Wow, I offended the sensitive Perl-ophants... too bad.
As for my knowledge of CGI and Perl and C, I am co-author of a best-selling book on the issue. I also have received "Editor's Choice" in PC Magazine for software I wrote. I'm also the architect of an advanced online system that is probably one of the top 200 web sites. Who the hell are you guys? I know what I'm talking about. I design mission critical web applications. I work in Perl, C and everything in between.
Man, every day Slashdot is starting to look more like Digg, with lots of accusations and very little conversations.
I agree, a simple cgi script can serve needs well, but it's really ironic IBM uses as an example, a Perl script... no doubt a clever way to encourage sales of their next bigger, faster server, because if you used Perl CGI scripts in a real-time web application that got any significant amount of traffic, you'd need 100 times the processing power of a comparable script written in C or PHP to perform the same task.
I know Slashdot is running in Perl, and their system is cool, but even with mod_perl, there's a lot more overhead in a perl-based application than other languages that are a lot more suitable for the web.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many people quick to condemn the notion that global warming might be man-made? Are all these people, who jump at any chance to suggest it's just a theory, all employees of oil companies?
I submit if you do research you may find that most anti-global-warming people are christians. Christianity seems to be one of the few religions on earth where there is absolutely no mandate in their doctrine whatsoever to take care of the planet. Even islam recognizes that there is a duty to treat the environment with respect. As far as I can tell, christianity is unique in this respect. The notion that jesus is going to show up and rescue everybody precludes the idea of being that concerned about the future of the planet. I suspect many people, especially christians may not even be aware that this is an underlying motivation behind the anti-global-warming movement. But it does make sense. Let's face it. God in the bible, is the ultimate destroyer of the environment. Christians, at least those who follow the bible, don't want to entertain the idea that they may have any responsibility to the earth. Jesus is coming any day now... why make ourselves inconvenient for a future that won't happen?
After 12 years of running Internet servers, I won't put anything but Seagate SCSI drives in any mission critical servers. My experience indicates Seagate drives are superior. Who's the worst? Quantum. The only thing Quantum drives are good for is starting a fire IMO.
I suspect you work in an area where you need spam to exist to maintain your job security or you wouldn't be asking that question. Either that or you have minimal experience with this technology and field.
The bottom line is that it takes an ongoing effort to update both RBLs and content-based filter. The main difference is, there is a FINITE amount of IP space, so the RBL war is worth winning. There is an INFINITE number of combinations of keywords and imagery that can be forged as spam. Common sense indicates one approach has a chance of success, and the other is a hamster wheel. And of course, I can go into great details about my own ongoing experience in this area which covers 12 years of internet mail system service.
To add to this, the irony is that most content-based filtering relies on IP based blacklisting to achieve an even remotely reliable score.
I remember when you bought a PC and you had a command prompt and a BASIC interpreter. People wrote software -- that's what a computer was for. I don't need another iteration of a machine sheltering me from figuring out how it works so I can make it work better. Piss off Vista.
A good RBL-based system never loses mail. Any legitimate mail that is blocked causes the original sender to be notified. Content-based filtering systems don't work like that scheme, so people that use mail filtering do lost more legitimate mail, and the worse part is, the senders never know their mail was lost. This is why content-based filtering doesn't work and RBLs do.
Forget CIOs... there are many system administrators who don't know the real issues regarding spam. Here are some things everyone needs to know:
1. Content filtering is not a solution.
I hate to say it, but it's the truth. Filtering mail based on what's in the e-mail message is a never-ending battle that does not work. It slows down mail service, causes legitimate mail to be blocked more often than using RBLs, and violates peoples privacy, costs more money to maintain and makes the mail system inherently less efficient and reliable.
E-mail used to be instantaneous. Now it isn't, because all the major ISPs toss their mail into big queues where they go over it and file it away or pass it on. If you send something to a Bellsouth users nowadays, they *might* get it 6+ hours later! Stupid, content filtering doesn't work and creates worse problems.
2. The Spam problem is mostly a law enforcement issue and not a technological issue.
99.9% of spammers break the law. The reason why spamming is such a problem is because national and international authorities won't get off their lazy asses and prosecute the spammers for the laws they break. In the end, you'll do more to reduce spam by petitioning your local district attorney to prosecute spammers than installing some obnoxious cpu-chewing filter that will become obsolete within two weeks. And no, the jurisdiction issue is bogus. Technology exists to track all these spammers right back to where they are. There are spammers all over the world and especially in the U.S. that can and should be in jail right now, but they're not because the Feds are more interested in going after people like Tommy Chong. Call your D.A. Call your Congressman. Complain that your reps aren't putting these guys in jail.
When I say "spam" I mean the big spam operations. The industry can easily police itself of low-level, incompetent opt-in schemes, but that's not the real "spam" problem we're talking about.
3. Don't listen to the anti-virus/anti-spyware software companies.
These companies make their living off of spam. There is an inherent conflict of interest in relying on Symantec or any other company to be trusted to help deal with the spam problem. They need spam and they'll never do what's necessary to stop spam from becoming more of a problem. This is analagous to why car manufacturers won't build more reliable/efficient cars when they are capable of doing so -- it's not profitable for them. Stop looking to McAffee or any of these other foxes to be trusted in helping you guard your henhouse.
4. Most anti-spam methods do nothing to stop spam, except relay blacklisting.
Spammers steal bandwidth, violate peoples' security, tamper with third-party computers and bog down the Internet. Content-based filtering does not hurt spammers. RBLs do. Relay blacklisting is the single most effective deterrent in the war on spam. PERIOD. No other method both stops spam, and makes it exponentially more expensive and troublesome for spammers to do their job.
Relay blacklisting works. If you don't like RBLs, chances are you just had a bad experience with a bad one. Try a different one or create your own. They work. They work exceptionally well and best of all, they save bandwidth and resources from the spammer's grimy hands. They also have the added benefit of stopping the propagation of worms and punishing irresponsible ISPs who allow their zombie users to pollute the Internet. There is NO BETTER THING CURRENTLY you can do to combat the spam war than by feeding and using RBLs (aside from following #2 and complaining that spammers aren't being prosecuted).
5. There are not that many spam operations. The spam epidemic is not unstoppable.
The amount of spam going around on the Internet has increased but only proportionally to the amount of user and bandwidth growth, and not due to more and more people getting into the spam business. A cursory examination of most spam clearly indicates that there are
This is a very smart move, but the real threat is genetically-modified strains making the original ones instinct. Many in the agriculture field are already worried about this happening.
I would have expected that other countries would have a different name for their fleet than "coast guard". Maybe they're just Americanizing it for the web.
FTA: A Coast Guard helicopter located the spot, and a team drawn from Coast Guard and Navy was soon at the job of retrieving the spacecraft, which they did, and uploaded to a ship "Sarang" to be taken to the spaceport of Sriharikota via Ennore Port.
Did the U.S. Coast Guard pick up this satellite or was it some sort of Indian Coast Guard? And India has a "Coast Guard?" That article seems really confusing. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if the government has sent the U.S. Coast Guard overseas... nothing surprises me any more relating to the deployment of American forces in places they shouldn't be.
Here are some of my tips to avoid products that suck.
1. If the product is available on Amazon.com, check out its reviews. Also note that sometimes slightly different/older versions of the same product have more reviews. It takes some time to sift through the sycophants and astroturf but it's a great source.
2. Search for negatives. Try google searches on "*product* sucks" or "*product* problems" and other permutations to find peoples' complaints about a product or its company.
3. Look for refurbs.... if you see a lot of refurbished versions of your product in the marketplace, this is a bad sign usually.
4. eBay... search completed auctions to see what the going value and interest is in the product. Also eBay auctions tend to have the most comprehensive array of specs on these products, often more informative than the manufacturer's web site.
5. Avoid all the large web sites with the bogus reviews and meaningless content. If you search on "*product* reviews" you're guaranteed to get a bunch of shill web sites that are worthless.
What about dealing with wireless on campus these days?
We recently started surveying our community about what mobile devices they are using, how they are using them, etc. We have a team of people worrying about this.
The overall environmental impact of solar cells is still worse than the equivalent traditional electrical generation would be.
The experts (IDontAgreeWithYou (829067)) have spoken. Case closed I guess.
I'm really sick of this bogus astroturfing. Just because you or your family work at/for some oil company isn't a reason to spread unsubstantiated FUD. This issue affects everybody, including mercinary, narrow-minded, right-wing-types who want to piss on any change to the energy status quo.
One thing I can be thankful of is that people throughout history didn't have your dumbass mindset. Otherwise every time we tried to solve a problem, some dork like you would go, "Oh it's too expensive. It's too destructive. It's not practical.." and go back to hitting small animals over the heads with a club and waiting for the gods to strike the ground in fury to create fire.
1. Installing your own solar array: $100k 2. Cost of operating most appliances: $0 3. Value of watching your power meter run backwards when you're giving power to the grid.... PRICELESS!
Prices for solar panels and equipment will become much lower when the government and media calls attention to the potential and promotes it. More companies will enter these fields and there will be even more innovation and lower prices. Right now prices are high because there isn't as much demand, and there aren't enough sources for the products. This will change. And like everything else, solar cells and other alternative forms of energy will become more efficient, and issues of size, appearance and cost will diminish.
Imagine the energy we could save if the Chinese cranking out crappy plastic shit for Wal-Mart were repurposed to produce solar power equipment?
I believe the main reason why spammers are forging in the first place is to taint relay blacklists. RBLs hurt spammers more than anything else. When they forge from addresses they cause legitimate relays to be spammed by other legitimate relays and this in turn may prompt some relays to blacklist legitimate smtp servers and tarnish the effectiveness of RBLs. However, most admins are now wise to this and differentiate between the different types of traffic.
If you run any mail server for a reasonable amount of time, until the feds decide to get off their lazy asses and prosecute these criminals, you're going to run into this problem. It usually passes after a few days. If I run into it, I will sometimes change the MX record of the offending domain to 127.0.0.1 temporarily. And rule number one is avoid *@domain.com mail mappings...
Considering how fast the Feds reacted to 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina, I think it's safe to assume some time next week they'll have a meeting to discuss "WTF that was in the sky??"
I recently purchased a new Linksys router and I could have sworn it was not as stable as an older one. Now I know why. Cisco really sucks. I guess they can no longer innovate so they have to cripple products in order to sell their higher-end stuff. This is probably a major factor in them acquiring Linksys in the first place.
Why use a software product that is incompatible with other mainstream hardware and software?
The obvious solution is to dump Vista. Is there any great reason to have it at this point other than you're looking to waste a tremendous amount of time beta-testing compatibility issues for Microsoft without pay?
Slashdot Mirror
Wow, I offended the sensitive Perl-ophants... too bad.
As for my knowledge of CGI and Perl and C, I am co-author of a best-selling book on the issue. I also have received "Editor's Choice" in PC Magazine for software I wrote. I'm also the architect of an advanced online system that is probably one of the top 200 web sites. Who the hell are you guys? I know what I'm talking about. I design mission critical web applications. I work in Perl, C and everything in between.
Man, every day Slashdot is starting to look more like Digg, with lots of accusations and very little conversations.
Real programming basically died in the mid 1990s.
I agree, a simple cgi script can serve needs well, but it's really ironic IBM uses as an example, a Perl script... no doubt a clever way to encourage sales of their next bigger, faster server, because if you used Perl CGI scripts in a real-time web application that got any significant amount of traffic, you'd need 100 times the processing power of a comparable script written in C or PHP to perform the same task.
I know Slashdot is running in Perl, and their system is cool, but even with mod_perl, there's a lot more overhead in a perl-based application than other languages that are a lot more suitable for the web.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many people quick to condemn the notion that global warming might be man-made? Are all these people, who jump at any chance to suggest it's just a theory, all employees of oil companies?
I submit if you do research you may find that most anti-global-warming people are christians. Christianity seems to be one of the few religions on earth where there is absolutely no mandate in their doctrine whatsoever to take care of the planet. Even islam recognizes that there is a duty to treat the environment with respect. As far as I can tell, christianity is unique in this respect. The notion that jesus is going to show up and rescue everybody precludes the idea of being that concerned about the future of the planet. I suspect many people, especially christians may not even be aware that this is an underlying motivation behind the anti-global-warming movement. But it does make sense. Let's face it. God in the bible, is the ultimate destroyer of the environment. Christians, at least those who follow the bible, don't want to entertain the idea that they may have any responsibility to the earth. Jesus is coming any day now... why make ourselves inconvenient for a future that won't happen?
After 12 years of running Internet servers, I won't put anything but Seagate SCSI drives in any mission critical servers. My experience indicates Seagate drives are superior. Who's the worst? Quantum. The only thing Quantum drives are good for is starting a fire IMO.
I suspect you work in an area where you need spam to exist to maintain your job security or you wouldn't be asking that question. Either that or you have minimal experience with this technology and field.
The bottom line is that it takes an ongoing effort to update both RBLs and content-based filter. The main difference is, there is a FINITE amount of IP space, so the RBL war is worth winning. There is an INFINITE number of combinations of keywords and imagery that can be forged as spam. Common sense indicates one approach has a chance of success, and the other is a hamster wheel. And of course, I can go into great details about my own ongoing experience in this area which covers 12 years of internet mail system service.
To add to this, the irony is that most content-based filtering relies on IP based blacklisting to achieve an even remotely reliable score.
I remember when you bought a PC and you had a command prompt and a BASIC interpreter. People wrote software -- that's what a computer was for. I don't need another iteration of a machine sheltering me from figuring out how it works so I can make it work better. Piss off Vista.
A good RBL-based system never loses mail. Any legitimate mail that is blocked causes the original sender to be notified. Content-based filtering systems don't work like that scheme, so people that use mail filtering do lost more legitimate mail, and the worse part is, the senders never know their mail was lost. This is why content-based filtering doesn't work and RBLs do.
Forget CIOs... there are many system administrators who don't know the real issues regarding spam. Here are some things everyone needs to know:
1. Content filtering is not a solution.
I hate to say it, but it's the truth. Filtering mail based on what's in the e-mail message is a never-ending battle that does not work. It slows down mail service, causes legitimate mail to be blocked more often than using RBLs, and violates peoples privacy, costs more money to maintain and makes the mail system inherently less efficient and reliable.
E-mail used to be instantaneous. Now it isn't, because all the major ISPs toss their mail into big queues where they go over it and file it away or pass it on. If you send something to a Bellsouth users nowadays, they *might* get it 6+ hours later! Stupid, content filtering doesn't work and creates worse problems.
2. The Spam problem is mostly a law enforcement issue and not a technological issue.
99.9% of spammers break the law. The reason why spamming is such a problem is because national and international authorities won't get off their lazy asses and prosecute the spammers for the laws they break. In the end, you'll do more to reduce spam by petitioning your local district attorney to prosecute spammers than installing some obnoxious cpu-chewing filter that will become obsolete within two weeks. And no, the jurisdiction issue is bogus. Technology exists to track all these spammers right back to where they are. There are spammers all over the world and especially in the U.S. that can and should be in jail right now, but they're not because the Feds are more interested in going after people like Tommy Chong. Call your D.A. Call your Congressman. Complain that your reps aren't putting these guys in jail.
When I say "spam" I mean the big spam operations. The industry can easily police itself of low-level, incompetent opt-in schemes, but that's not the real "spam" problem we're talking about.
3. Don't listen to the anti-virus/anti-spyware software companies.
These companies make their living off of spam. There is an inherent conflict of interest in relying on Symantec or any other company to be trusted to help deal with the spam problem. They need spam and they'll never do what's necessary to stop spam from becoming more of a problem. This is analagous to why car manufacturers won't build more reliable/efficient cars when they are capable of doing so -- it's not profitable for them. Stop looking to McAffee or any of these other foxes to be trusted in helping you guard your henhouse.
4. Most anti-spam methods do nothing to stop spam, except relay blacklisting.
Spammers steal bandwidth, violate peoples' security, tamper with third-party computers and bog down the Internet. Content-based filtering does not hurt spammers. RBLs do. Relay blacklisting is the single most effective deterrent in the war on spam. PERIOD. No other method both stops spam, and makes it exponentially more expensive and troublesome for spammers to do their job.
Relay blacklisting works. If you don't like RBLs, chances are you just had a bad experience with a bad one. Try a different one or create your own. They work. They work exceptionally well and best of all, they save bandwidth and resources from the spammer's grimy hands. They also have the added benefit of stopping the propagation of worms and punishing irresponsible ISPs who allow their zombie users to pollute the Internet. There is NO BETTER THING CURRENTLY you can do to combat the spam war than by feeding and using RBLs (aside from following #2 and complaining that spammers aren't being prosecuted).
5. There are not that many spam operations. The spam epidemic is not unstoppable.
The amount of spam going around on the Internet has increased but only proportionally to the amount of user and bandwidth growth, and not due to more and more people getting into the spam business. A cursory examination of most spam clearly indicates that there are
This is a very smart move, but the real threat is genetically-modified strains making the original ones instinct. Many in the agriculture field are already worried about this happening.
Don't quit your day job at encyclopedia britannica even though you've been found out dude....
I would have expected that other countries would have a different name for their fleet than "coast guard". Maybe they're just Americanizing it for the web.
FTA: A Coast Guard helicopter located the spot, and a team drawn from Coast Guard and Navy was soon at the job of retrieving the spacecraft, which they did, and uploaded to a ship "Sarang" to be taken to the spaceport of Sriharikota via Ennore Port.
Did the U.S. Coast Guard pick up this satellite or was it some sort of Indian Coast Guard? And India has a "Coast Guard?" That article seems really confusing. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if the government has sent the U.S. Coast Guard overseas... nothing surprises me any more relating to the deployment of American forces in places they shouldn't be.
Here are some of my tips to avoid products that suck.
1. If the product is available on Amazon.com, check out its reviews. Also note that sometimes slightly different/older versions of the same product have more reviews. It takes some time to sift through the sycophants and astroturf but it's a great source.
2. Search for negatives. Try google searches on "*product* sucks" or "*product* problems" and other permutations to find peoples' complaints about a product or its company.
3. Look for refurbs.... if you see a lot of refurbished versions of your product in the marketplace, this is a bad sign usually.
4. eBay... search completed auctions to see what the going value and interest is in the product. Also eBay auctions tend to have the most comprehensive array of specs on these products, often more informative than the manufacturer's web site.
5. Avoid all the large web sites with the bogus reviews and meaningless content. If you search on "*product* reviews" you're guaranteed to get a bunch of shill web sites that are worthless.
FTA:
What about dealing with wireless on campus these days?
We recently started surveying our community about what mobile devices they are using, how they are using them, etc. We have a team of people worrying about this.
The overall environmental impact of solar cells is still worse than the equivalent traditional electrical generation would be.
The experts (IDontAgreeWithYou (829067)) have spoken. Case closed I guess.
I'm really sick of this bogus astroturfing. Just because you or your family work at/for some oil company isn't a reason to spread unsubstantiated FUD. This issue affects everybody, including mercinary, narrow-minded, right-wing-types who want to piss on any change to the energy status quo.
One thing I can be thankful of is that people throughout history didn't have your dumbass mindset. Otherwise every time we tried to solve a problem, some dork like you would go, "Oh it's too expensive. It's too destructive. It's not practical.." and go back to hitting small animals over the heads with a club and waiting for the gods to strike the ground in fury to create fire.
Isn't H2O also a greenhouse gas?
Wow. Slashdot ain't what it used to be.
1. Installing your own solar array: $100k .... PRICELESS!
2. Cost of operating most appliances: $0
3. Value of watching your power meter run backwards when you're giving power to the grid
Prices for solar panels and equipment will become much lower when the government and media calls attention to the potential and promotes it. More companies will enter these fields and there will be even more innovation and lower prices. Right now prices are high because there isn't as much demand, and there aren't enough sources for the products. This will change. And like everything else, solar cells and other alternative forms of energy will become more efficient, and issues of size, appearance and cost will diminish.
Imagine the energy we could save if the Chinese cranking out crappy plastic shit for Wal-Mart were repurposed to produce solar power equipment?
They couldn't bring a case against the men simply for the fact that it would violate habeas corpus.
Thank goodness Habeas Corpus is still intact.
I believe the main reason why spammers are forging in the first place is to taint relay blacklists. RBLs hurt spammers more than anything else. When they forge from addresses they cause legitimate relays to be spammed by other legitimate relays and this in turn may prompt some relays to blacklist legitimate smtp servers and tarnish the effectiveness of RBLs. However, most admins are now wise to this and differentiate between the different types of traffic.
If you run any mail server for a reasonable amount of time, until the feds decide to get off their lazy asses and prosecute these criminals, you're going to run into this problem. It usually passes after a few days. If I run into it, I will sometimes change the MX record of the offending domain to 127.0.0.1 temporarily. And rule number one is avoid *@domain.com mail mappings...
Considering how fast the Feds reacted to 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina, I think it's safe to assume some time next week they'll have a meeting to discuss "WTF that was in the sky??"
This is really sickening.
I recently purchased a new Linksys router and I could have sworn it was not as stable as an older one. Now I know why. Cisco really sucks. I guess they can no longer innovate so they have to cripple products in order to sell their higher-end stuff. This is probably a major factor in them acquiring Linksys in the first place.
Why use a software product that is incompatible with other mainstream hardware and software?
The obvious solution is to dump Vista. Is there any great reason to have it at this point other than you're looking to waste a tremendous amount of time beta-testing compatibility issues for Microsoft without pay?
So much for any notion of a warning system for missiles eh?