Presumably each file is digitally watermarked, so that rips could be identified as having originated in one particular projection booth.
So... what do you do, as a theater owner, knowing that your ass is personally on the line if pirate copies of your copy of the movie appear?
If it were my theater, I'd have the only key to the server room, which would be the only place that the hard drive would do any good.
Since the data has to flow from the server room to the projector when the movie is being shown, I'd enforce access logs on the server, so I could tell if the file had been read at times other than showtime.
But that still doesn't stop the $8/hour projectionist from installing a device that intercepts the data, copies it, and then passes it along to the projector.
Are there such things as video projectors that accept an encrypted stream of data?
Jane's right. There's a huge line between paid support and support that I do because you're my brother-in-law.
I also want my brother-in-law to be a little beholden to me, because he's good with doorknobs, and I'm an idiot around doorknobs, and I'm going to need a doorknob upgrade soon (this may sound like a stupid example, but it happens to be absolutely real).
If my brother-in-law needs more than I can handle, then I'll help him choose a consultant that he can pay (and be mad at when his machine fills back up with goo).
So... I don't usually charge for basic support. I do it when I have the time, for people I like.
FA says that he was offering ssn, dob, passwords, etc. for sale.
So... let's say that I want to patronize his obviously grossly illegal service. How do you consummate a transaction like this? Cash in a Fedex envelope? Sent to whom? A P.O. box?
Who performs first? Are there criminal escrow services?
And how stupid do you have to be to take out an ad online, in a known criminal hangout, announcing your secret power, and providing contact info?
I realize that it's probably the fault of the implementer, and not the technology, but I can't tell you how many times I've supplied my password to a page that was rendered without https.
So I had to get two Passport accounts: one for secure things, like my MSDN account, and one for things that I didn't care who stole my password for.
old joke != non-funny joke
From the Slasdot moderator's instructions:
Redundant posts are ones which add no new information, but instead take up space with repeating information either in the Slashdot post, the attached links, or lots of previous comments.
The joke in question satisfies none of these requirements.
"There is great disorder under heaven, and the situation is excellent."
-- Old Chinese proverb
Maybe it won't suck. Keep in mind that there's going to be turmoil, and turmoil creates opportunities for the geeks who maintain these systems (I assume that you're one of the above, since you're posting on Slashdot).
Maybe you'll have to learn Oracle. Maybe there'll be massive retraining. Maybe you'll have to rip everything out and start over. This would be a good time to ask for a raise.
The consulting gravy train will be significantly lengthened by Oracle's discontinuing of PeopleSoft, or even appearing to be thinking about it. Dweebs with HRIS implementation skills, who are flexible, will see demand for their services increase.
No, sir. "Undue" stress? If they're here unlawfully, then they're breaking the law. Yes, it's stressful to be caught breaking the law. Sorry.
Call me a fascist if you want, but this is a step in a good direction.
Mathematical model for human behavior?
on
Digital Packrats
·
· Score: 1
One might construct a simple mathematical model for human behavior with regard to data storage.
It would involve a constant for the amount of time and effort it takes to delete stuff (the same whether you have a terabyte-class iPod or a 2 Gb hard drive), and a factor for the percent of free space you have on the storage device.
When you have 99 percent free space, you're much less likely to think, "Do I really need this?" than you might if you had ten percent free.
Yeah, we're just walking bags of seawater, who initiate particular behaviors when specific threshholds are exceeded.
Look, I know that some geeks will think that this is cool. But, speaking as a geek, I doubt that even a significant portion of the geek population will go for this.
NOBODY WILL BUY THIS. Nobody wants a friggin' video-phone, and particularly not for 500 bucks, when they can get the same amusement from NetMeeting and a $20 webcam.
Voice over IP is a good idea because it uses the existing telephones. Videophones... forget it. This is a publicity stunt to raise awareness of their brand of voice over IP.
An excellent point. But may I add that it doesn't take automata to create exactly what you're describing?
At Dulles airport, outside of Washington, DC, they've built "satellite" terminals that you have to ride a bus to. The buses are behemoths, with a glass wall that separates you from the driver. That's right: no asking questions, no information for the passengers except for a recorded audio loop which cycles endlessly, promising an immediate arrival even when you're inexplicably stopped in what appears to be the middle of an active runway.
To its credit, I'm unaware of any deaths caused by this stupid bus.
I assumed that "flying lawnmower" meant somethinglike the ill-fated HoverMow device: a British invention, I think, that eliminated the wheels on the lawnmower by making the blades create a strong downdraft. A flexible rubber skirt retrained the air cushion, and voila! a lawnmower that moved effortlessly, even over moderately uneven terrain.
It did NOT, however, cut grass effectively, since the fan-effect tended to smush the grass down out of the way of the blades.
So I was already writing the standard Slashdot "This is old news! I know all about this already" sneer in my head when I clicked on the FA.
But then I saw this startling thing of... yes, of beauty. Fastinating. Even a lawnmower can be graceful.
There was indeed a version of NT 4 for the Alpha, but it didn't work very well.
A few years ago, we had a spare DEC Alpha, and decided to run a data warehouse on it. We put Windows NT and Microsoft SQL Server 6.5, an assload of RAM, and two full shelves of fancy 10,000-RPM disks, with a catastrophically-expensive RAID controller.
You'd think that performance would be pretty snappy.
Maybe it was just the talents of the administrators (SQL 6.5 had a lot of stuff that you could tweak), but we could never get the performance of this seven-foot-tall behemoth to particularly exceed that a standalone i386 server.
But it did have this cool picture of cowboys that came up when you booted it. Which we did a LOT.
Woo-hoo! Our favorite combo, here on the farm, used to be methamphetamines and alcohol (and motorcycles and guns, but that's off the subject).
The alcohol takes the unpleasant harsh edge off the speed, and you get the euphoric effect of the alcohol without the sloppy-drunk problems. Plus you don't pass out!
Mixing drugs like this is done all the time by the pros: go into any mental ward, and ask what people are taking. You'll find most of them on a "cocktail" of drugs. Some are for the primary complaint (e.g. psychosis), and others are to manage the side-effects of the main drug.
But isn't he supposed to maintain control in space by squirting "cold, dry air" out of little thrusters in the wings and nose? (I got that from the MSNBC article.)
Man, that roll was scary. And when the engine shut off, and the spokesdorks said, "engine cutoff," I wish that they had added, "...like it was supposed to."
Looks pretty smooth now. But what if the wings hadn't locked (in the transformation back into an airplane)? Is there a backup plan? Can you bail out of an airplane at 6 grillion feet per second?
Auto insurance is an extremely competitive industry. They employ armies of actuaries to allow them to tinker with rates constantly.
The actuaries tell them that could make substantial rate cuts, and advertise them like crazy (in ads even funnier than Geico's "I just saved a bundle...") if they could only make their process of weeding out relatively dangerous drivers more precise.
I wear a pretty fancy tinfoil hat most of the time, but I'm a safe driver, goddammit, and I can prove it, by my behavior. So: yes, please. I'll take it.
Slashdot Mirror
That's no star... That's a space station!
Wow, that's a really good idea. But the person doing the copying would have to give a crap about whether it was traceable.
The more I think about this, the less I would want to be a theater owner with one of these machines. To much opportunity to get sued into oblivion.
Presumably each file is digitally watermarked, so that rips could be identified as having originated in one particular projection booth.
So... what do you do, as a theater owner, knowing that your ass is personally on the line if pirate copies of your copy of the movie appear?
If it were my theater, I'd have the only key to the server room, which would be the only place that the hard drive would do any good.
Since the data has to flow from the server room to the projector when the movie is being shown, I'd enforce access logs on the server, so I could tell if the file had been read at times other than showtime.
But that still doesn't stop the $8/hour projectionist from installing a device that intercepts the data, copies it, and then passes it along to the projector.
Are there such things as video projectors that accept an encrypted stream of data?
Jane's right. There's a huge line between paid support and support that I do because you're my brother-in-law.
I also want my brother-in-law to be a little beholden to me, because he's good with doorknobs, and I'm an idiot around doorknobs, and I'm going to need a doorknob upgrade soon (this may sound like a stupid example, but it happens to be absolutely real).
If my brother-in-law needs more than I can handle, then I'll help him choose a consultant that he can pay (and be mad at when his machine fills back up with goo).
So... I don't usually charge for basic support. I do it when I have the time, for people I like.
Hmmm.. Slashdotting doesn't usually cause an instant 404.
I smell idiocy.
Thanks! That was very interesting. I've used undernet, but mostly for tech support (usually with pretty good success).
FA says that he was offering ssn, dob, passwords, etc. for sale.
So... let's say that I want to patronize his obviously grossly illegal service. How do you consummate a transaction like this? Cash in a Fedex envelope? Sent to whom? A P.O. box?
Who performs first? Are there criminal escrow services?
And how stupid do you have to be to take out an ad online, in a known criminal hangout, announcing your secret power, and providing contact info?
Is there something I'm missing here?
No, really.
Thank God.
I realize that it's probably the fault of the implementer, and not the technology, but I can't tell you how many times I've supplied my password to a page that was rendered without https.
So I had to get two Passport accounts: one for secure things, like my MSDN account, and one for things that I didn't care who stole my password for.
From the Slasdot moderator's instructions:The joke in question satisfies none of these requirements.
The parent is funny. Even if you think it's stupid, though, how could it get moderated "redundant"?
With all respect, I submit that the moderator is smoking crack.
Dude, just because some fuzzy-thinking people agree with me doesn't make me wrong.
Cheez.
"There is great disorder under heaven, and the situation is excellent."
-- Old Chinese proverb
Maybe it won't suck. Keep in mind that there's going to be turmoil, and turmoil creates opportunities for the geeks who maintain these systems (I assume that you're one of the above, since you're posting on Slashdot).
Maybe you'll have to learn Oracle. Maybe there'll be massive retraining. Maybe you'll have to rip everything out and start over. This would be a good time to ask for a raise.
The consulting gravy train will be significantly lengthened by Oracle's discontinuing of PeopleSoft, or even appearing to be thinking about it. Dweebs with HRIS implementation skills, who are flexible, will see demand for their services increase.
Call me a fascist if you want, but this is a step in a good direction.
One might construct a simple mathematical model for human behavior with regard to data storage.
It would involve a constant for the amount of time and effort it takes to delete stuff (the same whether you have a terabyte-class iPod or a 2 Gb hard drive), and a factor for the percent of free space you have on the storage device.
When you have 99 percent free space, you're much less likely to think, "Do I really need this?" than you might if you had ten percent free.
Yeah, we're just walking bags of seawater, who initiate particular behaviors when specific threshholds are exceeded.
Look, I know that some geeks will think that this is cool. But, speaking as a geek, I doubt that even a significant portion of the geek population will go for this.
NOBODY WILL BUY THIS. Nobody wants a friggin' video-phone, and particularly not for 500 bucks, when they can get the same amusement from NetMeeting and a $20 webcam.
Voice over IP is a good idea because it uses the existing telephones. Videophones... forget it. This is a publicity stunt to raise awareness of their brand of voice over IP.
An excellent point. But may I add that it doesn't take automata to create exactly what you're describing?
At Dulles airport, outside of Washington, DC, they've built "satellite" terminals that you have to ride a bus to. The buses are behemoths, with a glass wall that separates you from the driver. That's right: no asking questions, no information for the passengers except for a recorded audio loop which cycles endlessly, promising an immediate arrival even when you're inexplicably stopped in what appears to be the middle of an active runway.
To its credit, I'm unaware of any deaths caused by this stupid bus.
I assumed that "flying lawnmower" meant somethinglike the ill-fated HoverMow device: a British invention, I think, that eliminated the wheels on the lawnmower by making the blades create a strong downdraft. A flexible rubber skirt retrained the air cushion, and voila! a lawnmower that moved effortlessly, even over moderately uneven terrain.
It did NOT, however, cut grass effectively, since the fan-effect tended to smush the grass down out of the way of the blades.
So I was already writing the standard Slashdot "This is old news! I know all about this already" sneer in my head when I clicked on the FA.
But then I saw this startling thing of... yes, of beauty. Fastinating. Even a lawnmower can be graceful.
I am humbled.
Oh, and Fljúgandi....ehhh....sláttuvél? also.
There was indeed a version of NT 4 for the Alpha, but it didn't work very well.
A few years ago, we had a spare DEC Alpha, and decided to run a data warehouse on it. We put Windows NT and Microsoft SQL Server 6.5, an assload of RAM, and two full shelves of fancy 10,000-RPM disks, with a catastrophically-expensive RAID controller.
You'd think that performance would be pretty snappy.
Maybe it was just the talents of the administrators (SQL 6.5 had a lot of stuff that you could tweak), but we could never get the performance of this seven-foot-tall behemoth to particularly exceed that a standalone i386 server.
But it did have this cool picture of cowboys that came up when you booted it. Which we did a LOT.
Woo-hoo! Our favorite combo, here on the farm, used to be methamphetamines and alcohol (and motorcycles and guns, but that's off the subject).
The alcohol takes the unpleasant harsh edge off the speed, and you get the euphoric effect of the alcohol without the sloppy-drunk problems. Plus you don't pass out!
Mixing drugs like this is done all the time by the pros: go into any mental ward, and ask what people are taking. You'll find most of them on a "cocktail" of drugs. Some are for the primary complaint (e.g. psychosis), and others are to manage the side-effects of the main drug.
Good times!
But isn't he supposed to maintain control in space by squirting "cold, dry air" out of little thrusters in the wings and nose? (I got that from the MSNBC article.)
Man, that roll was scary. And when the engine shut off, and the spokesdorks said, "engine cutoff," I wish that they had added, "...like it was supposed to."
I 'bout threw up my Kung Pao.
Looks pretty smooth now. But what if the wings hadn't locked (in the transformation back into an airplane)? Is there a backup plan? Can you bail out of an airplane at 6 grillion feet per second?
The actuaries tell them that could make substantial rate cuts, and advertise them like crazy (in ads even funnier than Geico's "I just saved a bundle...") if they could only make their process of weeding out relatively dangerous drivers more precise.
I wear a pretty fancy tinfoil hat most of the time, but I'm a safe driver, goddammit, and I can prove it, by my behavior. So: yes, please. I'll take it.
You can actually see the controls.
http://www.edmunds.com/news/autoshows/articles/100 643/page013.html ...and not Slashdotted.