I dare say Pontiac had the name first. The 1967 Pontiac Firebird was the first..:) I'm a big Firebird fan. I've had many F-Bodies from the 1975 Camaro LT-1 to the 2000 Firebird TransAm WS/6.
Honestly, it's going to be hard to come up with any name that someone, in some way, thinks they already have claims to..
But, to keep this completely on topic, it seems the grubclient has problems.. It works fine on a Slackware 8.1 workstation, but bombs out with a segfault after a few minutes on a Slackware 8.0 machine..
Too bad for them. The Slack 8.0 machine is on a 1Gb/s connection. The Slack 8.1 machine is on a suck-ass Charter Cablemodem..
I got Charter Communications's junkmail in today for bribes on upgrading my bandwidth. For only an extra $80/mo they'll increase my upload to 128k (from 24k), and my download to 512k (from like 128k).. This is a *FAR* cry from what all the cablemodem providers were claiming when they started. if I remember right, they were advertising 3Mb down, 1Mb up... Now I may as well be on a dialup if I'm uploading.
Cablemodem providers suck ass.. I'm contemplating getting my own T1 loop to my office.:)
I used that with a cell phone company once.. I ended up calling them about once every two weeks about some phone trouble {sigh}.. Every time I'd call, they'd ask for the account password, and I'd tell them "none". They'd say "But, you have to have one.".
I think they had to type it in, to see if it matched. If it was already on the screen, they wouldn't be so confused..
It was entertaining at first, but got really old.. I think I changed it to something like "cat". A nice easy word that *THEY* can spell.. hehe.
Hmmm, I wonder if I should start making my passphrases mental conditions.. "bipolar sociopath", "manic-depressive", "megalomaniac", "obsessive deranged", "paranoid schizophrenic"
I wonder if they'd confuse the passphrase field with the notes field...:)
Ah, you don't need a password to do that.. But to make all the headers perfect, do it from their workstation, or at least don't do it from yours.:)
------------------ > telnet smtp.yourcorp.com 25 helo yourcorp.com mail from: victim@yourcorp.com rcpt to: ceo@yourcorp.com data Cc: supervisor@yourcorp.com Bcc: victim@yourcorp.com Subject: Asshole!
Hey asshole,
I'd just like to remind you that you really suck donkey dong! I'd tell you to go screw yourself, but it seems the VP is already in "the position".
P.S., don't go home early tonight, I'll be there banging your wife and daugher.
Love,
victim
.
quit ------------------
Sometimes they call me a troublemaker. I don't know why.:)
Back in the day, I used to do this for personal entertainment, but it wasn't anything rude like this. I'd do messages from Bill Gates offering jobs and crap like that. One guy almost quit and went to Microsoft, til he saw me laughing my ass off when he was showing everyone in the office the printed Email.
The first time, someone needed the combination to the cash safe (a small safe by the tellers that only holds a few thousand in cash). The bank had large glass windows, and the safe was in a room with a hollow core door (like an inside house door). I was tempted to visit at night, but decided it wasn't worth it for only a few grand. It would have been trivial to get to the safe and open it. I could have been in and out before the police had a chance to respond.
The second time, someone needed the password to the check ordering system. The password was the same as the name of the vendor company. I mentioned to the rep that I was talking to that the password was a very poor choice, and it's probably bad to be saying the passwords where anyone can hear. Their logic behind it being ok is that it's not an important system. {sigh}
At least with my passwords, they're wierd enough where you can say them out loud, and people still can't use it.. I do a lot of bad misspellings, character replacements, and abbreviations. Like, one I used year ago was "F@uch".. Say it out loud a few times.:) Even if my password was password, I'd probably spell it something like "P@$sedW3rd":)
Hasn't this always been standard Intel marketing? Tell everyone how absolutely great their new product is, and how you can't live without it, then after it's announced as a viable product, they delay citing bugs?
Well, I guess that's better than the Pentium 60Mhz and 66Mhz bug.. Release a whole bunch of processors, just to recall them later.:)
Sure, they'd be capable of doing it, but the magic question would be, would every company making them do it?
There was a conversation in a thread recently on here (probably off topic, but....), about the poor shielding of asian import microwave ovens, because they build them as cheaply as possible..
Sure, a good brand may have it.. But the cheaper brands will cut corners whenever possible. They'll include a new feature (like 6 timers) to sell the product, but leave out little things (like shielding) to save money.
Well personally, if I'm hired as a consultant, and asked to do something really stupid for them, I'll advise them that it's a really stupid idea, explain why (in detail if necessary), and if you can't get them to understand that it's a very very poor idea, then do it anyways..
If it's that bad for them, they'll be calling you soon enough to make a different fix.
I do recommend documenting the incident in some way.. Work logs, or even writing it on the invoice that they sign is usually a good way to get it done.
Consider when you take your car in for repairs. They say "You need $1000 worth of extra work", even though you don't.. They'll write it on the invoice anyways, and when you go rolling out of there without the work done, they can't say they didn't advise you of it.
You weren't clear to the scenerio of what the customer was asking for..
Like, if someone says "I want the SQL server set up with the password of password, and make it clear to everyone that the password is "password"", you calmly and clearly explain that anyone on the net who wants to access (or destroy) their data can do it.. Note it down somewhere that you strongly advised them against it.
Once they're very clear on it, tell them, "A hacker in Russia by the name of Vladamier will be stealing all of the credit card numbers in your database tonight, and then erasing all of your data."
Put it in simple words they can understand like that.:)
If they still insist, do the work. Get paid (make sure the check clears). Wait a few weeks. Then log in through another server (preferably in China. hehe), and drop everything from their database.
They may sue you. But you warned them, and strongly suggested against it. It's their company and their decision..
Soon enough, some script kiddie will find their server, and try the password 'password', and voila, their data is stolen, and the databases wiped out.
They may remember that you warned them against it, and ask you to come fix it now..
I've done work I didn't particularly like doing, and strongly advised the customers against. But, it was exactly what they wanted, so they got it.. Personally, I don't want to set up another Microsoft server for anyone, but I'd bet you I'll do it again before I die.. The difference between what I recommend, and what the customer wants.
Do I need a title change? I've changed the names I use online more frequently than my title.:)
I use "Senior Systems Administrator". If anyone questions what that includes, the answer is "yes". As far as I'm concerned, the full description is "The person directly responsible for any event within any part of the company."
I'm the company psycharist, listening to people's personal problems.
I'm the company mechanic, fixing broken cars in the parking lot.
I'm the company plumber, fixing broken sinks usually.
I'm the general handyman, fixing little things here and there.
I'm the electrical repair guy, changing fuses in microwaves, and repairing broken speaker wires.
I'm a customer support rep on occasion, when stupid calls get handed off to me.
I'm the always-available tax consultant.
I'm the free and usually right legal advice department (go find a lawyer, dammit)
I'm the company librarian, who can always point you to the right book or reference.
I'm the senior transportation coordinator, when someone needs a ride somewhere, or equipment needs transported between locations. Usually that also makes me the company driver too.
I'm the company accountant, explaining bills from various vendors to the boss, or even the vendor. (ask UUNet why they billed us $30k for a line they never installed).
I'm the air conditioning repair guy, resetting thermostats, replacing broken thermostats, repairing electrical problems in the A/C unit, and diagnosing further problems. I also end up designing ways to cool overheated rooms, and counsel people who are always too hot or too cold, and very frequently both.
And now on to more reasonable tasks.
I'm the printer and copier tech, fixing paper jams and cleaning rollers.
I'm Microsoft Technical Support (tm), helping every poor user who's MSIE, Outlook, or Windows (tm) product that doesn't work right. Oddly enough, Unix and Mac users don't come to me whining like the Windows users do.
I'm the bastard that has to explain that Microsoft programs do crash, and you will have to accept this. It doesn't matter to me that you worked on an Excel Spreadsheet for 6 hours before your machine blue-screened. No, I can't save your data when your machine is locked up. Yes, you should have saved it.
I'm the LAN specialist, diagnosing every time someone kicks a cable out of the wall.
I'm the Nortel tech, configuring, reconfiguring, and yet reconfiguring again the phone systems.
I'm the tech that cleans up the mess after you try to subcontract out the work for the phone system, and he leaves all the lines down and says "I don't know, maybe you need an upgrade. That'll be $6,000".
I'm the PC tech, repairing every little hardware problem they may have. No, covering all the holes on your PC to make it quieter is *NOT* a good idea (had that last week)
I'm the monitor repair guy, resizing you screen because you played with the buttons too much.
I'm the mouse repair man, cleaning the guk out of your mouse.
I'm the bastard that has to explain that when your drive crashes, the files are gone. And I love listening to users complain that they had their life's work on there, and I absolutely *HAVE* to get it back. Bribes don't help drive crashes, they tell me you think I'm lying to you.
I'm the Cisco engineer, who selects your routing hardware, and then configures it.
I'm the hardware engineer who selects the parts, and builds the servers to handle the requested capacity.
I'm the guy that uses a hammer, torch, and dremel to make your old case accomodate your new hardware, just because you refuse to do the simple thing and buy the right case.
I'm the network engineer who makes a network that'll handle your load, and laughs when you want a GigE lan for your 2 workstations on a 384K DSL.
I've been at this company for 7 years.. At first, I titled myself "Ass't Systems Admin", since I did have a superior. He left, and I've since titled myself "Senior Systems Administrator"
Sometimes, you just need to assign your own title.:)
Virutally every cook book, and even packaging pre-prepared foods say not to leave the cooking food unattended. Now they're not only giving you a way to not attend it, but to not be there when it starts.
Hacker A finds this device. He manages to figure out how to get into it.
Victim B is someone at home preparing to use the microwave. They open the door. Hacker A sees the indication that the door is open, and activates the oven at 100% power.
---> Worse Case Scenerio 2:
User A is driving home, expecting that the frozen dinner is still in the oven. He activates the oven 15 minutes prior to his arrival home.
Kid B is home early, sees the frozen dinner in the oven, pulls it out, and puts in popcorn instead. Due to a programming error, the oven activates while he's still rearranging foods, and the door is open.
---> Worse Case Scenerio 3:
User A put frozen dinner in oven before he left home. Being it was 5am, he wasn't thinking very well.
User A remembers on his way home, that he put food in the oven, and activates it while driving.
User A forgot to take the food out of the box, or that part of the packaging contained foil.
User A comes home to a house fire which has been going for approx 15 minutes.
I'm not sure I like this invention. I'm no technophobe, but this sounds kind of dangerous.
They warned them to stop several times. The vehicle didn't stop.
They fired warning shots over the vehicle. It didn't stop.
They fired into the radiator and engine. It still didn't stop.
They finally opened fire at the driver, stopping the vehicle.
Want to see the same reaction? Try the same manuver at any military base. Just hop in your car, and drive straight through the front gate without stopping. It happens occasionally.
A friend of mine was witness to a similiar event in the US, outside of war time, but it had a more peaceful ending.
A paranoid/deranged woman was convinced that she was being chased, so she went through the security checkpoint at an Air Force base in the US at about 60mph. This wasn't during any wars or conflicts. The guards at the gate fired shots at her tires, but missed.
She made it a few hundred yards into the base, and was confronted by hum-vee's and armed MP's.. She stopped the car, and fell to the ground, surrendering.
The investigation made the papers.. It wasn't clear who she thought was following her, but she was convinced they were out to get her.. If she hadn't stopped, they would have shot her.
I personally drove through that same gate many times. Every time, I stopped, showed my ID, and continued on. I even spent about an hour in that particular guard-house, although not working (filling out paperwork).
The guards at checkpoints are armed for a reason. They're protecting a secured area. It's not a good place to see if you can drive through without stopping. Not without a serious death wish.
Ok, I'll take the liberty to be off-topic.. Mod me down.
I have friends in the military around the world. I'm sure as hell not going to be the one to throw rotten fruit at them, or call them baby killers when they come home. Ask any Vietnam vet how that feels.
Our military aren't under orders to shoot anything that moves.. They're given legitimate military targets.. Our soldiers always have the option of not shooting, if it doesn't seem like a valid target. They don't waste bullets shooting into empty shacks. They spend them on targets that are very potentially out to kill them.
If the Iraq gov't wants to portray Americans as targeting children and the elderly, that's their spin on it. Just as CNN makes it look like we only throw huge bombs at empty military buildings. Somewhere in the middle is the truth.
When our troops come back, they'll be talkative. They always are. They'll tell you the kinds of targets they hit.. If there were guys in the building shooting at you, they're a valid target. Ask the troops who were effected by chemical weapons in the last war if Saddam played fair.
If it turns out the Iraq military killed the family that lived there to make it base, that's why we're fighting this war.
Of course, McD is in every small town, but Starbucks are typically only in busier cities.
And, to keep on topic, video rental stores typically pay more for their videos. Some people posted that BlockBuster doesn't do this, but they say they were just employees, not in corporate acquisitions.
Video stores buy movies (and games) from distributors licensed to sell for rental. The product is identical to the crap that we buy, but they pay out the ass for licensing fees. A typical movie runs between $100 and $300 per movie, simply for the license that allows them to rent it. These distributors also get it before you can through any other outlet. That's why every blockbuster will already be stocked with "new release" movies they day they're released. One blockbuster I use is sloppy. They'll leave the case of "new release" movies by the counter, rather than the stock room. So, you can see the movies are there in the box. You just can't rent them until they day they're released.
BlockBuster can't go to a local vendor for the movie, even if they can get the better price, because they don't have the licensing on that to rent it.. They can get seriously fined for it, or loose the privilidge of being able to rent movies.
Don't believe me? Ask the owner/manager of some small local video stores.. Most of the Blockbuster employees won't know, because they just get movies by the case from corporate.
http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/timeline.asp h ttp://www.blockbuster.com/bb/about/0,7710,,00.htm l? http://www.walgreens.com/about/press/facts/fac t5.j html http://mcdonalds.com/corporate/index.html h ttp://burgerking.com/CompanyInfo/index.html http: //www.wendys-invest.com/ http://www.tacobell.com/ ourcompany/index.html
When I worked in a computer store, 200Mhz was the fastest you could get. We had customers with 386's, 486's (and all the knockoffs like TI, AMD, IBM, and Cyrix), and Pentium's..
Everyone wants the bigger, better, faster.. We'd have people constantly upgrading from 133Mhz to 150Mhz or 166Mhz..
I always loved the reaction on customers faces when they went from 133Mhz to 150Mhz. They'd turn on the computer in the showroom area, and say "Wow, it's so much faster." They're judging that by moving the mouse around in circles. I could have told them that I made their computer so much faster, and not have even done the upgrade.:)
Win98 runs nicely on the lower end machines. But even now, I see users that want 2Ghz machines to run it on. Why? Because it's bigger, better, and faster. They want the illusion that writing their word document will go faster on a faster machine.
Even now, writing this, I wouldn't know if I was on a 133 or a 1.1Ghz (I'm on an Athlon 1.1Ghz).. I have a reason for having a faster machine though. Not for the blazing speed that I can open Mozilla. I frequently compile kernels and applications on my workstations..
At one time, I had a 133Mhz Pentium with Win98 on it on my desk. Since I used my Linux machine all the time, it was really a decoration. I'd let people use it to browse the net. They'd never say one word about it being slow.
Consumers are suckers for having bigger, better, faster.. It's the same reason that automobile advertisments still make like 150HP is big. I saw the new turbocharged PT Cruiser ad.. Something like 200HP. Good for a little station wagon, but they're making it out to be the end-all of sports cars.. It's going to be embarassing for someone who falls for the commercial, and then gets blown off the road by every TransAm, Camaro, Mustang, and all the modified (and some unmodified) Asian imports. Oh, did I forget to mention the European imports? I intentionally left out the higher end cars like Corvettes and Vipers. Those are a given. It should do a beautiful job of keeping up with the Yugo's, and diesel Escorts.:) Likewise, there's always the argument that they don't care about speed. Well, why spend the extra money on the bigger, better, faster??
Because consumers are suckers.
Personally, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a 64bit AMD to put Linux on.. I have a few applications that could use the extra power. I also have quite a few machines that could care less.. I upgraded them recently from AMD 450Mhz machines, just because the machines were getting old, and we were having other failures (hard drives and power supplies dying of old age).
I strongly suspect that since Microsoft isn't ready to support it, we'll (*NIX admins) be the strongest buyers of it for a while..
But I think the disaster with NT on Alpha proved to Microsoft that users won't go to bigger better processors just because they're there, if they're exotic. From what I understand, besides internal fighting with DEC, they just saw very little need to continue the line for a small fraction of their users. Intel and AMD are staying with the same line, which makes it feel like a safe upgrade. They just upgrade, reinstall their OS, and they're good to go.. All their old apps work, and nothing significant changes..
You sound like a person that should work on your own distribution, or even a fresh OS..
Windows Update is a great attempt. They've done a lot of good work (and a few mistakes). I'd love to see someone start new work on an OS with the aim of 100% security and being 100% crash proof.. Linux is great at being crash proof right now. I have a whole bunch of servers running under Linux with outragous uptimes, unless I bring it down for something.. One of my Linux servers that I checked yesterday has been running happily for 400 days.
I don't use up2date, but honestly if I had Microsoft's resources of programmers and budget, it would be nice to see a good updater for a stable operating system.
I was talking to another slashdotter via Email, and she was telling me that under Solaris (on Sun), if you change hardware, you can boot with an option to build a new kernel that automagically detects your hardware and configures accordingly. Right now, I build my own kernels, and most of the configuration means I go and read/proc/pci and/proc/cpuinfo to see what the hardware is, and make the config read accordingly. It shouldn't be a large stretch of the imagination to have that automated.
If Microsoft started their own distribution of Linux, and did put a substantial number of their good programmers into the project, I'm sure they could manage to have a beautiful streamlined project, with all the bells and whistles.
That's something Linux lacks. Linux is great in that virtually everyone working on it/for it, are volunteers doing it in their spare time. They take pride in their work, and want to make it bug free.. Microsoft, there are a good number of people who treat it like a job. They're paid to come to work, and get something done, but don't put as much effort into it as they could. That's sad.. But it's a business, and that's what happens. Every workplace I've ever seen, there's always employees like that.
Maybe Microsoft is finally doing a Linux distribution.. Hmmmm.. Microsoft HP 2004, based on Slackware..:)
Of course, they'll need their own happy bubbley interface.. Oh wait, didn't someone just do a good Microsoft clone for XF86?
All it needs is an automatic update manager, and it'd be perfect.. But knowing Microsoft, they'd mess that up somehow.. Magically, your kernel would turn to mush or something.. They just proved their excellence to that a few days ago.
Slashdot Mirror
I dare say Pontiac had the name first. The 1967 Pontiac Firebird was the first.. :) I'm a big Firebird fan. I've had many F-Bodies from the 1975 Camaro LT-1 to the 2000 Firebird TransAm WS/6.
:)
Honestly, it's going to be hard to come up with any name that someone, in some way, thinks they already have claims to..
But, to keep this completely on topic, it seems the grubclient has problems.. It works fine on a Slackware 8.1 workstation, but bombs out with a segfault after a few minutes on a Slackware 8.0 machine..
Too bad for them. The Slack 8.0 machine is on a 1Gb/s connection. The Slack 8.1 machine is on a suck-ass Charter Cablemodem..
I got Charter Communications's junkmail in today for bribes on upgrading my bandwidth. For only an extra $80/mo they'll increase my upload to 128k (from 24k), and my download to 512k (from like 128k).. This is a *FAR* cry from what all the cablemodem providers were claiming when they started. if I remember right, they were advertising 3Mb down, 1Mb up... Now I may as well be on a dialup if I'm uploading.
Cablemodem providers suck ass.. I'm contemplating getting my own T1 loop to my office.
I used that with a cell phone company once.. I ended up calling them about once every two weeks about some phone trouble {sigh}.. Every time I'd call, they'd ask for the account password, and I'd tell them "none". They'd say "But, you have to have one.".
:)
I think they had to type it in, to see if it matched. If it was already on the screen, they wouldn't be so confused..
It was entertaining at first, but got really old.. I think I changed it to something like "cat". A nice easy word that *THEY* can spell.. hehe.
Hmmm, I wonder if I should start making my passphrases mental conditions.. "bipolar sociopath", "manic-depressive", "megalomaniac", "obsessive deranged", "paranoid schizophrenic"
I wonder if they'd confuse the passphrase field with the notes field...
Ah, you don't need a password to do that.. But to make all the headers perfect, do it from their workstation, or at least don't do it from yours. :)
:)
------------------
> telnet smtp.yourcorp.com 25
helo yourcorp.com
mail from: victim@yourcorp.com
rcpt to: ceo@yourcorp.com
data
Cc: supervisor@yourcorp.com
Bcc: victim@yourcorp.com
Subject: Asshole!
Hey asshole,
I'd just like to remind you that you really suck donkey dong! I'd tell you to go screw yourself, but it seems the VP is already in "the position".
P.S., don't go home early tonight, I'll be there banging your wife and daugher.
Love,
victim
.
quit
------------------
Sometimes they call me a troublemaker. I don't know why.
Back in the day, I used to do this for personal entertainment, but it wasn't anything rude like this. I'd do messages from Bill Gates offering jobs and crap like that. One guy almost quit and went to Microsoft, til he saw me laughing my ass off when he was showing everyone in the office the printed Email.
I've seen this happen twice in banks...
:) Even if my password was password, I'd probably spell it something like "P@$sedW3rd" :)
The first time, someone needed the combination to the cash safe (a small safe by the tellers that only holds a few thousand in cash). The bank had large glass windows, and the safe was in a room with a hollow core door (like an inside house door). I was tempted to visit at night, but decided it wasn't worth it for only a few grand. It would have been trivial to get to the safe and open it. I could have been in and out before the police had a chance to respond.
The second time, someone needed the password to the check ordering system. The password was the same as the name of the vendor company. I mentioned to the rep that I was talking to that the password was a very poor choice, and it's probably bad to be saying the passwords where anyone can hear. Their logic behind it being ok is that it's not an important system. {sigh}
At least with my passwords, they're wierd enough where you can say them out loud, and people still can't use it.. I do a lot of bad misspellings, character replacements, and abbreviations. Like, one I used year ago was "F@uch".. Say it out loud a few times.
Cmdr Taco's password is "password". :)
(I should get two pens for that one. hehe)
Hasn't this always been standard Intel marketing? Tell everyone how absolutely great their new product is, and how you can't live without it, then after it's announced as a viable product, they delay citing bugs?
:)
Well, I guess that's better than the Pentium 60Mhz and 66Mhz bug.. Release a whole bunch of processors, just to recall them later.
Wow, I got that message too! :)
Sure, they'd be capable of doing it, but the magic question would be, would every company making them do it?
There was a conversation in a thread recently on here (probably off topic, but....), about the poor shielding of asian import microwave ovens, because they build them as cheaply as possible..
Sure, a good brand may have it.. But the cheaper brands will cut corners whenever possible. They'll include a new feature (like 6 timers) to sell the product, but leave out little things (like shielding) to save money.
Well personally, if I'm hired as a consultant, and asked to do something really stupid for them, I'll advise them that it's a really stupid idea, explain why (in detail if necessary), and if you can't get them to understand that it's a very very poor idea, then do it anyways..
:)
If it's that bad for them, they'll be calling you soon enough to make a different fix.
I do recommend documenting the incident in some way.. Work logs, or even writing it on the invoice that they sign is usually a good way to get it done.
Consider when you take your car in for repairs. They say "You need $1000 worth of extra work", even though you don't.. They'll write it on the invoice anyways, and when you go rolling out of there without the work done, they can't say they didn't advise you of it.
You weren't clear to the scenerio of what the customer was asking for..
Like, if someone says "I want the SQL server set up with the password of password, and make it clear to everyone that the password is "password"", you calmly and clearly explain that anyone on the net who wants to access (or destroy) their data can do it.. Note it down somewhere that you strongly advised them against it.
Once they're very clear on it, tell them, "A hacker in Russia by the name of Vladamier will be stealing all of the credit card numbers in your database tonight, and then erasing all of your data."
Put it in simple words they can understand like that.
If they still insist, do the work. Get paid (make sure the check clears). Wait a few weeks. Then log in through another server (preferably in China. hehe), and drop everything from their database.
They may sue you. But you warned them, and strongly suggested against it. It's their company and their decision..
Soon enough, some script kiddie will find their server, and try the password 'password', and voila, their data is stolen, and the databases wiped out.
They may remember that you warned them against it, and ask you to come fix it now..
I've done work I didn't particularly like doing, and strongly advised the customers against. But, it was exactly what they wanted, so they got it.. Personally, I don't want to set up another Microsoft server for anyone, but I'd bet you I'll do it again before I die.. The difference between what I recommend, and what the customer wants.
Do I need a title change? I've changed the names I use online more frequently than my title. :)
I use "Senior Systems Administrator". If anyone questions what that includes, the answer is "yes". As far as I'm concerned, the full description is "The person directly responsible for any event within any part of the company."
I'm the company psycharist, listening to people's personal problems.
I'm the company mechanic, fixing broken cars in the parking lot.
I'm the company plumber, fixing broken sinks usually.
I'm the general handyman, fixing little things here and there.
I'm the electrical repair guy, changing fuses in microwaves, and repairing broken speaker wires.
I'm a customer support rep on occasion, when stupid calls get handed off to me.
I'm the always-available tax consultant.
I'm the free and usually right legal advice department (go find a lawyer, dammit)
I'm the company librarian, who can always point you to the right book or reference.
I'm the senior transportation coordinator, when someone needs a ride somewhere, or equipment needs transported between locations. Usually that also makes me the company driver too.
I'm the company accountant, explaining bills from various vendors to the boss, or even the vendor. (ask UUNet why they billed us $30k for a line they never installed).
I'm the air conditioning repair guy, resetting thermostats, replacing broken thermostats, repairing electrical problems in the A/C unit, and diagnosing further problems. I also end up designing ways to cool overheated rooms, and counsel people who are always too hot or too cold, and very frequently both.
And now on to more reasonable tasks.
I'm the printer and copier tech, fixing paper jams and cleaning rollers.
I'm Microsoft Technical Support (tm), helping every poor user who's MSIE, Outlook, or Windows (tm) product that doesn't work right. Oddly enough, Unix and Mac users don't come to me whining like the Windows users do.
I'm the bastard that has to explain that Microsoft programs do crash, and you will have to accept this. It doesn't matter to me that you worked on an Excel Spreadsheet for 6 hours before your machine blue-screened. No, I can't save your data when your machine is locked up. Yes, you should have saved it.
I'm the LAN specialist, diagnosing every time someone kicks a cable out of the wall.
I'm the Nortel tech, configuring, reconfiguring, and yet reconfiguring again the phone systems.
I'm the tech that cleans up the mess after you try to subcontract out the work for the phone system, and he leaves all the lines down and says "I don't know, maybe you need an upgrade. That'll be $6,000".
I'm the PC tech, repairing every little hardware problem they may have. No, covering all the holes on your PC to make it quieter is *NOT* a good idea (had that last week)
I'm the monitor repair guy, resizing you screen because you played with the buttons too much.
I'm the mouse repair man, cleaning the guk out of your mouse.
I'm the bastard that has to explain that when your drive crashes, the files are gone. And I love listening to users complain that they had their life's work on there, and I absolutely *HAVE* to get it back. Bribes don't help drive crashes, they tell me you think I'm lying to you.
I'm the Cisco engineer, who selects your routing hardware, and then configures it.
I'm the hardware engineer who selects the parts, and builds the servers to handle the requested capacity.
I'm the guy that uses a hammer, torch, and dremel to make your old case accomodate your new hardware, just because you refuse to do the simple thing and buy the right case.
I'm the network engineer who makes a network that'll handle your load, and laughs when you want a GigE lan for your 2 workstations on a 384K DSL.
I've been at this company for 7 years.. At first, I titled myself "Ass't Systems Admin", since I did have a superior. He left, and I've since titled myself "Senior Systems Administrator"
Sometimes, you just need to assign your own title.
Two words:
Kitchen Fire
Virutally every cook book, and even packaging pre-prepared foods say not to leave the cooking food unattended. Now they're not only giving you a way to not attend it, but to not be there when it starts.
Here's a few references to read before we start:
A few fatally famous Software Bugs,
The Therac-25 Radiation Overdose accidents from 1975 to 1987.
and
Microsoft makes hackers obsolete
---> Worst case scenerio 1:
Hacker A finds this device. He manages to figure out how to get into it.
Victim B is someone at home preparing to use the microwave. They open the door. Hacker A sees the indication that the door is open, and activates the oven at 100% power.
---> Worse Case Scenerio 2:
User A is driving home, expecting that the frozen dinner is still in the oven. He activates the oven 15 minutes prior to his arrival home.
Kid B is home early, sees the frozen dinner in the oven, pulls it out, and puts in popcorn instead. Due to a programming error, the oven activates while he's still rearranging foods, and the door is open.
---> Worse Case Scenerio 3:
User A put frozen dinner in oven before he left home. Being it was 5am, he wasn't thinking very well.
User A remembers on his way home, that he put food in the oven, and activates it while driving.
User A forgot to take the food out of the box, or that part of the packaging contained foil.
User A comes home to a house fire which has been going for approx 15 minutes.
I'm not sure I like this invention. I'm no technophobe, but this sounds kind of dangerous.
I miss NT4, and the older MSOffice.
:)
123 123456
1234 1234567
It was so easy to reinstall for customers.
That was a joke? Cmdr Taco! Give me back my money!!! :)
At this rate, it shouldn't be a flag, it should be a counter.
We're up to $dupe == 4
while ("$admin" eq "CmdrTaco"){
$dupe++;
};
(just kidding Cmdr. Don't nuke my acc't)
You're amazing! They were just here, just before I got your message.. But, they were just verifying that I had my evil bit set. :)
I don't think knowing what Bin Laden did on 9/11 is any secret. It seems to have been leaked to the press..
This is a more detailed story about the shooting.
q .van.shooting/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/01/sprj.ir
They warned them to stop several times. The vehicle didn't stop.
They fired warning shots over the vehicle. It didn't stop.
They fired into the radiator and engine. It still didn't stop.
They finally opened fire at the driver, stopping the vehicle.
Want to see the same reaction? Try the same manuver at any military base. Just hop in your car, and drive straight through the front gate without stopping. It happens occasionally.
A friend of mine was witness to a similiar event in the US, outside of war time, but it had a more peaceful ending.
A paranoid/deranged woman was convinced that she was being chased, so she went through the security checkpoint at an Air Force base in the US at about 60mph. This wasn't during any wars or conflicts. The guards at the gate fired shots at her tires, but missed.
She made it a few hundred yards into the base, and was confronted by hum-vee's and armed MP's.. She stopped the car, and fell to the ground, surrendering.
The investigation made the papers.. It wasn't clear who she thought was following her, but she was convinced they were out to get her.. If she hadn't stopped, they would have shot her.
I personally drove through that same gate many times. Every time, I stopped, showed my ID, and continued on. I even spent about an hour in that particular guard-house, although not working (filling out paperwork).
The guards at checkpoints are armed for a reason. They're protecting a secured area. It's not a good place to see if you can drive through without stopping. Not without a serious death wish.
Too bad the second BBC link doesn't have the full details clearly at the beginning of the story.
The van drove up to the checkpoint. But rather than stopping or even slowing down, it continued at full speed through the checkpoint.
If I was guarding a checkpoint, to make sure no one's driving a car bomb through, and they did the same manuver, I'd fire too.
That's the easiest way to get a bomb through a checkpoint. Drive. Don't stop.
Bin Laden did the same thing, except with airplanes full of men, women, and children. It was aparently easier than sneaking a bomb into the country.
Ok, I'll take the liberty to be off-topic.. Mod me down.
I have friends in the military around the world. I'm sure as hell not going to be the one to throw rotten fruit at them, or call them baby killers when they come home. Ask any Vietnam vet how that feels.
Our military aren't under orders to shoot anything that moves.. They're given legitimate military targets.. Our soldiers always have the option of not shooting, if it doesn't seem like a valid target. They don't waste bullets shooting into empty shacks. They spend them on targets that are very potentially out to kill them.
If the Iraq gov't wants to portray Americans as targeting children and the elderly, that's their spin on it. Just as CNN makes it look like we only throw huge bombs at empty military buildings. Somewhere in the middle is the truth.
When our troops come back, they'll be talkative. They always are. They'll tell you the kinds of targets they hit.. If there were guys in the building shooting at you, they're a valid target. Ask the troops who were effected by chemical weapons in the last war if Saddam played fair.
If it turns out the Iraq military killed the family that lived there to make it base, that's why we're fighting this war.
I'm just worried about the small percentage that read it, and demand that the new feature be used by all of our software immediately..
:)
I'm betting I'll have no less than 4 Emails by noon asking how soon we cam implement it..
So, running a porn site, should I only accept traffic with the bit set to 1? Obviously set to 0 is a benign user..
:)
Ah, doesn't matter anyways, most of my users try to set their bit to 2..
And never forget McDonalds.. With a Burger King, Wendys and KFC/Pizza Hut/Taco Bell close by... :)
h ttp://www.blockbuster.com/bb/about/0,7710,,00.htm l?c t5.j html
h ttp://burgerking.com/CompanyInfo/index.html: //www.wendys-invest.com// ourcompany/index.html
McDonalds = 30,000 restraunts
TacoBell/PizzaHut/KFC/LongJohnSilvers/A&W > 30,000
Burger King = 11450
Wendys = 8800 restraunts
Blockbuster > 8000 stores
Starbucks = 5886 locations.
Walgreens = 3998 locations
Of course, McD is in every small town, but Starbucks are typically only in busier cities.
And, to keep on topic, video rental stores typically pay more for their videos. Some people posted that BlockBuster doesn't do this, but they say they were just employees, not in corporate acquisitions.
Video stores buy movies (and games) from distributors licensed to sell for rental. The product is identical to the crap that we buy, but they pay out the ass for licensing fees. A typical movie runs between $100 and $300 per movie, simply for the license that allows them to rent it. These distributors also get it before you can through any other outlet. That's why every blockbuster will already be stocked with "new release" movies they day they're released. One blockbuster I use is sloppy. They'll leave the case of "new release" movies by the counter, rather than the stock room. So, you can see the movies are there in the box. You just can't rent them until they day they're released.
BlockBuster can't go to a local vendor for the movie, even if they can get the better price, because they don't have the licensing on that to rent it.. They can get seriously fined for it, or loose the privilidge of being able to rent movies.
Don't believe me? Ask the owner/manager of some small local video stores.. Most of the Blockbuster employees won't know, because they just get movies by the case from corporate.
http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/timeline.asp
http://www.walgreens.com/about/press/facts/fa
http://mcdonalds.com/corporate/index.html
http
http://www.tacobell.com
When I worked in a computer store, 200Mhz was the fastest you could get. We had customers with 386's, 486's (and all the knockoffs like TI, AMD, IBM, and Cyrix), and Pentium's..
:)
:) Likewise, there's always the argument that they don't care about speed. Well, why spend the extra money on the bigger, better, faster??
Everyone wants the bigger, better, faster.. We'd have people constantly upgrading from 133Mhz to 150Mhz or 166Mhz..
I always loved the reaction on customers faces when they went from 133Mhz to 150Mhz. They'd turn on the computer in the showroom area, and say "Wow, it's so much faster." They're judging that by moving the mouse around in circles. I could have told them that I made their computer so much faster, and not have even done the upgrade.
Win98 runs nicely on the lower end machines. But even now, I see users that want 2Ghz machines to run it on. Why? Because it's bigger, better, and faster. They want the illusion that writing their word document will go faster on a faster machine.
Even now, writing this, I wouldn't know if I was on a 133 or a 1.1Ghz (I'm on an Athlon 1.1Ghz).. I have a reason for having a faster machine though. Not for the blazing speed that I can open Mozilla. I frequently compile kernels and applications on my workstations..
At one time, I had a 133Mhz Pentium with Win98 on it on my desk. Since I used my Linux machine all the time, it was really a decoration. I'd let people use it to browse the net. They'd never say one word about it being slow.
Consumers are suckers for having bigger, better, faster.. It's the same reason that automobile advertisments still make like 150HP is big. I saw the new turbocharged PT Cruiser ad.. Something like 200HP. Good for a little station wagon, but they're making it out to be the end-all of sports cars.. It's going to be embarassing for someone who falls for the commercial, and then gets blown off the road by every TransAm, Camaro, Mustang, and all the modified (and some unmodified) Asian imports. Oh, did I forget to mention the European imports? I intentionally left out the higher end cars like Corvettes and Vipers. Those are a given. It should do a beautiful job of keeping up with the Yugo's, and diesel Escorts.
Because consumers are suckers.
Personally, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a 64bit AMD to put Linux on.. I have a few applications that could use the extra power. I also have quite a few machines that could care less.. I upgraded them recently from AMD 450Mhz machines, just because the machines were getting old, and we were having other failures (hard drives and power supplies dying of old age).
I strongly suspect that since Microsoft isn't ready to support it, we'll (*NIX admins) be the strongest buyers of it for a while..
But I think the disaster with NT on Alpha proved to Microsoft that users won't go to bigger better processors just because they're there, if they're exotic. From what I understand, besides internal fighting with DEC, they just saw very little need to continue the line for a small fraction of their users. Intel and AMD are staying with the same line, which makes it feel like a safe upgrade. They just upgrade, reinstall their OS, and they're good to go.. All their old apps work, and nothing significant changes..
You sound like a person that should work on your own distribution, or even a fresh OS..
/proc/pci and /proc/cpuinfo to see what the hardware is, and make the config read accordingly. It shouldn't be a large stretch of the imagination to have that automated.
Windows Update is a great attempt. They've done a lot of good work (and a few mistakes). I'd love to see someone start new work on an OS with the aim of 100% security and being 100% crash proof.. Linux is great at being crash proof right now. I have a whole bunch of servers running under Linux with outragous uptimes, unless I bring it down for something.. One of my Linux servers that I checked yesterday has been running happily for 400 days.
I don't use up2date, but honestly if I had Microsoft's resources of programmers and budget, it would be nice to see a good updater for a stable operating system.
I was talking to another slashdotter via Email, and she was telling me that under Solaris (on Sun), if you change hardware, you can boot with an option to build a new kernel that automagically detects your hardware and configures accordingly. Right now, I build my own kernels, and most of the configuration means I go and read
If Microsoft started their own distribution of Linux, and did put a substantial number of their good programmers into the project, I'm sure they could manage to have a beautiful streamlined project, with all the bells and whistles.
That's something Linux lacks. Linux is great in that virtually everyone working on it/for it, are volunteers doing it in their spare time. They take pride in their work, and want to make it bug free.. Microsoft, there are a good number of people who treat it like a job. They're paid to come to work, and get something done, but don't put as much effort into it as they could. That's sad.. But it's a business, and that's what happens. Every workplace I've ever seen, there's always employees like that.
Maybe Microsoft is finally doing a Linux distribution.. Hmmmm.. Microsoft HP 2004, based on Slackware.. :)
Of course, they'll need their own happy bubbley interface.. Oh wait, didn't someone just do a good Microsoft clone for XF86?
All it needs is an automatic update manager, and it'd be perfect.. But knowing Microsoft, they'd mess that up somehow.. Magically, your kernel would turn to mush or something.. They just proved their excellence to that a few days ago.