My university (MIT) does similarly, turning off the drops of infected computers. Usually, it works well, but more and more students are using laptops, which are mobile, often with wireless. Any time an infected machine plugged into a new drop or used a new WAP, down it went. A single student took down several others drops by using their WAPs, and never noticed the problem because they never received mail (the WAP owners did, after their drops died). This is only going to be more of a problem as laptops become more common. Banning MAC addresses seems like a more logical solution, as student knowledgeable enough to reprogram their MAC address are also probably knowledgeable enough to protect their computer from worms and other exploits.
Ok, so as an MIT student, I've watched the institute blow its money on pretty stupid things. When I got here, Simmons Hall was finishing construction, and Stata was just a big hole in the ground. Simmons was the solution to overcrowding on campus, to build a huge dorm full of holes that can hole about 10% of the people a building that size should hold.
Now, there's Stata. It's pricetag was $283 million, up from a proposed $95 million. Even worse, Gehry's quoted in The Tech complaining about having to deal with "stupid things like budgets". I'm glad they managed to stop him at only three times the initial spec.
A final amusing tidbit about State. Many of the offices and rooms have these large, angled concrete columns. Most of them are covered with marking by construction workers, jotting notes of what wires to run where and which holes go in which walls. No one told the workers that the columns weren't getting painted over, though. Now these offices look like someone came in to graffiti the columns.
Firstly, the card reader access on camput is pretty minimal. Many outer doors have card readers and are locked after hours, but there are plenty of unlocked doors that grant access to almost all of campus.
More of a problem is that the RFID system has almost no security. No challenge-response, the cards just send out their data when queried. And can be read from a distance. And can be linked to things like student financial accounts. I can't blame Stallman for being a little paranoid.
Actually, Lego seems to be going back to their original philosophy with some of their new sets. I just got some of the "Inventor" and "Designer" sets, both of which contain basically standard pieces with instructions for a bunch of models, as well as ideas for a lot more. The Inventor sets are more towards Technics, with gears and moving parts.
The fact that they got a college student buying Legos again says something, too.
As an entering frosh at MIT, I've already seen bathroom and laundry. But it wasn't until I moved to 3rd East that I came upon sodalord.mit.edu. We've got a really old soda machine in the hall, and it's connected to a server. Log in to your account, get your soda, put it on your tab. Check out the hall's habits, or any member thereof, on the web. Fun.
I didn't get this, but someone I work with did, and it gave the whole office a nice laugh. He got a message with the resume of someone applying for position of network administrator. We didn't recognize the e-mail, so it seemed to come to two possibilities: 1) This guy's not the one you want to hire, as he can't even keep his own machine safe. 2) This company really should hire him, because their system's been compromised. Not sure which is worse...
Coming from the opposite side of the fence, I seem to have gotten lucky in the jobs I've held. I'm only 18, and, during the past two summers, have taken random tech jobs at two different companies.
Both times, I started out with next to no respect, being the one to run errands and menial tasks, not at all what I signed up for. But once people realized that I actually knew something (and in most cases, knew more on the subjects than most of the other employees), I started getting a bit of respect.
For most employers, I've found it comes down to proving your worth. Show them that they need you, and that you're worth more to them being productive than being stuck doing small stuff, and they'll let you take the wheel.
This, however, brings up the problem of getting them to notice your contribution. Many employers have the age prejudice so deeply engrained in their skulls that they simply refuse to acknowledge the work of someone based solely on their age. After all, if it too them this long to get where they were, some young upstart can't possibly do it in any less time.
Unfortunately, defeating this prejudice is a much harder task. Gee, wouldn't it be nice if people were logical?
Well, I had this great idea ages ago, but I had figured out how to produce the sound through the elbow, and just couldn't really market it.
But this is a nice idea. Rivals Get Smart for the shoe phone. Now if only we can get voice input through another finger, we'll be all set to walk down the street looking like complete loonies.
Alright, so those're pretty cool. But, from someone who's been folding for most of his existance, Joseph Wu's Origami Page still is among the greatest, and has what might be the greatest X-Wing Model (2 notes: 1, it's a.pdf file, 2, it's the "Chi-Wing Fighter" to avoid copyright infringement, no relation to the starship we know). There's no limit to what one can do with a square of paper (and people are pushing that limit (yet another note, warning, adult content) all the time...
Slashdot Mirror
My university (MIT) does similarly, turning off the drops of infected computers. Usually, it works well, but more and more students are using laptops, which are mobile, often with wireless. Any time an infected machine plugged into a new drop or used a new WAP, down it went. A single student took down several others drops by using their WAPs, and never noticed the problem because they never received mail (the WAP owners did, after their drops died). This is only going to be more of a problem as laptops become more common. Banning MAC addresses seems like a more logical solution, as student knowledgeable enough to reprogram their MAC address are also probably knowledgeable enough to protect their computer from worms and other exploits.
Ok, so as an MIT student, I've watched the institute blow its money on pretty stupid things. When I got here, Simmons Hall was finishing construction, and Stata was just a big hole in the ground. Simmons was the solution to overcrowding on campus, to build a huge dorm full of holes that can hole about 10% of the people a building that size should hold.
Now, there's Stata. It's pricetag was $283 million, up from a proposed $95 million. Even worse, Gehry's quoted in The Tech complaining about having to deal with "stupid things like budgets". I'm glad they managed to stop him at only three times the initial spec.
A final amusing tidbit about State. Many of the offices and rooms have these large, angled concrete columns. Most of them are covered with marking by construction workers, jotting notes of what wires to run where and which holes go in which walls. No one told the workers that the columns weren't getting painted over, though. Now these offices look like someone came in to graffiti the columns.
Firstly, the card reader access on camput is pretty minimal. Many outer doors have card readers and are locked after hours, but there are plenty of unlocked doors that grant access to almost all of campus.
More of a problem is that the RFID system has almost no security. No challenge-response, the cards just send out their data when queried. And can be read from a distance. And can be linked to things like student financial accounts. I can't blame Stallman for being a little paranoid.
Actually, Lego seems to be going back to their original philosophy with some of their new sets. I just got some of the "Inventor" and "Designer" sets, both of which contain basically standard pieces with instructions for a bunch of models, as well as ideas for a lot more. The Inventor sets are more towards Technics, with gears and moving parts.
The fact that they got a college student buying Legos again says something, too.
Heard a story of people making a coat of scale mail from AOL CD's, the "You've Got Mail" mail. Can't seem to find pictures around about it, though.
As an entering frosh at MIT, I've already seen bathroom and laundry. But it wasn't until I moved to 3rd East that I came upon sodalord.mit.edu. We've got a really old soda machine in the hall, and it's connected to a server. Log in to your account, get your soda, put it on your tab. Check out the hall's habits, or any member thereof, on the web. Fun.
I didn't get this, but someone I work with did, and it gave the whole office a nice laugh. He got a message with the resume of someone applying for position of network administrator. We didn't recognize the e-mail, so it seemed to come to two possibilities:
1) This guy's not the one you want to hire, as he can't even keep his own machine safe.
2) This company really should hire him, because their system's been compromised.
Not sure which is worse...
-InsaneFolder
Both times, I started out with next to no respect, being the one to run errands and menial tasks, not at all what I signed up for. But once people realized that I actually knew something (and in most cases, knew more on the subjects than most of the other employees), I started getting a bit of respect.
For most employers, I've found it comes down to proving your worth. Show them that they need you, and that you're worth more to them being productive than being stuck doing small stuff, and they'll let you take the wheel.
This, however, brings up the problem of getting them to notice your contribution. Many employers have the age prejudice so deeply engrained in their skulls that they simply refuse to acknowledge the work of someone based solely on their age. After all, if it too them this long to get where they were, some young upstart can't possibly do it in any less time.
Unfortunately, defeating this prejudice is a much harder task. Gee, wouldn't it be nice if people were logical?
Well, I had this great idea ages ago, but I had figured out how to produce the sound through the elbow, and just couldn't really market it.
But this is a nice idea. Rivals Get Smart for the shoe phone. Now if only we can get voice input through another finger, we'll be all set to walk down the street looking like complete loonies.
Despite that, I still want one...
===============
Alright, so those're pretty cool. But, from someone who's been folding for most of his existance, Joseph Wu's Origami Page still is among the greatest, and has what might be the greatest X-Wing Model (2 notes: 1, it's a .pdf file, 2, it's the "Chi-Wing Fighter" to avoid copyright infringement, no relation to the starship we know). There's no limit to what one can do with a square of paper (and people are pushing that limit (yet another note, warning, adult content) all the time...