Sure, now it's optional and only in Australia. Soon it'll be in the UK, and then the US.
Good God! Clearly it's time for action. I'm going to immediately start downloading as much precious internet pr0n as I can, before the guv-mint cuts off the supply.
What does Congress have against funding for exploration of Mars? What's the purpose for that?
Politics as usual. Considering that the Mars mission is backed by George Bush (he proposed it with some minor fanfare in early 2004), I'd surmise that it's just another way for Congress to take a swipe at Dubya.
Who cares about science when you can score some cheap political points...
I'm a big fan of the Foxit Reader - it's much less bulky and intrusive than the Adobe reader.
My only gripe is their lack of a plugin for Firefox. Many of the PDFs that I encounter are online, and it's more convenient (for me, at least) to view them inside of the browser instead of launching the program externally.
Of course, given recent events, no plugins may be a good thing...
The implication of these findings is that a buffer overflow attack or a similar attack can
be used to learn a single state of the generator
So, in order to exploit this, you first need to pwn the system in order to get the state of the random number generator...
What's the point? Seems like once the system is running your malicious code, the job's already done. Why wouldn't an attacker just stop there and install their keylogger/rootkit of choice?
The same could be said of the religious right and the Republicans. Evangelicals such as Pat Robertson and James Dobson have lately been blustering about supporting a third party if Giuliani gets the Republican nomination, but it's obviously all a bluff. Although their voting bloc can sway an election, they just don't have the numbers to win one single-handedly, and voting for a third party would render them irrelevant. They'll come to heel, simply because they have nowhere else to go.
Can't tell you how many of my CS classmates in college were gamers that figured since they were "good with computers" they should go into CS. They all either dropped out or switched to Psychology or the like.
Same here. My freshman year, three of us in my suite started out as Comp Sci majors, but all it took was one or two Assembly language and Linear Algebra classes to weed out the other two guys. I think they must have thought they would be spending the next four years creating levels for Doom.
This generation literally grew up with computers and the internet. It would be much more surprising if they didn't become accustomed to using the stuff that has been all around them. The same could be said of any previous generation's adoption of new technology (printed books, locomotives, telephones, automobiles, you name it).
That said, there is a huge difference between the superficial use of technology and an understanding of the principals that drive it. Most teenagers know how to use IM, but very few could tell you how it works.
Chris Dodge is one student who certainly has his tech credentials in line. Thanks to his parents, both of whom worked in the tech sector, Dodge has been exposed to PCs since birth and knows enough to design and launch a blog, produce a podcast, or shoot, edit and post a YouTube video.
No offense meant to the aforementioned Chris Dodge, but I would argue that his skills are more due to internet-era osmosis than some deep technical ability. The fact that a fish swims in water does not make it an expert in fluid dynamics.
This month I spent the better part of three days on the phone with a relative whose home computer (running XP, of course) got infected with a nasty batch of spyware. Unfortunately, prior to calling me, she had run out to Staples, dropped $70 on a copy of Norton 360, and attempted to install it on the infected box, thinking it would clean the system.
The Norton software refused to do *anything* until it called home to register itself. Whatever crap was running on the machine was apparently blocking the connection. Now, whenever she rebooted, the first thing that came up was the stupid Norton registration dialog.
Long story short, after I talked her through reformatting her hard drive and reinstalling XP from scratch, Norton was *not* among the programs that got reinstalled. Hopefully the combination of a firewall, Windows Update, Windows Defender, AVG Antivirus, Firefox, and limited accounts for the teenage kids using the system should avoid future infections (but I doubt it...).
It's our choice of course. However, you may regret those missed opportunities twenty years from now. "Saving yourself" for some conjectured Ms./Mr. Right is quite a gamble - you won't get that time back if the person doesn't materialize, or doesn't turn out to be the perfect mate you'd envisioned.
At your age, you should be taking in as many new experiences as you can. There won't be many other times in your life where you are as unencumbered by obligations and responsibilities.
I've had plenty of jobs where I didn't agree with management's policies...Depending on how much I needed the job and how good the job was, I've done things that were unquestionably wrong.
The difference is that this isn't some joe-job in the private sector.
The Surgeon General is the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the US. He is also a physician, and has taken an oath that states (in part) "I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow."
His responsibility is to promote improvement of the health and welfare of the entire nation, not to prop up half-baked policy of the Bush/Cheney/Rove. Use of the post for plain political hackery is a tremendous breach of the public's trust and yet another nauseating example of the corruption at all levels of this administration.
Mankind has historically been unable to foresee the results of changes to relatively simple systems, often with deadly and far-reaching consequences.
Now, naturally occurring biologic systems are just mind-bogglingly complicated, and we have only the slightest inkling of how they function. Genetic material is, by its very nature, extremely prone to mutation and propagation. We have no idea what the introduction of molecular time bombs in the wild could lead to. Moreover, to do so simply to protect some corporation's profit margin is more than simply risky, it's depravedly irresponsible.
This was the cover for the Activision game "Tongue of the Fatman", released back in the 80s.
I can imagine being one of the developers of this - you spend long months coding and testing, only to have some idiot in the marketing department slap this lousy excuse for a cover on it. Cripes.
It boggles the mind that (fully patched) XP, IE7, and Vista are still vulnerable to buffer overflow attacks. It's 2007 for god's sake, not 1987.
Any use of a stack-based static-sized buffer should have thrown up huge red flags during code review. To have unchecked use of a static buffer make its way into production code is inexcusable in this day and age, particularly at Microsoft.
In the roughly three hours that elapsed between the time that I submitted the story and the time that it appeared on the Slashdot front page, there were apparently further developments in the story and the article on CNN was changed.
I refer you to the (modified) CNN article:
Earlier today the California Attorney General's office issued an incorrect press release stating that defendants would enter guilty pleas to the wire fraud charges.
Why do people do things anonymously that they wouldn't do if their name was stamped on it? I think the world would be a lot better place if everyone took responsibility for what they said and what they did.
Okay, Mr. RecklessWanderer. Here's a quick example of why someone might want to remain anonymous online.
According to your posts in the thread, you're Canadian.
A few seconds on Google brings up this post by a Canadian named "TheRecklessWanderer". The message board discusses experiences at an "adult-oriented resort" where paying customers get to "mingle" with women of indeterminate age and questionable virtue.
Now, I'm not implying that you and the poster on the message board are the same person; in fact the huge popularity of the internet makes it unlikely. But for many people, being mistakenly associated with questionable activities could be awkward or embarrassing at best, devastating at worst. Luckily, the anonymous nature of the internet prevents future employers or current spouses from jumping to such hasty conclusions.
The full catalog for the auction can be found at the Bonhoms auction site here. There's some cool stuff there for movie buffs, including costumes from Dr. Who, Alien, Superman, Indiana Jones and Highlander.
A detailed picture of the Kenobi cloak can be found here. Apparently there are some hardcore Star Wars fans that doubt its authenticity, based on the locations of some hems and seams.
Slashdot Mirror
Good God! Clearly it's time for action. I'm going to immediately start downloading as much precious internet pr0n as I can, before the guv-mint cuts off the supply.
Now this is a prime example of why standard units are so important.
.75 inches across... the Library of Congress has approximately 530 miles of shelf space... ...carry the two...
As I understand it, here on Slashdot, size is expressed in units of Library of Congresses. Let's do a few quick calculations:
So, uh, lessee... a US penny is
That means that this new chip is 2.2334E-08 Library of Congresses in size.
Happy to Help!
Does that mean that there will be 110010 ways to leave your (robot) lover?
Politics as usual. Considering that the Mars mission is backed by George Bush (he proposed it with some minor fanfare in early 2004), I'd surmise that it's just another way for Congress to take a swipe at Dubya.
Who cares about science when you can score some cheap political points...
I'm a big fan of the Foxit Reader - it's much less bulky and intrusive than the Adobe reader.
My only gripe is their lack of a plugin for Firefox. Many of the PDFs that I encounter are online, and it's more convenient (for me, at least) to view them inside of the browser instead of launching the program externally.
Of course, given recent events, no plugins may be a good thing...
What's the point? Seems like once the system is running your malicious code, the job's already done. Why wouldn't an attacker just stop there and install their keylogger/rootkit of choice?
The same could be said of the religious right and the Republicans. Evangelicals such as Pat Robertson and James Dobson have lately been blustering about supporting a third party if Giuliani gets the Republican nomination, but it's obviously all a bluff. Although their voting bloc can sway an election, they just don't have the numbers to win one single-handedly, and voting for a third party would render them irrelevant. They'll come to heel, simply because they have nowhere else to go.
And this one as well.
Same here. My freshman year, three of us in my suite started out as Comp Sci majors, but all it took was one or two Assembly language and Linear Algebra classes to weed out the other two guys. I think they must have thought they would be spending the next four years creating levels for Doom.
That said, there is a huge difference between the superficial use of technology and an understanding of the principals that drive it. Most teenagers know how to use IM, but very few could tell you how it works.
No offense meant to the aforementioned Chris Dodge, but I would argue that his skills are more due to internet-era osmosis than some deep technical ability. The fact that a fish swims in water does not make it an expert in fluid dynamics.
Norton sucks.
This month I spent the better part of three days on the phone with a relative whose home computer (running XP, of course) got infected with a nasty batch of spyware. Unfortunately, prior to calling me, she had run out to Staples, dropped $70 on a copy of Norton 360, and attempted to install it on the infected box, thinking it would clean the system.
The Norton software refused to do *anything* until it called home to register itself. Whatever crap was running on the machine was apparently blocking the connection. Now, whenever she rebooted, the first thing that came up was the stupid Norton registration dialog.
Long story short, after I talked her through reformatting her hard drive and reinstalling XP from scratch, Norton was *not* among the programs that got reinstalled. Hopefully the combination of a firewall, Windows Update, Windows Defender, AVG Antivirus, Firefox, and limited accounts for the teenage kids using the system should avoid future infections (but I doubt it...).
While certainly a fascinating find, bones alone can tell us only so much about these fascinating creatures.
For example: how did Jesus strap His saddle on a Gryposaurus?
Point of order:
This is a kayak.
These are canoes.
That is all.
Which API is that - sockets?
Seems to me that the game's already over if a malicious process is running on the PC in the first place.
Game Over, Man - GAME OVER!
It's our choice of course. However, you may regret those missed opportunities twenty years from now. "Saving yourself" for some conjectured Ms./Mr. Right is quite a gamble - you won't get that time back if the person doesn't materialize, or doesn't turn out to be the perfect mate you'd envisioned.
At your age, you should be taking in as many new experiences as you can. There won't be many other times in your life where you are as unencumbered by obligations and responsibilities.
The difference is that this isn't some joe-job in the private sector.
The Surgeon General is the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the US. He is also a physician, and has taken an oath that states (in part) "I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow."
His responsibility is to promote improvement of the health and welfare of the entire nation, not to prop up half-baked policy of the Bush/Cheney/Rove. Use of the post for plain political hackery is a tremendous breach of the public's trust and yet another nauseating example of the corruption at all levels of this administration.
I see your XKCD, and raise you one more!
For starters, how about the Law of Unintended Consequences?
Mankind has historically been unable to foresee the results of changes to relatively simple systems, often with deadly and far-reaching consequences.
Now, naturally occurring biologic systems are just mind-bogglingly complicated, and we have only the slightest inkling of how they function. Genetic material is, by its very nature, extremely prone to mutation and propagation. We have no idea what the introduction of molecular time bombs in the wild could lead to. Moreover, to do so simply to protect some corporation's profit margin is more than simply risky, it's depravedly irresponsible.
I had a co-worker that used to use a similar phrase. As in:
"I'm so p*ssed off I could jack off a bobcat in a phone booth with a hand full of razor blades"
or (another variant):
"I'd rather sandpaper a bobcat's butt in a phone booth than X" (where X is some undesirable task).
He was an ex-Marine from Texas, so take your pick where the line originated.
This was the cover for the Activision game "Tongue of the Fatman", released back in the 80s.
I can imagine being one of the developers of this - you spend long months coding and testing, only to have some idiot in the marketing department slap this lousy excuse for a cover on it. Cripes.
It boggles the mind that (fully patched) XP, IE7, and Vista are still vulnerable to buffer overflow attacks. It's 2007 for god's sake, not 1987.
Any use of a stack-based static-sized buffer should have thrown up huge red flags during code review. To have unchecked use of a static buffer make its way into production code is inexcusable in this day and age, particularly at Microsoft.
In the roughly three hours that elapsed between the time that I submitted the story and the time that it appeared on the Slashdot front page, there were apparently further developments in the story and the article on CNN was changed.
I refer you to the (modified) CNN article:
Okay, Mr. RecklessWanderer. Here's a quick example of why someone might want to remain anonymous online.
According to your posts in the thread, you're Canadian.
A few seconds on Google brings up this post by a Canadian named "TheRecklessWanderer". The message board discusses experiences at an "adult-oriented resort" where paying customers get to "mingle" with women of indeterminate age and questionable virtue.
Now, I'm not implying that you and the poster on the message board are the same person; in fact the huge popularity of the internet makes it unlikely. But for many people, being mistakenly associated with questionable activities could be awkward or embarrassing at best, devastating at worst. Luckily, the anonymous nature of the internet prevents future employers or current spouses from jumping to such hasty conclusions.
The full catalog for the auction can be found at the Bonhoms auction site here. There's some cool stuff there for movie buffs, including costumes from Dr. Who, Alien, Superman, Indiana Jones and Highlander.
A detailed picture of the Kenobi cloak can be found here. Apparently there are some hardcore Star Wars fans that doubt its authenticity, based on the locations of some hems and seams.