I stopped wanting to go to the US a long time ago. My last name is Yousef and I'm very arabic looking. Never mind that my family's background is Christian not Muslim, that I don't believe in God, or that the work I do required security checks and clearance before I was employed. Last nail in the coffin was when they started fingerprinting everyone. I don't want to be treated like a criminal and randomly finger printed and searched all the way there and back. That's not something I want to do for a good job let alone for a holiday.
In 1998 I went to the US to do training and none of this was a concern. The programmers boot camp I went to sucked by on one of my two weekends off in the 10 week hell I went to the Kennedy Space Center and I loved it! I always wanted to go back and take a look at the Grand Canyon. Now I wouldn't go if they paid me.
Fuck 9/11. Fuck the terrorists. Fuck the people who've used it as a power grab. Fuck the blind sheep who'll let them until its too late. I've had a gut full of this bad behaviour from all sides....And if anyone wants to mod this as flamebait, that's fine be my guest, but before you do read the definition of a flame. I'm not saying these things just to piss people off. This is genuinely how I feel, and I'm not alone.
I'm pretty sure that admiting to a Fedral crime on/. is not how it's done. Anyway how does it help your argument to say you're doing it? It'd have been a lot less of a risk to say that you'd heard of it being done etc. An MPAA investigator reading this could probably get a warrant for your real details and a warrant to search your place based what you've just written. I'm not saying it's the most likely thing to happen, but it's not out of the realm of possiblity.
I think a pre-made one would hold up better in court.
I can just see the defence lawyer now...."...isn't it true that you used unreliable home made equipment to get the data from the defendant's computer?...Your honour I'd like to tender exhibit A"...
Heh, it's one thing to converse in text, and quite another in the company of an actual person not hidden behind a monitor somewhere. I also hate to keep long-term conversation online and prefer to meet soon. I'm not any more afraid to meet up with someone at a coffee shop that I'd be of talking to someone at that coffee shop I never knew existed before.
Good attitude. Meeting sooner rather than later means you don't build up a false picture of who you're talking to. You become fond of an actual person instead of what you imagine them to be. I'd suggest arranging your first couple of meetings in public where there's no pressure to get romantic. That'll give you time to relax. One trick is to have something planned for straight after and let your partner know in advance of the "date". That way there's a set limit if it's awkward and he won't be expecting anything intimate to happen towards the end. You could make whatever you had planned something unimportant or easy to cancel at short notice (say meeting up with a friend). If you do want to continue the date it's very flattering if the other person's willing to change plans to spend time with you.
I don't seem to find many single tech guys in this area who are even interested in relationships. Those who I have found seem to have no interests that don't involve technology, like movies, wine, hiking, etc.
Well technically movies involve technology:-) So does hiking if you're doing it safely these days. Narrow interests aren't a good trait in a partner anyway. If a person won't try anything new to him that you're into, it's a good sign they're not suitable. If a person's focused on any single thing to the exclusion of all else, they'll make a lousy partner.
I can only use myself and those around me as proof there are techy guys out there with other intersts. My interests are very varied and though most are techy some are outdoors. I do stuff with my fiancee that she enjoys. What do I do for a living? I code and do support. I try not to bring much work home (though being on support that's not always possible). I work with other guys who have broad interests. There are techy guys out there with other interests so don't settle for someone less intelligent or interesting than you feel you deserve.
You should try male dominated intellectual/techy activities that attract less introverted and focused guys (so long as you have a genuine interest). Basically stay away from things that are purely competitive (chess clubs, computer gaming) or work-oriented. Remote control aircraft, recreational (as opposed to race) sailing, amateur astronomy...well I'm sure you can come up with your own list of interests that are traditionally male dominated. The few women that show up to these sorts of activities get a lot of attention and get a wide field to choose from. Unlike female dominated activities, there's no stigma attached to a female trying them. (I can just imagine the comments from friends and family if I took up knitting!)
As for relationships, they've tended to be pretty long. My first was over five years, my second just shy of three. My most recent is my shortest at about six months. My most recent is also the one I felt the most potential, and still do, odd as that may seem.
I don't know your circumstances well enough to comment on the specific case, but my personal experience is that once a relationship ends it's only painful costly (in more ways than one) to go back. That is of course your choice. You say you're young so you'll have to learn from your mistakes and do what you think is right at the time. Just try not to become bitter. You sound like you're doing better than I did when I was young anyway. It was 10 years between disasterous relationships for me.
I'm actually pleasantly suprised/. has behaved itself. I'd have thought a female posting on this subject could expect a lot of lewd email and to be hit on in a very unpleasant way. Unless I've missed some posts that hasn't happened to you.
Anyway good luck to you. I'm sure you'll make some geek that does have some social skills, a wide set of interests, and a high libido very happy some day.
I can absolutely understand and appreciate that people value some of the features and functionality of things like the Commodore 64 and Newton, and many other machines that were considered to be state-of-the-art in their time....But why would someone go out of their way to continue to use it?
This guy kidnapped a pre-teen girl, and you're worried about his strange choice of computer platform? The guy's obviously not thinking straight.
I agree with most of the posters here. I did my Masters of Astronomy online. I only went to the University (in Australia, about 20 mins from where I lived) twice and that was for admin. Most of the class lived in the US and never came here. Good online material, and interaction by email was plenty good enough even for astrophysics work. Put up the podcasts. Let your lecturers worry about their job security and class attendance.
I commend you on being one of it seems few these days who won't find randoms to satisfy an appetite. However I find your statement about being shy a little hard to believe given you're being so open in this forum. If you're only shy in person consider getting to know people for a little while by IM, text etc. but don't make them wait forever to meet you - guys tend to hate that.
In any case the odds are heavily stacked in your favour just by being the type of girl that reads/. Showing genuine interest in male dominated activities increases your odds no end (heck I bet more than 90% of/. readership is male). When you do hook up with someone a strong libido certainly shouldn't hurt your chances of keeping a relationship going.
Just to be crystal clear I'm well and truely taken and my interest in this post is most certainly not to hit on you. (We've lived together for almost 3 years now and are engaged with a date of Sept. 1st next year - 1st day of spring meaning we just had our -1 anniversary:-)) She's just had knee surgery though - if you haven't had many long term relationships keep in mind that being in a relationhip doesn't mean all your desires will suddenly be fulfilled all the time or your expectations might get in the way.
I was with you right up until you started quoting a fictional character from starwars. MLK was a much better choice. You should have stuck with that quote.
Re:Honestly, this was a long time coming
on
Steve Irwin Dead
·
· Score: 1
There's a huge difference. Venture capitalists are few and far between because it's high risk. You're asking the whole population to take these risks repeatedly knowing they'll be burnt again and again. That's unrealistic. It only works for those who have very large disposable incomes. Have a close look at how hard it is to get funding for the arts.
I'm not one to often fall back on the concept that the market will sort it out, but when a CD costs $300 instead of $30, I think you'll find people just can't and won't buy it. There will still be demand for a $30 CD though so someone will step in and fill the gap. Meanwhile it makes publishing online and without the current publishing cartels all the more atractive.
Also you could mandate a per minute limit on entertainment. Yes publishers could reduce the quality and include rubbish but as they're already doing that it would be hard to increase the ratio of crap without turning people off.
Of course you could go to an extreme and make record/media companies illegal - force the artist to negotiate their own studio and cd pressing time. For that matter they could organise their own tours. Yes that takes them away from the creative process. Yes many artists aren't good at those things. So limit the collaboration to a small number of people only allowed to take a small cut, or otherwise just accept that artists without the ability to distribute for themselves will perish. Got to beat what's going on today and where the trend is headed.
I think what irks people and leads them to piracy is the knowledge that most artists/creator aren't compensated in any case. Most of their money goes to distributors and middle men. Make it illegal for any more than 10-20% of sale value to go to middle men. Limit the price of certain articles (no more than $20 for a DVD say). I believe eventually you'll see cheaper product and even if you don't people will pay for it because they're supporting the artist not the record company. If a distributor can't distribute for less than 20% of the sale price of the product, they don't deserve to be in business.
Sorry but you're wrong. I know I'm not the only person who won't put a down payment on a creation that hasn't been made yet. There's no guarantee or recourse if that creation doesn't come to fruition or turns out to be a piece of hulking junk.
Since the dawn of time it's been like this. If you create something, you take a risk doing it. If people like it, it may pay off.
What you need is a way to compensate the artist/author/inventor taking nito in proportion to the amount of work put in, and the quality and usefulness of the creation. Of course the problem is you have to define and measure these things and that's not easy.
Whether its Shakespeare or Star Trek this kind of study is nonesense. Both the Shakespeare scholar and this lady get the same amount of respect from me. Nada. I shudder to think of the crap TV that will be studied in coming years. Fools will come up with dissertaions on how wonderful and misunderstood each and every F grade soapie is.
I think it may be the first time he's seen a female.
Which episode of ST:TOS was that? Where the kid had never seen a girl before and he's got superpowers and has to be disciplined by his parent? See if I'd done a PhD. in Star Trek I'd know these things...
Today we will go through the [sponsor's product] sponsored explanation of Special Relativity, proudly brought to you by [sponsor's name]. We will learn the derviation of the famous equation E = [sponsor's product] MC^2. But first a word from our sponsor [sponsor]. But first let's take a moment to learn about new refreshing [sponsor's product].
What a FUCKING AWFUL idea. Oh no this won't be abused at all. When you read a damned textbook you need to focus on what you're learning not a bunch of ads. This move is greedy, exploitative and socially destructive. It should be banned by legislation world wide.
You're missing out big time. If you followed the same logic in other areas of your life, you wouldn't have a post box, an email address or any Internet access for that matter.
If you have the time for tele, instead of shunning it work out if the best package you can get is worth it to you. If your cable provider allows, block the channels you don't like. If it's legal get a PVR and only tape what you actually want to watch.
There's some amazing stuff on the cable doco channels where I live and best of all because it's dumbed down for general consumption it's not likely to give you a headache to watch it. If you're truely interested you know enough from the dummies guide point of view to go out and look it up on the net or at a library. That's much more interesting to me than the latest teen drama or fake crime show. THAT is what I'm paying for, not all the extra garbage. I am annoyed that it's there but I generally just skip the channel.
Since fair use is being scaled back everywhere else (through a variety of means including US DMCA) I think you'll find those fair use laws either don't materialise, materialise but are watered down or materialise and are taken away in a very short time. I wouldn't hold my breath.
The Westminster 2 party system is flawed, but so are all current political systems. That needs fixing, but again I'm not holding my breath.
"...because like, you know, like well, it's hard to explain but like it's really good, y'know."
Yes that's enough from some silly teen bimbo shaking her backside on YouTube and thinking she's made a revolutionary discovery.
What's it worth? Very little. Probably a little for the interface, a little for the interface, and a little for the brand name recognition. What will greedy morons pay? Who knows! Stopped trying to predict that during the.com boom. It seems
Actually this new definition (assuming you've quoted it correct) is absolute unscientific crap in my book.
1) "Dwarf" implies small. What happens if you find a large planet that hasn't cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit. How is this possible? Well you could have an unstable orbit or some other anomaly we haven't seen yet (as our sample size is about a dozen planets and dwarf planets)
2) Due to this heliocentric definition, what are we to now call extra solar planets? Technically they're not planets anymore since they orbit a star that isn't our sun. We basically have years of misnamed literature. In any case what's so damn special about our star that we shouldn't include bodies orbiting other stars. (I'm basically agreeing with you on this one).
3) "Planet" vs "Dwarf Planet" is awful. From the naming one would assume that anything belong to group "dwarf planet" would also be a "planet" but that isn't the case. If you'd called them planetlets or some other derivative you'd have avoided this confusion.
This article basically says personal firewalls are useless because there are things they can't prevent. Recently I've seen someone argue antivirus software is useless because they aren't 100% accurate and won't catch all your virii. Okay well I have some screwdrivers at home. I want to put together a cupboard this evening. I'll only need the phillips head. Should I throw out the flathead since it won't do all my work for me? Moronic.
Yes, software firewalls have their problems. Yes, they do require some knowledge to use correctly (as does almost all software!)
Personally I use a hardware firewall for incoming, a software firewall for inbound, I do run as admin because Windows just isn't designed to be run well from an unprivlleged account. I use antivirus too though I do switch it off if my computer's going to be doing something CPU or disk intensive AND I'm not doing anything I consider risky.
Furthermore you can't test 6 bits of firewall software and extrapolate that they're all garbage from the sample.
Slashdot Mirror
I stopped wanting to go to the US a long time ago. My last name is Yousef and I'm very arabic looking. Never mind that my family's background is Christian not Muslim, that I don't believe in God, or that the work I do required security checks and clearance before I was employed. Last nail in the coffin was when they started fingerprinting everyone. I don't want to be treated like a criminal and randomly finger printed and searched all the way there and back. That's not something I want to do for a good job let alone for a holiday.
...And if anyone wants to mod this as flamebait, that's fine be my guest, but before you do read the definition of a flame. I'm not saying these things just to piss people off. This is genuinely how I feel, and I'm not alone.
In 1998 I went to the US to do training and none of this was a concern. The programmers boot camp I went to sucked by on one of my two weekends off in the 10 week hell I went to the Kennedy Space Center and I loved it! I always wanted to go back and take a look at the Grand Canyon. Now I wouldn't go if they paid me.
Fuck 9/11. Fuck the terrorists. Fuck the people who've used it as a power grab. Fuck the blind sheep who'll let them until its too late. I've had a gut full of this bad behaviour from all sides.
I'm pretty sure that admiting to a Fedral crime on /. is not how it's done. Anyway how does it help your argument to say you're doing it? It'd have been a lot less of a risk to say that you'd heard of it being done etc. An MPAA investigator reading this could probably get a warrant for your real details and a warrant to search your place based what you've just written. I'm not saying it's the most likely thing to happen, but it's not out of the realm of possiblity.
I think a pre-made one would hold up better in court.
I can just see the defence lawyer now...."...isn't it true that you used unreliable home made equipment to get the data from the defendant's computer?...Your honour I'd like to tender exhibit A"...
Heh, it's one thing to converse in text, and quite another in the company of an actual person not hidden behind a monitor somewhere. I also hate to keep long-term conversation online and prefer to meet soon. I'm not any more afraid to meet up with someone at a coffee shop that I'd be of talking to someone at that coffee shop I never knew existed before.
:-) So does hiking if you're doing it safely these days. Narrow interests aren't a good trait in a partner anyway. If a person won't try anything new to him that you're into, it's a good sign they're not suitable. If a person's focused on any single thing to the exclusion of all else, they'll make a lousy partner.
/. has behaved itself. I'd have thought a female posting on this subject could expect a lot of lewd email and to be hit on in a very unpleasant way. Unless I've missed some posts that hasn't happened to you.
Good attitude. Meeting sooner rather than later means you don't build up a false picture of who you're talking to. You become fond of an actual person instead of what you imagine them to be. I'd suggest arranging your first couple of meetings in public where there's no pressure to get romantic. That'll give you time to relax. One trick is to have something planned for straight after and let your partner know in advance of the "date". That way there's a set limit if it's awkward and he won't be expecting anything intimate to happen towards the end. You could make whatever you had planned something unimportant or easy to cancel at short notice (say meeting up with a friend). If you do want to continue the date it's very flattering if the other person's willing to change plans to spend time with you.
I don't seem to find many single tech guys in this area who are even interested in relationships. Those who I have found seem to have no interests that don't involve technology, like movies, wine, hiking, etc.
Well technically movies involve technology
I can only use myself and those around me as proof there are techy guys out there with other intersts. My interests are very varied and though most are techy some are outdoors. I do stuff with my fiancee that she enjoys. What do I do for a living? I code and do support. I try not to bring much work home (though being on support that's not always possible). I work with other guys who have broad interests. There are techy guys out there with other interests so don't settle for someone less intelligent or interesting than you feel you deserve.
You should try male dominated intellectual/techy activities that attract less introverted and focused guys (so long as you have a genuine interest). Basically stay away from things that are purely competitive (chess clubs, computer gaming) or work-oriented. Remote control aircraft, recreational (as opposed to race) sailing, amateur astronomy...well I'm sure you can come up with your own list of interests that are traditionally male dominated. The few women that show up to these sorts of activities get a lot of attention and get a wide field to choose from. Unlike female dominated activities, there's no stigma attached to a female trying them. (I can just imagine the comments from friends and family if I took up knitting!)
As for relationships, they've tended to be pretty long. My first was over five years, my second just shy of three. My most recent is my shortest at about six months. My most recent is also the one I felt the most potential, and still do, odd as that may seem.
I don't know your circumstances well enough to comment on the specific case, but my personal experience is that once a relationship ends it's only painful costly (in more ways than one) to go back. That is of course your choice. You say you're young so you'll have to learn from your mistakes and do what you think is right at the time. Just try not to become bitter. You sound like you're doing better than I did when I was young anyway. It was 10 years between disasterous relationships for me.
I'm actually pleasantly suprised
Anyway good luck to you. I'm sure you'll make some geek that does have some social skills, a wide set of interests, and a high libido very happy some day.
I can absolutely understand and appreciate that people value some of the features and functionality of things like the Commodore 64 and Newton, and many other machines that were considered to be state-of-the-art in their time....But why would someone go out of their way to continue to use it?
This guy kidnapped a pre-teen girl, and you're worried about his strange choice of computer platform? The guy's obviously not thinking straight.
You forgot to mention clippy.
I agree with most of the posters here. I did my Masters of Astronomy online. I only went to the University (in Australia, about 20 mins from where I lived) twice and that was for admin. Most of the class lived in the US and never came here. Good online material, and interaction by email was plenty good enough even for astrophysics work. Put up the podcasts. Let your lecturers worry about their job security and class attendance.
I commend you on being one of it seems few these days who won't find randoms to satisfy an appetite. However I find your statement about being shy a little hard to believe given you're being so open in this forum. If you're only shy in person consider getting to know people for a little while by IM, text etc. but don't make them wait forever to meet you - guys tend to hate that.
/. Showing genuine interest in male dominated activities increases your odds no end (heck I bet more than 90% of /. readership is male). When you do hook up with someone a strong libido certainly shouldn't hurt your chances of keeping a relationship going.
:-)) She's just had knee surgery though - if you haven't had many long term relationships keep in mind that being in a relationhip doesn't mean all your desires will suddenly be fulfilled all the time or your expectations might get in the way.
In any case the odds are heavily stacked in your favour just by being the type of girl that reads
Just to be crystal clear I'm well and truely taken and my interest in this post is most certainly not to hit on you. (We've lived together for almost 3 years now and are engaged with a date of Sept. 1st next year - 1st day of spring meaning we just had our -1 anniversary
I was with you right up until you started quoting a fictional character from starwars. MLK was a much better choice. You should have stuck with that quote.
Don't you mean Dingos?
There's a huge difference. Venture capitalists are few and far between because it's high risk. You're asking the whole population to take these risks repeatedly knowing they'll be burnt again and again. That's unrealistic. It only works for those who have very large disposable incomes. Have a close look at how hard it is to get funding for the arts.
I'm not one to often fall back on the concept that the market will sort it out, but when a CD costs $300 instead of $30, I think you'll find people just can't and won't buy it. There will still be demand for a $30 CD though so someone will step in and fill the gap. Meanwhile it makes publishing online and without the current publishing cartels all the more atractive.
Also you could mandate a per minute limit on entertainment. Yes publishers could reduce the quality and include rubbish but as they're already doing that it would be hard to increase the ratio of crap without turning people off.
Of course you could go to an extreme and make record/media companies illegal - force the artist to negotiate their own studio and cd pressing time. For that matter they could organise their own tours. Yes that takes them away from the creative process. Yes many artists aren't good at those things. So limit the collaboration to a small number of people only allowed to take a small cut, or otherwise just accept that artists without the ability to distribute for themselves will perish. Got to beat what's going on today and where the trend is headed.
I think what irks people and leads them to piracy is the knowledge that most artists/creator aren't compensated in any case. Most of their money goes to distributors and middle men. Make it illegal for any more than 10-20% of sale value to go to middle men. Limit the price of certain articles (no more than $20 for a DVD say). I believe eventually you'll see cheaper product and even if you don't people will pay for it because they're supporting the artist not the record company. If a distributor can't distribute for less than 20% of the sale price of the product, they don't deserve to be in business.
Sorry but you're wrong. I know I'm not the only person who won't put a down payment on a creation that hasn't been made yet. There's no guarantee or recourse if that creation doesn't come to fruition or turns out to be a piece of hulking junk.
Since the dawn of time it's been like this. If you create something, you take a risk doing it. If people like it, it may pay off.
What you need is a way to compensate the artist/author/inventor taking nito in proportion to the amount of work put in, and the quality and usefulness of the creation. Of course the problem is you have to define and measure these things and that's not easy.
Whether its Shakespeare or Star Trek this kind of study is nonesense. Both the Shakespeare scholar and this lady get the same amount of respect from me. Nada. I shudder to think of the crap TV that will be studied in coming years. Fools will come up with dissertaions on how wonderful and misunderstood each and every F grade soapie is.
I think it may be the first time he's seen a female.
Which episode of ST:TOS was that? Where the kid had never seen a girl before and he's got superpowers and has to be disciplined by his parent? See if I'd done a PhD. in Star Trek I'd know these things...
That way it would be a straw man argument.
Today we will go through the [sponsor's product] sponsored explanation of Special Relativity, proudly brought to you by [sponsor's name]. We will learn the derviation of the famous equation E = [sponsor's product] MC^2. But first a word from our sponsor [sponsor]. But first let's take a moment to learn about new refreshing [sponsor's product].
What a FUCKING AWFUL idea. Oh no this won't be abused at all. When you read a damned textbook you need to focus on what you're learning not a bunch of ads. This move is greedy, exploitative and socially destructive. It should be banned by legislation world wide.
You're missing out big time. If you followed the same logic in other areas of your life, you wouldn't have a post box, an email address or any Internet access for that matter.
If you have the time for tele, instead of shunning it work out if the best package you can get is worth it to you. If your cable provider allows, block the channels you don't like. If it's legal get a PVR and only tape what you actually want to watch.
There's some amazing stuff on the cable doco channels where I live and best of all because it's dumbed down for general consumption it's not likely to give you a headache to watch it. If you're truely interested you know enough from the dummies guide point of view to go out and look it up on the net or at a library. That's much more interesting to me than the latest teen drama or fake crime show. THAT is what I'm paying for, not all the extra garbage. I am annoyed that it's there but I generally just skip the channel.
Since fair use is being scaled back everywhere else (through a variety of means including US DMCA) I think you'll find those fair use laws either don't materialise, materialise but are watered down or materialise and are taken away in a very short time. I wouldn't hold my breath.
The Westminster 2 party system is flawed, but so are all current political systems. That needs fixing, but again I'm not holding my breath.
...do you also have to keep a fire extinguisher by the bed? Or do you prefer it hot in bed?
"...because like, you know, like well, it's hard to explain but like it's really good, y'know."
.com boom. It seems
Yes that's enough from some silly teen bimbo shaking her backside on YouTube and thinking she's made a revolutionary discovery.
What's it worth? Very little. Probably a little for the interface, a little for the interface, and a little for the brand name recognition. What will greedy morons pay? Who knows! Stopped trying to predict that during the
she's got a ScD in Environmental Health, a MS in Chemical Engineering Practice, and a BS in Chemical Engineering
The BS is right. I don't care how many degrees she has, how many exams she's passed, or who she's shagged. She's an educated idiot.
Actually this new definition (assuming you've quoted it correct) is absolute unscientific crap in my book.
1) "Dwarf" implies small. What happens if you find a large planet that hasn't cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit. How is this possible? Well you could have an unstable orbit or some other anomaly we haven't seen yet (as our sample size is about a dozen planets and dwarf planets)
2) Due to this heliocentric definition, what are we to now call extra solar planets? Technically they're not planets anymore since they orbit a star that isn't our sun. We basically have years of misnamed literature. In any case what's so damn special about our star that we shouldn't include bodies orbiting other stars. (I'm basically agreeing with you on this one).
3) "Planet" vs "Dwarf Planet" is awful. From the naming one would assume that anything belong to group "dwarf planet" would also be a "planet" but that isn't the case. If you'd called them planetlets or some other derivative you'd have avoided this confusion.
This article basically says personal firewalls are useless because there are things they can't prevent. Recently I've seen someone argue antivirus software is useless because they aren't 100% accurate and won't catch all your virii. Okay well I have some screwdrivers at home. I want to put together a cupboard this evening. I'll only need the phillips head. Should I throw out the flathead since it won't do all my work for me? Moronic.
Yes, software firewalls have their problems. Yes, they do require some knowledge to use correctly (as does almost all software!)
Personally I use a hardware firewall for incoming, a software firewall for inbound, I do run as admin because Windows just isn't designed to be run well from an unprivlleged account. I use antivirus too though I do switch it off if my computer's going to be doing something CPU or disk intensive AND I'm not doing anything I consider risky.
Furthermore you can't test 6 bits of firewall software and extrapolate that they're all garbage from the sample.