Re:Cyber-Terrorist Training Tool?
on
Uplink
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· Score: 5, Funny
And then we get the terrifying situation where thousands of would-be hackers are let loose on the 'net, and destroy civilization as we know it by clicking large buttoned labelled "CRACK PASSWORD" and "DISABLE PROXY".
As far as I can tell, it'd have exactly the opposite effect that you described - instead of 13-year-old wannabes spending all their time attempting (and failing) to hack into their school network, they just fire up Uplink and pretend they're gods. Take it from me, it's more interesting than real hacking anyday.
I can almost imagine something like that happening... Link is fighting through hordes of monsters, then a huge ogre appears... and the game freezes, switching to a screen which says, "This ogre is brought to you by Microsoft (R) - Who Do You Want To Kill Today?"...
-- Shenzi
Re:Todas sus bases son pertenecen a nosotros!
on
Base Assignment?
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· Score: 1
Considering Zero Wing was made ten years ago, and the AYBABTU craze is still as widespread as ever - if not more so - it seems unlikely that it'll fade out in a few months. Who knows, in another 10 years' time, people might still be quoting from that accursed game.
The thing I've always wondered is: why does everyone find Zero Wing amusing, but other badly-translated things annoying? Hmm...
...But the game in question - Zero Wing (on the Sega Genesis) - was originally Japanese, and the English translation was one of the most pathetic and amusing (for its time) translations ever. And it was made in the early 90's, not the 70's.:)
I suppose it's one of those things people found amusing at the time, but these days you can barely go anywhere without hearing another AYBABTU quote. But then, there's always geeks like me who only found out about the All Your Base thing recently, so still find it endlessly amusing to suddenly yell "What happen!" or "For great justice!", much to the confusion of my friends.
It all depends on which system is being hacked, and as an anonymous person already mentioned, it's unlikely that any critical systems would be networked. It's like saying that someone could control the TV in my computer room by hacking my Win98 box, it just wouldn't happen.
Besides, if someone managed to hack their copy of Outlook Express, then what? Oh wait, I forgot, they might be able to send scary emails to people using the hacked address!;) Seriously though, I doubt NASA would allow some huge security flaw like that.
I can't help but think about the car in "Back to the Future II", which had a little addition called (correct me if I'm wrong) "Mr. Fusion" - it powered the... um... time circuit things (sorry, it's been a long time since I last saw it) with junk.
So now I'm left to wonder, if soybean oil can be used to power engines, how long will it be until "Mr. Fusion" becomes a reality? That'd be kinda weird, powering your car with old junk, but a helluva lot cheaper.
Of course, it'd probably never happen, for one simple reason: They wouldn't like the idea of fuel being free... The same reason why things like this soybean engine will probably never be mass-produced.
Easier said than done, I'm afraid - how does a host like Hotmail know if someone is "legitimate", short of sending someone over to their house to see if they really live there. The internet is too anonymous, unfortunately; it's very easy to 'become' someone else simply by making up an imaginary name and address (I've done it a few times before), and free email providers simply don't have the time or resources to check every single new registration.
Besides, if there was - say - a one-week waiting time until you could get a new email address, the would-be spammers would just go elsewhere, as would most legitimate users.
The only way spammers can be stopped is if enough people report them, but unfortunately the worst that happens is the spammer in question gets booted off his/her ISP... a small price to pay, since most seem to use free ISP's like NetZero and Juno.
That's just life, unfortunately... someone spams you, all you can do is trace it back to a free email account registered under a fake name on an anonymous ISP.
Slashdot Mirror
And then we get the terrifying situation where thousands of would-be hackers are let loose on the 'net, and destroy civilization as we know it by clicking large buttoned labelled "CRACK PASSWORD" and "DISABLE PROXY".
As far as I can tell, it'd have exactly the opposite effect that you described - instead of 13-year-old wannabes spending all their time attempting (and failing) to hack into their school network, they just fire up Uplink and pretend they're gods. Take it from me, it's more interesting than real hacking anyday.
*grins* We aim to please. ;)
-- Shenzi
I can almost imagine something like that happening... Link is fighting through hordes of monsters, then a huge ogre appears... and the game freezes, switching to a screen which says, "This ogre is brought to you by Microsoft (R) - Who Do You Want To Kill Today?"...
-- Shenzi
Considering Zero Wing was made ten years ago, and the AYBABTU craze is still as widespread as ever - if not more so - it seems unlikely that it'll fade out in a few months. Who knows, in another 10 years' time, people might still be quoting from that accursed game.
The thing I've always wondered is: why does everyone find Zero Wing amusing, but other badly-translated things annoying? Hmm...
-- Shenzi (confused)
...But the game in question - Zero Wing (on the Sega Genesis) - was originally Japanese, and the English translation was one of the most pathetic and amusing (for its time) translations ever. And it was made in the early 90's, not the 70's. :)
I suppose it's one of those things people found amusing at the time, but these days you can barely go anywhere without hearing another AYBABTU quote. But then, there's always geeks like me who only found out about the All Your Base thing recently, so still find it endlessly amusing to suddenly yell "What happen!" or "For great justice!", much to the confusion of my friends.
More information about Zero Wing can be found here: http://www.sirlinksalot.net/ayb.html
-- Shenzi (who really didn't set anyone up the bomb)
It all depends on which system is being hacked, and as an anonymous person already mentioned, it's unlikely that any critical systems would be networked. It's like saying that someone could control the TV in my computer room by hacking my Win98 box, it just wouldn't happen.
Besides, if someone managed to hack their copy of Outlook Express, then what? Oh wait, I forgot, they might be able to send scary emails to people using the hacked address! ;) Seriously though, I doubt NASA would allow some huge security flaw like that.
But then, ya never know... :)
-- Shenzi
I can't help but think about the car in "Back to the Future II", which had a little addition called (correct me if I'm wrong) "Mr. Fusion" - it powered the... um... time circuit things (sorry, it's been a long time since I last saw it) with junk.
So now I'm left to wonder, if soybean oil can be used to power engines, how long will it be until "Mr. Fusion" becomes a reality? That'd be kinda weird, powering your car with old junk, but a helluva lot cheaper.
Of course, it'd probably never happen, for one simple reason: They wouldn't like the idea of fuel being free... The same reason why things like this soybean engine will probably never be mass-produced.
Sorry, I'm feeling very pessimistic today. ;)
-- Shenzi
Easier said than done, I'm afraid - how does a host like Hotmail know if someone is "legitimate", short of sending someone over to their house to see if they really live there. The internet is too anonymous, unfortunately; it's very easy to 'become' someone else simply by making up an imaginary name and address (I've done it a few times before), and free email providers simply don't have the time or resources to check every single new registration.
Besides, if there was - say - a one-week waiting time until you could get a new email address, the would-be spammers would just go elsewhere, as would most legitimate users.
The only way spammers can be stopped is if enough people report them, but unfortunately the worst that happens is the spammer in question gets booted off his/her ISP... a small price to pay, since most seem to use free ISP's like NetZero and Juno.
That's just life, unfortunately... someone spams you, all you can do is trace it back to a free email account registered under a fake name on an anonymous ISP.
Technology. Don't ya just love it?
-- Shenzi