One of my favorite password stories is my recent subscription to @Home from AT&T. I called to complain about my cable modem dying (I apparently was querying the DHCP server every second, for an hour or to every week. Stupid crontab...). I am used to 'security questions' like 'can you verify your address' and things like that. but after the usual, the conversation went like this:
The Guy: 'What is your @home password?
Me: 'excuse me?
TG: 'Oh, we have to make sure it's you.
Me: 'But I havn't set a password.
TG: 'Yes, you have.
Me: 'Um, I don't remember TELLING anyone my password.
TG: 'Oh wait, you do have the default. Do you want to set a password?
Me: 'What?!
TG: 'You tell me the password, i'll put it in for you.
Me: 'I don't really feel comfortable with that.
TG: 'Just give me any old password.
Me: 'Okay. F. &. 9..
TG: No, do you have a regular word you could use?
Me: What, like 'bob'?
TG: Okay i've set it to 'bob', how can I help you?
I was about ready to kill him at that point. Slight alterations in the passwords, but that's pretty much how it went. I was not happy.
When a person is insane, as you clearly are, do you know that you're insane? Maybe you're just sitting around, reading Guns & Ammo, masturbating, in your own feces...do you just stop and go, 'WOW! It is amazing how fucking crazy I really am.
As posted before, I had something similar happen to me. Midway through the attack, I contacted CERT. they were tracking a particularly large botnet on Undernet at the time, and my handling of the small botnet might have been some help.
The email I wrote to CERT is located here. It details some of the stuff that happened as I got rid of the botnet. I deleted around 500 bots when all was said and done.
I noticed a bunch of bots connecting to our irc server approx a year and a half ago. After monitoring them for a bit, I found their password, found out they were subseven bots, and got their ports and passwords. I then proceeded to manually remove the bots over the period of the next couple of days. You can remotely remove subseven bots if you have ports and passwords. I removed around 500 bots or so. When they hopped their dynamic IP (when they figured out what I was doing) I followed them, got them Glined there, and followed them to three seperate servers before they gave up and disabled the dynamic ip address. It was a pain in the ass, but it was worth it when the guy finally threw in the towel.
Glad someone else is invading these bot nets like I did.
The old slashdot story talking about them using linux and solaris as their server farm. Wonder if some of those workers had any say on what they used...
"Today, many PCs come with hard drives ranging from 10 gigabytes to 20 gigabytes." - the AP article.
20 gig is the smallest size of hard drive you can buy! at least, not used! Just on Saturday, I needed to replace a 2 gig on an old server, and I had to go with a 20 gig as that is the only one with an over 1 year warranty. *sigh* old data is so sad...
Ah... So that's what he meant by 'I spend most of my day with a tool in my hand....' Not 'Some tools' or 'my tools' or 'a wrench' but even 'my tool'. Just 'a' tool. So I guess it IS fully functional.
Because I'm a consultant, I always have to try to bill at least 40 hours a week. But i've noticed that some companies prefer you to bill more or bill exactly 40.
Usually the larger the company, the more likely they are going to want a stock 40 hour week. in fact, some have moved to the 37.5 week. But these are usually non-IS houses.
In the middle of the spectrum, you have the larger Internet companies that require at least 40, sometimes 50, sometimes 60. These are the established places that can sometimes be kind of hectic.
Then on the far end, you have the startups. They *require* ten hour days, 7 days a week, with extra time for server outtages (which are frequent) so you end up billing a 85 hour week. which... kind of sucks. `8r/
I'm a big fan of Cyberpunk and Blade Runner. I had read his previous book, Blade Runner 2, but I had trouble getting into it except for my great interest in the characters. by having a pre-defined interest in the characters themselves, I forced myself to keep going. However, when I picked up Noir like 6 months ago, I expected something I could get into.
I've tried 3 times, and couldn't get past the first 20 pages before I got tired of it. and I rarely put books down! I found it MORE interesting to re-read the lord of the rings triology. that's a bad sign when you'd rather re-read a book rather than read the brand new book you just got.
Anyway, I'll most likely give it another shot, but only when all the other books in my house are on holiday or something. Just hope it gets better than the first 20 pages.
I've wanted since the begining of all this, and every time i've applied (at multiple places) when asked by the person 'is this a 4 year school', i patiently reply 'One cannot become a ninja with only 4 years. ha! ha! ha!' and then they hang up on me, I think cause of the mocking tone.
Pete: Big city, hmm? Live. Work, huh? But. Only peoples. Peoples is peoples. No is buildings. Is tomatoes, huh? Is peoples, is dancing, is music, is potatoes. So, peoples is peoples. Okay?
Another web comic with a lot of history and a lot of humor is Player vs Player which is VERY funny. Highly suggested you start from the begining and read them all!
Penny Aracade has changed a lot over the past 6 months, and I'm not sure if it's for the best. But the last three have been a return to old values so we'll see what happens. Plus, the entire controversy around their sudden unplugging might make them return to the old good stuff. `8r)
Now, if the stupid ads built into their comic didn't freak out firewall constantly... `8r/
I just have to say that my cobalt box is very upset with the 'picture' section. Her picture is very complementory as is, but at 200x200, it looks like she's fat!
The picture ruins her true description. `8r(
I'm very blue, i'm very thin, i'm very cute, and I'm lit up like a xmas tree! I have lots of sensative buttons on my front, with an LCD panel to see my 'status'. I'm looking for another rack mounted CPU so that we can 'stack'. I'm also fully mirrored, so redundancy is a plus!
With her luck, she'll get paired up with a gimpy looking desktop. `8r( but she so wants to find a slick looking machine of equal speeds...
There were several possible outcomes to this landing (which BottomQuark reported on earlier today.) You had the possibility that the possibility that the space craft could land at the 1mph-8mph landing speed that would allow it to survive. You had the chance that it would roll over onto it's antenae and not transmit anything. You had the chance it would hit so hard that scientists would be able to tell the asteroid's composition from the impact. However, today's landing at 5 mph was excellent and shows that NASA does know what's it's doing. sometimes. even when it makes two years of mistakes up until that point. This is where the 'bunch of smart guys' quotent pays off. `8r)
There are some signs of bad science on the CNN site though. I don't believe Eros is in danger of hitting the earth because it has a stable orbit. I hate it when the news over-exagerates dangers, such as when the researcher from the RHIC said there is a small possibility of a black hole being created. Because of that, everyone was sure a giant movie-like black hole would be created at Brookhaven. Next, we'll be hearing that the NEAR landing might have pushed the rock off course, allowing it to hit the earth and destroy everything.
Just hope we can find a bunch of movie stars to quickly blow it up!
I'd agree with many of the other posters that maybe the scientist has just switched from 'old guy' to 'grumpy old guy'. But he does have at least one valid point.
Modern technology is being designed to replace existing, decent applications. The best example is the idea of a date book. You can step through several iterations of this technology:
Memory You remember everything. If you forget, you're in trouble. but you cannot lose the dates if you remember them. plus, you have full search capabilities and the ability to archive these items. Example: Your birthday.
Memory plus a Document You remember a date, and write down the exact event on a piece of paper. You might have a flyer with the event, or you might just have jotted it down beforehand. The problems with this technology is that you can forget about the event, you can't really archive it as well, and you can lose the peice of paper. however, because your brain is doing the date checking, you might have problems with overlapping events. Example: Tickets to see a band, a company flyer about the xmas party.
A date book This was first used long ago, but really became common amongst professionals in the 80's. 'Doing lunch' or something. The advantages of this are apparent because it's easy to cross check for interference, you can keep a log of your doings very accurately, and you can keep all your infomation in a centralized place. You can also cross reference this with an address book, filling out the complement of being able to find the place or person you're attending the function with. However the major problem for anyone with a decently updated datebook is that if you ever lose it, you are so screwed up that you never are able to accurately maintain another one, rememberin the loss of your first one. Plus, the reliance gets to be a little bad, but you remember some things just by writing them down. Example: Lunch with Bill at 12:30pm at Dorseys
PDA's Hurray for complete automation, right? This all the advantages of the datebook, without worrying about loss because of modern backup technologies. However, how many of you remember things you typed over things you've physically written down? Or much less, the data that is automatically created for you, like 'First sunday of every month is date night.' Now, what happens when your brain no longer needs to remember or even interfaces with the data storage devices for your schedule? You lose those ideas, and hence have trouble with managing your own schedule. Being at the mercy of modern scheduling software, you can sometimes have a hickup or two. Is the place we want to be with technology? Example:Staff meeting every alternating Tuesday at 2pm in *insert room*.
It's important to have technology that complements current ideals. Such as datebooks that remind us every morning what we have to do that day. Or reminds us to start thinking about paying off that AmEx bill. Without these hooks into our brain to remember things, yes we do forget about them. But with advanced enough software to remind us of the little things (such as give Sweetest day presents, attending useless meetings, or wash behind our ears) we can use our potent intellect for more advanced processing and more advanced thinking.
For instance, i've been using my extra capacity to memorizing Counter-Strike maps. Currently I'm up to 20-30 or so maps that I know by heart. However, I'm sure Dr Takashi Tsukiyama would put me in the 'stupid as hell' catagory because I can't remember my own cell phone number because I have it stored in 5 different electronic places and on my business cards. And well, that one number I've avoided memorizing has allowed me to know where to snipe on de_jeepathon2k. Hurray for technology!
You could always put something that is obviously rotting in there... just find your local side street with some roadkill, scrape it up, package it, and send it in! won't they be surprised! I'm not quite so vengeful but it might be kind of funny.
One of my coworkers said his grandfather used to send in the card saying 'Please don't mail me again and take me off your list.' and include half a cup of chili or jello or porriage. And because the card is covered in crap, they'd always have to enter it in by hand. He got quite a few calls back from people, and would just play senile from there.
'But I thought you boys could use a nice bowl of chili!'
Bleh! If I hear reusability one more time, i'm going to kill someone...
The right tool for the right job. By building such a generic tool, you ruin it's effectiveness. and the article points out that the benifits of reusability only come after years.
But he makes a great point. You can't have all OOP and no procedural skills. and you see it time and time again. If all you know how to us is a hammer, pretty soon everything looks like a nail.
Slashdot Mirror
The Guy: 'What is your @home password?
Me: 'excuse me?
TG: 'Oh, we have to make sure it's you.
Me: 'But I havn't set a password.
TG: 'Yes, you have.
Me: 'Um, I don't remember TELLING anyone my password.
TG: 'Oh wait, you do have the default. Do you want to set a password?
Me: 'What?!
TG: 'You tell me the password, i'll put it in for you.
Me: 'I don't really feel comfortable with that.
TG: 'Just give me any old password.
Me: 'Okay. F. &. 9..
TG: No, do you have a regular word you could use?
Me: What, like 'bob'?
TG: Okay i've set it to 'bob', how can I help you?
I was about ready to kill him at that point. Slight alterations in the passwords, but that's pretty much how it went. I was not happy.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
No cure for cancer.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
When a person is insane, as you clearly are, do you know that you're insane? Maybe you're just sitting around, reading Guns & Ammo, masturbating, in your own feces...do you just stop and go, 'WOW! It is amazing how fucking crazy I really am.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
The email I wrote to CERT is located here. It details some of the stuff that happened as I got rid of the botnet. I deleted around 500 bots when all was said and done.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Glad someone else is invading these bot nets like I did.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
The old slashdot story talking about them using linux and solaris as their server farm. Wonder if some of those workers had any say on what they used...
--
Gonzo Granzeau
"Today, many PCs come with hard drives ranging from 10 gigabytes to 20 gigabytes." - the AP article.
20 gig is the smallest size of hard drive you can buy! at least, not used! Just on Saturday, I needed to replace a 2 gig on an old server, and I had to go with a 20 gig as that is the only one with an over 1 year warranty. *sigh* old data is so sad...
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Ah... So that's what he meant by 'I spend most of my day with a tool in my hand....' Not 'Some tools' or 'my tools' or 'a wrench' but even 'my tool'. Just 'a' tool. So I guess it IS fully functional.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Usually the larger the company, the more likely they are going to want a stock 40 hour week. in fact, some have moved to the 37.5 week. But these are usually non-IS houses.
In the middle of the spectrum, you have the larger Internet companies that require at least 40, sometimes 50, sometimes 60. These are the established places that can sometimes be kind of hectic.
Then on the far end, you have the startups. They *require* ten hour days, 7 days a week, with extra time for server outtages (which are frequent) so you end up billing a 85 hour week. which... kind of sucks. `8r/
All just IMHO.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
I've tried 3 times, and couldn't get past the first 20 pages before I got tired of it. and I rarely put books down! I found it MORE interesting to re-read the lord of the rings triology. that's a bad sign when you'd rather re-read a book rather than read the brand new book you just got.
Anyway, I'll most likely give it another shot, but only when all the other books in my house are on holiday or something. Just hope it gets better than the first 20 pages.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
I've wanted since the begining of all this, and every time i've applied (at multiple places) when asked by the person 'is this a 4 year school', i patiently reply 'One cannot become a ninja with only 4 years. ha! ha! ha!' and then they hang up on me, I think cause of the mocking tone.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
But what good does it do them if the people can just skip over all the commercials they have lined up in 5 seconds?
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Hence, they've made All Your Brand Are Belong to Us which mostly has a repeating theme, but some are still quite interesting...
You always have to wonder why grass roots always turns into cash roots.. *cough*woodstock*cough*
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Good call on this though. `8r)
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Pete: Big city, hmm? Live. Work, huh? But. Only peoples. Peoples is peoples. No is buildings. Is tomatoes, huh? Is peoples, is dancing, is music, is potatoes. So, peoples is peoples. Okay?
mmmmm slashdot, I love you. `8r)
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Penny Aracade has changed a lot over the past 6 months, and I'm not sure if it's for the best. But the last three have been a return to old values so we'll see what happens. Plus, the entire controversy around their sudden unplugging might make them return to the old good stuff. `8r) Now, if the stupid ads built into their comic didn't freak out firewall constantly... `8r/
Oh, and cause I can: Wang!
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Try again boys...
--
Gonzo Granzeau
The picture ruins her true description. `8r(
I'm very blue, i'm very thin, i'm very cute, and I'm lit up like a xmas tree! I have lots of sensative buttons on my front, with an LCD panel to see my 'status'. I'm looking for another rack mounted CPU so that we can 'stack'. I'm also fully mirrored, so redundancy is a plus!
With her luck, she'll get paired up with a gimpy looking desktop. `8r( but she so wants to find a slick looking machine of equal speeds...
--
Gonzo Granzeau
There are some signs of bad science on the CNN site though. I don't believe Eros is in danger of hitting the earth because it has a stable orbit. I hate it when the news over-exagerates dangers, such as when the researcher from the RHIC said there is a small possibility of a black hole being created. Because of that, everyone was sure a giant movie-like black hole would be created at Brookhaven. Next, we'll be hearing that the NEAR landing might have pushed the rock off course, allowing it to hit the earth and destroy everything.
Just hope we can find a bunch of movie stars to quickly blow it up!
--
Gonzo Granzeau
What is your favorite poll that you were a part of? And would that be a poll you nearly won?
--
Gonzo Granzeau
I just posted like 5 minutes ago and I used the EXACT SAME ANALOGY!
Sad how much space counterstrike information has eaten in my brain... heh I find it more fullfilling, that's for sure.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Modern technology is being designed to replace existing, decent applications. The best example is the idea of a date book. You can step through several iterations of this technology:
It's important to have technology that complements current ideals. Such as datebooks that remind us every morning what we have to do that day. Or reminds us to start thinking about paying off that AmEx bill. Without these hooks into our brain to remember things, yes we do forget about them. But with advanced enough software to remind us of the little things (such as give Sweetest day presents, attending useless meetings, or wash behind our ears) we can use our potent intellect for more advanced processing and more advanced thinking.
For instance, i've been using my extra capacity to memorizing Counter-Strike maps. Currently I'm up to 20-30 or so maps that I know by heart. However, I'm sure Dr Takashi Tsukiyama would put me in the 'stupid as hell' catagory because I can't remember my own cell phone number because I have it stored in 5 different electronic places and on my business cards. And well, that one number I've avoided memorizing has allowed me to know where to snipe on de_jeepathon2k. Hurray for technology!
--
Gonzo Granzeau
my mistake.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
One of my coworkers said his grandfather used to send in the card saying 'Please don't mail me again and take me off your list.' and include half a cup of chili or jello or porriage. And because the card is covered in crap, they'd always have to enter it in by hand. He got quite a few calls back from people, and would just play senile from there.
'But I thought you boys could use a nice bowl of chili!'
--
Gonzo Granzeau
The right tool for the right job. By building such a generic tool, you ruin it's effectiveness. and the article points out that the benifits of reusability only come after years.
But he makes a great point. You can't have all OOP and no procedural skills. and you see it time and time again. If all you know how to us is a hammer, pretty soon everything looks like a nail.
--
Gonzo Granzeau