These are the same rants that people have been on for years. I am also a taxpayer and resident in Massachusetts, and I think the Big Dig is one of the greatest projects we've ever undertaken.
There's no way the Central Artery could have been "renovated". The structures is made up of concrete and lead paint. Any renovation would require a huge costs in abatement and environmental cleanup, and you can't widen the elevated structure without demolishing more buildings, which would be a bad idea.
Have you ever even driven on the old artery? It was a fucking mess. It was also one of the most unsafe stretches in the Interstate Highway System. 10 exits in just over a mile - weave lanes of 600 feet, narrow clearance, no breakdown lanes - it was a mess.
The tunnel also gives Boston the ability to mend the scar caused by the elevated artery. The city was divided - a city needs linearity in order to function. Having hundreds of streets cut off by the elevated artery diminishes the city as a whole.
Sure, there were cost overruns and embezzlements, like there are with any large government project ($50 hammers for the Navy, anyone?), but the benefits for the city as a whole (and it's not just to raise rents by improving the view - much of boston's residential land does not abut the artery corridor) will be great.
Amorello had nothing to do with the project, other than being the head of the MTA while it was being built. Fred Salvucci was the guy behind it, and Tip O'Neill was a the big supporter in congress.
A replacement battery for my cell phone cost $10; one for my cordless phone cost $10; Apple is presumably making a good deal of money on their $99 replacements.
That's a stupid argument. Your cordless phone battery is probably NiCd or NiMH. Ditto for your cell phone battery. Those are old technologies and our dirt cheap at this point. The iPod battery is a Lithium-Polymer, which is much more expensive, even with wholesale prices. Is Apple making a profit? Probably. But the price of your cordless phone battery has nothing to do with it.
Also, keep in mind that Apple is charging for installation. The battery is only $50 (as evidenced by the price you pay from suppliers), so $49 is for shipping and installation. Now, a hard drive is easy to install, right? So ask CompUSA how much they'll charge for installing one? Much more than it's worth, I'm sure.
I always love seeing the "unjust dismissal" or "simissal without cause" arguement. Listen up people. If an employer doesn't like your shirt, they can fire you. It's that simple
Except that it's not. You have to have cause for dismissal in most states, and the employees have to have been informed of the rules and disciplinary procedures and causes for dismissal. You can't even fire someone for being late, unless they were told that being late is firable.
Layoffs are different, though. You can lay someone off for whatever reason (services no longer required is the common one), but then they get severance packages, or whatever.
Trust me, I know. I worked in HR for 2 years - we had a lot of turnover, and we'd have to fire people for being late, or not being properly attired (the job required uniforms) etc. And they'd of course file a claim for wrongful dismissal, and then we'd have to send a representative to the dept of labor, and if the rep didn't show up, the employee automatically won. And if the rep couldn't prove that the employee had received the handbook which contained the rules for dismissal, the employee automatically won.
It seems like they can't figure out the difference between a mail server and a firewall. If you can connect to the port it is not firewalled off, rather the mail server prevents you from using it.
Um, no. It is possible for a firewall to exist such that if you connect to it on port 25, and you're authorized to talk to that site's mail server, it passes your packets through the firewall and on to the mail server. If you are not authorized, it either drops your packets on the floor, or respond with a message such as this one. 421 is the RFC822 code for "service not available". Just because a machine answers on 25 does not mean it's a "mail server" (tm). What it's saying is "I am not going to provide mail service to you because I don't know your IP address." 'Mail service" simply means "access to some sort of MTA". It does not imply that the machine is in fact a mail server masquerading as a firewall. There are such things a proxy firewalls, and that's clearly what this is.
Clearly it appears that attempting to reason with the cable companies will fail, for the most part. Other than bitching about it on Slashdot, has anyone tried fighting this? I'm sure your Public Utilites Commission (or whatever the corresponding entity is) would be interested to know that the cable company is imposting a limit that they keep secret. Certainly your local investigative news station would care (ie: FOX news), especially if you can show that you've never downloaded any illegal content.
An ideal guinea pig would be someone who downloaded a bunch of ISOs (say for 3 or 4 different linux distributions) and then got hit with one of these letters. However, I don't see that happening. I also don't see people who get hit with these letters mentioning exactly what they were using the bandwidth for. Surely if they're not at fault, they should say what they were doing so that the EFF or other groups could help them fight the cable companies. I'm also betting they care more about outbound traffic than inbound traffic.
Ipod is only cool that it will play an mp3, their wierd itunes format is not desired as it is not compatable with 99.9% of the hardware out there.
Besides, I will not tolerate ANY DRM in my music files.
By "weird itunes format", I assume you're referring to the AAC MPEG4 format, which is an industry standard.
Also, there's only DRM in files that you buy from iTunes Music store. Please stop spreading the FUD that "AAC == DRM", because it's simply not true. Just like "EXE file" does not translate to "software which needs a registration key" and "VHS tape" does not translate to "protected by Macrovision". AAC is an open MPEG4 format to which DRM _CAN_ be applied. By default, it is not applied.
Also, what do you mean by "A2D" converter? Why would an MP3 player, which decodes digital signals into analog signals which your ear can hear need an "analog to digital to converter"?
And call this flamebait if you will, but in my experience, MS APIs have some of the best documentation out there; I've never come across a situation where I would need to see the source code after reading the relevant pages on MSDN.
It's not flamebait, but I don't think it's that true anymore. Several years ago, I would have agreed, but now all the MSDN pages and search engines seem like such a crappy mess that unless you know exactly the function you want, it's damn hard to find documentation for it. And MS' tendency to re-invent the wheel with every Windows release doesn't help people trying to use the APIs.
Actually, I still maintain a system running SCO XENIX. It's a production system at a medical facility. Back in ~1991, SCO was the way to go if you needed a UNIX-ish system that ran on the Intel platform. (Yes, yes, Linux "existed" in 1991, fine, but it was hardly production quality. Or even a standalone system yet.)
The problem is that it looks like it affects them all.
If I understand what they are saying, if you put a %01 before the @ symbol then the address bar will display one address while going to a different one. Guess what, so does just putting the @ symbol
http://www.zdnet.com@slashdot.org
No, no, you're missing the point. Yes, that URL you mentioned will take you to slashdot and not zdnet, fine. But you'll see it in the location bar and know it's a fake. However, with this exploit, if you put a URL encoded ASCII "NUL" (%00) or "SOH" (%01) in the URL, the location bar will not display the @symbol or anything after it. Thus:
will take people to the "0wn-j00.html" page on 0wnz0red.com, however the location bar will only display:
http://www.yahoo.com
Assuming 0wnz0red.com is a well-done forgery, even the most clueful geek would have a really, really, really, hard time telling that he's at anything but yahoo.com. (yeah, yeah, netstat and firewalls and all that, but that's not the point)
And before you all say it's only %01, it's not - it's %00 as well as %01. Go read the secunia link.
"What are you trying to do?"
Seriously, that famous tech support quote is very appropriate here. What's your end goal? Learn about photography? Take B&W shots? Color? Slide? For personal enjoyment? For a future exhibit? Planning to go pro?
First, go pick up the Complete Kodak Book of Photography. Some of it is a little basic, but it's a good source of tips, and a great comprehensive book. Unfortunately, it seems to be out of print on, but Amazon does have it used. It may have renamed itself or something. Go to a brick and mortar bookstore and browse.
If you're doing developing and printing, you'll want to build your own enlarger. You learn a lot about the process, and you get geek points. For more geek points, build your own timer with a relay that times the exposure on the enlarger.
As far as a camera goes, you want a simple one to start off with. A good SLR will cost a LOT of money, so be prepared to either buy used for your first time, or have some really really nice relatives, or befriend someone who works for Canon. The manual vs automatic debate is -1, Overrated. Any decent "automatic" SLR camera will have a full manual mode. Just because you have the automatic feature doesn't mean you have to use it. As a beginner, you will want to stay in manual mode the whole time to play around, but automatic is useful for quick shots if you're also using it for snapshots. Don't get anything that doesn't at least have an automatic mode. (basically, automatic:manual::emacs:vi. Subsitute the relevant religious arguments)
My first SLR was a used Canon AE-1. ("So simple, anyone can use it!") This was Canon's first automatic exposure (guess what AE stands for) camera. Focus is completely manual, but the f/stop can be set manually or automatically depending on the mode. So it can be a full manual camera if you want. It's a great camera, and you could probably pick one up for cheap these days, though they're getting old enough that they're collectors items, so they might be more expensive. A great, great camera.
If you buy a new camera instead, it may have a built-in pop-up flash (like the Canon Elan series) It'll be crap for anything except snapshots and some indoor photos. If you want to play around with lighting and the like, you want a real flash (sold separately) that attaches to the camera shoe. And a reflector, probably.
For vendors, you'll want to find a local one for most chemicals (since shipping those is a bitch due to regulations). Check your yellow pages. If you have a local photo store (the old fashioned kind, not the kiosk in Wal-Mart), they might be able to point you in the right direction. For equipment, B&H Photo and Video in NY is the way to go (www.bhphotovideo.com). Their catalog is the size of a phonebook and they have a good selection and the BEST customer service I have ever dealt with. 42nd Street Photo is ok, but their customer service folks are surly.
You'll also want to play around with good quality film. Kodak Tri-X pan is still the standard for B&W, especially for entry-level. For slide film (slides are a must if you're taking nature shots - you can't appreciate a sunset over a mountain range in 5x7 foramt), Kodakchrome 64 is still a classic, except it has to be sent back to Kodak for processing. (Although people have told me that's no longer true, and some larger labs can do it, but I didn't think Kodak had licensened the technology - it's a different developing process). I like Fujichrome Sensia and Velvia (The latter is a little better). If you're traveling at all, get a lead pouch or request a hand examination of your film. I had some 400 speed film ruined by the new TSA x-rays recently (despite the claim that they don't effect any film below 1600). Pro films will need to be kept in the fridge until you use them. As will paper. Playing around with high-speed film is fun too, for shooting in the dark with no flash. It'll be very very grainy though.
Don't stake your business on a piece of OSS that you aren't sure is going to be around for awhile.
That's like saying "When you go the track, make sure not to bet on the horse that's going to lose". How the hell do you know, without a time machine?
While I agree that forking does not equal "doomed", it is the case that forking equals "look around, see where the project is going, re-evaluate your needs, and make sure you have a backup plan"
I'm not sure where you live, but in most places, murder gets you a lot more than a year. Even with manslaughter, you're not usually eligible for parole until after a couple of years.
OK, so before anyone says "the spammers have already won", here are some facts from the Wired article:
Booker said the problem stemmed from a program he mistakenly downloaded from the Internet that brought a continuous stream of advertising to his computer.
So, he downloaded spyware or adware. That there reduces the amount of sympathy I might have towards him.
Booker threatened to send a "package full of Anthrax spores" to the company, to "disable" an employee with a bullet and torture him with a power drill and ice pick; and to hunt down and castrate the employees unless they removed him from their e-mail list, prosecutors said.
That's just retarded. Threatening to send Anthrax though the mail in the post-9/11 world is a surefire way to get a visit from the FBI. Also, the death threats he made were pretty specific. They're not going to start going arresting everyone who was ever said "Drop dead!" to a spammer.
Also, this guy is apparently a "computer programmer". At the very least, he should know enough to backup his data and do a full reformat and reinstall of his OS (that's standard procedure if software has been installed without your knowledge). He probably should know about Spyware removal software, and if he has any networking skill, he'd know how to either: a) block their site; or b) use a browser that blocks pop-ups.
Yes, spammers are annoying. Yes, they are lowlifes. And yes, they probably deserve to get everything this guy threatened.
However, law enforcement absolutely must take every threat they receive seriously. They don't have a choice. They can't say "oh, well, the report came from a penis pill maker, so it's probably nothing." Sending specific death threats to anyone is illegal. Add Anthrax to it, and you'll be shipped off to Guantanamo Bay before you can say "What seems to be the trouble, officer?" This is not another example of "the man" cracking down on poor Internet users. It was a death threat, plain and simple. The motivation just happened to be spammers. I'm pretty sure the penalty would be the same if this guy had make the exact same threats to some clerk at McDonalds because they kept sending him ads via the postal service.
Same here. I'm 24, and our first address was "RFD 1" (RFD is Rural Free Delivery), no street addresses (ie: 123 Main street). Back then we had rotary phones rented from New York Telephone too -- no touch tone. Kids these days.
What kind of stupid sys-admin allows.vbs,.js ,.exe,.sws attachements thru the corporate email ?
The sys-admin who is told by the CEO to remove the e-mail blocks, because someone wants to e-mail him a self-extracing zip file (.exe).
What kind of idiot sys-admin would allow the corporate users , to run their PCs with admin previleges , so that any unwanted junk s/w be installed on their PCs ?
The sys-admin who gets in trouble when he yelled at Bobby the Intern (who happens to be the CTO's nephew) for installing Kazaa on his machine. Ditto for the sys-admin who was told to turn the PHB's account into an Administrator account so he could install MS Entertainment Pack.
Which genius allows unrestricted access to confidential corporate data to its users ?
The genius who tried to secure the confidential corporate data with X.509 certificates and/or passwords, but was then told to remove them, because the VIPs were complaining about having to remember too many passwords.
Why do the corporate firewalls not block out-bound traffic to all ports but a select few HTTP/SSL ect ?
Because then the PHB can't use AIM to chat with his friends.
Seriously, I worked as a sys-admin in an environment like this. You wouldn't believe the number of safety procedures that the CEO/CTO/PHB wanted to circumvent to make life easier for themselves. Unless you have a CTO who understands security and will stand up to the rest of the VIPs, you're doomed. Completely and utterly doomed.
I attempted to implement the passwd changing program with cracklib support to prevent users from picking stupid passwords. That lasted about a week before I was told to take it away.
There was a brief period of time where we went around and killed off IE on the desktop machines, because there were too many damn vulnerabilities. That lasted about 2 weeks before the CEO told us that the researchers couldn't use "this Netscape thing".
Repeat for many other events. Bottom line is anyone who is not a sys-admin knows two things: routine and usability. However, implementing propert security requires changing at least one of those, if not both. And therein lies the problem.
Am I the only one who sees a problem with giving schools control over students' lives beyond campus grounds?
Hrm, I read it as implying that this would be the case for private schools. Public schools are a whole different issue. Many private schools do in fact have rules that control students lives beyond campus grounds, however, the students have a choice - accept the rules, or don't come here. That's well within the school's rights.
Now public schools are a completely different issue. However, it could be trivial for the school to become involved (suppose the kid creates the website using the school computer lab?)
When will companies learn that lawsuits are not the best way to deal with new technology...
Seriously. Actually, now that this is hitting closer to home for more Americans - (Remember, Joe Sixpack doesn't care that Diebold is suing people to prevent them from saying they suck; nor does he care about some Russian guy arrested by Adobe) - more people will realize that companies will just automatically sue instead of doing something to fix the problem Hopefully these frivolous lawsuits will be brought to the public's attention, and they'll realize "Hey, the phone company is suing to prevent this thing which will make life easier for me.
I honestly think that most companies are in fact run by lawyers, instead of competent professionals. There are so many other things the phone companies could do to try and keep customers. If you call your credit card company, and just mention the phrase "close my account", they'll happily slice your interest rate in half, raise your credit limit, send you free airline coupons, or do whatever to try and keep you as a customer. They don't try to sue the government and prevent people from switching credit cards. The phone companies could do the same thing: "Well, we'll cancel your service if you want, but we can give you free long distance for 1 year if you'd care to stick with us."
While still not a graphical installer (and the article does a good job of explaining why that's not a priority) the installer now autodetects hardware, streamlining module selection, which was previously one of the more confusing parts of the install for newbies.
While seleting modules by hand may not be confusing for non-newbies, it's still annoying. Sure, I know exactly which modules I need, and I could select them all by hand, but I shouldn't have to. One of the great things about RedHat's installer (I know, I know, RedHat is dead) is the kickstart option. I can put in a disk, kickstart a net install, take the disk out, and move on. And barring any unusual hardware, I'll come back to a fully installed system. This is great for bulk-installing machines.
I'm glad to see Debian has moved closer to this goal by doing module auto-detection.
Now I can just say "and if you kill me, the information will automatically be emailed to the New York Times"
And they will either plagiarize it and claim it as their own work, or they will respond with "Sorry, you must be registered in order to send us a news item"
The simple fact that it rendered the ipod useless for music playback, and that it put the device in a non-reversible state is a big issue.
At the moment, it's only "non-reversible" because the guy says it is. Given that he hooked a Mac ipod up to a Windows System (Apple says you can't switch back and forth - pick one and stick with it) I have no reason to believe he's remotely technically clueful.
iPods are basically firewire drives. The menus and software is stored in firmware, so unless the user really did something stupid (like shut it off while in the middle of a firmware update) it's hard to break it. Chances are a full reformat and restore will solve his problems.
Could this problem be solved with use of the "Warn" feature? Spimmers could change their screen name and keep spimming, but the warn feature could be changed to warn an IP? If it already does, just warn the spimmers and they won't be able to send out messages nearly as massively as email spammers.
No, this will punish the innocent - just like blacklisting whole IP blocks does. I'm sure the anti-spam zealots will say that's collateral damage and tough shit, but unless each ISP guarantees that the same user will always get the same IP, this won't work. So some spammer gets a throwaway accout with one of the dialup ISPs, sends a bunch of IM messages, gets blocked, and then suddendly I dial-in and I get assigned that same IP by the PPP/DHCP server. Now I can't use IM. That's not really fair.
Slashdot Mirror
There's no way the Central Artery could have been "renovated". The structures is made up of concrete and lead paint. Any renovation would require a huge costs in abatement and environmental cleanup, and you can't widen the elevated structure without demolishing more buildings, which would be a bad idea.
Have you ever even driven on the old artery? It was a fucking mess. It was also one of the most unsafe stretches in the Interstate Highway System. 10 exits in just over a mile - weave lanes of 600 feet, narrow clearance, no breakdown lanes - it was a mess.
The tunnel also gives Boston the ability to mend the scar caused by the elevated artery. The city was divided - a city needs linearity in order to function. Having hundreds of streets cut off by the elevated artery diminishes the city as a whole.
Sure, there were cost overruns and embezzlements, like there are with any large government project ($50 hammers for the Navy, anyone?), but the benefits for the city as a whole (and it's not just to raise rents by improving the view - much of boston's residential land does not abut the artery corridor) will be great.
Amorello had nothing to do with the project, other than being the head of the MTA while it was being built. Fred Salvucci was the guy behind it, and Tip O'Neill was a the big supporter in congress.
That's a stupid argument. Your cordless phone battery is probably NiCd or NiMH. Ditto for your cell phone battery. Those are old technologies and our dirt cheap at this point. The iPod battery is a Lithium-Polymer, which is much more expensive, even with wholesale prices. Is Apple making a profit? Probably. But the price of your cordless phone battery has nothing to do with it.
Also, keep in mind that Apple is charging for installation. The battery is only $50 (as evidenced by the price you pay from suppliers), so $49 is for shipping and installation. Now, a hard drive is easy to install, right? So ask CompUSA how much they'll charge for installing one? Much more than it's worth, I'm sure.
Except that it's not. You have to have cause for dismissal in most states, and the employees have to have been informed of the rules and disciplinary procedures and causes for dismissal. You can't even fire someone for being late, unless they were told that being late is firable.
Layoffs are different, though. You can lay someone off for whatever reason (services no longer required is the common one), but then they get severance packages, or whatever.
Trust me, I know. I worked in HR for 2 years - we had a lot of turnover, and we'd have to fire people for being late, or not being properly attired (the job required uniforms) etc. And they'd of course file a claim for wrongful dismissal, and then we'd have to send a representative to the dept of labor, and if the rep didn't show up, the employee automatically won. And if the rep couldn't prove that the employee had received the handbook which contained the rules for dismissal, the employee automatically won.
Um, no. It is possible for a firewall to exist such that if you connect to it on port 25, and you're authorized to talk to that site's mail server, it passes your packets through the firewall and on to the mail server. If you are not authorized, it either drops your packets on the floor, or respond with a message such as this one. 421 is the RFC822 code for "service not available". Just because a machine answers on 25 does not mean it's a "mail server" (tm). What it's saying is "I am not going to provide mail service to you because I don't know your IP address." 'Mail service" simply means "access to some sort of MTA". It does not imply that the machine is in fact a mail server masquerading as a firewall. There are such things a proxy firewalls, and that's clearly what this is.
An ideal guinea pig would be someone who downloaded a bunch of ISOs (say for 3 or 4 different linux distributions) and then got hit with one of these letters. However, I don't see that happening. I also don't see people who get hit with these letters mentioning exactly what they were using the bandwidth for. Surely if they're not at fault, they should say what they were doing so that the EFF or other groups could help them fight the cable companies. I'm also betting they care more about outbound traffic than inbound traffic.
Besides, I will not tolerate ANY DRM in my music files.
By "weird itunes format", I assume you're referring to the AAC MPEG4 format, which is an industry standard.
Also, there's only DRM in files that you buy from iTunes Music store. Please stop spreading the FUD that "AAC == DRM", because it's simply not true. Just like "EXE file" does not translate to "software which needs a registration key" and "VHS tape" does not translate to "protected by Macrovision". AAC is an open MPEG4 format to which DRM _CAN_ be applied. By default, it is not applied.
Also, what do you mean by "A2D" converter? Why would an MP3 player, which decodes digital signals into analog signals which your ear can hear need an "analog to digital to converter"?
It's not flamebait, but I don't think it's that true anymore. Several years ago, I would have agreed, but now all the MSDN pages and search engines seem like such a crappy mess that unless you know exactly the function you want, it's damn hard to find documentation for it. And MS' tendency to re-invent the wheel with every Windows release doesn't help people trying to use the APIs.
Actually, I still maintain a system running SCO XENIX. It's a production system at a medical facility. Back in ~1991, SCO was the way to go if you needed a UNIX-ish system that ran on the Intel platform. (Yes, yes, Linux "existed" in 1991, fine, but it was hardly production quality. Or even a standalone system yet.)
Those are people who listen to AM, not FM. I'm pretty sure this doesn't work with AM.
If I understand what they are saying, if you put a %01 before the @ symbol then the address bar will display one address while going to a different one. Guess what, so does just putting the @ symbol
http://www.zdnet.com@slashdot.org
No, no, you're missing the point. Yes, that URL you mentioned will take you to slashdot and not zdnet, fine. But you'll see it in the location bar and know it's a fake. However, with this exploit, if you put a URL encoded ASCII "NUL" (%00) or "SOH" (%01) in the URL, the location bar will not display the @symbol or anything after it. Thus:
http://www.yahoo.com%01@www.0wnz0red.com/0wn-j00.h tml
will take people to the "0wn-j00.html" page on 0wnz0red.com, however the location bar will only display:
http://www.yahoo.com
Assuming 0wnz0red.com is a well-done forgery, even the most clueful geek would have a really, really, really, hard time telling that he's at anything but yahoo.com. (yeah, yeah, netstat and firewalls and all that, but that's not the point)
And before you all say it's only %01, it's not - it's %00 as well as %01. Go read the secunia link.
Er, that should be "that doesn't at least have a manual mode".
First, go pick up the Complete Kodak Book of Photography. Some of it is a little basic, but it's a good source of tips, and a great comprehensive book. Unfortunately, it seems to be out of print on, but Amazon does have it used. It may have renamed itself or something. Go to a brick and mortar bookstore and browse.
If you're doing developing and printing, you'll want to build your own enlarger. You learn a lot about the process, and you get geek points. For more geek points, build your own timer with a relay that times the exposure on the enlarger.
As far as a camera goes, you want a simple one to start off with. A good SLR will cost a LOT of money, so be prepared to either buy used for your first time, or have some really really nice relatives, or befriend someone who works for Canon. The manual vs automatic debate is -1, Overrated. Any decent "automatic" SLR camera will have a full manual mode. Just because you have the automatic feature doesn't mean you have to use it. As a beginner, you will want to stay in manual mode the whole time to play around, but automatic is useful for quick shots if you're also using it for snapshots. Don't get anything that doesn't at least have an automatic mode. (basically, automatic:manual::emacs:vi. Subsitute the relevant religious arguments)
My first SLR was a used Canon AE-1. ("So simple, anyone can use it!") This was Canon's first automatic exposure (guess what AE stands for) camera. Focus is completely manual, but the f/stop can be set manually or automatically depending on the mode. So it can be a full manual camera if you want. It's a great camera, and you could probably pick one up for cheap these days, though they're getting old enough that they're collectors items, so they might be more expensive. A great, great camera.
If you buy a new camera instead, it may have a built-in pop-up flash (like the Canon Elan series) It'll be crap for anything except snapshots and some indoor photos. If you want to play around with lighting and the like, you want a real flash (sold separately) that attaches to the camera shoe. And a reflector, probably.
For vendors, you'll want to find a local one for most chemicals (since shipping those is a bitch due to regulations). Check your yellow pages. If you have a local photo store (the old fashioned kind, not the kiosk in Wal-Mart), they might be able to point you in the right direction. For equipment, B&H Photo and Video in NY is the way to go (www.bhphotovideo.com). Their catalog is the size of a phonebook and they have a good selection and the BEST customer service I have ever dealt with. 42nd Street Photo is ok, but their customer service folks are surly.
You'll also want to play around with good quality film. Kodak Tri-X pan is still the standard for B&W, especially for entry-level. For slide film (slides are a must if you're taking nature shots - you can't appreciate a sunset over a mountain range in 5x7 foramt), Kodakchrome 64 is still a classic, except it has to be sent back to Kodak for processing. (Although people have told me that's no longer true, and some larger labs can do it, but I didn't think Kodak had licensened the technology - it's a different developing process). I like Fujichrome Sensia and Velvia (The latter is a little better). If you're traveling at all, get a lead pouch or request a hand examination of your film. I had some 400 speed film ruined by the new TSA x-rays recently (despite the claim that they don't effect any film below 1600). Pro films will need to be kept in the fridge until you use them. As will paper. Playing around with high-speed film is fun too, for shooting in the dark with no flash. It'll be very very grainy though.
Oh, and if you plan to take pictures of
That's like saying "When you go the track, make sure not to bet on the horse that's going to lose". How the hell do you know, without a time machine?
While I agree that forking does not equal "doomed", it is the case that forking equals "look around, see where the project is going, re-evaluate your needs, and make sure you have a backup plan"
You mean NSFnet. You shouldn't have to justify using NFS. Well, on second thought...
I'm not sure where you live, but in most places, murder gets you a lot more than a year. Even with manslaughter, you're not usually eligible for parole until after a couple of years.
Booker said the problem stemmed from a program he mistakenly downloaded from the Internet that brought a continuous stream of advertising to his computer.
So, he downloaded spyware or adware. That there reduces the amount of sympathy I might have towards him.
Booker threatened to send a "package full of Anthrax spores" to the company, to "disable" an employee with a bullet and torture him with a power drill and ice pick; and to hunt down and castrate the employees unless they removed him from their e-mail list, prosecutors said.
That's just retarded. Threatening to send Anthrax though the mail in the post-9/11 world is a surefire way to get a visit from the FBI. Also, the death threats he made were pretty specific. They're not going to start going arresting everyone who was ever said "Drop dead!" to a spammer.
Also, this guy is apparently a "computer programmer". At the very least, he should know enough to backup his data and do a full reformat and reinstall of his OS (that's standard procedure if software has been installed without your knowledge). He probably should know about Spyware removal software, and if he has any networking skill, he'd know how to either: a) block their site; or b) use a browser that blocks pop-ups.
Yes, spammers are annoying. Yes, they are lowlifes. And yes, they probably deserve to get everything this guy threatened.
However, law enforcement absolutely must take every threat they receive seriously. They don't have a choice. They can't say "oh, well, the report came from a penis pill maker, so it's probably nothing." Sending specific death threats to anyone is illegal. Add Anthrax to it, and you'll be shipped off to Guantanamo Bay before you can say "What seems to be the trouble, officer?" This is not another example of "the man" cracking down on poor Internet users. It was a death threat, plain and simple. The motivation just happened to be spammers. I'm pretty sure the penalty would be the same if this guy had make the exact same threats to some clerk at McDonalds because they kept sending him ads via the postal service.
Move along folks, nothing to see here.
Same here. I'm 24, and our first address was "RFD 1" (RFD is Rural Free Delivery), no street addresses (ie: 123 Main street). Back then we had rotary phones rented from New York Telephone too -- no touch tone. Kids these days.
The sys-admin who is told by the CEO to remove the e-mail blocks, because someone wants to e-mail him a self-extracing zip file (.exe).
What kind of idiot sys-admin would allow the corporate users , to run their PCs with admin previleges , so that any unwanted junk s/w be installed on their PCs ?
The sys-admin who gets in trouble when he yelled at Bobby the Intern (who happens to be the CTO's nephew) for installing Kazaa on his machine. Ditto for the sys-admin who was told to turn the PHB's account into an Administrator account so he could install MS Entertainment Pack.
Which genius allows unrestricted access to confidential corporate data to its users ?
The genius who tried to secure the confidential corporate data with X.509 certificates and/or passwords, but was then told to remove them, because the VIPs were complaining about having to remember too many passwords.
Why do the corporate firewalls not block out-bound traffic to all ports but a select few HTTP/SSL ect ?
Because then the PHB can't use AIM to chat with his friends.
Seriously, I worked as a sys-admin in an environment like this. You wouldn't believe the number of safety procedures that the CEO/CTO/PHB wanted to circumvent to make life easier for themselves. Unless you have a CTO who understands security and will stand up to the rest of the VIPs, you're doomed. Completely and utterly doomed.
I attempted to implement the passwd changing program with cracklib support to prevent users from picking stupid passwords. That lasted about a week before I was told to take it away.
There was a brief period of time where we went around and killed off IE on the desktop machines, because there were too many damn vulnerabilities. That lasted about 2 weeks before the CEO told us that the researchers couldn't use "this Netscape thing".
Repeat for many other events. Bottom line is anyone who is not a sys-admin knows two things: routine and usability. However, implementing propert security requires changing at least one of those, if not both. And therein lies the problem.
Hrm, I read it as implying that this would be the case for private schools. Public schools are a whole different issue. Many private schools do in fact have rules that control students lives beyond campus grounds, however, the students have a choice - accept the rules, or don't come here. That's well within the school's rights.
Now public schools are a completely different issue. However, it could be trivial for the school to become involved (suppose the kid creates the website using the school computer lab?)
Seriously. Actually, now that this is hitting closer to home for more Americans - (Remember, Joe Sixpack doesn't care that Diebold is suing people to prevent them from saying they suck; nor does he care about some Russian guy arrested by Adobe) - more people will realize that companies will just automatically sue instead of doing something to fix the problem Hopefully these frivolous lawsuits will be brought to the public's attention, and they'll realize "Hey, the phone company is suing to prevent this thing which will make life easier for me.
I honestly think that most companies are in fact run by lawyers, instead of competent professionals. There are so many other things the phone companies could do to try and keep customers. If you call your credit card company, and just mention the phrase "close my account", they'll happily slice your interest rate in half, raise your credit limit, send you free airline coupons, or do whatever to try and keep you as a customer. They don't try to sue the government and prevent people from switching credit cards. The phone companies could do the same thing: "Well, we'll cancel your service if you want, but we can give you free long distance for 1 year if you'd care to stick with us."
Hopefully they'll learn soon.
While seleting modules by hand may not be confusing for non-newbies, it's still annoying. Sure, I know exactly which modules I need, and I could select them all by hand, but I shouldn't have to. One of the great things about RedHat's installer (I know, I know, RedHat is dead) is the kickstart option. I can put in a disk, kickstart a net install, take the disk out, and move on. And barring any unusual hardware, I'll come back to a fully installed system. This is great for bulk-installing machines.
I'm glad to see Debian has moved closer to this goal by doing module auto-detection.
And they will either plagiarize it and claim it as their own work, or they will respond with "Sorry, you must be registered in order to send us a news item"
At the moment, it's only "non-reversible" because the guy says it is. Given that he hooked a Mac ipod up to a Windows System (Apple says you can't switch back and forth - pick one and stick with it) I have no reason to believe he's remotely technically clueful.
iPods are basically firewire drives. The menus and software is stored in firmware, so unless the user really did something stupid (like shut it off while in the middle of a firmware update) it's hard to break it. Chances are a full reformat and restore will solve his problems.
No, this will punish the innocent - just like blacklisting whole IP blocks does. I'm sure the anti-spam zealots will say that's collateral damage and tough shit, but unless each ISP guarantees that the same user will always get the same IP, this won't work. So some spammer gets a throwaway accout with one of the dialup ISPs, sends a bunch of IM messages, gets blocked, and then suddendly I dial-in and I get assigned that same IP by the PPP/DHCP server. Now I can't use IM. That's not really fair.