows anywhere on your network I can use that one weak spot to own your network. Are we going to ban dial-up and Microsoft now also?
Wired access is no better protected than wireless. It isn't usually protected by any serious data encryption (or any at all) and most places the lines are easy to access. This can range anywhere from businesses with lan ports outside their building to walking into the building with some cable in your hand and just asking a secretary which computer has been giving them problems. For dial-up phone lines can be accessed from outside the building with no special tools required. I can tap your phone lines and record your voice and data calls without anyone ever being the wiser. It only takes about 30 seconds to set up such a tap.
Probably opensource bugs don't often make the frontpage because any good Linux admin already knew about this, has downloaded the patched source code, and already fixed it. Lucky for us our software providers send us email to tell us there are problems and include instant updates to fix them.;)
Besides by the time you could even touch MySQL through my firewall you'd more likely have moved on to easier prey. IE is usually used by sheep that don't know when security problems exist, don't know how to fix them, and are usually not told by their software provider or given a way to make that fix until way to late.
Even if you did get inside my database you couldn't get into the rest of my OS because I am not stupid enough to run MySQL as root. With Windows/IE a minor bug can trash the entire system. Users are also less likely to make frequent backups.
However... I would not mind all major security problems such as this making the frontpage. To alert people that don't follow their email warnings close enough.:)
I like that except I'd make the first year free. Everyone deserves to copyright their work for at least that long, even if they can't spare the dollar to pay for it. Then the second year would be $2 and double every year after that.
I would make some sort of copyleft exception. Anywork copylefted would be protected by the copyleft license forever. As a copyleft license benefits the public and not the originating author anyway there is no reason for it to expire or to charge a monopoly tax.
Forcing companies to have to renew copyrights every 5-10 years would help but you'd need some major incentives to keep them from just putting everything they roughly own on a list they automaticlly keep renewing. Possibly after the first 10 years the rate starts climbing exponetially. I still think there should be a reasonable limit. Possibly limit it to 15 years unless they release it under an opensource style license. ie a license that makes it available for free but forces those who modify it to release their works under the same license.
I also think obfustication should make it impossible to get a copyright. If the work is made such that it blocks copying of that work such that it'll be hard for people to use/copy/modify when the copyright has expired then they should not be granted a copyright.
Disk format is never really an issue. There is always someone out there that can figure out how to read the disc and rip the data from those discs. Once ripped the data can be used by anyone.
I've heard some people working on making XBox games work under Wine/Linux. As the XBox has a much smaller/stable subset of Windows OS this might be fairly easy to accomplish. I see some work being done on emulation under Windows also. Given the average time it takes to develop a good emulator it's really not taking that long to develop one for the Xbox.
I don't really see the point of emulating the XBox and I'd like to see an open sourced console that can run Linux-based games. I've thought of using a hdd-free Mini-ITX system for such a system. It wouldn't push the envelope but it'd be decently powerful while remaining affordable, low power, and cool. Could use USB-based joysticks with it and it supports both vga and tv output and has a built-in ethernet port.
I think because it only works on low level constructs like Asm though it has a syntax similar to C. This reminds me of the Terse programming language really.
Myself I'd like to see them stop trying to make individual chips faster and concentrate on making them cooler and less power hungry.
I'd like to see them such that they could be snapped together like lego bricks to add extra processing power into the system. If they could make them that user-friendly they'd have something they could sell to everyone from cluster builders to toy makers. I think we're moving past the point of a single powerful computer in a house to the time where computers are everywhere and nobodyt hinks about them.
I have a terabyte plus of data at home. My usual backup method is to have a backup server with enough disk space to mirror all my data and using frequent cron jobs to keep the data on the backup server synced with the machines it backs up. Critical files I also back up online and now and then to external media (dvd-r's kept in a safe at a different location). If you have a safe room in your building put your backup server in there. A room safe from theft, fire, flood, and tornado is an ideal location. Offsite secure locations are a must.
Any storage medium will die eventually. Count on it. I'd suggest keeping a live copy of the data that you can verify is correct using checksums on a backup server and making new backups every so often. If you don't recreate known-good copies of the data on a regular basis eventually that data will just degrade.
I'm a developer also and I didn't mean not to criticize. I mean not to bitch. There is a big difference.
It certainly is useful to list the real pros and cons of using a given program. It is not useful to bash the programmers because you think they are not well enough funded.
Requiring a sound card to run an accounting program seems an odd decision to me. My first question is if that is an option that can be disabled when configuring for compilation. I'd assume it would be. That's the way I'd do it at least if I was the developer.
Besides donating money to projects that you use, which is very useful, I'd suggest getting a LinuxFund credit card as that allows you to donate to projects without having to make any significant effort. It may not be practical to donate to every project you use but it certainly wouldn't hurt to donate to one or two. If you don't have the money then donate you skills. If your a coder donate code, if your an artist donate art, if you can read and write then donate documentation. If nothing else go down and donate your help to your local food kitchen. It doesn't donate directly to opensource but at least your giving something back.
Most of the weenies wanting world domination aren't the ones actually doing the coding. It's mostly some weird geek groupie cult. Paying a real programmer to write software is just as valid a way of donating money as throwing out nickles if you have the number of nickles to afford to custom write software. If you're not giving away non-unique software you've funded then your missing out on the chance to greatly reduce your costs and to get your software tested a lot better than one or two guys in house could do.
I won't deny there is a lot of poorly written opensource software but I'd argue that it's certainly not a higher percentage than that of closed source software. If you get a chance look at the source to any commercial program you want. It's almost all crap.
Most of those "real" Unix's I've seen have been either pretty expensive or pretty sucky and if something goes to hell with them or the company that makes them dies you'll be stuck with no way to fix problems or add new features as you don't have the source code.
A yard or radio waves are different than an object. They are something that is just there. Grabbing them and claiming it doesn't mean you or anyone made them. A car, food, your cat, etc are objects. The first two you can own and as always the cat owns you.
Most people are shortsighted greedy morons who wouldn't know the difference between their arse and their brain. Y'know the people who read tabloid newspapers and think all thats tuff is real. Land is an unlimited resource. At least as far as humans are likely to be concerned. There is more land on this one planet than is actually usable by the number of people the planet can sustain. Then there are lots of other planets we have the power to go to if we wanted to bother. Also we could easily create more 'land' by building large underwater or floating cities. Land is not an object so it is owned by the public.
Just because something belongs to the public doesn't mean you can't use it. It just means you can't deny others the use of it when your not using it. Y'know like a King that would punish peasents for killing a deer in his forest despite the fact he wasn't using the deer or the forest.
You and I are certainly not responsible for what our ancestors did but that doesn't mean we're not responsible for whatever actions we take that support what our ancestors did. Of course we have to have a place to live but you don't hafta put brick walls around your yard and curse the damn kids for their frisbees that float inside the fence.;)
Try not paying your taxes and see how public your land is. Your purchase price is little more than a rent deposit. Of course the only reason you have to pay for land is because people don't realize that if they felt like it they could just take what they needed from all that empty land not being used. A large enough group can take anything. No surprise about that. Forty big bikers with semiautomatic weapons can camp in my living room any damn time they want.:)
What are you not yet using your yard for that it'd be damaged by a child running across your grass?
Sure kids can play in their yard, a public park, etc. It doesn't mean I'm gonna get pissed off if they walk across my yard. I guess it's a reasonable use thing. If they aren't hurting me or damaging anything I'm using then I don't care if they use it.
You must have grown up somewhere nice. Where I grew up everyone played in the street. It was the only space big enough for most games and close enough to home that our parents didn't have to worry about gang fights, drug pushers, etc.
Anyway I think the original point was that it'd be silly to blame someone for not fencing their yard against criminal/terrorist activity. In the same way it's silly to blame someone for not fencing off their wireless network against criminal/terrorist activity. You shouldn't have to fence off either if it pleases you to leave them open.
If you don't like it then write your own. If your just bitching cus they don't have enough money then try coughing up a donation to pay for the work they've done. If you use an opensource program or think you might in the future then get off your arse and send them a payment. Donating $5 per program you'd have to pay for otherwise would be a good start.
If you don't put up a fence, sign, or shout at them out your window then they have the right to play in your yard. As long as they don't hurt anything their fine. If their ball bounces into your yard let them go get it.
Besides it's not YOUR property. It was there long before your birth and it'll be there long after your dead. Just because some folks a long time ago stole the property and sold it to someone that sold it to someone that eventually sold it to you doesn't make it any less stolen. If anyone owns it then (in the US) the native americans own it. For the most part it's just being loaned to you by the public for the time you are using it. If you're not using it then there is no reason someone else can't. So let the damn kids play in your yard. At least it keeps them out of the street.:)
I've lived over a lot of the US. I've yet to find anywhere that people consistantly follow the speed limits. Costal places are nuts, big cities are nuts, the midwest is nuts (ever been in KC at rush hour?), rural roads are nuts. I've not been out west much.. maybe that is where all the people are that follow the speed laws.:)
My vehicle didn't have to meet any standards. It's a total POS. I just took it to a mechanic I knew would pass it as being okay. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
There is a difference between an open network and an insecure network. I might leave all the doors open for people to use my web servers, proxy server, use me as a gateway, etc but I've never been hacked by anyone and doubt I ever will be.
I have every right not to have my network usage tracked and so does everyone else. You can't punish everyone for the.001% of people that are shitheads. It won't protect you (as the shitheads just move on to better toys) and it screws everyone else over.
Windows sucks. I'd never run it inside any trusted part of my network. For me I always distrust any machines running non-free OS's or any machines I haven't configured myself. Hell I even distrust myself (I tweaked my boxes so I can't logon as root when buzzed).
I missed the 'funny' icon but I couldn't help laughing as soon as I read the exploits of poor Hodges. Whomever wrote this should turn it into a weekly cartoon. Some of us that have been zapped, blown up, suffered chemical burns, etc in our path of discovery can't help but feel for this guy.:)
Maybe the schmucks that are running the Internet show should be held responsible if their network is at risk. Open wireless networks are usually decentralized and able to withstand a network attack much more gracefully than a structured network such as a corporate LAN or even the Internet. Once all these local open wireless nets work their way into spanning the world the network will be much more robust against attack. Not that I don't love the Internet but it certainly isn't my fault if people can break it so easily.
That's foolish. May as well say it's your right not to fence your yard but if someone steps inside while peeping into your neighbors window then you should be held responsible. After all what kind of perverts wouldn't fence their yard? You sick person for allowing neighborhood kids to play across your yard.
It's one thing not to waste their own time on a revolutionary new idea. It's another entirely to attack that idea especially without first investigating whatever claims (if any) have been made. Crackpot ideas are less damaging to society than a missed chance.
Crying down people without first investigating what they say is not science. Taking a 'know-it-all' stance and assuming what someone says to be wrong (even based on experience) isn't science either. If something doesn't work you have to offer some proof before slamming it.
If it's my network and my bandwidth I have every right to do with it as I please. If I want to provide an open gateway to the Internet that is my right. The same right any ISP has to not charge for access.
Regulating things because you are afraid boogey men could possibly use them is a fools game. I could kill you with string cheese. That doesn't mean we should require a minimum standard of conduct on using string cheese.
In case you haven't noticed almost nobody actually follows speed limits on highways. It isn't safe following speed limits on highways. If you don't match the speed of traffic your endangering yourself and others. Laws that are largely ignored as the general public doesn't favor them are wasteful and leave loopholes for various assholes to take away more and more freedoms.
Does anyone else find that so called scientists that dismiss something new out of hand aren't really worthy of being called scientists? IMHO a scientist is like Captain Kirk.. always going where no may has gone before. It's one thing not to believe every thing that comes down the pipe but creeps like this guy that hunts down 'voodoo' just piss me off. If there is nothing to someones ideas and claims then eventually it'll be self evident. There is no need to attack new ideas just because they may be wrong. I've always thought learning from mistakes was the best way. If you're not proving something works then at least your shining light on what doesn't.
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It's a bit like talking to Yoda isn't it? Lucky for me I lived in Miami for a while so I'm used to detangling this sort of thing. To bad I couldn't manage to pick up any of the non-English langs while I was at it.
English translation
If you got into computers or engineering for the money then I'd say you're screwed. Myself I do it because I can't help myself. I've always lived and breathed this stuff and keep throwing out new programs and gadgets regardless to being paid or not.
If you want steady work that pays well I'd suggest getting a degree in a non-computer field with either a minor in computers or just study on your own. Bioinformatics and various other cross-over fields is where you want to be. Really it can be anything. Get a degree in education and specialize in developing software for schools. Get a degree in marine biology and write software for tracking endangered marine species. Those sort of things.
There are lots of IT/programming people that have been pumped out with no real interest in computers. They can do their job but they aren't going to be as happy or as likely to excel as those who have a life long addiction. If you want to sepperate yourself from that group you need to show your ability to understand topics outside of pure computing.
Am I the only person that uses Google and a wireless web device to fake knowledge during conversations? I pick out keywords as people talk and read about it while half listening and then reply as if I actually knew about the subject. Of course I kind of do know about the subject then but it never fails to impress people that you know about everything they are interested in. If you're good they won't even notice you looking stuff up.
:)
I can only imagine more of this as we get more into wearable computers or even wetware.
I help employers out by using an imaginary word (I made it up) to post my projects under. That way if an employer wants to know what I've done I can just tell them to go to Google and type in my magic word and see the 915 results that pop up. Of course there is good and bad mixed together in such search results (possibly embarassing things I've posted in mailing lists) but I've found that mixed results is better than no results.
If you banned everything that could be dangerous if stupid people used it you'd have to pass an IQ test to use the toilet. Before you start banning WiFi as a security risk you'd do well to ban all software, all motor vehicles, all toasters, etc.
As someone experienced at demostrating possible hack-entrys for my job I'll tell now if you have a dial-up account your just as easy to spy on or hack as a WiFi system. Or if you run Windows anywhere on your network I can use that one weak spot to own your network. Are we going to ban dial-up and Microsoft now also?
Wired access is no better protected than wireless. It isn't usually protected by any serious data encryption (or any at all) and most places the lines are easy to access. This can range anywhere from businesses with lan ports outside their building to walking into the building with some cable in your hand and just asking a secretary which computer has been giving them problems. For dial-up phone lines can be accessed from outside the building with no special tools required. I can tap your phone lines and record your voice and data calls without anyone ever being the wiser. It only takes about 30 seconds to set up such a tap.
Probably opensource bugs don't often make the frontpage because any good Linux admin already knew about this, has downloaded the patched source code, and already fixed it. Lucky for us our software providers send us email to tell us there are problems and include instant updates to fix them. ;)
:)
Besides by the time you could even touch MySQL through my firewall you'd more likely have moved on to easier prey. IE is usually used by sheep that don't know when security problems exist, don't know how to fix them, and are usually not told by their software provider or given a way to make that fix until way to late.
Even if you did get inside my database you couldn't get into the rest of my OS because I am not stupid enough to run MySQL as root. With Windows/IE a minor bug can trash the entire system. Users are also less likely to make frequent backups.
However... I would not mind all major security problems such as this making the frontpage. To alert people that don't follow their email warnings close enough.
I like that except I'd make the first year free. Everyone deserves to copyright their work for at least that long, even if they can't spare the dollar to pay for it. Then the second year would be $2 and double every year after that.
I would make some sort of copyleft exception. Anywork copylefted would be protected by the copyleft license forever. As a copyleft license benefits the public and not the originating author anyway there is no reason for it to expire or to charge a monopoly tax.
Forcing companies to have to renew copyrights every 5-10 years would help but you'd need some major incentives to keep them from just putting everything they roughly own on a list they automaticlly keep renewing. Possibly after the first 10 years the rate starts climbing exponetially. I still think there should be a reasonable limit. Possibly limit it to 15 years unless they release it under an opensource style license. ie a license that makes it available for free but forces those who modify it to release their works under the same license.
I also think obfustication should make it impossible to get a copyright. If the work is made such that it blocks copying of that work such that it'll be hard for people to use/copy/modify when the copyright has expired then they should not be granted a copyright.
Disk format is never really an issue. There is always someone out there that can figure out how to read the disc and rip the data from those discs. Once ripped the data can be used by anyone.
I've heard some people working on making XBox games work under Wine/Linux. As the XBox has a much smaller/stable subset of Windows OS this might be fairly easy to accomplish. I see some work being done on emulation under Windows also. Given the average time it takes to develop a good emulator it's really not taking that long to develop one for the Xbox.
I don't really see the point of emulating the XBox and I'd like to see an open sourced console that can run Linux-based games. I've thought of using a hdd-free Mini-ITX system for such a system. It wouldn't push the envelope but it'd be decently powerful while remaining affordable, low power, and cool. Could use USB-based joysticks with it and it supports both vga and tv output and has a built-in ethernet port.
I think because it only works on low level constructs like Asm though it has a syntax similar to C. This reminds me of the Terse programming language really.
Myself I'd like to see them stop trying to make individual chips faster and concentrate on making them cooler and less power hungry.
I'd like to see them such that they could be snapped together like lego bricks to add extra processing power into the system. If they could make them that user-friendly they'd have something they could sell to everyone from cluster builders to toy makers. I think we're moving past the point of a single powerful computer in a house to the time where computers are everywhere and nobodyt hinks about them.
I have a terabyte plus of data at home. My usual backup method is to have a backup server with enough disk space to mirror all my data and using frequent cron jobs to keep the data on the backup server synced with the machines it backs up. Critical files I also back up online and now and then to external media (dvd-r's kept in a safe at a different location). If you have a safe room in your building put your backup server in there. A room safe from theft, fire, flood, and tornado is an ideal location. Offsite secure locations are a must.
Any storage medium will die eventually. Count on it. I'd suggest keeping a live copy of the data that you can verify is correct using checksums on a backup server and making new backups every so often. If you don't recreate known-good copies of the data on a regular basis eventually that data will just degrade.
I'm a developer also and I didn't mean not to criticize. I mean not to bitch. There is a big difference.
It certainly is useful to list the real pros and cons of using a given program. It is not useful to bash the programmers because you think they are not well enough funded.
Requiring a sound card to run an accounting program seems an odd decision to me. My first question is if that is an option that can be disabled when configuring for compilation. I'd assume it would be. That's the way I'd do it at least if I was the developer.
Besides donating money to projects that you use, which is very useful, I'd suggest getting a LinuxFund credit card as that allows you to donate to projects without having to make any significant effort. It may not be practical to donate to every project you use but it certainly wouldn't hurt to donate to one or two. If you don't have the money then donate you skills. If your a coder donate code, if your an artist donate art, if you can read and write then donate documentation. If nothing else go down and donate your help to your local food kitchen. It doesn't donate directly to opensource but at least your giving something back.
Most of the weenies wanting world domination aren't the ones actually doing the coding. It's mostly some weird geek groupie cult. Paying a real programmer to write software is just as valid a way of donating money as throwing out nickles if you have the number of nickles to afford to custom write software. If you're not giving away non-unique software you've funded then your missing out on the chance to greatly reduce your costs and to get your software tested a lot better than one or two guys in house could do.
I won't deny there is a lot of poorly written opensource software but I'd argue that it's certainly not a higher percentage than that of closed source software. If you get a chance look at the source to any commercial program you want. It's almost all crap.
Most of those "real" Unix's I've seen have been either pretty expensive or pretty sucky and if something goes to hell with them or the company that makes them dies you'll be stuck with no way to fix problems or add new features as you don't have the source code.
A yard or radio waves are different than an object. They are something that is just there. Grabbing them and claiming it doesn't mean you or anyone made them. A car, food, your cat, etc are objects. The first two you can own and as always the cat owns you.
;)
:)
Most people are shortsighted greedy morons who wouldn't know the difference between their arse and their brain. Y'know the people who read tabloid newspapers and think all thats tuff is real. Land is an unlimited resource. At least as far as humans are likely to be concerned. There is more land on this one planet than is actually usable by the number of people the planet can sustain. Then there are lots of other planets we have the power to go to if we wanted to bother. Also we could easily create more 'land' by building large underwater or floating cities. Land is not an object so it is owned by the public.
Just because something belongs to the public doesn't mean you can't use it. It just means you can't deny others the use of it when your not using it. Y'know like a King that would punish peasents for killing a deer in his forest despite the fact he wasn't using the deer or the forest.
You and I are certainly not responsible for what our ancestors did but that doesn't mean we're not responsible for whatever actions we take that support what our ancestors did. Of course we have to have a place to live but you don't hafta put brick walls around your yard and curse the damn kids for their frisbees that float inside the fence.
Try not paying your taxes and see how public your land is. Your purchase price is little more than a rent deposit. Of course the only reason you have to pay for land is because people don't realize that if they felt like it they could just take what they needed from all that empty land not being used. A large enough group can take anything. No surprise about that. Forty big bikers with semiautomatic weapons can camp in my living room any damn time they want.
What are you not yet using your yard for that it'd be damaged by a child running across your grass?
Sure kids can play in their yard, a public park, etc. It doesn't mean I'm gonna get pissed off if they walk across my yard. I guess it's a reasonable use thing. If they aren't hurting me or damaging anything I'm using then I don't care if they use it.
You must have grown up somewhere nice. Where I grew up everyone played in the street. It was the only space big enough for most games and close enough to home that our parents didn't have to worry about gang fights, drug pushers, etc.
Anyway I think the original point was that it'd be silly to blame someone for not fencing their yard against criminal/terrorist activity. In the same way it's silly to blame someone for not fencing off their wireless network against criminal/terrorist activity. You shouldn't have to fence off either if it pleases you to leave them open.
If you don't like it then write your own. If your just bitching cus they don't have enough money then try coughing up a donation to pay for the work they've done. If you use an opensource program or think you might in the future then get off your arse and send them a payment. Donating $5 per program you'd have to pay for otherwise would be a good start.
If you don't put up a fence, sign, or shout at them out your window then they have the right to play in your yard. As long as they don't hurt anything their fine. If their ball bounces into your yard let them go get it.
:)
Besides it's not YOUR property. It was there long before your birth and it'll be there long after your dead. Just because some folks a long time ago stole the property and sold it to someone that sold it to someone that eventually sold it to you doesn't make it any less stolen. If anyone owns it then (in the US) the native americans own it. For the most part it's just being loaned to you by the public for the time you are using it. If you're not using it then there is no reason someone else can't. So let the damn kids play in your yard. At least it keeps them out of the street.
I've lived over a lot of the US. I've yet to find anywhere that people consistantly follow the speed limits. Costal places are nuts, big cities are nuts, the midwest is nuts (ever been in KC at rush hour?), rural roads are nuts. I've not been out west much.. maybe that is where all the people are that follow the speed laws. :)
.001% of people that are shitheads. It won't protect you (as the shitheads just move on to better toys) and it screws everyone else over.
My vehicle didn't have to meet any standards. It's a total POS. I just took it to a mechanic I knew would pass it as being okay. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
There is a difference between an open network and an insecure network. I might leave all the doors open for people to use my web servers, proxy server, use me as a gateway, etc but I've never been hacked by anyone and doubt I ever will be.
I have every right not to have my network usage tracked and so does everyone else. You can't punish everyone for the
Windows sucks. I'd never run it inside any trusted part of my network. For me I always distrust any machines running non-free OS's or any machines I haven't configured myself. Hell I even distrust myself (I tweaked my boxes so I can't logon as root when buzzed).
I missed the 'funny' icon but I couldn't help laughing as soon as I read the exploits of poor Hodges. Whomever wrote this should turn it into a weekly cartoon. Some of us that have been zapped, blown up, suffered chemical burns, etc in our path of discovery can't help but feel for this guy. :)
Maybe the schmucks that are running the Internet show should be held responsible if their network is at risk. Open wireless networks are usually decentralized and able to withstand a network attack much more gracefully than a structured network such as a corporate LAN or even the Internet. Once all these local open wireless nets work their way into spanning the world the network will be much more robust against attack. Not that I don't love the Internet but it certainly isn't my fault if people can break it so easily.
That's foolish. May as well say it's your right not to fence your yard but if someone steps inside while peeping into your neighbors window then you should be held responsible. After all what kind of perverts wouldn't fence their yard? You sick person for allowing neighborhood kids to play across your yard.
It's one thing not to waste their own time on a revolutionary new idea. It's another entirely to attack that idea especially without first investigating whatever claims (if any) have been made. Crackpot ideas are less damaging to society than a missed chance.
Crying down people without first investigating what they say is not science. Taking a 'know-it-all' stance and assuming what someone says to be wrong (even based on experience) isn't science either. If something doesn't work you have to offer some proof before slamming it.
If it's my network and my bandwidth I have every right to do with it as I please. If I want to provide an open gateway to the Internet that is my right. The same right any ISP has to not charge for access.
Regulating things because you are afraid boogey men could possibly use them is a fools game. I could kill you with string cheese. That doesn't mean we should require a minimum standard of conduct on using string cheese.
In case you haven't noticed almost nobody actually follows speed limits on highways. It isn't safe following speed limits on highways. If you don't match the speed of traffic your endangering yourself and others. Laws that are largely ignored as the general public doesn't favor them are wasteful and leave loopholes for various assholes to take away more and more freedoms.
Does anyone else find that so called scientists that dismiss something new out of hand aren't really worthy of being called scientists? IMHO a scientist is like Captain Kirk.. always going where no may has gone before. It's one thing not to believe every thing that comes down the pipe but creeps like this guy that hunts down 'voodoo' just piss me off. If there is nothing to someones ideas and claims then eventually it'll be self evident. There is no need to attack new ideas just because they may be wrong. I've always thought learning from mistakes was the best way. If you're not proving something works then at least your shining light on what doesn't.