The kid who wrote sircam is just showing how stupid people are.
There are stupid people all over this world and they are allowed to be stupid.
Replacing the candles on a birthday cake with sticks of dynamite is a dangerous and antisocial practice. Anyone who does this can not succesfully argue that the person who is at fault is the one who stupidly lit the fuses. It may be true that it is easy to tell the difference and only a fool would light the fuses, but that does not absolve the dynamiter.
If you want to write a "constructive" virus, let me make a suggestion:
Target the mail-spamers. Go looking for the popular spam-blaster software and alter it to send 100,000 e-mails an hour to the Whitehouse. Locate 10,000,000 e-mail addresses in a file and randomize the domain and username. Alter the body-text of the out-going message to delete all telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, URLs, etc, and add a message including the senders real e-mail address, phone number, and whatever else personal info can be gleaned from their system configuration. Send pro-terrorism rants instead of adverts and make sure the FBI is on the list of recipients.
I mean, if you are going to cobble together a few dozen lines of VBS, why not make it do something USEFUL?
First, if Red Hat's offer does nothing else, it points out the duplicitous nature of Microsoft's offer.
Second, if the point is to introduce the students to the principles of computer science, then Linux is perfectly adequate to the task. We aren't out to create a generation of Word-using stenographers, we are out to expand the minds of the students.
Third, there is no reason for any school to keep Linux on their machines if they choose not to. They can install any OS they like. True, they may have to pay for it. The cost-free option remains theirs, but they can go and install BeOS if they choose.
Fourth, the benefit of this proposal is not that Microsoft gets punnished for their evil deeds. It is not that they get their monopolistic plans thwarted. It is not that Red Hat gets to capture the hearts and minds of the students. The real benefit is that 800,000 more kids get to sit in front of 800,000 more monitors and tap away on 800,000 more keyboards than the original proposal. Five times as many kids get access to five times as many computers, running a capable, highly reliable, highly efficient operating system that can be utilized at no extra cost, or replaced with the OS of their choice (should they decide to do so) for far less than the cost of acquiring the equivilent systems themselves.
I can't help thinking that advanced technology is going to be a two-edged sword in this conflict. Yes, better communications and intelligence gathering will benefit us. And advanced weaponry will also help. But the real risk is at home, not abroad.
For some reason, people have come to expect that you can carry on a military campaign with little or no casualties. No friendly troops killed. No allied pilots shot down. No MASH units over-run and slaughtered. And no "collateral dammage". No civilian deaths. Unfortunately, nice as this would be, it isn't realistic.
Military losses and civilian casualties are a corollary of war. No matter how accurate your laser-guided weapons, you still have to send in some people, and in this campaign, given the terrain, the emphasis is likely to be in the direction of troops. Some of these will be caught and/or killed. (If past experiences are anything to go by, it might be better to be killed than caught.) And no matter how carefully you aim your missile, you will inevitably kill or maim young mothers, some children, and a few wrinkled ancients. These days this regrettable consequence of war is looked on as unacceptable carnage.
We are not the only one who can utilize technological weaponry. I suspect that the enemy has every plan to use a very potent array of technological resources, that we will provide for them. In the past, they used our aircraft as weapons against us. In the future, they will use our communications networks, television, radio, print media, internet, and whatever, to bring the blood and guts right into our homes.
We will see photos of crippled kids, sobbing parents, dismembered innocents. And we will hear about our troops dying in the field, facing horrible torture upon capture, and so forth. We will be told about the atrocities our soldiers have performed, real or simulated. In the end, our own people will be clamouring for the "needless destruction" to stop, for our "poor boys" to be brought home safe, and for us to leave Afganistan to the Afganistanis. There is already a significant amount of "America-brought-it-on-herself-so-let's-not-make-m atters-worse" sentiment to be heard.
So advanced technology will not benefit us alone. Our enemies can also use advanced technology to their own ends. And as they have in the past they surely will again. Our technological advantage is in the physical tools of warfare, weapons and support infrastructure, that we make available to our troops. Their technological advantage will be in the use of our own civilian communications networks to weaken our resolve and undermine our morale at home to the point where political pressure at home causes us to withdraw. It remains to be seen who will benefit most.
Actually, they promised to hand him over to a Muslim court, presumably one with the "Not Guilty" rubber-stamp all ready and waiting.
As opposed to a Western court with the "Guilty" rubber-stamp all ready and waiting?
No, as opposed to a Western court wherein Johnny Cochran and abuncha bleeding-heart liberals will shit themselves to make sure he gets 20 hours of community service if found guilty, but preferably to see that he is declared innocent and a hero of the people.
All courts are biased, but I know which one I trust to render a fairer judgement, as opposed to delivering a rubber-stamp verdict.
In case you weren't aware of it, it is usual for trials to be held in the locale where the crime was committed, rather than in the back yard of the defendant. And I am not aware of any reason why special, preferential treatment should be granted in this particular case.
And anyway, if somebody's biased court is to be used it might as well be mine, eh?
Osama is now stating that he swear by God that American people will not live safely, and I must agree with him, because the fear of terror is almost as bad as the terrorists attacks themselves. (Emphasis mine)
I don't believe that American people were going to "live safely" anyhow. Osama Bin Laden (and those that come after him) are 100% dedicated to doing everything they can to make sure that the American people will not live safely no matter what. So let's try to make things as hard for him (and his posse) as possible!
...if america spent 1% in what they are going to spend on a pathetic "macho" excuse for a war on something like...schools, hospitals etc, it might actually earn the peoples respect...
Once you pay DaneGeld you never get rid of the Dane.
When people blow up your bases, embassies, aircraft, cruise liners, cities and citizens again and again and again and again, year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't help to try to bribe them. Sadly, the time comes when you have to cut off their left nut and make them eat it. Then, maybe, they won't have the, er..., balls to attack you again. And if they do, well there's always their right nut.....
...last November, after seeing children whose eyes had been blown out by Israeli bullets and watching 40000 Palestinians kept under curfew so that 235 Israelis could go about their business (in Hebron). The Palestinians have repeatedly asked for international observers, but always had this blocked by Israel and America. Palestinians have long been tortured in Israel (this is government- sanctioned)...
You know, I'd be much more likely to accept that Israel was their real enemy if those planes had crashed in down-town Tel Aviv. But when all the justifications have been uttered, it is still America that is considered to be The Great Satan, and against who all the hatred is directed. So Occam's Razor tells me that really, US support for Israel has very little to do with it.
Does the United States sponser terrorism? Yes. Even without getting into an argument over what terrorism is, we train death squads that are used for right-wing forces in Latin America.
If this were true (and I don't know if it is or isn't) it would not legitimize the actions of terrorism by others. This would only mean that a certain amount of housecleaning was needed on the domestic front.
We are talking about FANATICAL people. Kill them, and more will come. To attack Afghanistan will only raise their hate against American. More fanatical groups/nations can follow...
But if no action is taken, then more fanatical groups/nations will follow anyway.
Perhaps fighting back will have some deterrent effect.
Above all, appear to the rest of the Arab world as a country that doesn't need to play silly games, one that is something to be looked up to rather than down upon. And one not to be underestimated.
So, you blow the shite out of my citizens and in return I send you food. That will definately make me not one to be underestimated!
I fear the US may win the battle and lose the war.
Unfortunately, you may be right. But the alternative is to sit back and show the world that it's OK to piss on the US again and again and again because there will be no response at all (apart from a somber speech in the UN, accompanied by the jeering of many delegations).
Excuse me, but am I the only one that remembers the Taliban offering the transfer of Bin Laden to the US, _if_ the US provided sufficient evidence for Bin Laden's guilt?
Actually, they promised to hand him over to a Muslim court, presumably one with the "Not Guilty" rubber-stamp all ready and waiting.
And how much "evidence" do you suppose they would require before handing him over anyway?
It gets even cooler than that. About a year ago, Rob picks up the project again and turns it into open source with the release of a Linux version. Synchronet now supports Windows, OS/2, and Linux versions, all free and all GPLd. You can check it out at www.synchro.net.
Damned right!
Rob's code keeps getting better, with Telnet, FTP and SMTP servers now part of the deal, JavaScript support built in, and a long and exciting "To Do" list with items actually getting done all the time. And best of all, the developer is actually accessible, listens to your suggestions, and frequently acts upon your suggestions in days or even hours.
Fully GPL'd code available under CVS, and an active and growing support network via QWK or FIDO, Rob announced another slew of enhancements only a couple days ago! Way to go, Digital man!!!
You can visit Vertrauen BBS yourself, and check it out!
What percentage of dial-up accounts hit 56.6? In my experience the phone lines will rarely support anything over 33.6 or even as low as 28.8. Just because the modem is rated for 56.6 doesn't mean it is practicly standard.
First, I think modern modems are rated at 57.6 not 56.6!
Second, I understand there is some legal limit around 53 but I've never hit that mark. I get 50.666 almost every time with 49.333 very occasionally. Everyone else I know also hits 50.666 fairly consistantly, with an occasional 49.333 like myself.
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Does it come with a box of black candles and a Rams-head logo?
Is that, like, American for "Skull"?
OMG!
The page is so stupendously ugly Google should be sued until they destroy all copies!
Does this mean that under-18 purchasers are not bound by the EULA? So that DMCA and so forth don't apply?
Likely to be quite hot if their containment field collapses...
More to the point, does she have a sister ???
There are stupid people all over this world and they are allowed to be stupid.
Replacing the candles on a birthday cake with sticks of dynamite is a dangerous and antisocial practice. Anyone who does this can not succesfully argue that the person who is at fault is the one who stupidly lit the fuses. It may be true that it is easy to tell the difference and only a fool would light the fuses, but that does not absolve the dynamiter.
If you want to write a "constructive" virus, let me make a suggestion:
Target the mail-spamers. Go looking for the popular spam-blaster software and alter it to send 100,000 e-mails an hour to the Whitehouse. Locate 10,000,000 e-mail addresses in a file and randomize the domain and username. Alter the body-text of the out-going message to delete all telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, URLs, etc, and add a message including the senders real e-mail address, phone number, and whatever else personal info can be gleaned from their system configuration. Send pro-terrorism rants instead of adverts and make sure the FBI is on the list of recipients.
I mean, if you are going to cobble together a few dozen lines of VBS, why not make it do something USEFUL?
That's right. Because outside the US there isn't any law or order to speak of....
So, if it actually costs $10 to produce a copy of XP, and they plan to give $1.1Bn "to the children", is that 110,000,000 copies of XP?
First, if Red Hat's offer does nothing else, it points out the duplicitous nature of Microsoft's offer.
Second, if the point is to introduce the students to the principles of computer science, then Linux is perfectly adequate to the task. We aren't out to create a generation of Word-using stenographers, we are out to expand the minds of the students.
Third, there is no reason for any school to keep Linux on their machines if they choose not to. They can install any OS they like. True, they may have to pay for it. The cost-free option remains theirs, but they can go and install BeOS if they choose.
Fourth, the benefit of this proposal is not that Microsoft gets punnished for their evil deeds. It is not that they get their monopolistic plans thwarted. It is not that Red Hat gets to capture the hearts and minds of the students. The real benefit is that 800,000 more kids get to sit in front of 800,000 more monitors and tap away on 800,000 more keyboards than the original proposal. Five times as many kids get access to five times as many computers, running a capable, highly reliable, highly efficient operating system that can be utilized at no extra cost, or replaced with the OS of their choice (should they decide to do so) for far less than the cost of acquiring the equivilent systems themselves.
What a pity it won't happen!
I can't help thinking that advanced technology is going to be a two-edged sword in this conflict. Yes, better communications and intelligence gathering will benefit us. And advanced weaponry will also help. But the real risk is at home, not abroad.
m atters-worse" sentiment to be heard.
For some reason, people have come to expect that you can carry on a military campaign with little or no casualties. No friendly troops killed. No allied pilots shot down. No MASH units over-run and slaughtered. And no "collateral dammage". No civilian deaths. Unfortunately, nice as this would be, it isn't realistic.
Military losses and civilian casualties are a corollary of war. No matter how accurate your laser-guided weapons, you still have to send in some people, and in this campaign, given the terrain, the emphasis is likely to be in the direction of troops. Some of these will be caught and/or killed. (If past experiences are anything to go by, it might be better to be killed than caught.) And no matter how carefully you aim your missile, you will inevitably kill or maim young mothers, some children, and a few wrinkled ancients. These days this regrettable consequence of war is looked on as unacceptable carnage.
We are not the only one who can utilize technological weaponry. I suspect that the enemy has every plan to use a very potent array of technological resources, that we will provide for them. In the past, they used our aircraft as weapons against us. In the future, they will use our communications networks, television, radio, print media, internet, and whatever, to bring the blood and guts right into our homes.
We will see photos of crippled kids, sobbing parents, dismembered innocents. And we will hear about our troops dying in the field, facing horrible torture upon capture, and so forth. We will be told about the atrocities our soldiers have performed, real or simulated. In the end, our own people will be clamouring for the "needless destruction" to stop, for our "poor boys" to be brought home safe, and for us to leave Afganistan to the Afganistanis. There is already a significant amount of "America-brought-it-on-herself-so-let's-not-make-
So advanced technology will not benefit us alone. Our enemies can also use advanced technology to their own ends. And as they have in the past they surely will again. Our technological advantage is in the physical tools of warfare, weapons and support infrastructure, that we make available to our troops. Their technological advantage will be in the use of our own civilian communications networks to weaken our resolve and undermine our morale at home to the point where political pressure at home causes us to withdraw. It remains to be seen who will benefit most.
All courts are biased, but I know which one I trust to render a fairer judgement, as opposed to delivering a rubber-stamp verdict.
In case you weren't aware of it, it is usual for trials to be held in the locale where the crime was committed, rather than in the back yard of the defendant. And I am not aware of any reason why special, preferential treatment should be granted in this particular case.
And anyway, if somebody's biased court is to be used it might as well be mine, eh?
When people blow up your bases, embassies, aircraft, cruise liners, cities and citizens again and again and again and again, year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't help to try to bribe them. Sadly, the time comes when you have to cut off their left nut and make them eat it. Then, maybe, they won't have the, er..., balls to attack you again. And if they do, well there's always their right nut.....
Perhaps fighting back will have some deterrent effect.
And how much "evidence" do you suppose they would require before handing him over anyway?
Rob's code keeps getting better, with Telnet, FTP and SMTP servers now part of the deal, JavaScript support built in, and a long and exciting "To Do" list with items actually getting done all the time. And best of all, the developer is actually accessible, listens to your suggestions, and frequently acts upon your suggestions in days or even hours.
Fully GPL'd code available under CVS, and an active and growing support network via QWK or FIDO, Rob announced another slew of enhancements only a couple days ago! Way to go, Digital man!!!
You can visit Vertrauen BBS yourself, and check it out!
Second, I understand there is some legal limit around 53 but I've never hit that mark. I get 50.666 almost every time with 49.333 very occasionally. Everyone else I know also hits 50.666 fairly consistantly, with an occasional 49.333 like myself.
- Using software to wash SEU's out of cheap flight-RAM
- the use of the adapter-ring as a satellite in it's own right
- The entire MicroSat concept in toto
and etcetera, as one of the techniques routinely employed thruought the non-amateur aerospace industry. Thanks again.Now, get out of the way while we sell all your spectrum to the highest bidder!
73, de Gus
Eight Papa Six Sly Mongoose