Go ahead and use Wordpress or phpBB or phpWiki or whatever for talking, but...
Since most of the unwashed masses have Windows, you can use its built-in WebDav stuff. Set up an Apache server with a DAV directory. Then point your friends/family to the URL for the folder, which they merely need add to their "Web Folders." They need not know the underlying protocol to be able to use it. They can then just drag their images and videos onto the folder, and Voila! They are published. It's a no-brainer, and anyone who can drag an icon can use it.
On Linux, Nautilus can do DAV, too. I wouldn't be surprised if KDE had desktop support for it, also.
DAV makes a nice small file server, when Samba or NFS won't work.
I love The Ultra Secret. I have read it several times. Mr. Winterbotham is obviously the real thing. But in my poor opinion, the supreme Holy Writ of the history of cryptology is The Codebreakers by David Kahn. The fact that the author of the article refers to that book is a better indicator of his expertise than his work resume. He "gets it."
The James Bamford books, in comparison, are bland, political, and legalistic. Not a good read at all.
But yes, you're right. The Achilles' Heel of any cryptosystem is human error. Most commonly it is when people send the same information via channels of different cryptographic quality, or mixing a good one with a broken one.
In the end, you must trust the entity on the other end of the wire. This is true whether you are talking about Unix sockets, telegraphy, semaphore, or the one-time pads rolled up in Che Guevara's cigar box.
The idea of looking at the memory on the ass-end of an SSH connection is stupid. It's one of the ends, where the other trusted party lives. For all you know, your buddy prints your secrets onto nice vellum paper and gives it to the enemy. No electronics can save you if you can't trust the other guy.
This is similar to banning fertilizer after Oklahoma City, or nail clippers after 9/11. These people are only shrill little Cassandras who fret about the great cruel world out there. People should be thrown into little pink padded cells, where they will be safe.
Very low frequency (VLF) has an extremely low data rate, yet it has a great ability to penetrate earth and water. The Navy has been using it for a long time to communicate with submarines.
I'm just so happy that a "Developer" article actually made the front page. I have been afraid that the tech level of the audience of Slashdot has been falling lately. Compare it to the number of "Game" articles on the front page.
But to stay with the topic, analysis tools are just that: tools. They are not a cure to chronic software problems. Developers are not excused from the responsibility of at least attempting to write quality code.
Some current project development methods really contribute to buggy and insecure code. Example: XP. I really think that some aspects of XP programming are a bad idea. Namely, the "code as fast as you can" aspect of it is fraught with errors. A more thoughtful, disciplined approach might seem like it is terribly slow. Yet being inherently less buggy, it can reach the target faster than the sloppier, more haphazard approach. This is much like the Tortoise and the Hare. Or maybe a better analogy would be like a rally driver who is more careful with his fuel and tires.
Don't get me wrong. Some parts of XP are fine. The Buddy System is an excellent way to get things done quickly by short-circuiting the collaboration cycle.
Actually, I was going to mention Blade Runner, the movie, as the exception, where infinite resolution is acceptable. Why? Because it's in the future, of course. And, yes, in the scene where he is examining the photograph, he does somewhat look around an object. Whatever imaging technology that might exist in the future (holographic? spatial? voxels?) could conceivably allow this. I thought the idea was fascinating.
Now matter how hard you work to break into a computer, the hacking is not completed until you say the magic words, "We're in!" I challenge you to find a script that does not have that statement, or something like it.
'Places,' which appears to be nothing more than a URL cache and storage, seems to be a rather lame feature for people to be stressed about. Better to worry about SVG, XForms and dynamic rendering. Give inifnite user control over how content is rendered. What about a page that refuses to render without popups? Let the user tweak the xhtml, client side, to override that. Refuse redirects. Send the headers in the request however the user wants. That would be a feature.
When we can finally agree that someone's emotions are not protected by law, then we have a great start. All of these laws that raise religion, culture, or reputation over the free expression of thought are harmful and should be avoided at all costs, and their proponents be shunned from human society. The middle ages are over, and so are the 60's. Peace comes when people can speak freely and as equals, not when imposed by a government. Look what happened when General Tito died, and all of that pent-up hatred was released.
Many people in both this minor boom, and the last dot-com boom, received poor CS educations because their efforts were targeted solely toward getting a job right out of school. They ignored the true reason for attending a school of higher education. How many people in the late 90's and early 00's learned only Java, because that was what employers wanted at the time? Now those tightly focused individuals are in danger of being prematurely obsolete.
The best reason to get a good education is the more Socratic one: to become a better person. A complete, well-rounded curriculum might seem wasteful to the "just enough to get a job" crowd, but it results in a person who is generally more competent for life ahead. And as for Computer Science, learn more of the How and Why, and less of the What. That person might be less attuned for a given employer. But that person will have a much wider world of employment ahead in general, and will be more recession-proof in the end.
I was fortunate to work with some of the guys who developed CLIPS, a very nice forward-chaining rule engine that can be applied to a surprisingly wide variety of projects. Several variants of it have appeared in the intervening years. There is an actively-developed and fine successor to it, Jess.
Having written software as a contractor for NASA for over ten years, I can say that the opposite is true. By default, NASA keeps ownership of all software and patents resulting from contracted activity. Occasionally, though, a contract can have specific wording to allow the contractor to retain some parts of a project. This is especially true if the software is not the product of the project itself, but something peripheral to it.
As an aside, it is my opinion that NASA's embrace of Open Source is somewhat of a generational watershed. I would say that most software developers hired in the last several years use and contribute to OSS considerably. Linux servers and workstations can be seen everywhere in development shops.
And on another note, I believe that a major factor for NASA giving software away is what I call "custom software." Software will be written (at great expense) for a specific project, and be used for only a year or two. Then NASA becomes bored with it and starts another project. Server closets are full of old orphan software.
Just a short civics refresher: A voting clerk is usually a retired little old lady volunteering to watch a polling station. A county clerk is a prominent elected official. Depending on the laws of the state, the county clerk likely has more than sufficient legal powers to call the election procedures into question. The summary makes the person sound like a poor downtrodden powerless gnome being bullied by an evil corporation. Maybe the story should tilt just a little bit in the other direction. But, still, more power to anyone who fights this questionable product.
I want to disagree with you, but I can't. I can't count how many times a contract was won at a strip club. The boss's corporate card bill must have been enormous. But, hey, it worked. Oh, and don't forget to hire your potential customer's son as an intern. Teamsters and longshoremen are saints compared to the tech and aerospace industries.
A great many Windows users, when switching to Open Source, still retain the impression that there is some group or some person responsible for making them happy. The fact that they generously condescend to put an Open Source program on their box means that somebody somewhere owes them a great debt of gratitude and should always be ready at their beck and call to provide them with whatever assistance or service that they need. Now, I'm not blaming the users at all. They have been trained to act this way, to expect corporate hand-holding by the computer companies themselves. And although Mr. Quinn is a hero in my eyes for his support of Open Source, I think that he might be a member of this group. OSS can only be respectable if it is backed by pinstripe suits and big money. I think what Mr. Quinn wants is some kind of godlike figurehead to show up at board meetings and conferences.
Open Source is not such a model. Rather it is a group effort, and a partnership among developers, distributors, and users of software. You aren't required to join the party, but it certainly helps its cause, and your own. Merely being a software leech is like showing up at the party, taking one of the kegs, and leaving. Oh, and then complaining about the quality.
By the way, I say "Windows users," because although they would claim to be experienced with computers, they have no knowledge of computers at all, but merely of Windows and GUI applications hosted upon it. Therefore, all computer programs must work and act exactly like Windows if they are proper computer programs.
DNS service is not exactly a high-tech endeavour anyway. It is akin to word processing and spreadsheets. The escalator of technology has passed this point a long time ago.
If you look at the trunk directory, you see that the packages are still numbered as 1.6a1 even though the dragbar says Alpha 2. Even more confusing, the build id in the About dialog says: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9a1) Gecko/20060318 Firefox/1.6a1.
I get the impression that there are several main development branches running, not just the usual current branch/last branch/trunk trio.
I recall reading an article written by a Disney animator (sorry, don't remember who) in the 80's about the modelling and mathematics behind rubber hose animation. That is the type of animation used for early cartoon characters, like for Mickey Mouse's arms and legs. The article was basically about migrating from manual pen-and-ink animation to computer rendering. I don't know if Disney was actually in the process of doing that, but I suppose that they were considering it.
Even better: South Park
on
The Story of Tron
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I think that a wonderful homage to Tron comes from South Park. When the children at the Jewbilee camp summon Moses, and he appears in the shape of MCP, it is a precious moment.
I suppose that people who never saw Tron missed the reference.
If these cells are not refillable, then they are useless for extended uses, such as the enormous power outages during the hurricanes last year. With a simple cheap windup or pump kinetic generator, then the fuel for this can be anything I like, such as muffalettas, marinated olives, or Jolt Cola.
It would behoove the state of California to base its servers in the San Jose area. Would provide a base of employees with expertise beyond the state's needs, and would provide jobs to some of the laid-off-from-the-slump Linux experts.
Has nobody else noticed the obvious reason the National Guard are doing this? Not only do they get their weekend hours out of the way, but they get free admission to the SuperBowl. Since last-minute tickets are costing over $1000, I am sure that they are bragging to their buddies what a boondoggle they have accomplished.
I once got into a U.S. Open golf tournament by volunteering for "Emergency Services." After spending about 5 minutes setting up some tables, I wandered away and got a beer and watched the tournament like everyone else. And the badge looked cool.
I think that an author might want to consider the provisions of the license
on a case-by-case business. He would ask himself, "do I want the added
provisions of GPL v.3? Do I want people to use my creation in ways with
which I might disagree?" Remember, this is his code, not the
World's, so it is totally up to him how he chooses to license it, if at all. He would probably realize that his decision might restrict its acceptance into some software projects (like the Linux kernel, maybe?), but that's his decision.
But, then again, maybe it would even be possible to use multiple licenses
(v2, v3, LGPL, BSD, etc), like Mozilla uses. The developers down the line
can decide which one with which they would prefer to agree.
Slashdot Mirror
Since most of the unwashed masses have Windows, you can use its built-in WebDav stuff. Set up an Apache server with a DAV directory. Then point your friends/family to the URL for the folder, which they merely need add to their "Web Folders." They need not know the underlying protocol to be able to use it. They can then just drag their images and videos onto the folder, and Voila! They are published. It's a no-brainer, and anyone who can drag an icon can use it.
On Linux, Nautilus can do DAV, too. I wouldn't be surprised if KDE had desktop support for it, also. DAV makes a nice small file server, when Samba or NFS won't work.
The James Bamford books, in comparison, are bland, political, and legalistic. Not a good read at all.
But yes, you're right. The Achilles' Heel of any cryptosystem is human error. Most commonly it is when people send the same information via channels of different cryptographic quality, or mixing a good one with a broken one.
The idea of looking at the memory on the ass-end of an SSH connection is stupid. It's one of the ends, where the other trusted party lives. For all you know, your buddy prints your secrets onto nice vellum paper and gives it to the enemy. No electronics can save you if you can't trust the other guy.
This is similar to banning fertilizer after Oklahoma City, or nail clippers after 9/11. These people are only shrill little Cassandras who fret about the great cruel world out there. People should be thrown into little pink padded cells, where they will be safe.
Very low frequency (VLF) has an extremely low data rate, yet it has a great ability to penetrate earth and water. The Navy has been using it for a long time to communicate with submarines.
But to stay with the topic, analysis tools are just that: tools. They are not a cure to chronic software problems. Developers are not excused from the responsibility of at least attempting to write quality code.
Some current project development methods really contribute to buggy and insecure code. Example: XP. I really think that some aspects of XP programming are a bad idea. Namely, the "code as fast as you can" aspect of it is fraught with errors. A more thoughtful, disciplined approach might seem like it is terribly slow. Yet being inherently less buggy, it can reach the target faster than the sloppier, more haphazard approach. This is much like the Tortoise and the Hare. Or maybe a better analogy would be like a rally driver who is more careful with his fuel and tires.
Don't get me wrong. Some parts of XP are fine. The Buddy System is an excellent way to get things done quickly by short-circuiting the collaboration cycle.
Actually, I was going to mention Blade Runner, the movie, as the exception, where infinite resolution is acceptable. Why? Because it's in the future, of course. And, yes, in the scene where he is examining the photograph, he does somewhat look around an object. Whatever imaging technology that might exist in the future (holographic? spatial? voxels?) could conceivably allow this. I thought the idea was fascinating.
Now matter how hard you work to break into a computer, the hacking is not completed until you say the magic words, "We're in!" I challenge you to find a script that does not have that statement, or something like it.
They have been boo-hooing and whining way too long. Get over it. You mistreated the Babe, thus you deserve it.
'Places,' which appears to be nothing more than a URL cache and storage, seems to be a rather lame feature for people to be stressed about. Better to worry about SVG, XForms and dynamic rendering. Give inifnite user control over how content is rendered. What about a page that refuses to render without popups? Let the user tweak the xhtml, client side, to override that. Refuse redirects. Send the headers in the request however the user wants. That would be a feature.
When we can finally agree that someone's emotions are not protected by law, then we have a great start. All of these laws that raise religion, culture, or reputation over the free expression of thought are harmful and should be avoided at all costs, and their proponents be shunned from human society. The middle ages are over, and so are the 60's. Peace comes when people can speak freely and as equals, not when imposed by a government. Look what happened when General Tito died, and all of that pent-up hatred was released.
The best reason to get a good education is the more Socratic one: to become a better person. A complete, well-rounded curriculum might seem wasteful to the "just enough to get a job" crowd, but it results in a person who is generally more competent for life ahead. And as for Computer Science, learn more of the How and Why, and less of the What. That person might be less attuned for a given employer. But that person will have a much wider world of employment ahead in general, and will be more recession-proof in the end.
I was fortunate to work with some of the guys who developed CLIPS, a very nice forward-chaining rule engine that can be applied to a surprisingly wide variety of projects. Several variants of it have appeared in the intervening years. There is an actively-developed and fine successor to it, Jess.
As an aside, it is my opinion that NASA's embrace of Open Source is somewhat of a generational watershed. I would say that most software developers hired in the last several years use and contribute to OSS considerably. Linux servers and workstations can be seen everywhere in development shops.
And on another note, I believe that a major factor for NASA giving software away is what I call "custom software." Software will be written (at great expense) for a specific project, and be used for only a year or two. Then NASA becomes bored with it and starts another project. Server closets are full of old orphan software.
Just a short civics refresher: A voting clerk is usually a retired little old lady volunteering to watch a polling station. A county clerk is a prominent elected official. Depending on the laws of the state, the county clerk likely has more than sufficient legal powers to call the election procedures into question. The summary makes the person sound like a poor downtrodden powerless gnome being bullied by an evil corporation. Maybe the story should tilt just a little bit in the other direction. But, still, more power to anyone who fights this questionable product.
I want to disagree with you, but I can't. I can't count how many times a contract was won at a strip club. The boss's corporate card bill must have been enormous. But, hey, it worked. Oh, and don't forget to hire your potential customer's son as an intern. Teamsters and longshoremen are saints compared to the tech and aerospace industries.
Open Source is not such a model. Rather it is a group effort, and a partnership among developers, distributors, and users of software. You aren't required to join the party, but it certainly helps its cause, and your own. Merely being a software leech is like showing up at the party, taking one of the kegs, and leaving. Oh, and then complaining about the quality.
By the way, I say "Windows users," because although they would claim to be experienced with computers, they have no knowledge of computers at all, but merely of Windows and GUI applications hosted upon it. Therefore, all computer programs must work and act exactly like Windows if they are proper computer programs.
DNS service is not exactly a high-tech endeavour anyway. It is akin to word processing and spreadsheets. The escalator of technology has passed this point a long time ago.
I get the impression that there are several main development branches running, not just the usual current branch/last branch/trunk trio.
I recall reading an article written by a Disney animator (sorry, don't remember who) in the 80's about the modelling and mathematics behind rubber hose animation. That is the type of animation used for early cartoon characters, like for Mickey Mouse's arms and legs. The article was basically about migrating from manual pen-and-ink animation to computer rendering. I don't know if Disney was actually in the process of doing that, but I suppose that they were considering it.
I suppose that people who never saw Tron missed the reference.
If these cells are not refillable, then they are useless for extended uses, such as the enormous power outages during the hurricanes last year. With a simple cheap windup or pump kinetic generator, then the fuel for this can be anything I like, such as muffalettas, marinated olives, or Jolt Cola.
It would behoove the state of California to base its servers in the San Jose area. Would provide a base of employees with expertise beyond the state's needs, and would provide jobs to some of the laid-off-from-the-slump Linux experts.
I once got into a U.S. Open golf tournament by volunteering for "Emergency Services." After spending about 5 minutes setting up some tables, I wandered away and got a beer and watched the tournament like everyone else. And the badge looked cool.
But, then again, maybe it would even be possible to use multiple licenses (v2, v3, LGPL, BSD, etc), like Mozilla uses. The developers down the line can decide which one with which they would prefer to agree.