I haven't been here in ages but it's always been a comfort to know that Slashdot is still alive and well. You've done a great job, Rob, and you'll certainly be missed.
Let's see.. she committed fraud (impersonating another person, in this case, a minor), harassment, conspiracy to cause harm (this was pre-meditated), willful intent to cause duress (she created the account to get back at the girl for having a falling out with her own daughter), all of which led to involuntary manslaughter (she purposely engaged in activities that, whether intentional or not, directly led to the child committing suicide).
What I find to be truly disturbing is that the state of Missouri couldn't come up with anything better to charge her with than failure to follow MySpace's terms and services.
Coulton is a very talented performer, very supportive of his fans, and a nice person over-all. He is an excellent example of how you don't need to submit yourself to the slavery of the big record companies by showing that the independent musician route is, indeed, a viable alternative. His support for Creative Commons licensing has only helped to further demonstrate the power of less restrictions.
If each Slashdot member were to purchase just one of his songs from his website (they're 99 cents), it would send a clear message to all musicians out there that you don't need the RIAA.
Jonathan deserves all of the good press he gets and I can't think of a better independent musician to lead the way.
FUD? Ignoring for the moment that you've proven yourself to be little more than an elitist ass, one who doesn't seem to have much experience in a larger organization, these are not scare tactics. They are simple facts. Just because they run counter to your ignorance does not mean that they don't have applicability in the real world. And, as I said before, the risk isn't the loss of the data as much as the business interruption. All the diligent maintenance in the world isn't going to make a bit of difference when the building burns down and you have no infrastructure redundancy.
The simple fact of the matter is that many companies either lack the technical experience or the simple motivation to implement a disaster recovery plan, of which data backup is a part. Many companies prefer to think that data loss will never happen to them. Some, like yourself, are either unintentionally unaware or purposefully ignorant of the various risks. And the stats that I cited before are from reputable organizations. You can add other organizations that are not selling a product, such as the American Red Cross or FEMA, to that list. It is common knowledge that you should protect your data. For you to insist that the sole threat is the quality of the hardware is reckless and irresponsible. That your answer to the issue of equipment's quality is to "buy a mac" speaks volumes of your inexperience and immediately discounts you as someone of any consequence. You're a fan boy, and not a particularly good one at that. Step aside and let those of us that take care of large-scale computer systems do the real work.
I'm happy for you that you haven't had a problem in 20 years. I will be sure to cite you as a lucky example of misguided ignorance in my next sales presentation and toast your good fortune as I celebrate my next success.
Oh, and FWIW, the majority of clients that I serve need to recover data that was deleted, accidentally or otherwise. They, too, have had good luck with the equipment that they purchased. And, fancy that, they're not even using Macs.
That's just ducky when the building burns down, the office is vandalized, the hardware is stolen, someone deletes the files, the fire system malfunctions and triggers the automatic sprinkler system, you hit 'delete' when you meant to hit 'enter', it turns out that your source control didn't quite control your source as much as you thought it had, you fire the wrong person, you hire the wrong person, someone does something they shouldn't have been doing and the equipment gets impounded, the bills weren't paid on time and the equipment gets impounded, your new superstar admin faked his references and actually believed the/dev/null joke mentioned above, your hard drive crashed.
Oh, I know, you were meticulous in its care. Not good enough. Quite simply, 100% of all hard drives fail. It's not a question of 'if', merely 'when'. Only about 38% of data loss is due to equipment failure. (source: University of Texas Center for Research & Information Services).
As for archiving versus backup, you overlook one small detail: business interruption: the cost of downtime incurred while the archived data is reconstructed into a usuable form. A staggering 93% of companies that lost their data for 10 days or more due to a disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year. 50% of those companies files for bankruptcy immediately (source: National Archives and Record Administration). In a recent survey, 42% of companies responded 72 hours as their threshold for survival without their data. The other 58% cited less than 72 hours.
I own a company that provides data recovery solutions and I have seen far too many people who thought they were invulnerable, just like you. We help companies understand that it's not just whether the data is backed up, it's how you plan to recover it.
Hi - Hi! We're your Sys Admins - Ah-huh - And have we got news for you - You better listen! Get ready, all you lonely geeks and leave those IP Chains at home. - Alright! -
Bandwidth is rising (oooh, rising) - Defenses are getting low According to all sources, the Net's the palce to go Cause tonight for the first time Just about half-past ten For the first time in history We're gonna start breaking in!
It's raining IT Security Surveys! Hallelujah! It's raining IT Security Surveys! Amen! I'm gonna go out to surf and boot myself to get absolutely root! It's raining IT Security Surveys! Hallelujah! It's raining IT Security Surveys! Every single script! Fast, stealth, dark and lean Polymorphic, no logs, clean!
God bless PHBs, they're cheap and lazy too They took off the weekend, and told the admins what they had to do But they sat there reading Slashdot, playing WoW all nii-iiight So that each and every kiddie, could find the perfect exploit
It's raining IT Security Surveys! Hallelujah! It's raining IT Security Surveys! Amen!
It seems that credit card companies love their customers a lot more
Credit card companies make their money when the consumer uses their card to make a purchase. All of their transaction fees, which averages between 3-5% of the total amount, are realized at the point of purchase. If they don't have your loyalty, they know that you won't use their card. So, your observation is very valid.
Re:Alienware customer service is total B.S.
on
Dell to Buy Alienware?
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I'm assuming that you bought the laptop with your credit card? You should have gotten the credit card company involved and contested the charge. I've seen a number of companies back down real quick on restocking fees and return problems once their merchant accounts are involved.
For those who don't know, if a vendor gets too many complaints to their merchant provider, they run the risk of getting dropped. Amex is great for this and I never use anything else when ordering online.
We all know that you can update a dvd player just by putting the update on a cd and inserting it into the drive,
Please leave the rest of us out of your paranoid fantasies. While there may be a couple of DVD players that are flash upgradable, the majority are not. Further to this, worrying about Sony et. al. slipping some firmware onto a DVD is silly. Every model of DVD player on the market has a different firmware code base. It would be impossible to stealthly install some sort of control mechanism on all of them by simply including it with a pre-recorded DVD.
There may be other legitimate reasons to abstain from buying or renting DVDs, but please don't think that this is one of them.
Overlooking for a moment that no one really wants to watch a crappy movie on a 2" screen, have you noticed the prices for UMD titles? A new DVD at WalMart can be had for as little as $14. Older titles as little as $5. Compare that to a UMD disc which typically sells for about $25. I've seen Best Buy sell a newly released DVD for $15 while the UMD version is $30.
Now, I don't own a PSP and I haven't looked too hard at its specs for watching movies, but why would anyone choose the UMD format?
The unofficial "patch" that was released by Ilfak Guilfanov via Sans is not a fix for the problem but a temporary work-around until an official replacement for the shimgvw.dll and, one would desperately hope, the gdi32.dll is released.
Microsoft has already stated that the fix has been completed but that they are testing it. Server patches cannot be distributed willy-nilly and, as difficult as it is to sit around and wait, hoping that nothing incredibly malicious happens, there has to be a certain sense of patient understanding while Microsoft does not give in to the pressure of rushing another code update (and another potential opportunity for exploitation) out the door. Both Microsoft and the Linux community have been bitten in the ass before taking that approach.
For those who are curious about what the unofficial patch does, as well as the exploit in general, here is the link to the Sans FAQ on the WMF vulnerability: http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?storyid=994.
For those too lazy to RTFA:
* How does the unofficial patch work?
The wmfhotfix.dll is injected into any process loading user32.dll. The DLL then patches (in memory) gdi32.dll's Escape() function so that it ignores any call using the SETABORTPROC (ie. 0x09) parameter. This should allow Windows programs to display WMF files normally while still blocking the exploit.
The SETABORTPROC function in the gdi32.dll has been a long-standing point of vulnerability. It was originally intended to be a hook for executable code, invoked when a print operation fails. By introducing a simple buffer overrun, malicious code can be inserted and called from this point.
There is a sucker born every minute Each time the second hand sweeps to the top Like dandelions up they pop, Their ears so big, their eyes so wide. And though I feed 'em bonafide baloney With no truth in it Why you can bet I'll find some rube to buy my corn. 'Cause there's a sure-as-shooting sucker born a minute, And I'm referrin' to the minute you were born.
Each blessed hour brings sixty of 'em Each time the wooden cuckoo shows his face Another sucker takes his place, And plunks his quarter on the line To buy my brand of genuine malarkey. God bless and love 'em! But don't feel sad or hoppin' mad or cause a scene 'Cause there's a sure-as-shooting sucker born a minute, But Ma'am you mighta been the minute in between.
If I allow that right here in my hands The smallest living human man The sight of that is surely worth a dime If I present an educated pooch Who's trained to dance the hoochie cooch What better way to waste a bit of time If I imported monumental cost A lady, fair, who's head was lost While crossing railroad tracks to pick some zinnias Who eats farina through a hose And wares pink tights instead of clothes If that ain't worth a buck my name ain't Phineas
Aw you say that's hog wash well who cares You'll buy my hog was long as
There's a sucker born every minute Each time the second hand sweeps to the top Like dandelions up they pop, Their ears so big, their eyes so wide. And though my tale is bonafide baloney, Just let me spin it, And ain't no man who can resist me wait and see 'Cause there's a sure-as-shooting sucker born a minute, And friends the biggest one excluding none is me!
if it is the case that he did coerce her to commit perjury, I'd seriously suggest he be criminally indicted for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and any other child-harm charge they can use against him
Contributing to the delinquency of a minor? No, that's not what is covered by this offense.
Disbarment for colluding with a witness to commit purjery? Absolutely.
Gave my kid a talking winnie-the-pool doll for christmas. It comes with personalization software and hooks up to the PC via a USB cable. You put in your kids name, birthday, their favorite colors, foods, etc, and it gives the appearance that it really knows its owner. So it's possible that the video is genuine.
Slashdot Mirror
I haven't been here in ages but it's always been a comfort to know that Slashdot is still alive and well. You've done a great job, Rob, and you'll certainly be missed.
I can't wait to see what you come up with next.
- Ryosen
Was it a crime?
Let's see.. she committed fraud (impersonating another person, in this case, a minor), harassment, conspiracy to cause harm (this was pre-meditated), willful intent to cause duress (she created the account to get back at the girl for having a falling out with her own daughter), all of which led to involuntary manslaughter (she purposely engaged in activities that, whether intentional or not, directly led to the child committing suicide).
What I find to be truly disturbing is that the state of Missouri couldn't come up with anything better to charge her with than failure to follow MySpace's terms and services.
Coulton is a very talented performer, very supportive of his fans, and a nice person over-all. He is an excellent example of how you don't need to submit yourself to the slavery of the big record companies by showing that the independent musician route is, indeed, a viable alternative. His support for Creative Commons licensing has only helped to further demonstrate the power of less restrictions.
If each Slashdot member were to purchase just one of his songs from his website (they're 99 cents), it would send a clear message to all musicians out there that you don't need the RIAA.
Jonathan deserves all of the good press he gets and I can't think of a better independent musician to lead the way.
He switched between guitar and synth during the song, playing both solos.
FUD? Ignoring for the moment that you've proven yourself to be little more than an elitist ass, one who doesn't seem to have much experience in a larger organization, these are not scare tactics. They are simple facts. Just because they run counter to your ignorance does not mean that they don't have applicability in the real world. And, as I said before, the risk isn't the loss of the data as much as the business interruption. All the diligent maintenance in the world isn't going to make a bit of difference when the building burns down and you have no infrastructure redundancy.
The simple fact of the matter is that many companies either lack the technical experience or the simple motivation to implement a disaster recovery plan, of which data backup is a part. Many companies prefer to think that data loss will never happen to them. Some, like yourself, are either unintentionally unaware or purposefully ignorant of the various risks. And the stats that I cited before are from reputable organizations. You can add other organizations that are not selling a product, such as the American Red Cross or FEMA, to that list. It is common knowledge that you should protect your data. For you to insist that the sole threat is the quality of the hardware is reckless and irresponsible. That your answer to the issue of equipment's quality is to "buy a mac" speaks volumes of your inexperience and immediately discounts you as someone of any consequence. You're a fan boy, and not a particularly good one at that. Step aside and let those of us that take care of large-scale computer systems do the real work.
I'm happy for you that you haven't had a problem in 20 years. I will be sure to cite you as a lucky example of misguided ignorance in my next sales presentation and toast your good fortune as I celebrate my next success.
Oh, and FWIW, the majority of clients that I serve need to recover data that was deleted, accidentally or otherwise. They, too, have had good luck with the equipment that they purchased. And, fancy that, they're not even using Macs.
The fools.
That's just ducky when the building burns down, the office is vandalized, the hardware is stolen, someone deletes the files, the fire system malfunctions and triggers the automatic sprinkler system, you hit 'delete' when you meant to hit 'enter', it turns out that your source control didn't quite control your source as much as you thought it had, you fire the wrong person, you hire the wrong person, someone does something they shouldn't have been doing and the equipment gets impounded, the bills weren't paid on time and the equipment gets impounded, your new superstar admin faked his references and actually believed the /dev/null joke mentioned above, your hard drive crashed.
Oh, I know, you were meticulous in its care. Not good enough. Quite simply, 100% of all hard drives fail. It's not a question of 'if', merely 'when'. Only about 38% of data loss is due to equipment failure. (source: University of Texas Center for Research & Information Services).
As for archiving versus backup, you overlook one small detail: business interruption: the cost of downtime incurred while the archived data is reconstructed into a usuable form. A staggering 93% of companies that lost their data for 10 days or more due to a disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year. 50% of those companies files for bankruptcy immediately (source: National Archives and Record Administration). In a recent survey, 42% of companies responded 72 hours as their threshold for survival without their data. The other 58% cited less than 72 hours.
I own a company that provides data recovery solutions and I have seen far too many people who thought they were invulnerable, just like you. We help companies understand that it's not just whether the data is backed up, it's how you plan to recover it.
Submitter needs to work on his reading skills. This isn't Plainfield, New Jersey. It's Plainfield, Illinois.
>>But there is one good thing it would do. Make people stop watching tv in the first place.
That's funny. I thought the same thing when I saw "American Idol".
Porn. Lots and lots of porn.
(With thanks (apologies?) to temojen)
Hi - Hi! We're your Sys Admins - Ah-huh -
And have we got news for you - You better listen!
Get ready, all you lonely geeks
and leave those IP Chains at home. - Alright! -
Bandwidth is rising (oooh, rising) - Defenses are getting low
According to all sources, the Net's the palce to go
Cause tonight for the first time
Just about half-past ten
For the first time in history
We're gonna start breaking in!
It's raining IT Security Surveys! Hallelujah!
It's raining IT Security Surveys! Amen!
I'm gonna go out to surf and boot myself to get absolutely root!
It's raining IT Security Surveys! Hallelujah!
It's raining IT Security Surveys! Every single script!
Fast, stealth, dark and lean
Polymorphic, no logs, clean!
God bless PHBs, they're cheap and lazy too
They took off the weekend, and told the admins what they had to do
But they sat there reading Slashdot, playing WoW all nii-iiight
So that each and every kiddie, could find the perfect exploit
It's raining IT Security Surveys! Hallelujah!
It's raining IT Security Surveys! Amen!
Submitter here: This topic isn't limited to MMORPGs, but RPG quests in general. What makes a good quest and what have been some of your favorites.
-d20
It seems that credit card companies love their customers a lot more
Credit card companies make their money when the consumer uses their card to make a purchase. All of their transaction fees, which averages between 3-5% of the total amount, are realized at the point of purchase. If they don't have your loyalty, they know that you won't use their card. So, your observation is very valid.
I'm assuming that you bought the laptop with your credit card? You should have gotten the credit card company involved and contested the charge. I've seen a number of companies back down real quick on restocking fees and return problems once their merchant accounts are involved.
For those who don't know, if a vendor gets too many complaints to their merchant provider, they run the risk of getting dropped. Amex is great for this and I never use anything else when ordering online.
>>what keeps you personally from reading e-books?
The same thing that keeps me from having sex with a rubber doll.
It's just not the same as the real thing.
We all know that you can update a dvd player just by putting the update on a cd and inserting it into the drive,
Please leave the rest of us out of your paranoid fantasies. While there may be a couple of DVD players that are flash upgradable, the majority are not. Further to this, worrying about Sony et. al. slipping some firmware onto a DVD is silly. Every model of DVD player on the market has a different firmware code base. It would be impossible to stealthly install some sort of control mechanism on all of them by simply including it with a pre-recorded DVD.
There may be other legitimate reasons to abstain from buying or renting DVDs, but please don't think that this is one of them.
I've got some bad news for ya, son. The *ring* costs you two months...the commitment costs you the rest of your life.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. Right, honey?
For those of you not familiar with Spore, here is a 35-minute videoor Will Wright demoing the game.
Overlooking for a moment that no one really wants to watch a crappy movie on a 2" screen, have you noticed the prices for UMD titles? A new DVD at WalMart can be had for as little as $14. Older titles as little as $5. Compare that to a UMD disc which typically sells for about $25. I've seen Best Buy sell a newly released DVD for $15 while the UMD version is $30.
Now, I don't own a PSP and I haven't looked too hard at its specs for watching movies, but why would anyone choose the UMD format?
>> it's got $1 million worth of prizes up for grabs for those who nibble at the offer.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that it's all Windows ME licenses.
Bravo, sir. Bravo.
>>no way I'd want a carnival of winky-lights dancing all over my keyboard...
What if it played "Wizards of Winter" at the same time?
The unofficial "patch" that was released by Ilfak Guilfanov via Sans is not a fix for the problem but a temporary work-around until an official replacement for the shimgvw.dll and, one would desperately hope, the gdi32.dll is released.
Microsoft has already stated that the fix has been completed but that they are testing it. Server patches cannot be distributed willy-nilly and, as difficult as it is to sit around and wait, hoping that nothing incredibly malicious happens, there has to be a certain sense of patient understanding while Microsoft does not give in to the pressure of rushing another code update (and another potential opportunity for exploitation) out the door. Both Microsoft and the Linux community have been bitten in the ass before taking that approach.
For those who are curious about what the unofficial patch does, as well as the exploit in general, here is the link to the Sans FAQ on the WMF vulnerability: http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?storyid=994.
For those too lazy to RTFA:
* How does the unofficial patch work?
The wmfhotfix.dll is injected into any process loading user32.dll. The DLL then patches (in memory) gdi32.dll's Escape() function so that it ignores any call using the SETABORTPROC (ie. 0x09) parameter. This should allow Windows programs to display WMF files normally while still blocking the exploit.
The SETABORTPROC function in the gdi32.dll has been a long-standing point of vulnerability. It was originally intended to be a hook for executable code, invoked when a print operation fails. By introducing a simple buffer overrun, malicious code can be inserted and called from this point.
There is a sucker born every minute
Each time the second hand sweeps to the top
Like dandelions up they pop,
Their ears so big, their eyes so wide.
And though I feed 'em bonafide baloney
With no truth in it
Why you can bet I'll find some rube to buy my corn.
'Cause there's a sure-as-shooting sucker born a minute,
And I'm referrin' to the minute you were born.
Each blessed hour brings sixty of 'em
Each time the wooden cuckoo shows his face
Another sucker takes his place,
And plunks his quarter on the line
To buy my brand of genuine malarkey.
God bless and love 'em!
But don't feel sad or hoppin' mad or cause a scene
'Cause there's a sure-as-shooting sucker born a minute,
But Ma'am you mighta been the minute in between.
If I allow that right here in my hands
The smallest living human man
The sight of that is surely worth a dime
If I present an educated pooch
Who's trained to dance the hoochie cooch
What better way to waste a bit of time
If I imported monumental cost
A lady, fair, who's head was lost
While crossing railroad tracks to pick some zinnias
Who eats farina through a hose
And wares pink tights instead of clothes
If that ain't worth a buck my name ain't Phineas
Aw you say that's hog wash well who cares
You'll buy my hog was long as
There's a sucker born every minute
Each time the second hand sweeps to the top
Like dandelions up they pop,
Their ears so big, their eyes so wide.
And though my tale is bonafide baloney,
Just let me spin it,
And ain't no man who can resist me wait and see
'Cause there's a sure-as-shooting sucker born a minute,
And friends the biggest one excluding none is me!
if it is the case that he did coerce her to commit perjury, I'd seriously suggest he be criminally indicted for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and any other child-harm charge they can use against him
Contributing to the delinquency of a minor? No, that's not what is covered by this offense.
Disbarment for colluding with a witness to commit purjery? Absolutely.
Gave my kid a talking winnie-the-pool doll for christmas. It comes with personalization software and hooks up to the PC via a USB cable. You put in your kids name, birthday, their favorite colors, foods, etc, and it gives the appearance that it really knows its owner. So it's possible that the video is genuine.