Reminds me of taking sailing lessons on Lake Superior off Bayfield. One of my fellow students asked the instructor: "What is that big island over here?" Dead-pan answer: "Wisconson."
... that people will pay money to have the lens cap on over certain areas. Some satellite imagers do that... "we publish the pictures unless you pay us not to..."
Only too true. Unless those cameras installed themselves, maintain themselves, and write their own software, a moderate of army of techies with zero for ethics has prostituted their talents to install such a system.
Perhaps some are reading this post now. I ask: Why do you do it? I fail to see how any professional engineer could consider deployment of such wide-scale serveilence as an ethical and appropriate use of government power, outside of the four walls of a prison.
I'm only mildly surprised that the government of a western democracy would propose such a system -- but I'm shocked that the people of any western democracy would allow it -- TFA says the camera:person ratio has reached 1:16 -- why are people putting up with this? It's time to storm parliment with flaming pitchforks. The U.K. has become an out-of-control police state -- and it is the *left* that is pushing for more cameras....
it's unix. except that cron isn't useful on a system that sleeps, and launchd is badly broken in several painful ways. anacron is supposed to be good, but i haven't looked into it.
I use Slack because it doesn't surprise me. It doesn't try to "help" me in mysterious ways that sometimes break in extremely mysterious ways. It is sometimes called the most "unix-y" of Linux's. The amount of package management done by Slack is just enough. Go look in/var/log/packages if you have a question about what is on your system or what you need.
In short, Slack is simple and straightforward. It gets out of your way.
People think of Intel as some big, monolithic, organization, when it is far from that. Decisions are pushed down to a fairly low level. Ranting at "Intel" because of some perceived "policy" like this only points out that the ranter has done less than zero to understand how Intel is organized. Lobbying at "the company" will do no good. These decisions are ratified by dozens of general managers around the world, separately, without consulting each other or some non-existant corporate policy. That is, if it rises to the GM's attention.
Got a beef about a particular part? Identify the unit that makes that part. Identify the people that advise the GM of that unit. Lobby them.
Saying "Intel doesn't support open source" is like saying that "the person who makes global policy decisions for all distribtutions of Linux world-wide clubs baby seals".
In fact, Intel has released a lot of various stuff under BSD, and contributes to FOSS software under various licenses all the time. But, every project decides what is in their own best interest. Sometimes, they even get it right.
I still think of the C64 as the new-fangled computer that came out after I already *had* 2 personal computers. C64 was clearly 3rd generation coolness when it came out. I mean after all, it came with 64K of memory *already* *installed*, and you didn't even have to build your own case.
If you really want to confangle the Aussie coppers, run your crime empire with an MITS S100 system and an ASR33.
Any system that requires handling media is no good for home. At home, there is too much other life to live to spend it doing backups. That's why at work they have to pay people to schlepp around locked boxes of tapes going off-site.
The four risks: 1) Ack! My hard drive just seized up! 2) Opps... I wish I hadn't deleted that. 3) Oh oh.... I wish I hadn't deleted that 3 days ago... 4) AAAAIIEEEE! My house just burned down and took 5 years of tax data and all my photos with it!
My system:
1) Home fileserver, Linux of course, sits in the corner and holds files. It uses software raid (simple mirroring), because at home it is not being hit very hard and performance is not an issue. It has an el-cheapo CPU. It uses cheapo ATA drives, because wifey will never miss the file server for 4 hours if I have to swap out a drive -- hot swap is for workgroups with 24x7 requirements.
2) My workstation (Linux/Win dual boot), and my wife's (OS X), do a daily rsync to the fileserver. My wife can't be bothered to learn about fileshare directories and so forth, and there is no reason to tell her. She just uses her Mac like an independant Mac, and once a day a scheduled job does rsync. I do the same with a cron job on my Linux box, which runs linux 99% of the time, and the linux partition has read access to the NTFS partition, so it can back up the Windows side well enough for my purposes. So, risks #1 and #2 are handled. For risk #3, the backup script rsyncs to one directory 6 days per week, and another 1 day per week. The weekly keeps a second back-rev of every file (it's an rsync option). So, risk #3 is covered.
3) Risk #4 requires off-site backup. A pair of USB drive enclosures solved that. The file server has a cron job that backs up the raid partition by mount/rsync/umount to the USB drive. Every once in a while, the USB drive at home gets swapped with the USB drive in the bank box. That is the only time I handle media.
In the early 80's I was a CPU designer at a large mainframe company that was going through waves of RIF's. All layoff's always happened on Friday, and the sysadmins were always given a list of userid's to disable before hand. So, it became a regular Friday morning ritual for everyone to get a cup of joe, joke about whether their login would work, and see if they could get on the system. An officemate typed his password incorrectly one Friday and nearly crapped. Most victims had their desk half cleaned out before their manager found them.
Logo. Good, old fashioned Logo was designed to teach programming to elementary age kids. We home school, so I work with Logo with my 7yo daughter. She loves it. And logo is built on a lisp engine, so there is significant power underneath. We use Terrapin Logo, FWIW, and like it. There are other choices. Terrapin has an interface to the Lego RIS robotics system, and also the FischerTechnic stuff, if you get that far. Also Terrapin has some useful lesson and teacher guide books to give you some hints on how to go about teaching with Logo. All emaphisize learning by experimentation.
Side note: my daughter is a "kinesthetic learner", specifically, large motor kinesthetic. To plan out her turtle code, she will march around the room "being the turtle" and then go try it on the computer. I think that is a great way to learn about modelling execution in your head instead of the code-like-mad-and-crash development model. Brings a new meaning to the phrase "code walk through".
Damn straight. I don't frequent E-Bay anymore. Too hard to find what I want. Way too much fraud. The feedback system is a joke.
E-Bay has had this crazy idea that their customer is the seller. Well, their direct customer is the seller, but the seller's customer is the buyer, so E-Bay needs to start focusing on making buyers happy. If the buyer is not happy, the buyer will not come back. The whole system then colapses in a smoldering heap.
E-Bay keeps trying to police the buyers, and gives the sellers a free pass when ever they can. Thus, they have created the first planet-wide den of theives.
It's pretty damn simple. Follow the money. The buyers are the only ones feeding money into the system. How can E-Bay be so blind to that?
My formula for turning E-Bay around: 1. Stop treating buyers like thieves, treat them like valued customers. 2. Stop treating sellers like customers, treat them like sub-contract employees.
That resonates with my personal experience from the other side. My search results are usually much more on target than the ads presented alongside the search. I've said for a long time that Google is its own worst enemy -- the search is so good that the ad targetting can never be as good.
Getting laughed at by underlings will cause nearly any office procedure to get revoked if the executive is high enough.
No, that is a sign of a company culture with far worse problems. If that is so where you work, put out your resume.
I worked at Intel for over a decade. "Employee only" technical and marketing data is published in serial numbered documents with a distinctive cover color. Every few months, the night shift guards walk the building confiscating secret documents that have not been locked away for the night. Document control matches up the serial numbers to names, a list gets generated, and the manager of those caught out gets an e-mail.
So, one day the V.P. of our division had a document picked up, and his name was put on a list that was sent to Andy Grove. We all got a good laugh out of that, including the V.P., who took the ribbing quite good naturedly. It's possible to take your work seriously without taking yourself overly seriously.
He is trying to find controversy in nothingness. Magazine sales and web advert click-through must be down.
In this house we have Linux, OS X, and XP systems. Frankly, I like OS X the best, but that system belongs to my wife. (I run Linux, mostly.) The only down side is that one obscure ap that she likes is only available on Windows. So, bootcamp would be great for that ap. I see bootcamp as a great tool for those that have already decided that OS X would be better for them, but can't switch yet because of some unavailable ap.
This reminds me of the vulnerability in the operating system that shipped with the Univac 1100/10. The checkpoint/restart facility allowed you to write a checkpoint image to tape. Part of the checkpoint image was the system status register.
The crack: 1. Checkpoint your job to tape. 2. remount tape. 3. fiddle the executive-mode bit in the dumped status register. 4. remount tape. 5. restart job -- mainframe p0wn3d.
Of course, in those days, a student that could do that was quickly hired into the system programming staff so that they could keep a closer eye on him and also get some productive work from him.
Ohh... BTW... if you can find an 1100/10 these days, it won't work any more. They fixed that about the same time they quit making CPU's out of vacuum tubes.
I wish Intel would create new bugs, instead of just repeating old ones. Copycats.
Just think, the script kiddies that pulled this off are now drawing Social Security.
Oh, I really do remember those babies, too. There were a few PET's in the microcomputer lab when I was an undergrad. Along with various other microcomputer development boards and such. One sadistic prof assigned 3 of us to try to network the PET's using the IEEE-488 connector. Never did work
My PC at the time was a SWTP 6800 system. One of my lab partners had a Cromemco, I think. We both ended up getting Apple II's when they first hit town. We both popped for the 16K version instead of the 4K version. Those were really exciting days to be playing with microcompters.
"For those thinking their "pet" computer is invulnerable to the virus threat -- it's not," SANS said.
Woah, not my Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor)? Nooooo..... I *love* that chicklet keyboard. And the awesome monochrome graphics. They have the playing card suits built in as *characters*, mind you. You can 1000 PRINT them in the built in BASIC!
Let me tell you, though, it was a bitch getting an entire TCP/IP stack working in the 4K of RAM and still have room for a web browser. And don't even get me started on how hard it was to get 100BaseT working over the exapasion port.
Slashdot Mirror
He only charges a fee to read the list. He's missing half the market.
He should also charge to *not* publish a name on the list. *sheesh* some people just don't know how to write a business plan.
The North coast. You've got a North Shore, eh?
Reminds me of taking sailing lessons on Lake Superior off Bayfield. One of my fellow students asked the instructor: "What is that big island over here?" Dead-pan answer: "Wisconson."
... that people will pay money to have the lens cap on over certain areas. Some satellite imagers do that... "we publish the pictures unless you pay us not to..."
Blair is Labour Party, correct? I got the idea from reading his quote in the article.
Only too true. Unless those cameras installed themselves, maintain themselves, and write their own software, a moderate of army of techies with zero for ethics has prostituted their talents to install such a system.
Perhaps some are reading this post now. I ask: Why do you do it? I fail to see how any professional engineer could consider deployment of such wide-scale serveilence as an ethical and appropriate use of government power, outside of the four walls of a prison.
I'm only mildly surprised that the government of a western democracy would propose such a system -- but I'm shocked that the people of any western democracy would allow it -- TFA says the camera:person ratio has reached 1:16 -- why are people putting up with this? It's time to storm parliment with flaming pitchforks. The U.K. has become an out-of-control police state -- and it is the *left* that is pushing for more cameras....
People of England, you have sold your souls.
it's unix. except that cron isn't useful on a system that sleeps, and launchd is badly broken in several painful ways. anacron is supposed to be good, but i haven't looked into it.
I use Slack because it doesn't surprise me. It doesn't try to "help" me in mysterious ways that sometimes break in extremely mysterious ways. It is sometimes called the most "unix-y" of Linux's. The amount of package management done by Slack is just enough. Go look in /var/log/packages if you have a question about what is on your system or what you need.
In short, Slack is simple and straightforward. It gets out of your way.
People think of Intel as some big, monolithic, organization, when it is far from that. Decisions are pushed down to a fairly low level. Ranting at "Intel" because of some perceived "policy" like this only points out that the ranter has done less than zero to understand how Intel is organized. Lobbying at "the company" will do no good. These decisions are ratified by dozens of general managers around the world, separately, without consulting each other or some non-existant corporate policy. That is, if it rises to the GM's attention.
Got a beef about a particular part? Identify the unit that makes that part. Identify the people that advise the GM of that unit. Lobby them.
Saying "Intel doesn't support open source" is like saying that "the person who makes global policy decisions for all distribtutions of Linux world-wide clubs baby seals".
In fact, Intel has released a lot of various stuff under BSD, and contributes to FOSS software under various licenses all the time. But, every project decides what is in their own best interest. Sometimes, they even get it right.
Not much of a student of history, I see.
if Clippy dangles his participle in front of me, I'm cutting it off!
I still think of the C64 as the new-fangled computer that came out after I already *had* 2 personal computers. C64 was clearly 3rd generation coolness when it came out. I mean after all, it came with 64K of memory *already* *installed*, and you didn't even have to build your own case.
If you really want to confangle the Aussie coppers, run your crime empire with an MITS S100 system and an ASR33.
Any system that requires handling media is no good for home. At home, there is too much other life to live to spend it doing backups. That's why at work they have to pay people to schlepp around locked boxes of tapes going off-site.
The four risks:
1) Ack! My hard drive just seized up!
2) Opps... I wish I hadn't deleted that.
3) Oh oh.... I wish I hadn't deleted that 3 days ago...
4) AAAAIIEEEE! My house just burned down and took 5 years of tax data and all my photos with it!
My system:
1) Home fileserver, Linux of course, sits in the corner and holds files. It uses software raid (simple mirroring), because at home it is not being hit very hard and performance is not an issue. It has an el-cheapo CPU. It uses cheapo ATA drives, because wifey will never miss the file server for 4 hours if I have to swap out a drive -- hot swap is for workgroups with 24x7 requirements.
2) My workstation (Linux/Win dual boot), and my wife's (OS X), do a daily rsync to the fileserver. My wife can't be bothered to learn about fileshare directories and so forth, and there is no reason to tell her. She just uses her Mac like an independant Mac, and once a day a scheduled job does rsync. I do the same with a cron job on my Linux box, which runs linux 99% of the time, and the linux partition has read access to the NTFS partition, so it can back up the Windows side well enough for my purposes. So, risks #1 and #2 are handled. For risk #3, the backup script rsyncs to one directory 6 days per week, and another 1 day per week. The weekly keeps a second back-rev of every file (it's an rsync option). So, risk #3 is covered.
3) Risk #4 requires off-site backup. A pair of USB drive enclosures solved that. The file server has a cron job that backs up the raid partition by mount/rsync/umount to the USB drive. Every once in a while, the USB drive at home gets swapped with the USB drive in the bank box. That is the only time I handle media.
In the early 80's I was a CPU designer at a large mainframe company that was going through waves of RIF's. All layoff's always happened on Friday, and the sysadmins were always given a list of userid's to disable before hand. So, it became a regular Friday morning ritual for everyone to get a cup of joe, joke about whether their login would work, and see if they could get on the system. An officemate typed his password incorrectly one Friday and nearly crapped. Most victims had their desk half cleaned out before their manager found them.
Heck, at least these people got an e-mail.
Logo. Good, old fashioned Logo was designed to teach programming to elementary age kids. We home school, so I work with Logo with my 7yo daughter. She loves it. And logo is built on a lisp engine, so there is significant power underneath. We use Terrapin Logo, FWIW, and like it. There are other choices. Terrapin has an interface to the Lego RIS robotics system, and also the FischerTechnic stuff, if you get that far. Also Terrapin has some useful lesson and teacher guide books to give you some hints on how to go about teaching with Logo. All emaphisize learning by experimentation.
Side note: my daughter is a "kinesthetic learner", specifically, large motor kinesthetic. To plan out her turtle code, she will march around the room "being the turtle" and then go try it on the computer. I think that is a great way to learn about modelling execution in your head instead of the code-like-mad-and-crash development model. Brings a new meaning to the phrase "code walk through".
Damn straight. I don't frequent E-Bay anymore. Too hard to find what I want. Way too much fraud. The feedback system is a joke.
E-Bay has had this crazy idea that their customer is the seller. Well, their direct customer is the seller, but the seller's customer is the buyer, so E-Bay needs to start focusing on making buyers happy. If the buyer is not happy, the buyer will not come back. The whole system then colapses in a smoldering heap.
E-Bay keeps trying to police the buyers, and gives the sellers a free pass when ever they can. Thus, they have created the first planet-wide den of theives.
It's pretty damn simple. Follow the money. The buyers are the only ones feeding money into the system. How can E-Bay be so blind to that?
My formula for turning E-Bay around:
1. Stop treating buyers like thieves, treat them like valued customers.
2. Stop treating sellers like customers, treat them like sub-contract employees.
That resonates with my personal experience from the other side. My search results are usually much more on target than the ads presented alongside the search. I've said for a long time that Google is its own worst enemy -- the search is so good that the ad targetting can never be as good.
I say we put these guys in charge. They know how to do a code review.
My neighbor's 6 year old kid was on the watch list a couple of years ago. Took months of paperwork to get him off the list.
No, that is a sign of a company culture with far worse problems. If that is so where you work, put out your resume.
I worked at Intel for over a decade. "Employee only" technical and marketing data is published in serial numbered documents with a distinctive cover color. Every few months, the night shift guards walk the building confiscating secret documents that have not been locked away for the night. Document control matches up the serial numbers to names, a list gets generated, and the manager of those caught out gets an e-mail.
So, one day the V.P. of our division had a document picked up, and his name was put on a list that was sent to Andy Grove. We all got a good laugh out of that, including the V.P., who took the ribbing quite good naturedly. It's possible to take your work seriously without taking yourself overly seriously.
He is trying to find controversy in nothingness. Magazine sales and web advert click-through must be down.
In this house we have Linux, OS X, and XP systems. Frankly, I like OS X the best, but that system belongs to my wife. (I run Linux, mostly.) The only down side is that one obscure ap that she likes is only available on Windows. So, bootcamp would be great for that ap. I see bootcamp as a great tool for those that have already decided that OS X would be better for them, but can't switch yet because of some unavailable ap.
This reminds me of the vulnerability in the operating system that shipped with the Univac 1100/10. The checkpoint/restart facility allowed you to write a checkpoint image to tape. Part of the checkpoint image was the system status register.
The crack:
1. Checkpoint your job to tape.
2. remount tape.
3. fiddle the executive-mode bit in the dumped status register.
4. remount tape.
5. restart job -- mainframe p0wn3d.
Of course, in those days, a student that could do that was quickly hired into the system programming staff so that they could keep a closer eye on him and also get some productive work from him.
Ohh... BTW... if you can find an 1100/10 these days, it won't work any more. They fixed that about the same time they quit making CPU's out of vacuum tubes.
I wish Intel would create new bugs, instead of just repeating old ones. Copycats.
Just think, the script kiddies that pulled this off are now drawing Social Security.
I'm with you on that one. Moderation on Digg is even more immature than moderation on Slashdot, if that is possbible.
Oh, I really do remember those babies, too. There were a few PET's in the microcomputer lab when I was an undergrad. Along with various other microcomputer development boards and such. One sadistic prof assigned 3 of us to try to network the PET's using the IEEE-488 connector. Never did work
My PC at the time was a SWTP 6800 system. One of my lab partners had a Cromemco, I think. We both ended up getting Apple II's when they first hit town. We both popped for the 16K version instead of the 4K version. Those were really exciting days to be playing with microcompters.
Woah, not my Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor)? Nooooo..... I *love* that chicklet keyboard. And the awesome monochrome graphics. They have the playing card suits built in as *characters*, mind you. You can 1000 PRINT them in the built in BASIC!
Let me tell you, though, it was a bitch getting an entire TCP/IP stack working in the 4K of RAM and still have room for a web browser. And don't even get me started on how hard it was to get 100BaseT working over the exapasion port.
Guess it's finally time to retire the old PET.