Clearly you have completely missed that the article is about SECURITY, not about using multiple accounts so that your cats can use your computer.
Its not about having multiple accounts for multiple "phisical" users. Rather, its about assigning different priviledges to those multiple accounts. That way, your account (a 'user') can have the minimal priviledges, and that gives you some safeguard against a program doing things behind your back. After all, Im sure you have not code-reviewed all the software installed on your computer, to make sure they wont erase a system file or worse. It even protects you againts accidental program errors, the program does not have to be intentionally malicious, just poorly written.
For example, on my OS X box, I get prompted to log in as 'root' or admin whenever a program tries to access something that is not supposed to. At that point I have a choice to allow access by typing the root password, or not.
So multiple users are actually a MUST for a secure OS, even if it is only used by one phisical person.
Besides, its not like you dont ever have friends that want to borrow your computer to check their email. I have a "BrowseOnly" account that only has priviledges to run the browser. Protects my computer, and hides the pr0n too:)
Culture also plays a role here... I did the exact thing back when I lived in Seattle. Luckily, people there are polite and at most they would flash their headlights telling me to move my car. I live now in Lima Peru, and such strategies are impossible here. As soon as you leave a couple meters [~10 feet] in from of your car, another car will cut you off and steal your spot.
Great puzzle, it got me at first too... Here is another way I explained it to myself, that helped me get convinced:
On the first part of the puzzle, before revealing doors, the chance of being right is unquestionably 1/3. On the second part, you are left with 2 doors. You know the SUM of the chances for both doors is 100%. Since the chance of the 1st door has not changed, the chance of the 2nd door must be 2/3.
The reason most people (including myself, with math minor) dont get it at first, is because in most probalility situations each choice starts with equal chances. For example in a lottery each person has the same chance of winning. Ditto for the first part of the puzzle, each door has 1/3 chance. However, on the 2nd part, one of the options (the chosen door) STARTS with an already assigned chance, thus not equally weighted with the other options. As the website mentions, its easier to imagine it with more doors, say 1000.
I own a dual MDD too. The machine is extremely (50 dBA+ @ 1 meter) loud, its driving me crazy. The fact that he made it quieter would be enough for me to attempt a mod (he has not posted actual dBA values for comparison, though.)
I have just been researching such a reduced noise mod, and, for anyone interested, the best one Ive found (there are many in there) is at G4Noise.com (yes there is actually a website dedicated to this issue.)
In there, someone managed to reduce the 50 dBA to 30 dBA, making simple modifications. The guy gave a lot of thought to the heat dissipation issue and found very clever ways to improve apple's design, such as a simple cardboard mod that makes a huge difference to cool air intake.
Ive also had 10+ years of programming experience, but I do not think the parent post is correct. Comp. Sci should be tied to Math as it currently is. Sure most programming jobs dont need that much science, but for that you can also go to a technical 2-year programming course and skip all the science part. This is true for most careers where you dont specialize. Some of the toughest algorithms do need such math and the people that continue on to their masters/PhD in Comp.Sci really need that math to create/improve those algorithms. To show an example, I dont think Google hiring dept. would consider a resume that didnt have such knowledge (and thats why I didnt send them mine:)
Most comments complain that 1/100,000 is not secure blah blah blah. Use your imagination please, this is still in research, Im sure one could improve the system to make the odds harder. This is just an example of a new way to input passwords. And brute force does not necesarily help if you have a lockout policy, say lock the account for 1 hour after 3 failed password tries.
Also, remember that this scheme prevents the user from reusing the password somewhere else, writting it down or even giving it to someone for a bribe. It can have interesting uses.
Parent should be modded UP. Grandparent tries to make the point that there are already cases in nature where humans cross different species. However, such point is not valid, because the type of plant-crossing that humans have been doing for thousands of years is 1) proven to be OK through time, and 2) The species are closely related, or at least both are plants. Now we can mix anything with anything.
Im not against investigating our new abilities to mix DNA and produce new species, in fact I think it will save us in the future. However, it is still too early to unleash these experiments on the general population. It is clear that we do not yet know enough about it.
It is so sad that MS doesnt really give a sh*t about these issues (there must be some financial gain for them Im sure.) I used to work for MS, I was innocent back then and thought MS was good. When they did the automatic updates feature, I was very surprised that they didnt turn it ON by default so I emailed the right internal people, being myself a fulltime programmer at MS. The security team from the windows team never emailed back. Same thing happened when they did the simple windows firewall. They also did not enable it by default, and never gave a sh*it about my obvious suggestion to ship the feature enabled. I dont work for them anymore, now I own a mac and love computers and programming again.
Be careful with ZoneAlarm. The current version (5.0) *disables* email virus scanning protection from norton AV and maybe others (regadless of how you configure either program.) This is a known issue that they (zonelabs) has not cared to fix yet.
I doubt it can be recycled as a food product, unless this "filtering" also filters away the high concentrations of free-radicals, which causes cancer and neurodegenerative diseases among others.
I guess my grandparent post was misinterpreted. I like unix a lot and use it myself with os x. I was just pointing out that people should not assume that everybody can run linux, because 1) the friendliness is really not yet there, compared say to os x, and 2) most importantly hardware-related stuff. My mom can plug her USB digital camera and download the pictures to disk, and her printer and wireless mouse worked by just plugging them in, or using a CD installer which came with only a windows or mac installer. Can Linux do that? any flavor of unix except for os x (which I use myself and love.) I understand that its not linux fault and that is an issue of 3rd party developers supporting linux, but in any case, its just not there yet for plain consumers.
The poor inocent person trying to switch from Windows still is years away from using Linux. Many geeks like us still dont grasp how far away linux is for clueless users. I mean Windows is shit and crappy, but novice users can use it, the interface is somewhat consistent and they can ask friends for help. My mom simply memorizes how to do things in windows and writes everything down on paper when I explain her how to do the most trivial things. I mean shes been using windows for 4 years and still doesnt understand the 'window' concept. I dont see my mom ever touching a linux machine. Maybe a Mac some day (I own one.) Face it, linux is geek-only territory for now.
Population is not really expected to continue growing at current rates. IANAD[emographer], but they
say growth is starting to decrease, and by 2070 it will be almost flat. The link has a nice graph too.
The seeds could have survived. Many seeds have evolved so survive things like forest fires. Some seeds have a tough protective shell as well, to further increase their survival chances to fire.
I put "continuous feed scanner" in froogle, sorted by price, and found one for arround $400. You can do it 25 pages at a time with this. (Microtek X12USL 2400x1200dpi 42bit).
Dont know where these associations are stored, but that file should be readonly for staff, and require authentication when changed. This also catches changing the protocol handler.
QuickSilver http://blacktree.com/apps/quicksilver/ currently freeware, mac only, will index file names, and other things like your address book names, recent email addresses, bookmarks, history and more.)
Its incredibly fast and stable. Sure it doesn't index the contents of the file, but most of the time the filename has very relevant keywords so it finds what I want. The UI is very ingenious (try the bezel command interface) and by simply typing command-space I have access to a real-time show-as-I-type customizable index. Make sure to customize it to your liking. I can index the development enviroment as well.
Better detect brainwave patterns
on
eyeBlog
·
· Score: 1
Our brainwaves are different while we pay attention. Just google the new Attention Deficit Dissorder (AD[H]D) treatments, where the user can visualize their brain waves and learns to enter into an attentive state. Make the machine small enough and you can record all the relevant moments in your live without effort.
I dissagree with the parent post. Some people confuse long-term memory with inteligence, usually because they are impressed by how much the person seems to know. However those memorized facts are usually useless when doing some "real" thinking. If you cant hold the "stack" of your thought long enough to make connections/ analyze patterns, then no matter how good your LT memory is, you will not be able to do much with it other than regurgitate whatever was memorized.
Everyone is complaining about how this thing looks and works today, but think about the future. In a few years we will have a much smaller device, maybe even implanted, without power issues, and this thing will be able to record your whole life. It could also record other interesting data in parallel, like your heart rate at each frame, brain waves, etc. Then is easier to get to the interesting parts and skip the junk (based on heart rate etc.) Put it in your newborn and in 18 years you will save a lot of money when you send him to a psychiatrist. What a great tool later in life for self introspection.
Actually, I believe parent post is wrong. Most people still dont get the way terrorist most attacks are done, here in Peru where I live (80's shinning path) or the Sept. 11 attack: they will find the easiest way to do it, take advantage of a weakness. If airport security is lax, then take advantage of that and hijack a plane. But now that the security is in-place in airports, of course they will not use that method again. Now they will take advantage of other weaknesses, like the ones the parent post mentions (mexican border, etc).
Regarding the "The only difference with Genetically Modifying an organism is that it can accomplish a variety of plant in a much smaller amount of time. "
This is not necesarily true, some replies have mentioned reasons why, but one reason not yet mentioned is that the PROCESS by which the new DNA combinations are produced is different in nature (by cosmic rays, breeding, etc), than in the way its done with new technology (injecting DNA etc), it produces combinations of DNA that might not be possible in nature. This is not necesarily unsafe, but we are probably unprepared for any possible bad side-effects because we dont yet know the science behind it very well.
and magic mushrooms (psilocybin) and probably many others I havent tried (peyote, ayawasca etc). I usually experience something similar on higher doses, all senses become one and they make "sense" under that state of mind, its not just a mixup/confusion of senses.
To add to that, since when it is as "simpler explanation" to have aliens do the work? That is an incredibly more complex solution, it requires them and their technology to exist and to have traveled all the way to earth at that particular time.
A few smart egyptians with simple tools figuring out the simple math (which we know they knew) is infinitely more simple than attibuting it to aliens.
Slashdot Mirror
Clearly you have completely missed that the article is about SECURITY, not about using multiple accounts so that your cats can use your computer.
:)
Its not about having multiple accounts for multiple "phisical" users. Rather, its about assigning different priviledges to those multiple accounts. That way, your account (a 'user') can have the minimal priviledges, and that gives you some safeguard against a program doing things behind your back. After all, Im sure you have not code-reviewed all the software installed on your computer, to make sure they wont erase a system file or worse.
It even protects you againts accidental program errors, the program does not have to be intentionally malicious, just poorly written.
For example, on my OS X box, I get prompted to log in as 'root' or admin whenever a program tries to access something that is not supposed to. At that point I have a choice to allow access by typing the root password, or not.
So multiple users are actually a MUST for a secure OS, even if it is only used by one phisical person.
Besides, its not like you dont ever have friends that want to borrow your computer to check their email. I have a "BrowseOnly" account that only has priviledges to run the browser. Protects my computer, and hides the pr0n too
Culture also plays a role here... I did the exact thing back when I lived in Seattle. Luckily, people there are polite and at most they would flash their headlights telling me to move my car. I live now in Lima Peru, and such strategies are impossible here. As soon as you leave a couple meters [~10 feet] in from of your car, another car will cut you off and steal your spot.
Great puzzle, it got me at first too...
Here is another way I explained it to myself, that helped me get convinced:
On the first part of the puzzle, before revealing doors, the chance of being right is unquestionably 1/3.
On the second part, you are left with 2 doors. You know the SUM of the chances for both doors is 100%. Since the chance of the 1st door has not changed, the chance of the 2nd door must be 2/3.
The reason most people (including myself, with math minor) dont get it at first, is because in most probalility situations each choice starts with equal chances. For example in a lottery each person has the same chance of winning. Ditto for the first part of the puzzle, each door has 1/3 chance.
However, on the 2nd part, one of the options (the chosen door) STARTS with an already assigned chance, thus not equally weighted with the other options.
As the website mentions, its easier to imagine it with more doors, say 1000.
I own a dual MDD too. The machine is extremely (50 dBA+ @ 1 meter) loud, its driving me crazy. The fact that he made it quieter would be enough for me to attempt a mod (he has not posted actual dBA values for comparison, though.) I have just been researching such a reduced noise mod, and, for anyone interested, the best one Ive found (there are many in there) is at G4Noise.com (yes there is actually a website dedicated to this issue.) In there, someone managed to reduce the 50 dBA to 30 dBA, making simple modifications. The guy gave a lot of thought to the heat dissipation issue and found very clever ways to improve apple's design, such as a simple cardboard mod that makes a huge difference to cool air intake.
Ive also had 10+ years of programming experience, but I do not think the parent post is correct. Comp. Sci should be tied to Math as it currently is. Sure most programming jobs dont need that much science, but for that you can also go to a technical 2-year programming course and skip all the science part. This is true for most careers where you dont specialize. :)
Some of the toughest algorithms do need such math and the people that continue on to their masters/PhD in Comp.Sci really need that math to create/improve those algorithms. To show an example, I dont think Google hiring dept. would consider a resume that didnt have such knowledge (and thats why I didnt send them mine
Most comments complain that 1/100,000 is not secure blah blah blah. Use your imagination please, this is still in research, Im sure one could improve the system to make the odds harder. This is just an example of a new way to input passwords. And brute force does not necesarily help if you have a lockout policy, say lock the account for 1 hour after 3 failed password tries.
Also, remember that this scheme prevents the user from reusing the password somewhere else, writting it down or even giving it to someone for a bribe. It can have interesting uses.
Parent should be modded UP. Grandparent tries to make the point that there are already cases in nature where humans cross different species. However, such point is not valid, because the type of plant-crossing that humans have been doing for thousands of years is 1) proven to be OK through time, and 2) The species are closely related, or at least both are plants. Now we can mix anything with anything.
Im not against investigating our new abilities to mix DNA and produce new species, in fact I think it will save us in the future. However, it is still too early to unleash these experiments on the general population. It is clear that we do not yet know enough about it.
It is so sad that MS doesnt really give a sh*t about these issues (there must be some financial gain for them Im sure.)
I used to work for MS, I was innocent back then and thought MS was good. When they did the automatic updates feature, I was very surprised that they didnt turn it ON by default so I emailed the right internal people, being myself a fulltime programmer at MS. The security team from the windows team never emailed back. Same thing happened when they did the simple windows firewall. They also did not enable it by default, and never gave a sh*it about my obvious suggestion to ship the feature enabled.
I dont work for them anymore, now I own a mac and love computers and programming again.
Be careful with ZoneAlarm. The current version (5.0) *disables* email virus scanning protection from norton AV and maybe others (regadless of how you configure either program.) This is a known issue that they (zonelabs) has not cared to fix yet.
I doubt it can be recycled as a food product, unless this "filtering" also filters away the high concentrations of free-radicals, which causes cancer and neurodegenerative diseases among others.
I guess my grandparent post was misinterpreted. I like unix a lot and use it myself with os x. I was just pointing out that people should not assume that everybody can run linux, because 1) the friendliness is really not yet there, compared say to os x, and 2) most importantly hardware-related stuff. My mom can plug her USB digital camera and download the pictures to disk, and her printer and wireless mouse worked by just plugging them in, or using a CD installer which came with only a windows or mac installer. Can Linux do that? any flavor of unix except for os x (which I use myself and love.) I understand that its not linux fault and that is an issue of 3rd party developers supporting linux, but in any case, its just not there yet for plain consumers.
The poor inocent person trying to switch from Windows still is years away from using Linux. Many geeks like us still dont grasp how far away linux is for clueless users. I mean Windows is shit and crappy, but novice users can use it, the interface is somewhat consistent and they can ask friends for help. My mom simply memorizes how to do things in windows and writes everything down on paper when I explain her how to do the most trivial things. I mean shes been using windows for 4 years and still doesnt understand the 'window' concept. I dont see my mom ever touching a linux machine. Maybe a Mac some day (I own one.)
Face it, linux is geek-only territory for now.
Population is not really expected to continue growing at current rates. IANAD[emographer], but they say growth is starting to decrease, and by 2070 it will be almost flat. The link has a nice graph too.
Well you know subscribers get so see the articles before it goes "live". Maybe he is a subscriber.
The seeds could have survived. Many seeds have evolved so survive things like forest fires. Some seeds have a tough protective shell as well, to further increase their survival chances to fire.
I put "continuous feed scanner" in froogle, sorted by price, and found one for arround $400. You can do it 25 pages at a time with this. (Microtek X12USL 2400x1200dpi 42bit).
Dont know where these associations are stored, but that file should be readonly for staff, and require authentication when changed. This also catches changing the protocol handler.
QuickSilver http://blacktree.com/apps/quicksilver/ currently freeware, mac only, will index file names, and other things like your address book names, recent email addresses, bookmarks, history and more.)
Its incredibly fast and stable. Sure it doesn't index the contents of the file, but most of the time the filename has very relevant keywords so it finds what I want.
The UI is very ingenious (try the bezel command interface) and by simply typing command-space I have access to a real-time show-as-I-type customizable index. Make sure to customize it to your liking. I can index the development enviroment as well.
Our brainwaves are different while we pay attention. Just google the new Attention Deficit Dissorder (AD[H]D) treatments, where the user can visualize their brain waves and learns to enter into an attentive state.
Make the machine small enough and you can record all the relevant moments in your live without effort.
I dissagree with the parent post. Some people confuse long-term memory with inteligence, usually because they are impressed by how much the person seems to know. However those memorized facts are usually useless when doing some "real" thinking. If you cant hold the "stack" of your thought long enough to make connections/ analyze patterns, then no matter how good your LT memory is, you will not be able to do much with it other than regurgitate whatever was memorized.
Everyone is complaining about how this thing looks and works today, but think about the future. In a few years we will have a much smaller device, maybe even implanted, without power issues, and this thing will be able to record your whole life. It could also record other interesting data in parallel, like your heart rate at each frame, brain waves, etc. Then is easier to get to the interesting parts and skip the junk (based on heart rate etc.)
Put it in your newborn and in 18 years you will save a lot of money when you send him to a psychiatrist. What a great tool later in life for self introspection.
Actually, I believe parent post is wrong. Most people still dont get the way terrorist most attacks are done, here in Peru where I live (80's shinning path) or the Sept. 11 attack: they will find the easiest way to do it, take advantage of a weakness. If airport security is lax, then take advantage of that and hijack a plane. But now that the security is in-place in airports, of course they will not use that method again.
Now they will take advantage of other weaknesses, like the ones the parent post mentions (mexican border, etc).
Regarding the "The only difference with Genetically Modifying an organism is that it can accomplish a variety of plant in a much smaller amount of time. "
This is not necesarily true, some replies have mentioned reasons why, but one reason not yet mentioned is that the PROCESS by which the new DNA combinations are produced is different in nature (by cosmic rays, breeding, etc), than in the way its done with new technology (injecting DNA etc), it produces combinations of DNA that might not be possible in nature. This is not necesarily unsafe, but we are probably unprepared for any possible bad side-effects because we dont yet know the science behind it very well.
and magic mushrooms (psilocybin) and probably many others I havent tried (peyote, ayawasca etc). I usually experience something similar on higher doses, all senses become one and they make "sense" under that state of mind, its not just a mixup/confusion of senses.
To add to that, since when it is as "simpler explanation" to have aliens do the work? That is an incredibly more complex solution, it requires them and their technology to exist and to have traveled all the way to earth at that particular time. A few smart egyptians with simple tools figuring out the simple math (which we know they knew) is infinitely more simple than attibuting it to aliens.