I couldn't find a job in the IT market (but there's not much in NW Ohio, anyway), so I'm selling cars and keeping the computers running at a Car Dealership. I make the same amount of money, and I don't have to shell out the bucks of buying a new car every so often...they give me one to take off the lot.
I'm scared now
on
TiVo Basic
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I've got three TiVo's myself, and I have just convinced my mother to go get one. To be quite honest, this scares me, because it could be a sign to things to come. But, with today's economy, people would rather be cheap than functional, so I'm guessing that they're going to come out with this, then try to keep afloat. Sure, Oprah et al. have given TiVo good coverage, however, I really don't want to admit that this may mean that my favorite home appliance could be going to the dust.
I just hope there's enough of the hacking community out there to support my addiction should TiVo ever fall in the dumps.
Yes, you can get a "dry Pair" just by calling your RBOC and asking them. If the droid on the other end of the phone doesn't know what you're talking about, ask for an 'alarm circut.'
Hope this helps.
Ian
Re:Dial-A-Cam Uses
on
Dial-A-Cam
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Well, Maybe not a POTS line...
When I worked at Cedar Point, their security cameras worked over dry pairs of the telcom's network. Considering I can get a Dry pair (or an alarm circut) for about $8/month per leg (from my house to the Telco, from the Telco to whereever it's going).
A POTS line isn't going to give you much in the way of bandwidth, but, a dry pair is yours...you can do what you'd like to with it...wanna use it to pipe audio from your house to your girlfriend's house? You can do it. Wanna run DSL? Yup...probably could do that (if it's a non-loaded area). Wanna be able to call your parents from your girlfriends house and them not be suspicous when someone else's caller ID comes up...there ya go.
I honestly don't see much use of these phones outside of the 'teen expendable item' category...but who knows.
I do answer my own arguments every now and then. Here in the prison state of Ohio, it's my understanding of just presenting a gun implies that you were going to use it...so you get the gun spec (automatic 2 years mandatory) regardless of even if it wasn't loaded.
I know for fact that if my ex-es bank got robbed, she'd quit the next day (her and her mom are both bank tellers--they've openly stated, "Job be damned, I'll walk my drawer out to their car if they've got a gun"). Yes...the only trauma in my other case would be the sysadmin who would probably be fired for something like that.
Crime is crime...base crime is still the same--theft. You should be able to say, "Well, you both took from the bank, you'll both do x time," but it doesn't work that way--and that's what I was trying to show.
ONUCSGeek
The legal system is really fuxored. No doubt about it. Ohio doesn't have CCW laws, and to be quite honest about it, I wouldn't carry even if given the opportunity. I'm deathly afraid of guns (but have no problem turning helping my cousins-to-be turn a model rocket into a small missle for 'educational' purposes).
I know in Ohio, you've got to have a few different things for 'dangerous weapon.' Mace is a dangerous weapon. OC/Tear Gas is a dangerous weapon. Having a stun-gun in your glovebox is a dangerous weapon. Road Flares? Yup. Dangerous Weapon.
Have one of these, and you're doing at least 6 months. Why? The Legal system thinks that these can be used in a bad way (generally against the po-po). Road Flares? Yeah, major darwins to the person who has the gonads to light one in a trooper's eyes, but I hardly think that it qualifies as a dangerous ordanance.
I'm all for the right for self defense, but the Criminal Justice system is not anywhere equal to where it should be, nor is it in a decent shape. You've got 2 types of people in Prisons--Old Law (25-L for Rape) versus New Law (10 Flat for rape). They've had guys get out, recommit, and still get out earlier than guys under the old law. Apply the law fairly, sanely, and justly. Problem solved. Getting it there, is a different story for a different day.
My (ex-)girlfriend works at a bank. Her bank branch has never been robbed before, but take the following into account:
a) Most Bank robbers wouldn't know what bait/dyepacks would look like if it was sitting in front of their face b) If the tellers just grab their bait, the robber's getting away with ~$83 per teller c) Some Bank Tellers have their own 'valuts' (Bank tellers buy and sell money from the bank vaults to their cash drawers. Some banks differ in how much money they're permitted to have in their drawer, or don't permit their tellers to have locked valuts.
Let's say I'm Jon-BankRobber. I walk in with my gun, flash it around, walk out with ~$300 bucks (~$80 x 4 bank tellers), caused some bank tellers to quit their jobs/go into therapy/become really depressed. I go to Court, visit the Judge, who gives me ten years.
Now, let's look at Joe-31337h4x0rd00d. I break into my bank's tellering system, create an account, and either blatently (to the fact that it comes up on the next day's report) or sneakily (penny-slicing) steal money. I can get away with much much more, but for the sake of keeping things same, I only take $300.
When Joe-Hacker goes to the judge, he's going to get a max of 6 months. Non Violent Crime, Under $500 (no felony), no gun. (this is assuming that they don't get him with electronic tresspass)
If they're looking to give hackers/crackers a free ride, it won't happen. If they're trying to equal things...just make the same crime punishable by the same punishment. Rob a bank or Crack a bank, go to jail for up to ten years.
I know some of you will poke holes in this, but the average white-collar-criminal just doesn't go to prison, unless you've pissed someone really off, or really f*cked up.
mod the parent up. I'm fresh out of mod points this week
This poster has it right on the head. I had a gas station charge my debit card twice for the same transaction, and my bank still hasn't fixed it. When it happened on my credit card, it was taken care of the next day. Use your credit cards!
It started out when I was dating this Girl who worked for the government. Well, we got engaged, got married, and divorced just 6 (yes, six) months later. Going into this, I had great credit. After the divorce, she got to keep the car (I swear I'll make the payments), and I was left out unscathed. Well; one thing lead to another...and my credit report was ruined. I got stuck in Chexsystems, and my life has gone downhill from there, including doing some probation time because she wrote a bad check on a joint checking account (something that should have been closed--that was my fault), and I got sucked into it.
Thanks to my friends in the banking industry, I was able to get a checking account again, however, I've been turned down for jobs because of my negative credit rating.
The end result: My life is totally screwed over because some woman decided she wanted head games. Does this mean I'm a bad employee? No. I work hard for what I do, I work hard to make sure my employer is happy, and I work hard because I enjoy working hard. Because I made a mistake, that doesn't mean that I'm a bad employee, and I've turned my life around.
Honestly -- It doesn't matter what skills you have, how good of an employee you are...get a felony, have a shitty credit report, and your professional career will suck ass. Trust me--I know.
Best Crowd Discussion around...
on
Superbowl XXXVII
·
· Score: 1
irc.freenode.net #superbowl
I'll be doing it again next year...you get football, and educated folks (sure beats the woman whining about this "pee ehhch pee thingie-ma-bobbie" that I keep on working on) talking about football, to Gwen's "Almost B-Cup." Maybe I just need to get out mroe often.
When I grew up, I was an avid Model Rocket builder...but given that, and an online copy of a specific 'cookbook,' I was able to take the area that generally required a parachute or other landing device, and fill it with home-made napalm in a plastic bag. An amazing fireball if you sit there and watch it blow up...so I decided to fire it at the back garage, not really thinking anything of it. In about 45 minutes, I found out the real reason why you shouldn't play with fire.
Yes, I'm sick of Clear Channel as well, but evidently the majority of listeners like hearing pop...so I'm thinking about going XM. Sorry about change, that's life, but it wasn't like there was a Hindi or techno radio station on FM here anyway! I listen to Shoutcast at home as it is...and did I mention that FM stations will soon have digital sound using iBOC?
Considering that XM's Corporate partner is Clear Channel, do you really think you're going to run too far away? The Talk channle Buzz XM, for example, is nothing more than Clear-Channle Re-Broadcasting. Mike Trevisano from WTAM 1100 (formerly WWWE) in Cleveland, Willie and the Truckin' Bozo from 700 WLW...LA Kiss FM...the whole XM Radio just leaks of Clear Channle repeat content. Don't believe me? Go to to this XM Radio Page and see for yourself.
Re:Why should you even need land line service at a
on
DSL Amidst Phone Wars
·
· Score: 2
It's all about Content Consumers v. Content Producers...DSL is more suited to people who are content producers...those who need a deciated 'pipe' in the ATM cloud. Cable modems with DOCSIS are made for people who are doing a lot of content consuming; great for Joe Sixpack and family, but for 'running your own server,' type of crowd, DSL is a better choice than Cable.
A warrant will let law enforcement officals let anyone else who wants to go with them in, as long as the law enforcement agency is serving or executing the warrant.
The RIAA might have gotten the information to execute the warrant, but they had to let the federal investigators do the actual bust.
For shared hosting, nothing really beats MASFL.net; no setup fees, and SSH access for a little under 10/month.
For Dedicated hosting, I use HostingFreaks. Their support is wonderful, people are friendly, and if you do things right, they end up paying you for using their support! Yup...kinda interesting.
Something else abotu the PATRIOT act that irks me. My girlfriend (as well as her mother) are bank tellers. Whenever anyone opens up a bank acccount, they've got to get a copy of their driver's license, as well as keep it on file. Now, yes, I know that some banks already get this information for things like ChexSystems (et.al), but when they keep it on flie for 5 years, keeping my information in a not-so-secure place (e.g., a locked drawer), it bugs me.
[ob political rant] ya know, Ashcroft and GW have done a very nice job of diminishing what few civil liberties that we've got left. Before 9/11, how many times a month did you hear the word terrorism. Now, how many times do you hear it? Drugs? Terrorism. Violence? Terrorism. Someone not wiping their ass right? Terrorism. [/ob rant and apology to moderators]
The next thing you know, they'll be looking at our web site traffic to determine if we're terrorists.
I've worked in Cable TV for about 2 years now; doing HSD (Read: Cable Modem) installation (as well as digital cable installations).
Most Locations have the capability to do Video On Demand. For example, where I live, Time Warner Cable has Music Videos on Demand, Golf Channle on Demand, CNN on Demand, Cartoon Network on Demand, and HBO on Demand. Added cost to local consumer? Nothing--if they have subscribed to the show already.
Cable companies are looking into this for two ways: the first reason is that it removes some of the reasons for the user to buy a TiVo, ReplayTV, etc...the next reason is that there is Customer Demand for this. People wanted to have home networks on their Cable Modems, so they looked into home networks; and now most users who don't have their homes networked can do so for an extra $5/month. The same went with VOD (Video on Demand). Customers wanted it...they gave it to them.
You may be right about some of the things, but with the invent of fiber and digital transmissions, the cable companies can do more with what they have, with little or no cost in upgrading their end systems (as compared to their inital investment
I have a Samsung I-300 Phone. I'm only about 22, don't have the best credit, so they stuck me on their "Clear pay" plan. Ok...not so bad. Their online and phone-automated credit-card payment acceptors won't take my payment, because the addresses on my credit cards go to a PO Box, and my physical address is, a--PO box! The addresses match up, but it always costs me $8/month (yes, that's 96 bucks a year) to pay my bill with my credit card!
My next gripe is that any company that wants to charge me $3 to talk to a person (e.g., update my PRL, Change ESN's, bitch to someone about my dropped calls) shouldn't deserve my business. I've had it for about a year and a half now, and My contract is up in May. I can't wait. I don't plan on going back.
The next bitch is that phone...the battery life is pathetic, and I get about 5 minutes per battery of cell-phone life. I take it in, they'll tell me it charges fine, but they won't do anything else about it. Looks like I'm going to have to buy a Thera and deal with WinCE when it comes out...anyway....I'm done ranting.
I know what actually happens when the cable guy comes out to install; as I was the one who was doing it. Here's the run-down:
1.) The Installer checks your cable lines to see what the forward and return levels are, to see if they'll work with your exisiting drop at your house-box. If everything's ok, they'll run an extra outlet, take it to the house box, and split it off as the first splitter in your box. If it's not ok, they'll re-hang or re-bury the drop, then run your AO.
2.) The Cable installer calls in the MAC address of your cable modem, so that DOCSIS can authorise your account.
3.) We plug in the cable modem in, and make sure that the Cable Modem actually lights up. Once that Cable Modem is lit, you can get a DHCP address with any DHCP client.
4.) We'd run the RoadRunner disk...it'd set up the IEAK Customizations, set up email addresses, and then do a series of tests to ensuer that everything was ok. This included a ping test, a DNS test, and tweak your TCP/IP settings for broadband.
Basically, once they bring it in, DOCSIS provides the authentication (if you're on a system that uses DOCSIS). They shouldn't need to run any software on your computer that provides authentication--it's hardware based.
The Company's senior engineering team, formerly the developers of the highly regarded DivxTM encrypted DVD platform, have an unblemished track record in providing highly scalable, highly secure content security systems to the motion picture industry.
Hrmms...from one side to the other one; going to preventing people from viewing DVD's to recording it.
The reason that Sprint PCS did this was because the low credit classes (hey...I'm in there too) make up 90% of the calls that they receive, so to help offset the charges of the manpower, they implemented this policy. If you're nice to the customer service agent, they will credit your account the $3.00...but you've got to be really nice and not bitch too much;)
Slashdot Mirror
Seriously?
I couldn't find a job in the IT market (but there's not much in NW Ohio, anyway), so I'm selling cars and keeping the computers running at a Car Dealership. I make the same amount of money, and I don't have to shell out the bucks of buying a new car every so often...they give me one to take off the lot.
I've got three TiVo's myself, and I have just convinced my mother to go get one. To be quite honest, this scares me, because it could be a sign to things to come. But, with today's economy, people would rather be cheap than functional, so I'm guessing that they're going to come out with this, then try to keep afloat. Sure, Oprah et al. have given TiVo good coverage, however, I really don't want to admit that this may mean that my favorite home appliance could be going to the dust.
I just hope there's enough of the hacking community out there to support my addiction should TiVo ever fall in the dumps.
Yes, you can get a "dry Pair" just by calling your RBOC and asking them. If the droid on the other end of the phone doesn't know what you're talking about, ask for an 'alarm circut.'
Hope this helps.
Ian
Well, Maybe not a POTS line...
When I worked at Cedar Point, their security cameras worked over dry pairs of the telcom's network. Considering I can get a Dry pair (or an alarm circut) for about $8/month per leg (from my house to the Telco, from the Telco to whereever it's going).
A POTS line isn't going to give you much in the way of bandwidth, but, a dry pair is yours...you can do what you'd like to with it...wanna use it to pipe audio from your house to your girlfriend's house? You can do it. Wanna run DSL? Yup...probably could do that (if it's a non-loaded area). Wanna be able to call your parents from your girlfriends house and them not be suspicous when someone else's caller ID comes up...there ya go.
I honestly don't see much use of these phones outside of the 'teen expendable item' category...but who knows.
Ian
I do answer my own arguments every now and then. Here in the prison state of Ohio, it's my understanding of just presenting a gun implies that you were going to use it...so you get the gun spec (automatic 2 years mandatory) regardless of even if it wasn't loaded. I know for fact that if my ex-es bank got robbed, she'd quit the next day (her and her mom are both bank tellers--they've openly stated, "Job be damned, I'll walk my drawer out to their car if they've got a gun"). Yes...the only trauma in my other case would be the sysadmin who would probably be fired for something like that. Crime is crime...base crime is still the same--theft. You should be able to say, "Well, you both took from the bank, you'll both do x time," but it doesn't work that way--and that's what I was trying to show. ONUCSGeek
Yes;
The legal system is really fuxored. No doubt about it. Ohio doesn't have CCW laws, and to be quite honest about it, I wouldn't carry even if given the opportunity. I'm deathly afraid of guns (but have no problem turning helping my cousins-to-be turn a model rocket into a small missle for 'educational' purposes).
I know in Ohio, you've got to have a few different things for 'dangerous weapon.' Mace is a dangerous weapon. OC/Tear Gas is a dangerous weapon. Having a stun-gun in your glovebox is a dangerous weapon. Road Flares? Yup. Dangerous Weapon.
Have one of these, and you're doing at least 6 months. Why? The Legal system thinks that these can be used in a bad way (generally against the po-po). Road Flares? Yeah, major darwins to the person who has the gonads to light one in a trooper's eyes, but I hardly think that it qualifies as a dangerous ordanance.
I'm all for the right for self defense, but the Criminal Justice system is not anywhere equal to where it should be, nor is it in a decent shape. You've got 2 types of people in Prisons--Old Law (25-L for Rape) versus New Law (10 Flat for rape). They've had guys get out, recommit, and still get out earlier than guys under the old law. Apply the law fairly, sanely, and justly. Problem solved. Getting it there, is a different story for a different day.
ONUCSGeek
My (ex-)girlfriend works at a bank. Her bank branch has never been robbed before, but take the following into account:
a) Most Bank robbers wouldn't know what bait/dyepacks would look like if it was sitting in front of their face
b) If the tellers just grab their bait, the robber's getting away with ~$83 per teller
c) Some Bank Tellers have their own 'valuts' (Bank tellers buy and sell money from the bank vaults to their cash drawers. Some banks differ in how much money they're permitted to have in their drawer, or don't permit their tellers to have locked valuts.
Let's say I'm Jon-BankRobber. I walk in with my gun, flash it around, walk out with ~$300 bucks (~$80 x 4 bank tellers), caused some bank tellers to quit their jobs/go into therapy/become really depressed. I go to Court, visit the Judge, who gives me ten years.
Now, let's look at Joe-31337h4x0rd00d. I break into my bank's tellering system, create an account, and either blatently (to the fact that it comes up on the next day's report) or sneakily (penny-slicing) steal money. I can get away with much much more, but for the sake of keeping things same, I only take $300.
When Joe-Hacker goes to the judge, he's going to get a max of 6 months. Non Violent Crime, Under $500 (no felony), no gun. (this is assuming that they don't get him with electronic tresspass)
If they're looking to give hackers/crackers a free ride, it won't happen. If they're trying to equal things...just make the same crime punishable by the same punishment. Rob a bank or Crack a bank, go to jail for up to ten years.
I know some of you will poke holes in this, but the average white-collar-criminal just doesn't go to prison, unless you've pissed someone really off, or really f*cked up.
Replies will be answered.
ONUCSGeek
This poster has it right on the head. I had a gas station charge my debit card twice for the same transaction, and my bank still hasn't fixed it. When it happened on my credit card, it was taken care of the next day. Use your credit cards!
It started out when I was dating this Girl who worked for the government. Well, we got engaged, got married, and divorced just 6 (yes, six) months later. Going into this, I had great credit. After the divorce, she got to keep the car (I swear I'll make the payments), and I was left out unscathed. Well; one thing lead to another...and my credit report was ruined. I got stuck in Chexsystems, and my life has gone downhill from there, including doing some probation time because she wrote a bad check on a joint checking account (something that should have been closed--that was my fault), and I got sucked into it.
Thanks to my friends in the banking industry, I was able to get a checking account again, however, I've been turned down for jobs because of my negative credit rating.
The end result: My life is totally screwed over because some woman decided she wanted head games. Does this mean I'm a bad employee? No. I work hard for what I do, I work hard to make sure my employer is happy, and I work hard because I enjoy working hard. Because I made a mistake, that doesn't mean that I'm a bad employee, and I've turned my life around.
Honestly -- It doesn't matter what skills you have, how good of an employee you are...get a felony, have a shitty credit report, and your professional career will suck ass. Trust me--I know.
irc.freenode.net #superbowl
I'll be doing it again next year...you get football, and educated folks (sure beats the woman whining about this "pee ehhch pee thingie-ma-bobbie" that I keep on working on) talking about football, to Gwen's "Almost B-Cup."
Maybe I just need to get out mroe often.
When I grew up, I was an avid Model Rocket builder...but given that, and an online copy of a specific 'cookbook,' I was able to take the area that generally required a parachute or other landing device, and fill it with home-made napalm in a plastic bag. An amazing fireball if you sit there and watch it blow up...so I decided to fire it at the back garage, not really thinking anything of it. In about 45 minutes, I found out the real reason why you shouldn't play with fire.
Considering that XM's Corporate partner is Clear Channel, do you really think you're going to run too far away? The Talk channle Buzz XM, for example, is nothing more than Clear-Channle Re-Broadcasting. Mike Trevisano from WTAM 1100 (formerly WWWE) in Cleveland, Willie and the Truckin' Bozo from 700 WLW...LA Kiss FM...the whole XM Radio just leaks of Clear Channle repeat content. Don't believe me? Go to to this XM Radio Page and see for yourself.
Just an overworked HSD installer's thoughts...
A warrant will let law enforcement officals let anyone else who wants to go with them in, as long as the law enforcement agency is serving or executing the warrant.
The RIAA might have gotten the information to execute the warrant, but they had to let the federal investigators do the actual bust.
For Dedicated hosting, I use HostingFreaks. Their support is wonderful, people are friendly, and if you do things right, they end up paying you for using their support! Yup...kinda interesting.
[ob political rant] ya know, Ashcroft and GW have done a very nice job of diminishing what few civil liberties that we've got left. Before 9/11, how many times a month did you hear the word terrorism. Now, how many times do you hear it? Drugs? Terrorism. Violence? Terrorism. Someone not wiping their ass right? Terrorism. [/ob rant and apology to moderators]
The next thing you know, they'll be looking at our web site traffic to determine if we're terrorists.
Most Locations have the capability to do Video On Demand. For example, where I live, Time Warner Cable has Music Videos on Demand, Golf Channle on Demand, CNN on Demand, Cartoon Network on Demand, and HBO on Demand. Added cost to local consumer? Nothing--if they have subscribed to the show already.
Cable companies are looking into this for two ways: the first reason is that it removes some of the reasons for the user to buy a TiVo, ReplayTV, etc...the next reason is that there is Customer Demand for this. People wanted to have home networks on their Cable Modems, so they looked into home networks; and now most users who don't have their homes networked can do so for an extra $5/month. The same went with VOD (Video on Demand). Customers wanted it...they gave it to them.
You may be right about some of the things, but with the invent of fiber and digital transmissions, the cable companies can do more with what they have, with little or no cost in upgrading their end systems (as compared to their inital investment
I have a Samsung I-300 Phone. I'm only about 22, don't have the best credit, so they stuck me on their "Clear pay" plan. Ok...not so bad. Their online and phone-automated credit-card payment acceptors won't take my payment, because the addresses on my credit cards go to a PO Box, and my physical address is, a--PO box! The addresses match up, but it always costs me $8/month (yes, that's 96 bucks a year) to pay my bill with my credit card!
My next gripe is that any company that wants to charge me $3 to talk to a person (e.g., update my PRL, Change ESN's, bitch to someone about my dropped calls) shouldn't deserve my business. I've had it for about a year and a half now, and My contract is up in May. I can't wait. I don't plan on going back.
The next bitch is that phone...the battery life is pathetic, and I get about 5 minutes per battery of cell-phone life. I take it in, they'll tell me it charges fine, but they won't do anything else about it. Looks like I'm going to have to buy a Thera and deal with WinCE when it comes out...anyway....I'm done ranting.
1.) The Installer checks your cable lines to see what the forward and return levels are, to see if they'll work with your exisiting drop at your house-box. If everything's ok, they'll run an extra outlet, take it to the house box, and split it off as the first splitter in your box. If it's not ok, they'll re-hang or re-bury the drop, then run your AO.
2.) The Cable installer calls in the MAC address of your cable modem, so that DOCSIS can authorise your account.
3.) We plug in the cable modem in, and make sure that the Cable Modem actually lights up. Once that Cable Modem is lit, you can get a DHCP address with any DHCP client.
4.) We'd run the RoadRunner disk...it'd set up the IEAK Customizations, set up email addresses, and then do a series of tests to ensuer that everything was ok. This included a ping test, a DNS test, and tweak your TCP/IP settings for broadband.
Basically, once they bring it in, DOCSIS provides the authentication (if you're on a system that uses DOCSIS). They shouldn't need to run any software on your computer that provides authentication--it's hardware based.
My favorite email address to use is:
abuse@(upstream provider of domain making me register)
The reason that Sprint PCS did this was because the low credit classes (hey...I'm in there too) make up 90% of the calls that they receive, so to help offset the charges of the manpower, they implemented this policy. If you're nice to the customer service agent, they will credit your account the $3.00...but you've got to be really nice and not bitch too much ;)
Hit [F12]. It would have brought up a menu, and you can accept/reject pop-up windows from there without going into your preferences.
Actually, Nextel uses iDEN, which is a variant of TDMA, not CDMA.
Where's the +1 Mod [wearing tin foil hat] when you need one?