What they care about is, naturally enough, archiving. Which is done with 16mm microfilm and 35mm microfilm (similar to movie film). In fact, the federal government "archive" standard (required for all government records) is MICROFILM. NOTHING ELSE. PERIOD. Meaning, that every county office all over the united states has 2 systems in place. 1) Microfilm station with head camera. Probably looks like an overhead projector setup. Most likely uses 16mm film. Some still use 35mm. And 2), the fully modernized offices have digital system i/o, digital document creation, editing, and storage. Scanners, printers, and lots of computers. But they still print everything and then microfilm it... because they are required to do so by LAW.
So I imagine that's what most of these archivists are worried about. The market for microfilm gear, supplies, and skilled personnel is falling off FAST. 5 years ago, when I was working for a company that provided microfilm services, we were paying $50k for 20 year old kodak film processors THAT DON'T WORK. So we could fix them up and use them... because no one sells that kind of processor anymore. We were also the ONLY purchaser of 35mm nitro film in the state.
See, the US government used to be fairly smart. You modern geeks might look at this microfilm requirement and think it's stupid, or wasteful. The government, unusually, is one step ahead. See, they noticed that 'media' tends to go out of style, and degrade, or become unusable for various reasons. (do you have a disk drive for this 3ft disk that holds something like 128kb? me neither, how about a working floppy drive, 5 1/4?) They also noticed that as time went on more and more stuff was being put into proprietary formats and systems. So what they decided was, because these records were important, and because even if the world ends, we need to be able to read them, they said.. MICROFILM. You can create it with 18th century technology, and you can read it with any light source and any magnifying device (can be made from any water source and a loop). It also lasts longer than you do, assuming it's well handled.
I've cracked open film tins that haven't been opened since 1890. Sometimes the film is perfectly usable. Sometimes it's dust. Sometimes the retards put nitro film in the same cabinet as cellulose film, which causes the cellulose film to get erased by the fumes.
In short, film is and will continue to be the ONLY technology proof way of storing information. That digital media is volatile, degrades badly over time (less than a decade) and requires constant electrical supply as well as constant upgrades of gear (decade or less).
Oh hell no, I don't play EVE anymore. I maintain some accounts, that's about 20 minutes a few times a week. I haven't "played" EVE in 2 years. My point was that I maintain my accounts for "free", in hopes that EVE will get back to a game I actually want to play. So... I am one of those unhappy players, in a sense. But I can't save any more money, and neither can most veterans of the game. They either don't give a crap about the cost (it's low), or they just aren't paying anything to begin with.
If the cops want my stuff, they have a legal right to take it. Or they don't, and they can't have it. So that part is really simple. I never said anything about fighting with the cops. The person with the gun makes the rules. I will protest them unjustly taking my stuff, but I'm not going to get in a physical confrontation with a bunch of armed goons. (or the cops)
However, I was under the impression that this guy was originally hassled by mall security, and that the GP was talking about mall security? So... did I read that wrong, or did you?
Now, back to my point... if you just docilely do whatever you are told by whatever passes for an authority figure, then you aren't really a human being, you are more like cattle. If that is ok with you, it's fine by me. You be cattle. I'll be with the cowboys, we'll do our best to keep you safe and to protect your rights, even if you won't.
Also, I don't want to go all ITG on you or anything, but you need to rework your perception of police officers as being competent in a hand to hand fight. They aren't, as a general rule. At least not in the US. There is no money in the budget for real training, so instead they get a 2 day workshop on how to subdue people. That's fine, if you have a numerical advantage, it won't do you a damn bit of good 1v1 with anyone that knows how to fight. That being said, no one said anything about assaulting the police... except you.
You sir are a coward and a fool. If you submit to whatever the authority figure says, then in most legal senses, you've given consent. You can't go complaining later because you don't like what you agreed to. My camera, on my person is inviolate. Physically assaulting me to take it away will result in A) Hospital time for someone, B) charges for everyone, and C) my lawyer making a fortune, most likely at the expense of either the City, State, Police force, or the mall corporation. That being said, if I'm informed, while on private property, that I'm not supposed to take pictures, I would be more than happy to stop immediately. If I'm asked to leave, that's no problem either. If they ask to touch my stuff, delete images on my storage device or otherwise invade my space, I WILL defend myself, and I WILL stand up for my rights, even if it means getting beaten up. You cannot sacrifice your rights in fear of the consequences of standing for them... or rather, if you can, you shouldn't have been given any in the first place, because you clearly don't understand why those rights exist, how you were granted them, or why they are important.
Hey, don't let my philosophy ruin your day. I'm sure your owners and masters will be more than happy to see that you are a good little cog and you do what you are told, even if what you are told is rubbish. After all, why cause a fuss? You have important things to do, like go home and watch TV.
One of the details of EVE that slashdot users tend to not know.... very few "hardcore" players actually pay a subscription fee. In 2004, I paid my $15. Since 2005, I haven't paid a dime for any of my 3 accounts. I don't even play anymore, but I still have 3 active accounts. Because it's SO STUPIDLY EASY to make enough ISK to pay for the accounts with it. Eve had RMT long before micro transactions showed up. In the form of PLEX. Which, in short, allows me to pay ISK (ingame money) for game time. Usually from another player who has too much cash and not enough time.
2 accounts? AHAHAHAH. Most of the players I know, granted, mostly hardcore, have 3-5 accounts. It is not in any way uncommon for someone to have more than 5. I had 3 "mains" and 6 throwaways over the years. Anyone that is part of a major nullsec alliance generally has at least 2 accounts, and more often, 3. The reason for this is pretty simple economics. In EVE, 2 ships can make a LOT more money than 1 can, and furthermore, you want a main with combat skills, and an Alt with industrial skills, and maybe another Alt with covert skills and maybe another Alt with the ability to fly a freighter... etc etc etc. Furthermore, if you have any idea what you are doing, 3 accounts can make enough ISK in 1 month to pay for all 3 accounts. Depending on how you go about this, you might only need to log in once a month or so, for each account.
So yeah, CCP is in deep shit when it comes to pissing off their player base. They claim subscriber numbers in the 300k range (last I checked), but as a player in since beta, I know for a fact that number is closer to 1/3 of what they claim. They might have 300k accounts, but only 100k players. You start pissing off large groups of those players and EVE will die in a matter of weeks. Interestingly, EVE has a tipping point that most MMO's don't have. That is, signification portions of the game universe are the direct result of player interactions. The ships, weapons, ammo, space stations, and all the "infrastructure" in Nullsec is entirely provided by players. If enough players leave to depopulate major sections of the map, the game world begins to crumble, FAST.
At launch? No, those mechanics did not exist at launch. Unless... do you mean the launch of the vanity items? Because then you'd be correct. However, when EVE launched, blueprints were not yet correctly implemented. Arguably, it took 3 years to get that part right.
Someone else pointed this out, but I think it bears repeating. The vanity items and cloths are NOT designed for EVE. They are assets from WoD or maybe even DUST. CCP decided to do a quick and dirty little trick by introducing them to eve, along with the CQ, which is another asset from WoD.
This is currently done with Zip+4. Which, when run against any number of mapping API's will give you granular addressing good enough for the purposes of conducting a transaction. That's why some online CC processing asks for the +4. (also an option in your granular security settings if you run a processing account)
Although it is worth noting that most online transactions simply fail to define a location more granular than the state (if that) and therefore kind of just forgo the applicable taxes. Which is why we are talking about this in the first place. Amazon knows what is coming... enforcement of taxes for online sales. If we can't get a federal standard in place, which only makes sense because it's interstate trade, then amazon and all other online retailers are going to have a bitch of a time sorting through a few hundred thousand jurisdictions worth of tax code. Right now, online retailers are kinda sliding by with the "...you must pay all applicable taxes, fees, etc due in your jurisdiction/location..." disclaimers. Essentially saying that consumers should (as the law says) take the burden of paying applicable taxes themselves. No one does of course. And full circle, people fail to pay taxes as they are required by their local government, and the local government has figured out that it can go after the online retailers to get that tax collected. Because we make the local brick stores collect it, why not make Amazon collect it? Sure, it makes sense, until you try and implement that on Amazon's end.... god help you.
Are you going to write a compatible module for my estore? Update it as soon as changes happen? Perhaps 5 or 6 times a year. No, of course you aren't. It's much much easier to just SAY it's easy to do. You'll of course find out that it isn't easy to do, and more importantly, if you are capable of doing it, you probably won't for free.
But this gives me an idea, why doesn't the IRS do it? I can't answer that, but wouldn't it be nice if they kept an up to date db with a public facing API for fetching localized taxation? At which point estores would just need the API and the ZIP to get the tax rate for the transaction. That really would be easy.
Also, in which county/state/district is my estore located? I built it from my apartment in the Bay area, it's hosted in Portland, OR. Most of the items ship from nevada. Some items from california. Most of the customers are in the northwest. Simple? You think so... do you want a job, it'll be 'easy'?
Is it? Did you check? It's pretty likely there is more than one antenna, or that as a fall back, the system uses the car's skin as an antenna. It's not like that would even be abnormal in the industry. I don't mean to sound paranoid, because that isn't the reasoning here. Crash / systems redundancy is where I'm coming from. Onstar is worth exactly nothing if it fails because the antenna was destroyed in the crash, and they sure as hell know it.
I'm going to assume this is sarcasm. On the chance that it is not, here is the best reason. Your phone's GPS? It sucks. Really bad. Most of the time you are lucky if it can tell which of two parallel roads you are on. My stand alone unit not only knows which road, but which LANE. Most of the time it can tell you how close you are to the curb. Also, your phone won't survive a 3 day snowmobile trip, my stand alone will and then some. Oh, and the monthly fee is zero.
These devices aren't going to be sold to consumers as if they were in any way different than the GPS unit that doesn't calculate routes based on advertising income. In fact, if we are all very very lucky, Garmin and TomTom won't buy into this, and it'll only be in phones and built in navigation for cars.
Yeah, your phone. Did you think that high end processing device that came to you absolutely LOADED with crap-ware / ad-ware wouldn't JUMP at the chance to implement this sort of thing? Why not? The deal is entirely opaque to the consumer. In the EULA is a tiny section that reads "We might sell your data to other people, especially partners, we might also reroute your trips based on how much our partners (we sold them your info) pay us" You'll never notice, and more importantly neither will anyone else. The rest of the deal happens behind your back between companies, and doesn't take you or your concerns into account at all. If they ever get called on it (hahahahaha), they can say it was to improve service and competition. At which point it all goes under the rug and a retroactive law immunizes the telcos against lawsuits over it. (deja vu?)
Actually, he wrote 'suard'. No one has said anything during this discussion.;)
Re:Without remorse there is no rehabilitation.
on
Kevin Mitnick Answers
·
· Score: 1
You should take note that the definition of criminal doesn't include anything about remorse. Furthermore, if you can't see the evidence that Kevin is a different person, that is your failing, not anyone else's.
I'm not here to defend Kevin, because contrary to your opinion, he doesn't need defending (or persecuting). He isn't now, and I have seen no evidence that he ever was a crook. A hacker, sure, but that is only a crime because of Luddites like you. Gaining information is not a criminal act. Exploiting it is. If you can't fathom the difference, that's ok. We already knew you had a small mind.
I'm not a programmer, but I'm not entirely ignorant either... which leaves me with a question... Assuming that the Kernel was compromised, and the scenario you describe came into being. Isn't it just a matter of examining the Kernel code until you find the naughty bits and expunge them? Or are you basing your nightmare on this infiltration not being detected?
Did you burn these disks yourself? If so, I have news for you about that word "reliable" you keep using. Burned CD/DVD failure rates within 5 years are over 30%.
ARCHIVING 101 is the class paying attention? Good! Let's begin. To store data, for any period of time, be it long or short, here is the formula you must use. KEEP IT SPINNING, IN THREE PLACES. Class dismissed. Meaning, copy your shit to a hard drive or three and keep them live, with regular integrity checks. If one shows sings of wobbling, clone the data and get a fresh drive in place. There is no other reliable backup methodology. ENTROPY DEMANDS IT
Also, in this day and age, this solution is dirt cheap. Aren't we in a thread about $200 machines?
So who should do it? I have a nomination... Anonymous. Who could do it better? Their politics won't get in the way, because their politics are basically, fuck you.
Which itself is a massive fuel and power sink. Do you think those 5 ton trucks run on rainbows and unicorn farts?
I don't know where you live, but up here in the SF bay area, we recycle our yard debris. Lots of it. I also don't know what the conversion rate is for this technology. But then, neither do you. You don't have the foggiest idea the scale possible here. Nor, apparently, the scale of available (or grow-able) cellulose.
Most importantly, you seem to be under the dreadfully foolish impression that we need to replace oil as a fuel source with one single replacement, all at once. That is, forgive me, rubbish! First off, it simply isn't possible. I live in the as built world, and in that world, you can't change anything on that kind of scale. Period. Second, there is not a single good reason to even be considering that as a path in the first place. And lastly, because we don't even have a unified fuel structure TODAY, so while I respect that oil is THE major source, there are a bunch of good alternatives. Oh yeah, and the technology in the fine article? It turns what is currently a waste product into a fuel source. How is that anything but great? Seriously, in what way is that not a good step in the right direction?
I have to respond when I see this topic come up... Install Steam, buy a copy of RAG DOLL KUNG FU, install 4-6 USB pointing devices. Party. Also, another very good one is Cortex Command. Up to 4 players on one machine.
Just because EA hasn't made any party games for HTPC's (as if that were a market segment?), doesn't mean they aren't out there. You need to check out Indie developers, these guys are doing incredible things with games.
Not affiliated in any way with any of these entities, but I do use their products, very happily.
That's odd, because a big chunk of that junk is pre-installed by the OEM. The very same people you want to hand your entire computing environment over to, you know, so they can make sure it doesn't suck. Are you fucking kidding me?
Just like any other environment, the walled garden is susceptible to crapware of varying degrees. Just because you are apparently too enamored with the idea to pay attention to the reality is no reason to throw away a perfectly good and more importantly FREE as in LIBRE environment.
If the problem is retarded users, then fine, FIX THE FUCKING PROBLEM. If your solution is to lock down the platform and then only give users "approved" software... you are a tool.
Maybe the paradigm shift we need is that not every moron needs a computer. You can fetch your email, stupid pictures and your friends status updates via any connected device. Maybe it's far past time to stop pretending that computers are anything other than highly specialized tools... that 75% of the population doesn't have the first clue how to operate.
Slashdot Mirror
What they care about is, naturally enough, archiving. Which is done with 16mm microfilm and 35mm microfilm (similar to movie film). In fact, the federal government "archive" standard (required for all government records) is MICROFILM. NOTHING ELSE. PERIOD. Meaning, that every county office all over the united states has 2 systems in place. 1) Microfilm station with head camera. Probably looks like an overhead projector setup. Most likely uses 16mm film. Some still use 35mm. And 2), the fully modernized offices have digital system i/o, digital document creation, editing, and storage. Scanners, printers, and lots of computers. But they still print everything and then microfilm it... because they are required to do so by LAW.
So I imagine that's what most of these archivists are worried about. The market for microfilm gear, supplies, and skilled personnel is falling off FAST. 5 years ago, when I was working for a company that provided microfilm services, we were paying $50k for 20 year old kodak film processors THAT DON'T WORK. So we could fix them up and use them... because no one sells that kind of processor anymore. We were also the ONLY purchaser of 35mm nitro film in the state.
See, the US government used to be fairly smart. You modern geeks might look at this microfilm requirement and think it's stupid, or wasteful. The government, unusually, is one step ahead. See, they noticed that 'media' tends to go out of style, and degrade, or become unusable for various reasons. (do you have a disk drive for this 3ft disk that holds something like 128kb? me neither, how about a working floppy drive, 5 1/4?) They also noticed that as time went on more and more stuff was being put into proprietary formats and systems. So what they decided was, because these records were important, and because even if the world ends, we need to be able to read them, they said.. MICROFILM. You can create it with 18th century technology, and you can read it with any light source and any magnifying device (can be made from any water source and a loop). It also lasts longer than you do, assuming it's well handled.
I've cracked open film tins that haven't been opened since 1890. Sometimes the film is perfectly usable. Sometimes it's dust. Sometimes the retards put nitro film in the same cabinet as cellulose film, which causes the cellulose film to get erased by the fumes.
In short, film is and will continue to be the ONLY technology proof way of storing information. That digital media is volatile, degrades badly over time (less than a decade) and requires constant electrical supply as well as constant upgrades of gear (decade or less).
Oh hell no, I don't play EVE anymore. I maintain some accounts, that's about 20 minutes a few times a week. I haven't "played" EVE in 2 years. My point was that I maintain my accounts for "free", in hopes that EVE will get back to a game I actually want to play. So... I am one of those unhappy players, in a sense. But I can't save any more money, and neither can most veterans of the game. They either don't give a crap about the cost (it's low), or they just aren't paying anything to begin with.
If the cops want my stuff, they have a legal right to take it. Or they don't, and they can't have it. So that part is really simple. I never said anything about fighting with the cops. The person with the gun makes the rules. I will protest them unjustly taking my stuff, but I'm not going to get in a physical confrontation with a bunch of armed goons. (or the cops)
However, I was under the impression that this guy was originally hassled by mall security, and that the GP was talking about mall security? So... did I read that wrong, or did you?
Now, back to my point... if you just docilely do whatever you are told by whatever passes for an authority figure, then you aren't really a human being, you are more like cattle. If that is ok with you, it's fine by me. You be cattle. I'll be with the cowboys, we'll do our best to keep you safe and to protect your rights, even if you won't.
Also, I don't want to go all ITG on you or anything, but you need to rework your perception of police officers as being competent in a hand to hand fight. They aren't, as a general rule. At least not in the US. There is no money in the budget for real training, so instead they get a 2 day workshop on how to subdue people. That's fine, if you have a numerical advantage, it won't do you a damn bit of good 1v1 with anyone that knows how to fight. That being said, no one said anything about assaulting the police... except you.
You sir are a coward and a fool. If you submit to whatever the authority figure says, then in most legal senses, you've given consent. You can't go complaining later because you don't like what you agreed to. My camera, on my person is inviolate. Physically assaulting me to take it away will result in A) Hospital time for someone, B) charges for everyone, and C) my lawyer making a fortune, most likely at the expense of either the City, State, Police force, or the mall corporation. That being said, if I'm informed, while on private property, that I'm not supposed to take pictures, I would be more than happy to stop immediately. If I'm asked to leave, that's no problem either. If they ask to touch my stuff, delete images on my storage device or otherwise invade my space, I WILL defend myself, and I WILL stand up for my rights, even if it means getting beaten up. You cannot sacrifice your rights in fear of the consequences of standing for them... or rather, if you can, you shouldn't have been given any in the first place, because you clearly don't understand why those rights exist, how you were granted them, or why they are important.
Hey, don't let my philosophy ruin your day. I'm sure your owners and masters will be more than happy to see that you are a good little cog and you do what you are told, even if what you are told is rubbish. After all, why cause a fuss? You have important things to do, like go home and watch TV.
One of the details of EVE that slashdot users tend to not know.... very few "hardcore" players actually pay a subscription fee. In 2004, I paid my $15. Since 2005, I haven't paid a dime for any of my 3 accounts. I don't even play anymore, but I still have 3 active accounts. Because it's SO STUPIDLY EASY to make enough ISK to pay for the accounts with it. Eve had RMT long before micro transactions showed up. In the form of PLEX. Which, in short, allows me to pay ISK (ingame money) for game time. Usually from another player who has too much cash and not enough time.
2 accounts? AHAHAHAH. Most of the players I know, granted, mostly hardcore, have 3-5 accounts. It is not in any way uncommon for someone to have more than 5. I had 3 "mains" and 6 throwaways over the years. Anyone that is part of a major nullsec alliance generally has at least 2 accounts, and more often, 3. The reason for this is pretty simple economics. In EVE, 2 ships can make a LOT more money than 1 can, and furthermore, you want a main with combat skills, and an Alt with industrial skills, and maybe another Alt with covert skills and maybe another Alt with the ability to fly a freighter... etc etc etc. Furthermore, if you have any idea what you are doing, 3 accounts can make enough ISK in 1 month to pay for all 3 accounts. Depending on how you go about this, you might only need to log in once a month or so, for each account.
So yeah, CCP is in deep shit when it comes to pissing off their player base. They claim subscriber numbers in the 300k range (last I checked), but as a player in since beta, I know for a fact that number is closer to 1/3 of what they claim. They might have 300k accounts, but only 100k players. You start pissing off large groups of those players and EVE will die in a matter of weeks. Interestingly, EVE has a tipping point that most MMO's don't have. That is, signification portions of the game universe are the direct result of player interactions. The ships, weapons, ammo, space stations, and all the "infrastructure" in Nullsec is entirely provided by players. If enough players leave to depopulate major sections of the map, the game world begins to crumble, FAST.
At launch? No, those mechanics did not exist at launch. Unless... do you mean the launch of the vanity items? Because then you'd be correct. However, when EVE launched, blueprints were not yet correctly implemented. Arguably, it took 3 years to get that part right.
Someone else pointed this out, but I think it bears repeating. The vanity items and cloths are NOT designed for EVE. They are assets from WoD or maybe even DUST. CCP decided to do a quick and dirty little trick by introducing them to eve, along with the CQ, which is another asset from WoD.
This is currently done with Zip+4. Which, when run against any number of mapping API's will give you granular addressing good enough for the purposes of conducting a transaction. That's why some online CC processing asks for the +4. (also an option in your granular security settings if you run a processing account)
Although it is worth noting that most online transactions simply fail to define a location more granular than the state (if that) and therefore kind of just forgo the applicable taxes. Which is why we are talking about this in the first place. Amazon knows what is coming... enforcement of taxes for online sales. If we can't get a federal standard in place, which only makes sense because it's interstate trade, then amazon and all other online retailers are going to have a bitch of a time sorting through a few hundred thousand jurisdictions worth of tax code. Right now, online retailers are kinda sliding by with the "...you must pay all applicable taxes, fees, etc due in your jurisdiction/location..." disclaimers. Essentially saying that consumers should (as the law says) take the burden of paying applicable taxes themselves. No one does of course. And full circle, people fail to pay taxes as they are required by their local government, and the local government has figured out that it can go after the online retailers to get that tax collected. Because we make the local brick stores collect it, why not make Amazon collect it? Sure, it makes sense, until you try and implement that on Amazon's end.... god help you.
Yes to all. Eventually. The thing about regulation, and regulators is, once they realize they can, they will.
Are you going to write a compatible module for my estore? Update it as soon as changes happen? Perhaps 5 or 6 times a year. No, of course you aren't. It's much much easier to just SAY it's easy to do. You'll of course find out that it isn't easy to do, and more importantly, if you are capable of doing it, you probably won't for free.
But this gives me an idea, why doesn't the IRS do it? I can't answer that, but wouldn't it be nice if they kept an up to date db with a public facing API for fetching localized taxation? At which point estores would just need the API and the ZIP to get the tax rate for the transaction. That really would be easy.
Also, in which county/state/district is my estore located? I built it from my apartment in the Bay area, it's hosted in Portland, OR. Most of the items ship from nevada. Some items from california. Most of the customers are in the northwest. Simple? You think so... do you want a job, it'll be 'easy'?
LOL!
Is it? Did you check? It's pretty likely there is more than one antenna, or that as a fall back, the system uses the car's skin as an antenna. It's not like that would even be abnormal in the industry. I don't mean to sound paranoid, because that isn't the reasoning here. Crash / systems redundancy is where I'm coming from. Onstar is worth exactly nothing if it fails because the antenna was destroyed in the crash, and they sure as hell know it.
I'm going to assume this is sarcasm. On the chance that it is not, here is the best reason. Your phone's GPS? It sucks. Really bad. Most of the time you are lucky if it can tell which of two parallel roads you are on. My stand alone unit not only knows which road, but which LANE. Most of the time it can tell you how close you are to the curb. Also, your phone won't survive a 3 day snowmobile trip, my stand alone will and then some. Oh, and the monthly fee is zero.
These devices aren't going to be sold to consumers as if they were in any way different than the GPS unit that doesn't calculate routes based on advertising income. In fact, if we are all very very lucky, Garmin and TomTom won't buy into this, and it'll only be in phones and built in navigation for cars.
Yeah, your phone. Did you think that high end processing device that came to you absolutely LOADED with crap-ware / ad-ware wouldn't JUMP at the chance to implement this sort of thing? Why not? The deal is entirely opaque to the consumer. In the EULA is a tiny section that reads "We might sell your data to other people, especially partners, we might also reroute your trips based on how much our partners (we sold them your info) pay us" You'll never notice, and more importantly neither will anyone else. The rest of the deal happens behind your back between companies, and doesn't take you or your concerns into account at all. If they ever get called on it (hahahahaha), they can say it was to improve service and competition. At which point it all goes under the rug and a retroactive law immunizes the telcos against lawsuits over it. (deja vu?)
What I would give for a stack of mod points right now. (never when you actually want them?!?)
Bravo Zulu to you good sir!
Actually, he wrote 'suard'. No one has said anything during this discussion. ;)
You should take note that the definition of criminal doesn't include anything about remorse. Furthermore, if you can't see the evidence that Kevin is a different person, that is your failing, not anyone else's.
I'm not here to defend Kevin, because contrary to your opinion, he doesn't need defending (or persecuting). He isn't now, and I have seen no evidence that he ever was a crook. A hacker, sure, but that is only a crime because of Luddites like you. Gaining information is not a criminal act. Exploiting it is. If you can't fathom the difference, that's ok. We already knew you had a small mind.
I'm not a programmer, but I'm not entirely ignorant either... which leaves me with a question... Assuming that the Kernel was compromised, and the scenario you describe came into being. Isn't it just a matter of examining the Kernel code until you find the naughty bits and expunge them? Or are you basing your nightmare on this infiltration not being detected?
Did you burn these disks yourself? If so, I have news for you about that word "reliable" you keep using. Burned CD/DVD failure rates within 5 years are over 30%.
ARCHIVING 101 is the class paying attention? Good! Let's begin. To store data, for any period of time, be it long or short, here is the formula you must use. KEEP IT SPINNING, IN THREE PLACES. Class dismissed. Meaning, copy your shit to a hard drive or three and keep them live, with regular integrity checks. If one shows sings of wobbling, clone the data and get a fresh drive in place. There is no other reliable backup methodology. ENTROPY DEMANDS IT
Also, in this day and age, this solution is dirt cheap. Aren't we in a thread about $200 machines?
That's because the Nazi's lost the war.
So who should do it? I have a nomination... Anonymous. Who could do it better? Their politics won't get in the way, because their politics are basically, fuck you.
Which itself is a massive fuel and power sink. Do you think those 5 ton trucks run on rainbows and unicorn farts?
I don't know where you live, but up here in the SF bay area, we recycle our yard debris. Lots of it. I also don't know what the conversion rate is for this technology. But then, neither do you. You don't have the foggiest idea the scale possible here. Nor, apparently, the scale of available (or grow-able) cellulose.
Most importantly, you seem to be under the dreadfully foolish impression that we need to replace oil as a fuel source with one single replacement, all at once. That is, forgive me, rubbish! First off, it simply isn't possible. I live in the as built world, and in that world, you can't change anything on that kind of scale. Period. Second, there is not a single good reason to even be considering that as a path in the first place. And lastly, because we don't even have a unified fuel structure TODAY, so while I respect that oil is THE major source, there are a bunch of good alternatives. Oh yeah, and the technology in the fine article? It turns what is currently a waste product into a fuel source. How is that anything but great? Seriously, in what way is that not a good step in the right direction?
Please stop acting like this is some kind of serious hindrance. A fixed EXE is ready and waiting for you, go get it.
I have to respond when I see this topic come up... Install Steam, buy a copy of RAG DOLL KUNG FU, install 4-6 USB pointing devices. Party. Also, another very good one is Cortex Command. Up to 4 players on one machine.
Just because EA hasn't made any party games for HTPC's (as if that were a market segment?), doesn't mean they aren't out there. You need to check out Indie developers, these guys are doing incredible things with games.
Not affiliated in any way with any of these entities, but I do use their products, very happily.
That's odd, because a big chunk of that junk is pre-installed by the OEM. The very same people you want to hand your entire computing environment over to, you know, so they can make sure it doesn't suck. Are you fucking kidding me?
Just like any other environment, the walled garden is susceptible to crapware of varying degrees. Just because you are apparently too enamored with the idea to pay attention to the reality is no reason to throw away a perfectly good and more importantly FREE as in LIBRE environment.
If the problem is retarded users, then fine, FIX THE FUCKING PROBLEM. If your solution is to lock down the platform and then only give users "approved" software... you are a tool.
Maybe the paradigm shift we need is that not every moron needs a computer. You can fetch your email, stupid pictures and your friends status updates via any connected device. Maybe it's far past time to stop pretending that computers are anything other than highly specialized tools... that 75% of the population doesn't have the first clue how to operate.