It finally appears to be drawing to a close. Is it the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?
Personally I know not. Only time and the courts will tell.
Both candidates have their good points and they certainly have their bad ones: Gore is an eco-fascist with the sensitivity of a chainsaw and Bush, well let's just say that he's just the son of his father.As many have pointed out it is no longer the people that decide the agenda of government but the large corporations and lobbying groups who have themoney, time and above all connections to stack up the votes for their concerns.
Ultimately though I think that despite all the averse publicity and so forth Americans should, to a certain extent, be proud that they have a country where the people can vote and have a chance in hell of their vote counting.
I am a masters student in chemistry with french, actually chemistry with a year's study in France and I am currently at an engineering school (Ecole normale supérieure de l'ingéneurie, technically) and one of the things it has given me is a healthy respect for engineers.
As chemists we tend to concentrate on the practical aspects of chemistry with only a little bit of maths so we can learn the basic principles of thermodynamics and QM, however these guys do a ton of maths, a ton of theory and quite a bit of practical too.
Mathematician = physicist who can't do mental arithmetic
Physicist = mathematician who can't visualise higher planes of functions
Engineer = Physicist with no imagination
Chemist = Physicist who can't do maths!
I believe in patent law, albeit not US patent law, because when finally that inspiration particle hits my brain and I have the most enormous idea that will benefit mankind and I patent a device that will relieve world suffering, cure cancer and silence forever Tony Blair I expect to be well paid for it.
(Nothing greedy, just a couple a million quid will do...say 10 million.)
On the other hand it's gotta be JUST patent law: sensible, fair and in the interest of everybody. To me patenting a chip design is fine. Licensing it is fine, provided it is generally done in a way to improve life for users - this means no nasty discrimination, Intel and Rambus. Ultimately the patent must expire within a reasonable length of time - this will ensure reasonable licensing fees ultimately.
OTOH, licensing methods of interfacing to a product? Hmmm. Bad karma.
Echelon and the RIP bill have already taken care of this for us. I doubt that the FBI would give a toss about either of us to be quite honest but we have our own security services to worry about.
A list I am a member of had an 'anti-echelon' day where we all mailed each other with lots of random stuff including words like 'Clinton', 'Death by Mutilation' 'President', 'Assasination' and 'Firearms'.
This _is_ true to a certain extent, however a sniper is never going to be using an M16! Most sniping weapons are either 30 Calibre or 50 Calibre (gulp!) plus yer basic M16 isn't terribly accurate past about 300 yards (although civilian versions with match barrels, better sights etc..) are used out to 600yards in matches to extremely good effect.
This is one of the things that annoys me: firstly it is not a silencer: it is a supressor. Secondly (assuming it is an M16/AR-15 variant in.223 calibre, aka 5.56 NATO, 5.56*45 etc...) putting a 'silencer' on the front of the rifle ain't going to do too much, yeah it will silence the muzzle blast and hide the flash, but given that a 55 grain.224 inch diametre bullet comes out of that muzzle at around 3250 fps the bullet itself makes quite a bit of noise. Oh, and using a laser sight for any kind of distance shooting is stupid - even at night the spot becomes damn hard to see.
I love Dune. From the moment I first dug it out of the school library some 14 years ago I have loved it - the book contains some truly great stuff; characters, plot, wierd 'n' kooky science fiction stuff. It has it all. Some of the best science fiction ever written, it would definitely come in my top five sci-fi (along with Neuromancer, Excession, The Nanoflower and Consider Phlebas).
(The film, despite what many people think, is verging on a masterpiece although I admit that it bastardises so much of the book. I guess I just like David Lynch movies.
"And he will know, he'll know that it is I, Baron Valdimir Harkonnen who encompasses his doom! Muah ha ha ha ha haaaaa!" - It just doesn't get any better than that.)
Then I read 'Dune Messiah' and it wasn't bad. It had some of the same plotting elements but lacked the gritty nastiness and sheer beauty of Dune. I decided not to read any of the rest after 'God Emperor of Dune', it sucked: Unfortunately Frank Herbert just lost the suspension-of-disbelief element for me with the 'Golden Way', just a rehash of the Kweisatz Hadderach elements already discussed and in no way as good. (I did like the revelation that the bene tleilaxu created their own supreme being who ultimately committed suicide, as of course, does Paul.)
1) I really doubt you would be doing a really good job if you did that. Pride in your work?
2) As a someone easily mastered by insomnia (ironically the only way to prevent this for me is to stick to a rigid schedule of up at 7, to bed at midnight) I can inform you that you would be in a healthily fucked up state by the end of your 40 hours.
Alas I fear that this is another case of skewing the rules to make winning impossible. Anyway, REAL audiophiles listen to vinyl *grin*, although I have to admit CD isn't halfway bad either. (For sound engineers out there, I do know about bandwidth etc... but I also know that Tallis' "Spem in Alium" sounds better - I didn't say closer to the real thing - on vinyl).
Either way I think that the RIAA etc... are doing themselves no favours at all. I see nothing wrong (as with software) with making money from music but they are thoroughly guilty of naked profiteering and abuse of the customer - I think Britney Spears alone is worth a few years in Broadmoor for some exec. but then again, they did bring us LedZep.
a friend of my girlfriend always covers up the webcam on her boyfriend's computer when she goes to stay round his place. I think she has watched 'American Pie' a few too many times, rather than read 1984 too much.
The principle: Without special, judicial permission the state and her representatives should enjoy exactly the same rights as its citizens (except that in the UK, NZ, Aus etc... technically we aren't citizens depite what it might say on our passports, we're subjects of the Queen). The way it should be is that the citizens ALLOW the state certain powers to investigate criminals and make legislation etc... whereas the politicians seem to have forgotten this.
Elgon
Re:Iain M Banks - famous for being famous?
on
Look to Windward
·
· Score: 3
"Everyone dies pointlessly and then the story just stops."
If the purpose of art is to hold up a mirror to life, then this succeeds admirably I think.
This is the clarion call of every secret policeman everywhere. So while we're about it, why not have TV cameras in everybody's houses which can be monitored by the security services - after all, if it catches a criminal or two it can't be bad.
Go read some Alexander Solzenizyn and some Primo Levi, followed perhaps by The Shoah if you want to know what a lack of privacy can do for peoples' freedoms. I recommend Maus too, while you're at it.
Elgon - "But it doesn't make sense. Why would they want to kill off their own workforce." - Schindler's Ark.
This is not a halfway bad point - that's me being complementary;-)
I'm reading the third year of my (four year) chemistry degree abroad and the 'net is the cheapest and easiest way to keep in touch with my girlfriend (okay IRC sex is out in a communal computer room), my brother and my parents.
Elgon
Really? Interesting stuff! (To be fair, the big ie. 400MHz NMR machine is downstairs somewhere I believe but one of the 'smaller' ones (250 MHz IIRC forgotten the exact figure but 250/400 * 9.6 Tesla) is definitely on the 4th floor opposite my tutor's office).
We don't have a fifth floor but directly below is...thinks...I think it's one of the chemical store rooms but I couldn't swear to it. I don't think that the weight is an enormous issue - the whole of the building is built like a brick privy (Not a particularly new building).
There are certainly no hi-mag warnings on any of the other floors - at least none that I have ever seen.
Remind me never to take my laptop onto the fourth floor of my University department. There is a 400Mhz NMR machine there - magnetic field of about 9 1/2 Tesla. The Uni Biology guys are getting an 800Mhz machine next year, bastards.
Anyway, back to on-topic.
The best way is layered security, as someone pointed out about a month ago.
Number one: Make people accountable for their f***ing laptops. If it gets nicked and there was important/secret data on it, it is your fault and responsibility. "But my car was locked" doesn't cut it, you shouldn't have left it in plain view - bollockings, firing and financial penalties should be enforced.
Number two: Restrict the data or the number of copies. The probability of a secret getting out is proportional to the SQUARE of the number of people who know the secret. (Hard drives are cheap. If your data is that secret and you are that paranoid, burn them with a really hot flame - camping stove should do it - after wiping the data - or give it to someone you trust who has access to an NMR machine!). Better yet store it on zip drives and make sure that the data isn't cached to disk.
Number three: Encrypt the data. One time pads, RSA, PGP, TLA's galore - they exist and can be made simple to use if your internal systems guys do some work.
Number four: If you're really paranoid about network theft of data then don't store the bl***y stuff on a network! Physical isolation of data is the watchword here.
Number five: NEVER assume that anything you do electronically is secret.
Elgon - I'm being paranoid but am I being paranoid enough?
<karmawhore> If it was still plugged into the PC when it got zapped there is a fairly good probability that it would be fine. It is the very high EMF of static that punches holes in CMOS and derivatives nonconducting oxide layer, however if all of the pins or even (if you are luck) several are touched then the EMF may cancel out to zero (be the same on both sides of the fragile oxide layer) and hence leave your FET's in good nick. </karmawhore>
This is why the 32K static RAM chip for (£15 GB or $26 US!) that I bought in 1990 for my Z80 based electronics project is stuck in a piece of tin foil wrapped around a lump of polystyrene.
hands up who's worried by this.
If you aren't, you should be.
Why?
Essentially it is on the verge of outlawing knowledge IMHO - people talk about having bombmaking knowledge, I am in the third year of an undergrad masters in chemistry and have lots and lots of bombmaking knowledge (including, as I studied electronics, how to make timing circuits, light beams etc). Let's outlaw that while we are at it. Banning knowledge, hmmmm... thast's a great idea and why don't we massacre a few ethnic minorities while we're at it.
Outlawing the software, urrr... so the sysadmins can't use the scanner programs to find open ports anymore to secure their networks but the hackers can and will, because, if they are going to use such a tool to break the law, are they going to give a shit if the tool is itself illegal. Yeah, right! (On a similar note, if I want to rob bank and get away with it, I'm not going to use a legally-held and registered firearm). Also, if _professional_ sysadmins are given dispensation, can I have it too, as I have an always connected ASDL line with a small LAN of PC's in my geek house? I suggest that the answer will be, 'run along sonny'.
But, the liberals will say, surely such software has only one use - hacking(sic.)! It is potentially dangerous!
Horseshit!
These programs will not (probably) install themselves, execute themselves, find some open ports and then drain your bank account. Nope, it takes some small-dicked egomaniac to do that!
"Why not? If I exercise my FREEDOM to copy software, should I not also be able to exercise my FREEDOM to not buy your software and not reward your selfish efforts. "
You are entirely welcome not to buy my software - this is the ultimate expression of consumer choice.
"I choose not to use your software Elgon because you are interested in making money not improving the art."
Yes, I am interested in making money. I am also interested in improving the art, in the unlikely event that I ever think of something original! These two are not mutually exclusive.
It is you who is being selfish, believing that you can use for your own benefit without cost something that was created with the time and originality of another.
At the risk of being overly persistent nope, you can't. Strictly speaking (and I say this with the conviction of a man who has had several beers since he last posted) this is entirely irrelevant.
Said people are gaining the fruits of my labours. If I choose to allow such usage at no gain to myself, great stuff! Otherwise they are gaining my services for free without my permission which I believe may be described as theft.
Slashdot Mirror
It finally appears to be drawing to a close. Is it the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?
Personally I know not. Only time and the courts will tell.
Both candidates have their good points and they certainly have their bad ones: Gore is an eco-fascist with the sensitivity of a chainsaw and Bush, well let's just say that he's just the son of his father.As many have pointed out it is no longer the people that decide the agenda of government but the large corporations and lobbying groups who have themoney, time and above all connections to stack up the votes for their concerns.
Ultimately though I think that despite all the averse publicity and so forth Americans should, to a certain extent, be proud that they have a country where the people can vote and have a chance in hell of their vote counting.
Elgon
I am a masters student in chemistry with french, actually chemistry with a year's study in France and I am currently at an engineering school (Ecole normale supérieure de l'ingéneurie, technically) and one of the things it has given me is a healthy respect for engineers.
As chemists we tend to concentrate on the practical aspects of chemistry with only a little bit of maths so we can learn the basic principles of thermodynamics and QM, however these guys do a ton of maths, a ton of theory and quite a bit of practical too.
Mathematician = physicist who can't do mental arithmetic
Physicist = mathematician who can't visualise higher planes of functions
Engineer = Physicist with no imagination
Chemist = Physicist who can't do maths!
Elgon
I believe in patent law, albeit not US patent law, because when finally that inspiration particle hits my brain and I have the most enormous idea that will benefit mankind and I patent a device that will relieve world suffering, cure cancer and silence forever Tony Blair I expect to be well paid for it.
(Nothing greedy, just a couple a million quid will do...say 10 million.)
On the other hand it's gotta be JUST patent law: sensible, fair and in the interest of everybody. To me patenting a chip design is fine. Licensing it is fine, provided it is generally done in a way to improve life for users - this means no nasty discrimination, Intel and Rambus. Ultimately the patent must expire within a reasonable length of time - this will ensure reasonable licensing fees ultimately.
OTOH, licensing methods of interfacing to a product? Hmmm. Bad karma.
Elgon
Too late Yanamr,
Echelon and the RIP bill have already taken care of this for us. I doubt that the FBI would give a toss about either of us to be quite honest but we have our own security services to worry about.
Elgon
A list I am a member of had an 'anti-echelon' day where we all mailed each other with lots of random stuff including words like 'Clinton', 'Death by Mutilation' 'President', 'Assasination' and 'Firearms'.
It was quite fun actually.
Elgon
The kicker of the rock was Samuel Johnson IIRC.
Elgon
Sorry, I got a bit carried away. I just don't like the inappropriate use of words like 'silencer', 'sniper' and horror of horrors 'Dum-Dum bullets'
Elgon
This _is_ true to a certain extent, however a sniper is never going to be using an M16! Most sniping weapons are either 30 Calibre or 50 Calibre (gulp!) plus yer basic M16 isn't terribly accurate past about 300 yards (although civilian versions with match barrels, better sights etc..) are used out to 600yards in matches to extremely good effect.
Elgon
This is one of the things that annoys me: firstly it is not a silencer: it is a supressor. Secondly (assuming it is an M16/AR-15 variant in .223 calibre, aka 5.56 NATO, 5.56*45 etc...) putting a 'silencer' on the front of the rifle ain't going to do too much, yeah it will silence the muzzle blast and hide the flash, but given that a 55 grain .224 inch diametre bullet comes out of that muzzle at around 3250 fps the bullet itself makes quite a bit of noise. Oh, and using a laser sight for any kind of distance shooting is stupid - even at night the spot becomes damn hard to see.
Elgon
I read this and it just *so* reminded me of Kilgore Trout's story "No Laughing Matter", as described in Kurt Vonnegut's "Timequake".
Elgon
I love Dune. From the moment I first dug it out of the school library some 14 years ago I have loved it - the book contains some truly great stuff; characters, plot, wierd 'n' kooky science fiction stuff. It has it all. Some of the best science fiction ever written, it would definitely come in my top five sci-fi (along with Neuromancer, Excession, The Nanoflower and Consider Phlebas).
(The film, despite what many people think, is verging on a masterpiece although I admit that it bastardises so much of the book. I guess I just like David Lynch movies.
"And he will know, he'll know that it is I, Baron Valdimir Harkonnen who encompasses his doom! Muah ha ha ha ha haaaaa!" - It just doesn't get any better than that.)
Then I read 'Dune Messiah' and it wasn't bad. It had some of the same plotting elements but lacked the gritty nastiness and sheer beauty of Dune. I decided not to read any of the rest after 'God Emperor of Dune', it sucked: Unfortunately Frank Herbert just lost the suspension-of-disbelief element for me with the 'Golden Way', just a rehash of the Kweisatz Hadderach elements already discussed and in no way as good. (I did like the revelation that the bene tleilaxu created their own supreme being who ultimately committed suicide, as of course, does Paul.)
Elgon
Two things:
1) I really doubt you would be doing a really good job if you did that. Pride in your work?
2) As a someone easily mastered by insomnia (ironically the only way to prevent this for me is to stick to a rigid schedule of up at 7, to bed at midnight) I can inform you that you would be in a healthily fucked up state by the end of your 40 hours.
Elgon
Alas I fear that this is another case of skewing the rules to make winning impossible. Anyway, REAL audiophiles listen to vinyl *grin*, although I have to admit CD isn't halfway bad either. (For sound engineers out there, I do know about bandwidth etc... but I also know that Tallis' "Spem in Alium" sounds better - I didn't say closer to the real thing - on vinyl).
Either way I think that the RIAA etc... are doing themselves no favours at all. I see nothing wrong (as with software) with making money from music but they are thoroughly guilty of naked profiteering and abuse of the customer - I think Britney Spears alone is worth a few years in Broadmoor for some exec. but then again, they did bring us LedZep.
Elgon
Yeah,
a friend of my girlfriend always covers up the webcam on her boyfriend's computer when she goes to stay round his place. I think she has watched 'American Pie' a few too many times, rather than read 1984 too much.
The principle: Without special, judicial permission the state and her representatives should enjoy exactly the same rights as its citizens (except that in the UK, NZ, Aus etc... technically we aren't citizens depite what it might say on our passports, we're subjects of the Queen). The way it should be is that the citizens ALLOW the state certain powers to investigate criminals and make legislation etc... whereas the politicians seem to have forgotten this.
Elgon
"Everyone dies pointlessly and then the story just stops."
If the purpose of art is to hold up a mirror to life, then this succeeds admirably I think.
Elgon
Good little sheep, Christ-O-Geek.
This is the clarion call of every secret policeman everywhere. So while we're about it, why not have TV cameras in everybody's houses which can be monitored by the security services - after all, if it catches a criminal or two it can't be bad.
Go read some Alexander Solzenizyn and some Primo Levi, followed perhaps by The Shoah if you want to know what a lack of privacy can do for peoples' freedoms. I recommend Maus too, while you're at it.
Elgon - "But it doesn't make sense. Why would they want to kill off their own workforce." - Schindler's Ark.
This is not a halfway bad point - that's me being complementary ;-)
I'm reading the third year of my (four year) chemistry degree abroad and the 'net is the cheapest and easiest way to keep in touch with my girlfriend (okay IRC sex is out in a communal computer room), my brother and my parents. Elgon
Really? Interesting stuff! (To be fair, the big ie. 400MHz NMR machine is downstairs somewhere I believe but one of the 'smaller' ones (250 MHz IIRC forgotten the exact figure but 250/400 * 9.6 Tesla) is definitely on the 4th floor opposite my tutor's office).
We don't have a fifth floor but directly below is...thinks...I think it's one of the chemical store rooms but I couldn't swear to it. I don't think that the weight is an enormous issue - the whole of the building is built like a brick privy (Not a particularly new building).
There are certainly no hi-mag warnings on any of the other floors - at least none that I have ever seen.
Elgon
Hmmm...
Remind me never to take my laptop onto the fourth floor of my University department. There is a 400Mhz NMR machine there - magnetic field of about 9 1/2 Tesla. The Uni Biology guys are getting an 800Mhz machine next year, bastards.
Anyway, back to on-topic.
The best way is layered security, as someone pointed out about a month ago.
Number one: Make people accountable for their f***ing laptops. If it gets nicked and there was important/secret data on it, it is your fault and responsibility. "But my car was locked" doesn't cut it, you shouldn't have left it in plain view - bollockings, firing and financial penalties should be enforced.
Number two: Restrict the data or the number of copies. The probability of a secret getting out is proportional to the SQUARE of the number of people who know the secret. (Hard drives are cheap. If your data is that secret and you are that paranoid, burn them with a really hot flame - camping stove should do it - after wiping the data - or give it to someone you trust who has access to an NMR machine!). Better yet store it on zip drives and make sure that the data isn't cached to disk.
Number three: Encrypt the data. One time pads, RSA, PGP, TLA's galore - they exist and can be made simple to use if your internal systems guys do some work.
Number four: If you're really paranoid about network theft of data then don't store the bl***y stuff on a network! Physical isolation of data is the watchword here.
Number five: NEVER assume that anything you do electronically is secret.
Elgon - I'm being paranoid but am I being paranoid enough?
<karmawhore> If it was still plugged into the PC when it got zapped there is a fairly good probability that it would be fine. It is the very high EMF of static that punches holes in CMOS and derivatives nonconducting oxide layer, however if all of the pins or even (if you are luck) several are touched then the EMF may cancel out to zero (be the same on both sides of the fragile oxide layer) and hence leave your FET's in good nick. </karmawhore>
This is why the 32K static RAM chip for (£15 GB or $26 US!) that I bought in 1990 for my Z80 based electronics project is stuck in a piece of tin foil wrapped around a lump of polystyrene.
Elgon
Okay,
hands up who's worried by this.
If you aren't, you should be.
Why?
Essentially it is on the verge of outlawing knowledge IMHO - people talk about having bombmaking knowledge, I am in the third year of an undergrad masters in chemistry and have lots and lots of bombmaking knowledge (including, as I studied electronics, how to make timing circuits, light beams etc). Let's outlaw that while we are at it. Banning knowledge, hmmmm... thast's a great idea and why don't we massacre a few ethnic minorities while we're at it.
Outlawing the software, urrr... so the sysadmins can't use the scanner programs to find open ports anymore to secure their networks but the hackers can and will, because, if they are going to use such a tool to break the law, are they going to give a shit if the tool is itself illegal. Yeah, right! (On a similar note, if I want to rob bank and get away with it, I'm not going to use a legally-held and registered firearm). Also, if _professional_ sysadmins are given dispensation, can I have it too, as I have an always connected ASDL line with a small LAN of PC's in my geek house? I suggest that the answer will be, 'run along sonny'.
But, the liberals will say, surely such software has only one use - hacking(sic.)! It is potentially dangerous!
Horseshit!
These programs will not (probably) install themselves, execute themselves, find some open ports and then drain your bank account. Nope, it takes some small-dicked egomaniac to do that!
Elgon
"Why not? If I exercise my FREEDOM to copy software, should I not also be able to exercise my FREEDOM to not buy your software and not reward your selfish efforts. "
You are entirely welcome not to buy my software - this is the ultimate expression of consumer choice.
"I choose not to use your software Elgon because you are interested in making money not improving the art."
Yes, I am interested in making money. I am also interested in improving the art, in the unlikely event that I ever think of something original! These two are not mutually exclusive.
It is you who is being selfish, believing that you can use for your own benefit without cost something that was created with the time and originality of another.
Elgon
At the risk of being overly persistent nope, you can't. Strictly speaking (and I say this with the conviction of a man who has had several beers since he last posted) this is entirely irrelevant.
Said people are gaining the fruits of my labours. If I choose to allow such usage at no gain to myself, great stuff! Otherwise they are gaining my services for free without my permission which I believe may be described as theft.
Elgon
Why do you keep saying this?
I was a minor character in David Edding's "The Belgariad" who was most notably famous as a folk hero of the Asturians.
Elgon
Not necessarily I agree, my software ain't that good! However, you certainly cannot say that they wouldn't have.
Elgon