The following email went out on the MIT hacking mailing list: >Someone apparently released a number of balloons in lobby 7 with >CalTech written on them. There is also a much larger Mylar Balloon >with C.I.T. My initial reaction, and the reaction of most people I >talked to was "C.I.T, what's that?" > >Several suggestions were made on what to do about this since if we do >nothing the balloons will float mockingly over lobby 7 for days: > >-Remove the balloons tonight (might be able to get a number of them >with a needle on a stick from the intersticial space). > >-release a second large mylar balloon that says "SUCKS" > >-Hack Caltech. > >one friend I talked to commented that she was friends with the moles, >the "legitamate" hackers at CalTech, and they claim to have no >knowledge of this and are busy with some other project. It would be >good if we could find out who did this. Could it have been an overzealous prefrosh? > > >As I said my initial reaction was "what is C.I.T? I have drafted an >article that I hope to send to the Tech Newspaper. Offering an >alternate explanation. >Comments, and suggestions are highly encouraged as this is a first draft. > >Amilio >amilio@alum.mit.edu > > > >>>proposed tech article follows below>> > > >C.I.T Looses BALLoonS > >The Center for Incompetent Technologies lost all of their display props >on the way to the activities midway today. Representatives from the >research group lost numerous small balloons and a larger one bearing >the group's acronym while crossing lobby 7, "We thought slip knots >would hold," said Ben Bitdiddle director of C.I.T. > >The Center for Incompetent Technologies is a newly formed nationwide >research group interested in developing ineffective, arcane, and >generally useless technologies. "So many companies and institutes are >focused on doing 'good research' and developing 'useful technologies'" >said Mr. Bitdiddle accenting his comments with air quotes, "we decided >there was an untapped niche market for useless technologies." The >group's motto is taken from an episode of The Simpsons: "Aim so low >that even if you succeed, no one will care" > >The smaller balloons were apparently leftover from numerous C.I.T >events at Caltech. The balloons were custom printed for the school >where the group is apparently very popular. Many of the poorly made >balloons have already popped and are littering the floor of lobby 7. >"We probably should have had some new customized balloons made, but if >we wanted to do things well, we wouldn't be CIT." > >The lost balloons were originally mistaken for a hack, but >representatives for the hacking community quickly corrected the error, >commenting "No, that was just a screw up, hacks are generally more >interesting and creative," Jack Florey. > >>>>> >
Last year teams had such a short period of time, it was difficult to write all the necessary software and spend the time necessary to test and refine. Now many teams have learned a lot from the previous race and have much more time to improve. Several are now able to drive fully-autonomously at speeds of up to 20 mps while still avoiding obsticles and following a path. The maximum speeds will continue to increase and bugs will continue to be routed out as teams gear up for the race.
Most teams are not in it for the money, but for the sake of science and engineering. Some teams will spend close to that amount before all is said and done.
Or you could put a switch on IDE pin 23, the write line. Flipping the switch to disconnect the line would prevent any data from being written, while still having the higher speeds and lower seek times of a hard drive.
It would be simple to just flip the switch, modify your files and then switch it back when you are done so no changes can be made later.
Even better, put it on an electronic keyswitch mounted on the front of the box, and you have an effective security system for things like demo stations and kiosks.
At my school, they just throw out all their old stuff. We've found all kinds of great stuff, from a (working) LCD projector to all kinds of lab equipment, Old function generators, power supplies, an optical pyrometer, night vision lens, and more. There's a dumpster find almost every night or two.
Morpheus is up and running and has the added benefit of not having spyware. Or if you're at college like me, get stuff on the campus network.
test with fan failure, not heatsink falloff
on
AMD And THG update
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
It is much more likely for a fan to die on the heatsink, than for the heatsink to fall off on its own. Someone should do a test to see if this also causes chip failure or if the sensors on the motherboard can shut down the computer before anything is damaged. The results would mean a lot more to actual users.
AMD should have released the spec to mobo makers
on
AMD And THG update
·
· Score: 1
AMD should have given the specs on the thermal diode to the mobo manufacturers well before the release of the chip, so it could be implemented in the motherboards that are out at the time of the chip release. It does much less good to tell them later, as they must amke costly revisions to already designed boards.
The linux router project is one of the best sources of info on getting that old 486 to work as a router. I had mine running fine until about two months ago when I was able to get a Netgear router for $30 (easier for parents as I was leaving for college).
One nice thing about telecommuting this far is that you won't be called to come in to the office in the middle of the night when something breaks that can't be fixed online.
There are two solutions to this problem that I can see would be fairly easy to implement:
1) (the better) In the next build, MS sets up their software to only start if no other camera software does.
2) Kodak can release an update that automatically sets theirs to be first, eliminating the tech support issues.
Set up your own filters
on
ORBS Forks
·
· Score: 2
I think that it is a lot better and more effective to set up your own mail filters on your computer, as many of the messages come from the same areas or have very similar formats and phrases. Most are easy to filter out and the one or two that get through are easy to delete.
This is a better way than blocking entire servers, as someone from one of these servers may have a legit message to send you. If your friend's ISP is blacklisted, you wont get their messages and won't know why.
Slashdot Mirror
The following email went out on the MIT hacking mailing list:
>Someone apparently released a number of balloons in lobby 7 with
>CalTech written on them. There is also a much larger Mylar Balloon
>with C.I.T. My initial reaction, and the reaction of most people I
>talked to was "C.I.T, what's that?"
>
>Several suggestions were made on what to do about this since if we do
>nothing the balloons will float mockingly over lobby 7 for days:
>
>-Remove the balloons tonight (might be able to get a number of them
>with a needle on a stick from the intersticial space).
>
>-release a second large mylar balloon that says "SUCKS"
>
>-Hack Caltech.
>
>one friend I talked to commented that she was friends with the moles,
>the "legitamate" hackers at CalTech, and they claim to have no
>knowledge of this and are busy with some other project. It would be
>good if we could find out who did this. Could it have been an overzealous prefrosh?
>
>
>As I said my initial reaction was "what is C.I.T? I have drafted an
>article that I hope to send to the Tech Newspaper. Offering an
>alternate explanation.
>Comments, and suggestions are highly encouraged as this is a first draft.
>
>Amilio
>amilio@alum.mit.edu
>
>
>
>>>proposed tech article follows below>>
>
>
>C.I.T Looses BALLoonS
>
>The Center for Incompetent Technologies lost all of their display props
>on the way to the activities midway today. Representatives from the
>research group lost numerous small balloons and a larger one bearing
>the group's acronym while crossing lobby 7, "We thought slip knots
>would hold," said Ben Bitdiddle director of C.I.T.
>
>The Center for Incompetent Technologies is a newly formed nationwide
>research group interested in developing ineffective, arcane, and
>generally useless technologies. "So many companies and institutes are
>focused on doing 'good research' and developing 'useful technologies'"
>said Mr. Bitdiddle accenting his comments with air quotes, "we decided
>there was an untapped niche market for useless technologies." The
>group's motto is taken from an episode of The Simpsons: "Aim so low
>that even if you succeed, no one will care"
>
>The smaller balloons were apparently leftover from numerous C.I.T
>events at Caltech. The balloons were custom printed for the school
>where the group is apparently very popular. Many of the poorly made
>balloons have already popped and are littering the floor of lobby 7.
>"We probably should have had some new customized balloons made, but if
>we wanted to do things well, we wouldn't be CIT."
>
>The lost balloons were originally mistaken for a hack, but
>representatives for the hacking community quickly corrected the error,
>commenting "No, that was just a screw up, hacks are generally more
>interesting and creative," Jack Florey.
>
>>>>>
>
Last year teams had such a short period of time, it was difficult to write all the necessary software and spend the time necessary to test and refine. Now many teams have learned a lot from the previous race and have much more time to improve. Several are now able to drive fully-autonomously at speeds of up to 20 mps while still avoiding obsticles and following a path. The maximum speeds will continue to increase and bugs will continue to be routed out as teams gear up for the race.
Most teams are not in it for the money, but for the sake of science and engineering. Some teams will spend close to that amount before all is said and done.
Or you could put a switch on IDE pin 23, the write line. Flipping the switch to disconnect the line would prevent any data from being written, while still having the higher speeds and lower seek times of a hard drive.
It would be simple to just flip the switch, modify your files and then switch it back when you are done so no changes can be made later.
Even better, put it on an electronic keyswitch mounted on the front of the box, and you have an effective security system for things like demo stations and kiosks.
At my school, they just throw out all their old stuff. We've found all kinds of great stuff, from a (working) LCD projector to all kinds of lab equipment, Old function generators, power supplies, an optical pyrometer, night vision lens, and more.
There's a dumpster find almost every night or two.
Morpheus is up and running and has the added benefit of not having spyware. Or if you're at college like me, get stuff on the campus network.
It is much more likely for a fan to die on the heatsink, than for the heatsink to fall off on its own. Someone should do a test to see if this also causes chip failure or if the sensors on the motherboard can shut down the computer before anything is damaged. The results would mean a lot more to actual users.
AMD should have given the specs on the thermal diode to the mobo manufacturers well before the release of the chip, so it could be implemented in the motherboards that are out at the time of the chip release. It does much less good to tell them later, as they must amke costly revisions to already designed boards.
The linux router project is one of the best sources of info on getting that old 486 to work as a router. I had mine running fine until about two months ago when I was able to get a Netgear router for $30 (easier for parents as I was leaving for college).
See www.linuxrouter.org for more information.
Steinkuehler's EigerStein was the distro I used - worked very well.
-Doughnuthole
One nice thing about telecommuting this far is that you won't be called to come in to the office in the middle of the night when something breaks that can't be fixed online.
Being on call sucks!
There are two solutions to this problem that I can see would be fairly easy to implement:
1) (the better) In the next build, MS sets up their software to only start if no other camera software does.
2) Kodak can release an update that automatically sets theirs to be first, eliminating the tech support issues.
I think that it is a lot better and more effective to set up your own mail filters on your computer, as many of the messages come from the same areas or have very similar formats and phrases. Most are easy to filter out and the one or two that get through are easy to delete.
This is a better way than blocking entire servers, as someone from one of these servers may have a legit message to send you. If your friend's ISP is blacklisted, you wont get their messages and won't know why.