Wake up! US is not the only country in the world and it doesn't have any sort of moral high ground.
No one said the US did... you're punching a strawman there.
Meanwhile, the USSR at that time, home to Stalin and his (by then ongoing for decades) Gulag Archipelago, is the absolute last government you would turn to and point at as any paragon of equivalent moral virtue, you know?
Seriously - you take one pure infant fact (that no nation has a monopoly on moral high ground) and you promptly drown it in a vat of viscous ideological ignorance. Stop that.
Sorry, the analogy doesn't fit. Phone conversations (minus a chunk of VoIP, obviously) travel through some rather specialized switching equipment, which in turn are owned by regulated telecoms who enjoy 'common carrier' legal status.
e-mail OTOH travels through common off-the-shelf equipment (you have all that you need @ home right now as far as physical equipment) and can be captured quietly en-route by anyone with 5 minutes' knowledge of how to monkey with ARP and/or IP spoofing.
While that is the right thing to do, why on earth would you tell your current employer where you are going next?
Why not? Makes no diff in most sane cases... Hell, I had the best send-off ever in my career at my last position (a DoD and web services contractor), and Hell, yes I recommend the place for anyone looking for Java programming or sysadmin work in Salt Lake City (I left because I was moving to Portland at the time, and they were a smallish company with no other location but the one).
Besides, Linked-In would tell your friends (and clued-in managers) where you went eventually anyways, no?
Unless its encrypted, you have no privacy online. Just ask any SMTP admin, or for that matter, anyone with a packet sniffer. This means that privacy means absolutely zilch when it comes to infrastructure. (Note that how individual sites handle your personal information is another story entirely...)
Ever think that one of the reasons why Congress's ratings are so low is because they haven't impeached yet?
Possible, but not (IMHO) probable. Given the near-even split between parties, and the fact that "Congress" is counted as a whole (that is, both parties and the lone Socialist in there count as a single entity) in most polls, I sincerely doubt that the big fat criteria has anything to do with impeachment or lack thereof.
Never mind. Doesn't Bush have 6 years and 1 day yet? Your only allowed to be President for 10 years.
Doesn't work that way, unless he gets on as VP for part of the term for whoever succeeds him, then kicks back into office in 2010, or some such similar calculus.
In January 2009 he'll step off to retirement (or whatever), and the new guy will get promptly lambasted by whatever party/ideology the new guy does not represent.
Been this way (at least) since Reagan left, and was operating in fits and starts before that.
Yes, it'll cost some dough initially. Starting one's own business out of a garage does that too.
The Mac can actually be had fairly cheap, especially a used one - at least relative to what folks normally spend on custom car parts, a new deck for the house, a new gaming rig, stuff like that. It's never a perfectly easy way to get in, but if you want to make it big badly enough, you can (and many do) find a way to make it happen. After all, decent musical instruments, amps, and speakers aren't cheap either... yet most local bands somehow find a way to acquire 'em if they can.
It's not much different than some other guy setting up his own small business venture, you know?
I do have one bit to pick in your post, though... the RIAA won't guarantee you against failure. If your band (or enterprise, rather) goes 'splat', they'll certainly want to recover their money from you. If you fail, you're on your own when it comes to paying back all those fees (and the advance).
As for creativity perspective, sure - if you're wanting nothing more than to appeal to the mainstream. OTOH, aren't most bands and singers out to do something unique and memorable?
...And with all the free publicity, EMI (their old label) has decided to cash in-- selling their back catalog on a USB drive that retails for TWICE what the CD box set costs.
To be fair, there is a small diff...
That USB drive contains.wav files - that is, an uncompressed, unadultered, 'yes-you-can-tear-that-bitch-up-without-losing-signal' format.
For someone doing mixes and modding, that's (almost) a godsend format. Not as good as the pure MOD files mind, but nice 2nd place to 'em.
(of course, IIRC Trent Reznor gave a lot of his away in MOD formats --for free-- back in the day, so...)
Its not just retail channels. Its MONEY. Producing an Album Costs MONEY. Lots of it.
Back in the days of monster sound boards, specialized recording equipment, a special sound-tight room and all that crap, sure.
Nowadays a somewhat-pro sound guy with a used Macintosh, the right software, and a small sound board, could do the whole shebang in a room lined with the appropriate sound-deadening material. Like a spare bedroom rigged for just that purpose.
It's not too hard to rig up, and the biggest expenses would be the Mac and the software that runs on it. An enterprising guy could set aside some dough and time to set up his own in-home shop, producing a very decent product in the meanwhile.
Or you could just check into a local studio, where the prices would be hella reasonable compared to some Sony/EMI/Whoever-owned studio.
Marketing isn't this big cloudy mystery that most people peg it as. Get playtime and interviews on the local radio station (in many larger cities, yes they do exist and thrive, and are not owned by ClearChannel). Do charity gigs. Pass word around online through donated royalty-free play on streaming Internet radio*. Pass around (or hire some kids to pass around) some CD's at the local high school. Do free podcasts. Hire a local web marketer and a local promoter to get your name out. Open for semi-bigger acts when they come to town. Play at the local "Big Ass" music festival (Salt Lake City, Utah had one yearly with that name).
I just described what many of the 50's, 60's and 70's bands did to get their names out, before the RIAA put a stranglehold on it all.
If you're good and not too un-lucky, word gets out and you get better recognition. Sure, it takes a bit longer than the synthetic "stars" that an RIAA house will shovel out, but you have more fun in the long-run and you won't end up being sucked dry in the process.
/P
* Streaming radio? Hell yes! I've discovered more good, solid bands that way in the past four years, than through any other means.
Westminster, in London, is installing Wi-Fi-enabled security cameras that can identify illegally parked cars and issue tickets without an on-site witness. In theory, the number of parking tickets should increase dramatically without much additional cost, and city coffers will swell.
...and all it would take is one torqued off geek with a parking ticket, a soldering iron, and some spare electronics parts.
Re: Sklyarov
The charges were dropped. And the company he was working for was found to be not intentionally violating US law.
If word got out that you, as a multi-billion-dollar-corp, had a guy arrested for hacking your 'ultra-secret' ROT-13 encryption scheme (which even the oldest versions of Netscape Navigator had decryption tools for), you'd drop the charges too. Out of face-searing embarrassment if nothing else.
What about SpamHause (wasn't it?) that didn't do ANYTHING in the US but were still found guilty in a US court.
1) No, they were not found "guilty" - they had a default judgment levied against them because they never bothered to show up for the hearings.
2) How exactly do the spammers who sued SpamHaus intend to collect their judgment money? Fact is, they can't. Has SpamHaus slowed down any? Seems like they still operate just fine.
So every 18 months they'll come out with a newer model, which folds into half the space and cost less. At the end of 12 years it will be a skateboard. Got news for them, Santa Cruz is already there.
Okay... think "Minneapolis", "January", "6:00 am", and "10 mile commute". Now do that on a skateboard.
Also, Moore's Law isn't exactly translatable to something that most people shop for based on cupholder numbers, y'know?;)
('course, if this was all written in jest, then, err, my bad...)
Gee, that's a nice sentiment, but history says that the moon belongs to whoever can get the most weapons up there first.
...for how long?
In the end, the native population will get large enough to separate very nicely from whatever nation put (most of) them there.
After all, history has some rather handy parallels: The United States' founding stands out as a rather large and violent example... but there are lots of less-violent ones too (Australia, Canada...) and some which sort of split on their own when the colonizing nation became too weak to hold on to it (such as most of South America).
This guy proves once and for all that for some elements (not ALL, damnit - just some), it isn't about preserving an ecosystem or conserving species, but about absolute and unrelenting self-hatred for the human species.
Seriously - if it was an argument about contributing to space junk (which can be a hazard to life and limb), or an argument about leaving nascent life (like, say, on Europa or Titan) alone to develop, play... I can grok those arguments.
But the ones presented?...it's the friggin' Moon! There ain't jack shit for life or biomass there! The only non-commercial value it currently has offhand are the Apollo landing sites (for historical value), and that's it!
IMHO, tear that bastard up if it generates commerce, gives us extra space to live, acts as an astronomical platform, and more importantly, if it takes humankind that much closer to becoming a space-faring race. It's not like we'll reduce its mass enough to really worry about instability (at least not within the next billion years or so), and it's (IMHO) free and open for the taking - belonging (nor should it ever belong) to no earth-bound nation.
...but that's not always the case. Most Europeans are just ordinary folks like Most Americans are - complete with personal and political biases, prejudices, and what-have-you. It's widely considered just as much of a slander to call a guy a "Schwuler!" in Geneva as it is to call a guy a "Homo!" in Alabama.
Don't let the few jingoistic jackasses (on either continent) fool you - things are just as benighted and ugly parts of in Europe, and in roughly the same proportions, as they are in parts of North America.
One writer I know got seriously pissed when her publisher's parent company gave google permission to include her entire book in google books. No, they didn't have the rights required to do that. Did they care? Not really, no.
Both publisher and Google would end up caring when they wind up having to shell out a metric ton of cash (assuming she had full distribution rights and say-so over same), no?
Hell, the number of lawyers dying to get a 30% cut of the resulting judgment would for a really long line to her door...
If your Windows machine is unpatched, yep you can probably get hit with something via IFRAME. Up-to-date machines aren't quite that easy to hit with malware though. Most modern day Windows malware happens via trojans, just like this Mac trojan.
Apparently it doesn't have to be unpatched (or even a shady website...)
The steps are pretty much the same as the ones you gave above, except maybe #3. To be fair though, Vista tried to add #3 and its pretty much universally panned as being "stupid" despite being pretty much the same damn thing.
Not exactly - in OSX, you only see that when you actually install a binary that requires full-on root or sudo privileges. UAC in Vista apparently did it all the time (hence jokes such as "your mouse cursor is trying to move. Cancel or Allow?")
Oh, and when its Windows, its never the user's fault; only Window's.
In some cases, it is, albeit subtly. UAC for example... the most popular subject concerning it is (to paraphrase) "how do I disable the fscking thing!?" Granted, MSFT (I think?) tweaked it to not cry wolf so much, but it's still a PITA judging by most reports.
Now I'm not discounting the fact that the most common attack vector does rely on social engineering - but there's a vast difference between opening what your OS thinks to be a media file (and ending up with a nasty case of crap via some app or OS vulnerability), and explicitly opening a disk image file (.dmg), and going through the motions of typing an admin password to get the thing installed.
If they're stupid enough to think their A/V product can stop $RANDOM_TROJAN which $USER has to explicitly install as root, why the hell would I want to rely on them to defend against a potential real virus?
Slashdot Mirror
Thank you, Sir.
No one said the US did... you're punching a strawman there.
Meanwhile, the USSR at that time, home to Stalin and his (by then ongoing for decades) Gulag Archipelago, is the absolute last government you would turn to and point at as any paragon of equivalent moral virtue, you know?
Seriously - you take one pure infant fact (that no nation has a monopoly on moral high ground) and you promptly drown it in a vat of viscous ideological ignorance. Stop that.
e-mail OTOH travels through common off-the-shelf equipment (you have all that you need @ home right now as far as physical equipment) and can be captured quietly en-route by anyone with 5 minutes' knowledge of how to monkey with ARP and/or IP spoofing.
Why not? Makes no diff in most sane cases... Hell, I had the best send-off ever in my career at my last position (a DoD and web services contractor), and Hell, yes I recommend the place for anyone looking for Java programming or sysadmin work in Salt Lake City (I left because I was moving to Portland at the time, and they were a smallish company with no other location but the one).
Besides, Linked-In would tell your friends (and clued-in managers) where you went eventually anyways, no?
...until its masters from another part of the uniwerse installed it...Mr. Checkov! Get your ass back to the Helm immediately!
Possible, but not (IMHO) probable. Given the near-even split between parties, and the fact that "Congress" is counted as a whole (that is, both parties and the lone Socialist in there count as a single entity) in most polls, I sincerely doubt that the big fat criteria has anything to do with impeachment or lack thereof.
Doesn't work that way, unless he gets on as VP for part of the term for whoever succeeds him, then kicks back into office in 2010, or some such similar calculus.
In January 2009 he'll step off to retirement (or whatever), and the new guy will get promptly lambasted by whatever party/ideology the new guy does not represent.
Been this way (at least) since Reagan left, and was operating in fits and starts before that.
At this rate I think Gallup will have a historical first - negative numbers for job approval ratings.
Clemens.
(wait for it...)
Just out of curiosity, how are you planning to prove that the EULA you have is the one they made you agree to you?
If it's part of a setup executable or script, you save a copy of that.
It isn't perfect, but certainly puts things into "reasonable evidence" territory.
The Mac can actually be had fairly cheap, especially a used one - at least relative to what folks normally spend on custom car parts, a new deck for the house, a new gaming rig, stuff like that. It's never a perfectly easy way to get in, but if you want to make it big badly enough, you can (and many do) find a way to make it happen. After all, decent musical instruments, amps, and speakers aren't cheap either... yet most local bands somehow find a way to acquire 'em if they can.
It's not much different than some other guy setting up his own small business venture, you know?
I do have one bit to pick in your post, though... the RIAA won't guarantee you against failure. If your band (or enterprise, rather) goes 'splat', they'll certainly want to recover their money from you. If you fail, you're on your own when it comes to paying back all those fees (and the advance).
As for creativity perspective, sure - if you're wanting nothing more than to appeal to the mainstream. OTOH, aren't most bands and singers out to do something unique and memorable?
...And with all the free publicity, EMI (their old label) has decided to cash in-- selling their back catalog on a USB drive that retails for TWICE what the CD box set costs.To be fair, there is a small diff...
That USB drive contains .wav files - that is, an uncompressed, unadultered, 'yes-you-can-tear-that-bitch-up-without-losing-signal' format.
For someone doing mixes and modding, that's (almost) a godsend format. Not as good as the pure MOD files mind, but nice 2nd place to 'em.
(of course, IIRC Trent Reznor gave a lot of his away in MOD formats --for free-- back in the day, so...)
Back in the days of monster sound boards, specialized recording equipment, a special sound-tight room and all that crap, sure.
Nowadays a somewhat-pro sound guy with a used Macintosh, the right software, and a small sound board, could do the whole shebang in a room lined with the appropriate sound-deadening material. Like a spare bedroom rigged for just that purpose.
It's not too hard to rig up, and the biggest expenses would be the Mac and the software that runs on it. An enterprising guy could set aside some dough and time to set up his own in-home shop, producing a very decent product in the meanwhile.
Or you could just check into a local studio, where the prices would be hella reasonable compared to some Sony/EMI/Whoever-owned studio.
Marketing isn't this big cloudy mystery that most people peg it as. Get playtime and interviews on the local radio station (in many larger cities, yes they do exist and thrive, and are not owned by ClearChannel). Do charity gigs. Pass word around online through donated royalty-free play on streaming Internet radio*. Pass around (or hire some kids to pass around) some CD's at the local high school. Do free podcasts. Hire a local web marketer and a local promoter to get your name out. Open for semi-bigger acts when they come to town. Play at the local "Big Ass" music festival (Salt Lake City, Utah had one yearly with that name).
I just described what many of the 50's, 60's and 70's bands did to get their names out, before the RIAA put a stranglehold on it all.
If you're good and not too un-lucky, word gets out and you get better recognition. Sure, it takes a bit longer than the synthetic "stars" that an RIAA house will shovel out, but you have more fun in the long-run and you won't end up being sucked dry in the process.
* Streaming radio? Hell yes! I've discovered more good, solid bands that way in the past four years, than through any other means.
The charges were dropped. And the company he was working for was found to be not intentionally violating US law.
If word got out that you, as a multi-billion-dollar-corp, had a guy arrested for hacking your 'ultra-secret' ROT-13 encryption scheme (which even the oldest versions of Netscape Navigator had decryption tools for), you'd drop the charges too. Out of face-searing embarrassment if nothing else.
1) No, they were not found "guilty" - they had a default judgment levied against them because they never bothered to show up for the hearings.
2) How exactly do the spammers who sued SpamHaus intend to collect their judgment money? Fact is, they can't. Has SpamHaus slowed down any? Seems like they still operate just fine.
So every 18 months they'll come out with a newer model, which folds into half the space and cost less. At the end of 12 years it will be a skateboard. Got news for them, Santa Cruz is already there.
Okay... think "Minneapolis", "January", "6:00 am", and "10 mile commute". Now do that on a skateboard.
Also, Moore's Law isn't exactly translatable to something that most people shop for based on cupholder numbers, y'know? ;)
('course, if this was all written in jest, then, err, my bad...)
In the end, the native population will get large enough to separate very nicely from whatever nation put (most of) them there.
After all, history has some rather handy parallels: The United States' founding stands out as a rather large and violent example... but there are lots of less-violent ones too (Australia, Canada...) and some which sort of split on their own when the colonizing nation became too weak to hold on to it (such as most of South America).
Seriously - if it was an argument about contributing to space junk (which can be a hazard to life and limb), or an argument about leaving nascent life (like, say, on Europa or Titan) alone to develop, play... I can grok those arguments.
But the ones presented? ...it's the friggin' Moon! There ain't jack shit for life or biomass there! The only non-commercial value it currently has offhand are the Apollo landing sites (for historical value), and that's it!
IMHO, tear that bastard up if it generates commerce, gives us extra space to live, acts as an astronomical platform, and more importantly, if it takes humankind that much closer to becoming a space-faring race. It's not like we'll reduce its mass enough to really worry about instability (at least not within the next billion years or so), and it's (IMHO) free and open for the taking - belonging (nor should it ever belong) to no earth-bound nation.
Don't let the few jingoistic jackasses (on either continent) fool you - things are just as benighted and ugly parts of in Europe, and in roughly the same proportions, as they are in parts of North America.
No nation has a monopoly on idiocy.
Both publisher and Google would end up caring when they wind up having to shell out a metric ton of cash (assuming she had full distribution rights and say-so over same), no?
Hell, the number of lawyers dying to get a 30% cut of the resulting judgment would for a really long line to her door...
Apparently it doesn't have to be unpatched (or even a shady website...)
(long URL ab't a recent ad server compromise that utilizes IFRAME-launched vulns) Apparently, the attackers used an embedded IFRAME to shift browsers to a sniffing website, where it could look for a nice bucket of 0-day exploits (e.g. the recent RealPlayer one).
The steps are pretty much the same as the ones you gave above, except maybe #3. To be fair though, Vista tried to add #3 and its pretty much universally panned as being "stupid" despite being pretty much the same damn thing.Not exactly - in OSX, you only see that when you actually install a binary that requires full-on root or sudo privileges. UAC in Vista apparently did it all the time (hence jokes such as "your mouse cursor is trying to move. Cancel or Allow?")
Oh, and when its Windows, its never the user's fault; only Window's.In some cases, it is, albeit subtly. UAC for example... the most popular subject concerning it is (to paraphrase) "how do I disable the fscking thing!?" Granted, MSFT (I think?) tweaked it to not cry wolf so much, but it's still a PITA judging by most reports.
Now I'm not discounting the fact that the most common attack vector does rely on social engineering - but there's a vast difference between opening what your OS thinks to be a media file (and ending up with a nasty case of crap via some app or OS vulnerability), and explicitly opening a disk image file (.dmg), and going through the motions of typing an admin password to get the thing installed.