I remember "High Weirdness on the World Wide Web", and one of the things listed was just an IP address. Seems the guy was a sysadmin somewhere that had an extra IP address lying around, and he set up a machine as, I think, an FTP server for various text-files. He couldn't register a name for it, 'cos it would alert the boss, but I guess just the number slipped under the radar.
So a little gedankexperiment: You take to work a little palmtop something or other -- actually, this would be a perfect task for a Tiqit computer -- hook up a small hard drive (hell, you get 10 meg drives free at Burger King these days), hook it up to the ethernet at work, and stuff it behind some drywall. Voila, instant hidden server. (Best Ron Popeil voice: "Just set it...and...forget it!") You access it from public terminals/net cafes, following the usual precaustions (stay away from where you live, pay cash, don't use the same place twice), and you don't keep logs on the damn thing.
Before the flames start, IANAY (I Am Not Awake Yet), nor do I know much about networking. Is this sort of thing feasible, or is it just another cool idea that is utterly impractical? Anyone?
It'd still be a little problematic, in that the end-user would have to grab the code fairly quickly...but if you post it regularly -- say, once a week or once a month -- there shouldn't be a problem.
The advantage is that if it was posted to alt.code.subversive.source from, say, Malaysia, it'd probably propogate to The Rest Of The World(tm) before reaching the US...at which point, it'd be too late for a quick-and-dirty yank of the original posting.
What you might also consider is making an announcement somewhere about how/where/when it'll be posted -- a pointer in the C sense of the word. "Look for subert.tar.gz in Base64 after the 15th of every month." The announcement could be made in any number of places besides just the newsgroup -- what if we all know that my user info on Slashdot can be checked for when v1.2 is coming out? And let's not forget the Real World. A classified ad in The New York Times would be an effective and fairly international way of announcing such a thing.
Who are these people, like Michael A. Rolenz, Paul Fenimore and Walter Charles Becktel? How is it that they've been chosen to be included in this? Didn't lots of people submit comments?
Yeah, but how many varieties of "PHIR5T P05T" and "DmCa sux H0t Gr|tZ" did they really need?
One of the best times I've had in my life was the all-too-brief four months during university (shortly before I failed out, natch) when I had a weekly radio show on the campus station (CKMS, University of Waterloo). From 2-5pm every Wednesday afternoon it was Aardvark's Playground, and I got to play whatever the hell I wanted.
It was spectacularly fun. If I was in a good mood, it was TMBG, Yma Sumac and "Vapour Trail" by Ride for three hours. If I was feeling crappy, it was Joy Division, Cowboy Junkies and "Vapour Trail" by Ride for the afternoon. If I was angry I'd play Public Enemy and pick out bits of Noam Chomsky to read (usually flipping through the book while on the air, stalling with "It's around here somewhere...") and play "Vapour Trail" by Ride.
There's something...I dunno...wrong...about what this guy's talking about. Maybe I just don't like having the curtain ripped away, but it feels like when I was in grade 5 and I was told what elections were like in the Soviet Union: you could vote for whoever you liked, because the candidates all belonged to the Communist Party. I remember the very vivid image I had of three politicians all looking exactly the same, beaming at an audience from the podium. Sure, pick whichever one you like. It makes no difference.
Maybe I'm just climbing up on a pedastal here, but doesn't music mean enough....isn't it sacred enough...that it shouldn't be bastardized like this? I'm really trying not to go OT here, so let's tie it in: I love that Napster lets me find the weird stuff that me and three other people like (unresolved serious ethical dilemmas about IP, licensing and artist compensation aside). I was really disturbed when, driving around the continent for two months last year with my girlfriend, every single city in the US and Canada had a station named Z(\d{2}), and each one sounded exactly the same.
There's something really, really disturbing about cultural Borgification. I don't want the process to be accelerated.
I hate to prove an asshole right. But tripod.com (check out my website and CGI page here) allows you to roll your own CGI. The servers aren't particularly fast, but they are free.
The excuse that he didn't want his free space provider to get slashdotted was very amusing.
My first thought when I read the article was, "Okay, so how are Rush Limbaugh and the oil industry gonna laugh this one off?" But it *might* not be quite so bad after all...
This other NYTimes article at http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/081900 sci-environ-climate.html says that one of the first scientists to warn us about CO2 levels affecting climate says that other greenhouse gases may be just as important in their affect, even though they're not produced in nearly the quantities CO2 is. Things like ozone (at ground level, it's a Bad Thing), soot (think diesel exhaust), methane (a big byproduct of rice farming, for some reason) and the like may, all put together, contribute just as much to global warming.
So what, right? Well, not only are there usually better/easier techniques for reducing these (as opposed to CO2), there's usually a lot of immediate reasons (health, economic) to do so, and a lot more immediate results (you don't have to wait 50 years, say, to see a difference in a city skyline once you cut out soot). There's also the advantage of doing an end run around the "You're destroying valuable Capitalism!" argument that arises whenever you talk seriously about cutting CO2.
Redmond, WA (AP) -- In a move that shocked industry analysts, Microsoft (MSFT::NASDAQ) announced today that it will be releasing all of its competitors' products under the Gnu Public License.
"This is a great day for Microsoft innovation," said CEO Bill Gates, "and a great day for computer users too. By releasing programs like WordPerfect, Oracle, AOL's client software and Apple's OS X under this license, we are paving the way for further innovations by Microsoft."
When asked how Microsoft could release programs owned by its competitors, Gates replied cryptically, "That's the innovative part," and refused to elaborate. Further questioning from reporters was discouraged by the large number of well-armed press officers and public relations interns. Instead, reporters were directed to what were described as "handouts and press releases," but which actually appeared to be salvaged dumpsters marked "ORACLE" and "AOL" filled with scrounged CD-ROMS.
Shares of Corel, Oracle, Time-Warner/AOL and Apple crashed during heavy trading following the announcement.
Free Software Foundation guru Richard M. Stallman could not be reached for comment. An associate said, "He's just mad he didn't think of it first."
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a surprise reversal of policy, the Recording Industry Association of America has quietly withdrawn its efforts to declare all musicians insane.
The controversial lobbying efforts were aimed at allowing the RIAA to become a legal guardian of all musicans signed to member record labels. The resulting powers of attorney would have increased its profits by billions.
The RIAA stated in a press release that the measure "would only have been aimed at crappy boy bands. We were only trying to think of the children."
Entertainer Sheryl Crow, who had spearheaded the lobbying against the RIAA, was jubilant. "I'm jubilant," said Crow. "This means I don't have to get 'SANE' tattooed on my hand now."
Free Software Foundation Richard M. Stallman was contacted by email for comment, but only responded "Worst Post Ever."
Why, thank you! Glad you liked the ARGHSoA, and thanks for providing an acronym.
As for the timeline: I assume you read more than just the first page (there's, like, 13 or so pages...and looking at my post, I think I put up the wrong link: it should've been here; this version stretches things out a lot more, which may or may not appeal to you).
I think it might just be your sense of humour vs. mine. I find the utterly bizarre idea of Ayn Rand deciding to have her head severed and kept alive completely hilarious (if I do say so myself), mainly *because* it's so bizarre.
May I quote your post? I especially like the bit about "what the Unabomber would have written in the fifth grade." I'd love to have that up on my site. (Serious request, BTW.)
Ayn Rand? Amazing woman. Did you know that she set up The Ayn Rand Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval? No software yet (though GNOME and the Debian distro are hotly tipped to be approved Real Soon Now), but be sure to check out the portable word processor, complete with spell-check, grammar-check, and automatic Objectivist Lecture Generator.
It may be that to provide this level of confidence, that the source code for Carnivore might need to become publicly available, and that ISPs be permitted to acquire, examine, compile and configure the Open Source Carnivore software. Interestingly, this is more analogous to the current telephonic wiretap (installed by the telephone service provider), than the current use of Carnivore.
That's a great idea. (No sarcasm, BTW.) I agree w/him that there are times, limited in number, when a wiretap is justified. And I think the suggestion of handing the software to the ISP, getting them to compile it and install it, would lower the paranoia factor (not that it isn't justified) a great deal. But then, maybe I'm one of THEM.
"Ia:! Ia:! Shub-Commodore! The black computer of the woods with a thousand pixels!"
Seriously, doesn't this sound like Fundie Xtians saying that Christ is due back, like, any minue now? Check out The Rapture Index to see what I mean, and tell me that some Amiga fan somewhere won't start up The Amiga's Return Index of their own.
MANILA (AP) -- In a surprise move, lawyers for the accused creator of the "I Love You" virus announced that they would be calling Microsoft programmer Anders Hejlsberg as an expert witness for the defense.
"We will be presenting the judge and jury with a simple question," said attorney Rick Oxford. "Is it possible to write unsafe code in Visual Basic? Microsoft has already provided us with the answer: No."
Oxford was referring to a recent interview with Hejlsberg published on www.oreilly.com. In it, the interviewer asked whether it was possible to write unsafe code in Visual Basic; Hejlsberg replied, "No, you cannot."
US Attorney-General Janet Reno was flummoxed. "I'm flummoxed," she admitted. "That pretty much sinks our whole case right there. But you can be we'll make Gates pay for this." This comment sent Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) share prices plummeting to 0-7/8 per share.
Free Software Founation founder Richard M. Stallman was unavailable for comment. A spokeswoman said he was "busy buying Visual Basic For Dummies(tm)".
Slashdot Mirror
(I know, it's not the first time that's ever been thought of. But the timing's interesting, don't you think?)
So a little gedankexperiment: You take to work a little palmtop something or other -- actually, this would be a perfect task for a Tiqit computer -- hook up a small hard drive (hell, you get 10 meg drives free at Burger King these days), hook it up to the ethernet at work, and stuff it behind some drywall. Voila, instant hidden server. (Best Ron Popeil voice: "Just set it...and...forget it!") You access it from public terminals/net cafes, following the usual precaustions (stay away from where you live, pay cash, don't use the same place twice), and you don't keep logs on the damn thing.
Before the flames start, IANAY (I Am Not Awake Yet), nor do I know much about networking. Is this sort of thing feasible, or is it just another cool idea that is utterly impractical? Anyone?
The advantage is that if it was posted to alt.code.subversive.source from, say, Malaysia, it'd probably propogate to The Rest Of The World(tm) before reaching the US...at which point, it'd be too late for a quick-and-dirty yank of the original posting.
What you might also consider is making an announcement somewhere about how/where/when it'll be posted -- a pointer in the C sense of the word. "Look for subert.tar.gz in Base64 after the 15th of every month." The announcement could be made in any number of places besides just the newsgroup -- what if we all know that my user info on Slashdot can be checked for when v1.2 is coming out? And let's not forget the Real World. A classified ad in The New York Times would be an effective and fairly international way of announcing such a thing.
Yeah, but how many varieties of "PHIR5T P05T" and "DmCa sux H0t Gr|tZ" did they really need?
One of the best times I've had in my life was the all-too-brief four months during university (shortly before I failed out, natch) when I had a weekly radio show on the campus station (CKMS, University of Waterloo). From 2-5pm every Wednesday afternoon it was Aardvark's Playground, and I got to play whatever the hell I wanted.
It was spectacularly fun. If I was in a good mood, it was TMBG, Yma Sumac and "Vapour Trail" by Ride for three hours. If I was feeling crappy, it was Joy Division, Cowboy Junkies and "Vapour Trail" by Ride for the afternoon. If I was angry I'd play Public Enemy and pick out bits of Noam Chomsky to read (usually flipping through the book while on the air, stalling with "It's around here somewhere...") and play "Vapour Trail" by Ride.
There's something...I dunno...wrong...about what this guy's talking about. Maybe I just don't like having the curtain ripped away, but it feels like when I was in grade 5 and I was told what elections were like in the Soviet Union: you could vote for whoever you liked, because the candidates all belonged to the Communist Party. I remember the very vivid image I had of three politicians all looking exactly the same, beaming at an audience from the podium. Sure, pick whichever one you like. It makes no difference.
Maybe I'm just climbing up on a pedastal here, but doesn't music mean enough....isn't it sacred enough...that it shouldn't be bastardized like this? I'm really trying not to go OT here, so let's tie it in: I love that Napster lets me find the weird stuff that me and three other people like (unresolved serious ethical dilemmas about IP, licensing and artist compensation aside). I was really disturbed when, driving around the continent for two months last year with my girlfriend, every single city in the US and Canada had a station named Z(\d{2}), and each one sounded exactly the same.
There's something really, really disturbing about cultural Borgification. I don't want the process to be accelerated.
Good, I'm glad I'm not the only one. Everything about them just becomes more ludicrous and unbelievable as time goes on.
Europa's ocean's have been seeded with Natalie Portman's HOT GRITZ!
The excuse that he didn't want his free space provider to get slashdotted was very amusing.
This other NYTimes article at http ://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/081900 sci-environ-climate.html says that one of the first scientists to warn us about CO2 levels affecting climate says that other greenhouse gases may be just as important in their affect, even though they're not produced in nearly the quantities CO2 is. Things like ozone (at ground level, it's a Bad Thing), soot (think diesel exhaust), methane (a big byproduct of rice farming, for some reason) and the like may, all put together, contribute just as much to global warming.
So what, right? Well, not only are there usually better/easier techniques for reducing these (as opposed to CO2), there's usually a lot of immediate reasons (health, economic) to do so, and a lot more immediate results (you don't have to wait 50 years, say, to see a difference in a city skyline once you cut out soot). There's also the advantage of doing an end run around the "You're destroying valuable Capitalism!" argument that arises whenever you talk seriously about cutting CO2.
LOL
"This is a great day for Microsoft innovation," said CEO Bill Gates, "and a great day for computer users too. By releasing programs like WordPerfect, Oracle, AOL's client software and Apple's OS X under this license, we are paving the way for further innovations by Microsoft."
When asked how Microsoft could release programs owned by its competitors, Gates replied cryptically, "That's the innovative part," and refused to elaborate. Further questioning from reporters was discouraged by the large number of well-armed press officers and public relations interns. Instead, reporters were directed to what were described as "handouts and press releases," but which actually appeared to be salvaged dumpsters marked "ORACLE" and "AOL" filled with scrounged CD-ROMS.
Shares of Corel, Oracle, Time-Warner/AOL and Apple crashed during heavy trading following the announcement.
Free Software Foundation guru Richard M. Stallman could not be reached for comment. An associate said, "He's just mad he didn't think of it first."
LOL...
The controversial lobbying efforts were aimed at allowing the RIAA to become a legal guardian of all musicans signed to member record labels. The resulting powers of attorney would have increased its profits by billions.
The RIAA stated in a press release that the measure "would only have been aimed at crappy boy bands. We were only trying to think of the children."
Entertainer Sheryl Crow, who had spearheaded the lobbying against the RIAA, was jubilant. "I'm jubilant," said Crow. "This means I don't have to get 'SANE' tattooed on my hand now."
Free Software Foundation Richard M. Stallman was contacted by email for comment, but only responded "Worst Post Ever."
PS: Check out Factory! The Musical for details of Ayn Rand's short-lived career in musical theatre.
As for the timeline: I assume you read more than just the first page (there's, like, 13 or so pages...and looking at my post, I think I put up the wrong link: it should've been here; this version stretches things out a lot more, which may or may not appeal to you).
I think it might just be your sense of humour vs. mine. I find the utterly bizarre idea of Ayn Rand deciding to have her head severed and kept alive completely hilarious (if I do say so myself), mainly *because* it's so bizarre.
May I quote your post? I especially like the bit about "what the Unabomber would have written in the fifth grade." I'd love to have that up on my site. (Serious request, BTW.)
Ayn Rand? Amazing woman. Did you know that she set up The Ayn Rand Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval? No software yet (though GNOME and the Debian distro are hotly tipped to be approved Real Soon Now), but be sure to check out the portable word processor, complete with spell-check, grammar-check, and automatic Objectivist Lecture Generator.
LOL...
That's a great idea. (No sarcasm, BTW.) I agree w/him that there are times, limited in number, when a wiretap is justified. And I think the suggestion of handing the software to the ISP, getting them to compile it and install it, would lower the paranoia factor (not that it isn't justified) a great deal. But then, maybe I'm one of THEM.
"Ia:! Ia:! Shub-Commodore! The black computer of the woods with a thousand pixels!"
Seriously, doesn't this sound like Fundie Xtians saying that Christ is due back, like, any minue now? Check out The Rapture Index to see what I mean, and tell me that some Amiga fan somewhere won't start up The Amiga's Return Index of their own.
"We will be presenting the judge and jury with a simple question," said attorney Rick Oxford. "Is it possible to write unsafe code in Visual Basic? Microsoft has already provided us with the answer: No."
Oxford was referring to a recent interview with Hejlsberg published on www.oreilly.com. In it, the interviewer asked whether it was possible to write unsafe code in Visual Basic; Hejlsberg replied, "No, you cannot."
US Attorney-General Janet Reno was flummoxed. "I'm flummoxed," she admitted. "That pretty much sinks our whole case right there. But you can be we'll make Gates pay for this." This comment sent Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) share prices plummeting to 0-7/8 per share.
Free Software Founation founder Richard M. Stallman was unavailable for comment. A spokeswoman said he was "busy buying Visual Basic For Dummies(tm)".
(ducks)
Lots of room for everybody...
LOL...damn,that's funny.