Nope. That was using -tidal- power, [where you capture the high tide and then drain it for kinetic energy]. This is different, it is dampening the energy out of waves caused by wind. Of course, this could ultimately affect climate if done in open ocean or something, but generally I imagine it would be done for waves that would otherwise crash to shore. So, if anything, it will just reduce the rate of erosion, [and piss os surfers].
In a related story, researchers in belgium are working on a prototype system designed to capture usefull levels of electric power from night-club dance floors.
"Many people haven't personally seen the levels of activity that frequently are exerted in the techno-music scene. It's really quite suprisingly frenetic" says one researcher.
And because all night dance clubs are so popular in Euroland, there is a not insignificant untapped potential for power generation. The scientists are especially exited to be developing a prototype system to be deployed in Ibiza, Spain.
"What's especially fitting about this locale, is that a majority of the partiers [or, as we like to call them, acoustically stimulable periodic mass distributors] are in fact foreign tourists; which truly is free energy. They even pay to stay here, and pay for the food they are so efficiently converting into mechanical energy!
Yes, there is a way to set the priority flags in packets, supported under linux, [as long as you have Config_IP_NF_MANGLE and Config_IP_NF_TARGET_ROS configured into your current kernel].
Then, just run something like
"iptables -t mangle -A OUTPUT -j TOS --set-tos Maximize-Throughput"
To activate it. Note that this works fine in 2.4.17 and before, but is currently broken in 2.4.18.
'...we have made a firm decision NOT to license any part of this technology other than that which we incorporate into the Palm OS.'
...that it was a propriatary platform. Although it had posix support, it was a commercial offering, free only as in beer [which likely would not have lasted if it had achieved successfull market penetration and widespread use].
That's why I stayed away from it and stayed with the free OS'es we know and love. I know that I will never be at the mercy of some rights-holder deciding that the technology I have come to depend on using, and have invested so much time/money into developing for and setting up, can be yanked away at their pervue.
Secret awareness of security exploitability: scary
on
Wu-ftpd Remote Root Hole
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
It disturbs me that a formal process of keeping newly discovered vulnerability information from the public seems to be becoming the norm. I would feel much safer if we were informed right away of a known remote execution vulnerability, so that we can assess the risks ourselves, and make the appropriate decision as to whether to disable the service, or switch to a different implementation.
I just know that the powerful interests, not just the federal government, but also foreign governments and corporate espionage types, become aware of these things, and likely have crack teams of dedicated crackers to rapidly turn out an in house exploit.
Asymetric information is inequitable, giving an inevitable advantage to the elite in the know.
...like this in a long time. This book sounds like it may have actually been decently inspiring [I hope not a manner simmilar to `jonathan livingston seagull']. Seriously, though, read some of the earlier non moderated comments. The initial response was of a caliber to often absent on slashdot these days.
You are pure evil. The government, and all governments, have long had a tendancy to oppress their citizens. The founding fathers of this nation discussed this with candor.
Thus, to imply that having suspicion in regards to the state seeking greater powers to constantly surveil and police it's citizenry, [just in case they might be up to no good] is unamerican... well than, you have entirely missed the founding principals of this country, which have served to make it so great.
You insult the blood of patriots who died to protect your liberties, to so readily be willing to give them up.
Betting the farm on "Software as service"? Stupid.
on
HP Buys Compaq
·
· Score: 1
Many in the industry hope that the trend toward decentralized computing, in which great computing power migrated to desktops in homes and offices, will reverse itself as a new Internet-based system uses racks and racks of powerful computers known as servers whose computing power will be called on by computers and cellular phones around the world. If that vision is realized, then a major battle looms over which maker of servers is able to gain a dominant position.
That's just silly. Vast home computing power more available than ever [at prices lower than ever]. There is no compelling reason for consumers to ever want to move to a situation of software as service. Wow! I will be able to access my email or play my media files on a random terminal elsewhere, on a cell phone, or at an internet cafe'-esque public terminal. Wait, I can already do that!
Of course, the public tends to be extremely stupid, and perhaps such hailstormy functionality neatly packaged up in a user friendly way will have some appeal...
But wait, if there is going to be connectivity everywhere, why the heck bother paying a continuing lease to store ones personal data on someone else's server, when it can simply be stored on one's own? If there is a marketable demand for such services [to be super userfriendly for non-techies to set up and use], believe me, there will be secondary products that offer the same service in a truly secure, encrypted tunnel [from said random public terminal] to your own machine!!!
I mean, seriously, people, if something like hailstorm is ever to be feasible, there has to be significant bandwidth/connectivity all over the place; and with affordable home computers all over the place, what could possibly be the compelling desire to pay an additional rent to store data and access applications on servers owned by other people?
Language like that makes me worry. I can't believe the industry could be considering something so dumb.
templates and operator overloading are good things
on
The D Programming Language
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
It seems this guy really dosen't like c++. Now, being that he is a compiler implementor, I can certainly understand that! *grin*
Templates and stack instantiation of of objects with semantics [i.e. constructors/destructors] is a royal pain in the a** for compiler writers. In fact, only somewhat more recently is g++ even able to handle templates in a decent way; it took a long time to get it right. C++ was a very ambitious language, hard as hell to implement, but that's what makes it so usefull. Give up templates and multiple inheirantance? He suggests this is a good thing?! D is clearly not a language innovation, he should have called it C--.
Besides, you don't actually have to use such features extensively [or at all, really] in a C++ program. You could always avoid iostream and just #include old stdio.h, for example, only choosing to use classes with constructors for some usefull/neccessariy/labor-saving part of the code, while all the rest of it is essentially no different then C [aside from stricter compile-time type checking, which ANSI C has been moving towards anyway, lately]
This is no innovation.
A few other random points:
Ohh! Garbage collection, you can link to a garbage collecting malloc in a C++ program anyway. [If you really care to look into it, C++ allows a whole range of complex underlying storage classes for custom memory management of different parts of a project.]
Arrays are not first class objects?!
Well, this is true, sort of. But you can choose to use vectors, [or other more efficient representations [such as maps, etc] depending on your data type, and with inlining, they will be as efficient as if they were 'native language syntax' features. You don't even have to use the STL, you can write a custom implementation of dynamicly resizable vectors of your own [with automatic bounds checking and resizing, for example] quite trivially. I did it once, and it took, what, 2 pages of source. That's the power of C++, it's so expressive for implementing custom manipulations of low level data, packaged nicely into classes.
No on stack variables? All data as dynamic references? Yech. Generally too inefficient. I still suspect that he just dosen't want to tackle the hairness of writing such a complex compiler. Remember, you can use only dynamic memory in C++ easily enough, with garbage collection too.
Overall, I think D is too lenient. I give him an F.
Still, I strongly respect the desire to attempt to implement a novel language. Not that there aren't hundreds out there, but it's a noble effort. Still, publishing without even demo code? Yeesh.
Of course, as most of us know, he speaks fluent german and surely must have read the article in it's entirety in the original form. He only pointed out babelfish for us stupid non-polylingual types, and overlooking it's translation limitation is understandable. An easy mistake, after all.
As, if Hemos had even bothered to read the translated article, he would have realized that it is long, and that babelfish STOPS TRANSLATING it less than a third of a way through the article.
Heres a Windows humor piece: MS + neuromancer
on
Windows in 2020
·
· Score: 5, Funny
Windows DNI
You open the box labeled "Windows DNI: Direct Neural Interface", carefully
extracting the pouch labeled "License Agreement". You examine the contents
of the pouch, finding an inflatable cap bearing the Windows logo rather
than the familiar 3.5" diskette package. You inflate the cap, insert two
"C"-size batteries (not included), and carefully place it on your head. You
press the Start button.
Immediately, the image of an hourglass comes to your mind. You find
yourself trapped; unable to move anything in your body save your
eyes. After an indeterminable delay, you regain control of your senses. You
are suddenly compelled to speak your name and business affiliation. You
then retrieve your Windows DNI package and chant the Product-ID number.
Suddenly you see the words "Windows is detecting new hardware" flash before
your eyes. You crash to the floor, writhing in agony. You feel every muscle
in your body contract and retract in turn. Your mind is filled with the
image of a blue inchworm, creeping slowly across a grey field. The creature
finally reaches the edge of its domain, and your seizure ceases. You take a
moment to regain your composure, and you are reminded of your high school
anatomy course as a complete listing of every organ in your body appears
before your eyes. You browse the list for a moment, and utter the phrase
"OK". After a short delay, you hear the sound of a trumpet echo through the
recesses of your mind.
You find yourself in a large, barren space. You look around, and discover
images labeled "My Brain", "Recycle Bin, and "Set up the Microsoft
Network". You feel compelled to utter the word "Start", after which a list
of options floods your mind. Weary from the detection phase, you utter the
word "Shut down". You close your eyes, and blackness surrounds you. You
feel yourself start to drift into sleep. Your peace is interrupted,
however, as a bright orange light invades your nothingness. "It's now safe
to shut down your mind".
You drift into unconsciousness, and sleep for several hours. When you
awaken, you are frozen in place as you see clouds and blue cycling
colors. After a short eternity, the familiar "My Brain" icon reappears in
your mind. But something is terribly wrong; you can feel it in your
gut. Just outside the range of primary vision, you can sense something
lurking about you on all four sides.
You slowly look up, and see the word "Safe Mode" glaring back at you. You
back away slowly, swivel your head, and there it is, behind you as
well. Your heartbeat quickened and you are terrified as you turn to your
left and your right and it meets you there as well, its cold, heartless
glare filling your soul with despair.
Quickly, you summon Control Panel, System, Device Manager. You feel
yourself frantically gasping for air as you run through the list of
installed devices. You come upon "Respiratory System" and are horrified to
see a black exclamation point on a yellow field next to the entry
"Lungs". You close your eyes and utter the word "Properties". On the closed
curtains of your eyelids, you see your life flashing before your eyes.
You force yourself to concentrate on your situation, attempting to discover
which system devices are in conflict, when suddenly your entire body seizes
up in pain. You lose all sense of reality. You are floating through the
clouds as you hear a voice echo through your mind: "This program has
performed an illegal operation and will be terminated." You start to black
out and suddenly you remember your situation. You stare in horror at your
blue extremities, knowing that, without oxygen, you will not last much
longer. With all the consciousness you can muster, you force yourself... To
reboot.
You awaken in a place that is dark, but familiar. A solitary white prompt
on a black field greets you. You look behind you and see the wreckage of
the operating system that nearly spelled your demise. "Cannot find a file
that may be needed to run Windows". You turn around to face the prompt, and
a wide grin comes across your face. You take a deep breath and revel in the
life-giving atmosphere. You laugh as you utter the words, "DELTREE
WINDOWS".
Suddenly you find yourself on the floor of your home. You find the charred
remains of the Windows DNI beanie littering the floor. You carefully gather
them up, stack them neatly on an altar, and burn them, promising yourself
never to risk your life with Microsoft again. You bury the ashes, knowing
that your life is again in order.
I have no idea who originally wrote this, it was emailed to me a few years ago...
Here's an awkscript to profile unique CR attacks
on
Code Red III
·
· Score: 1
Try this little awkscript:
cat/var/log/http/access_log | grep "default.ida" | awk '/XXXXX/{ cr[$1]=$4"\tCodeRedII"}/NNNNN/ { cr[$1]=$4"\tCodeRed_Original" } END { for (x in cr) print x"\t"cr[x] }' > codered_analysis
This creates a file, codered analysis, which contains each unique attacking host only once, with the most recent attack time.
This way, you can look at the attacking machines without duplications, and can also `wc' the file to see how many unique ones have hit you.
Plus, it detects the difference between CR1 and CR2 too!
Slashdot Mirror
Nope. That was using -tidal- power, [where you capture the high tide and then drain it for kinetic energy]. This is different, it is dampening the energy out of waves caused by wind. Of course, this could ultimately affect climate if done in open ocean or something, but generally I imagine it would be done for waves that would otherwise crash to shore. So, if anything, it will just reduce the rate of erosion, [and piss os surfers].
In a related story, researchers in belgium are working on a prototype system designed to capture usefull levels of electric power from night-club dance floors.
"Many people haven't personally seen the levels of activity that frequently are exerted in the techno-music scene. It's really quite suprisingly frenetic" says one researcher.
And because all night dance clubs are so popular in Euroland, there is a not insignificant untapped potential for power generation. The scientists are especially exited to be developing a prototype system to be deployed in Ibiza, Spain.
"What's especially fitting about this locale, is that a majority of the partiers [or, as we like to call them, acoustically stimulable periodic mass distributors] are in fact foreign tourists; which truly is free energy. They even pay to stay here, and pay for the food they are so efficiently converting into mechanical energy!
Yes, there is a way to set the priority flags in packets, supported under linux, [as long as you have Config_IP_NF_MANGLE and Config_IP_NF_TARGET_ROS configured into your current kernel].
Then, just run something like
"iptables -t mangle -A OUTPUT -j TOS --set-tos Maximize-Throughput"
To activate it. Note that this works fine in 2.4.17 and before, but is currently broken in 2.4.18.
...that it was a propriatary platform. Although it had posix support, it was a commercial offering, free only as in beer [which likely would not have lasted if it had achieved successfull market penetration and widespread use].
That's why I stayed away from it and stayed with the free OS'es we know and love. I know that I will never be at the mercy of some rights-holder deciding that the technology I have come to depend on using, and have invested so much time/money into developing for and setting up, can be yanked away at their pervue.
It disturbs me that a formal process of keeping newly discovered vulnerability information from the public seems to be becoming the norm. I would feel much safer if we were informed right away of a known remote execution vulnerability, so that we can assess the risks ourselves, and make the appropriate decision as to whether to disable the service, or switch to a different implementation.
I just know that the powerful interests, not just the federal government, but also foreign governments and corporate espionage types, become aware of these things, and likely have crack teams of dedicated crackers to rapidly turn out an in house exploit.
Asymetric information is inequitable, giving an inevitable advantage to the elite in the know.
Lack of knowledge is powerlessness.
...like this in a long time. This book sounds like it may have actually been decently inspiring [I hope not a manner simmilar to `jonathan livingston seagull']. Seriously, though, read some of the earlier non moderated comments. The initial response was of a caliber to often absent on slashdot these days.
Oh well...
It's a great program.
you can download it here
I've made some beautifull posters with it. All you need is scissors and tape. It even prints allignment crop marks for you.
Warning! I have had trouble using it on level 2 PS. Level 1 works fine though.
You are pure evil. The government, and all governments, have long had a tendancy to oppress their citizens. The founding fathers of this nation discussed this with candor.
Thus, to imply that having suspicion in regards to the state seeking greater powers to constantly surveil and police it's citizenry, [just in case they might be up to no good] is unamerican... well than, you have entirely missed the founding principals of this country, which have served to make it so great.
You insult the blood of patriots who died to protect your liberties, to so readily be willing to give them up.
Many in the industry hope that the trend toward decentralized computing, in which great computing power migrated to desktops in homes and offices, will reverse itself as a new Internet-based system uses racks and racks of powerful computers known as servers whose computing power will be called on by computers and cellular phones around the world. If that vision is realized, then a major battle looms over which maker of servers is able to gain a dominant position.
That's just silly. Vast home computing power more available than ever [at prices lower than ever]. There is no compelling reason for consumers to ever want to move to a situation of software as service. Wow! I will be able to access my email or play my media files on a random terminal elsewhere, on a cell phone, or at an internet cafe'-esque public terminal. Wait, I can already do that!
Of course, the public tends to be extremely stupid, and perhaps such hailstormy functionality neatly packaged up in a user friendly way will have some appeal...
But wait, if there is going to be connectivity everywhere, why the heck bother paying a continuing lease to store ones personal data on someone else's server, when it can simply be stored on one's own? If there is a marketable demand for such services [to be super userfriendly for non-techies to set up and use], believe me, there will be secondary products that offer the same service in a truly secure, encrypted tunnel [from said random public terminal] to your own machine!!!
I mean, seriously, people, if something like hailstorm is ever to be feasible, there has to be significant bandwidth/connectivity all over the place; and with affordable home computers all over the place, what could possibly be the compelling desire to pay an additional rent to store data and access applications on servers owned by other people?
Language like that makes me worry. I can't believe the industry could be considering something so dumb.
It seems this guy really dosen't like c++. Now, being that he is a compiler implementor, I can certainly understand that! *grin*
Templates and stack instantiation of of objects with semantics [i.e. constructors/destructors] is a royal pain in the a** for compiler writers. In fact, only somewhat more recently is g++ even able to handle templates in a decent way; it took a long time to get it right. C++ was a very ambitious language, hard as hell to implement, but that's what makes it so usefull. Give up templates and multiple inheirantance? He suggests this is a good thing?! D is clearly not a language innovation, he should have called it C--.
Besides, you don't actually have to use such features extensively [or at all, really] in a C++ program. You could always avoid iostream and just #include old stdio.h, for example, only choosing to use classes with constructors for some usefull/neccessariy/labor-saving part of the code, while all the rest of it is essentially no different then C [aside from stricter compile-time type checking, which ANSI C has been moving towards anyway, lately]
This is no innovation.
A few other random points:
Ohh! Garbage collection, you can link to a garbage collecting malloc in a C++ program anyway. [If you really care to look into it, C++ allows a whole range of complex underlying storage classes for custom memory management of different parts of a project.]
Arrays are not first class objects?!
Well, this is true, sort of. But you can choose to use vectors, [or other more efficient representations [such as maps, etc] depending on your data type, and with inlining, they will be as efficient as if they were 'native language syntax' features. You don't even have to use the STL, you can write a custom implementation of dynamicly resizable vectors of your own [with automatic bounds checking and resizing, for example] quite trivially. I did it once, and it took, what, 2 pages of source. That's the power of C++, it's so expressive for implementing custom manipulations of low level data, packaged nicely into classes.
No on stack variables? All data as dynamic references?
Yech. Generally too inefficient. I still suspect that he just dosen't want to tackle the hairness of writing such a complex compiler. Remember, you can use only dynamic memory in C++ easily enough, with garbage collection too.
Overall, I think D is too lenient. I give him an F.
Still, I strongly respect the desire to attempt to implement a novel language. Not that there aren't hundreds out there, but it's a noble effort. Still, publishing without even demo code? Yeesh.
heh.
Of course, as most of us know, he speaks fluent german and surely must have read the article in it's entirety in the original form. He only pointed out babelfish for us stupid non-polylingual types, and overlooking it's translation limitation is understandable. An easy mistake, after all.
As, if Hemos had even bothered to read the translated article, he would have realized that it is long, and that babelfish STOPS TRANSLATING it less than a third of a way through the article.
use freetranslation.com or one of the many other available translators instead.
yeesh.
Windows DNI
You open the box labeled "Windows DNI: Direct Neural Interface", carefully extracting the pouch labeled "License Agreement". You examine the contents of the pouch, finding an inflatable cap bearing the Windows logo rather than the familiar 3.5" diskette package. You inflate the cap, insert two "C"-size batteries (not included), and carefully place it on your head. You press the Start button.
Immediately, the image of an hourglass comes to your mind. You find yourself trapped; unable to move anything in your body save your eyes. After an indeterminable delay, you regain control of your senses. You are suddenly compelled to speak your name and business affiliation. You then retrieve your Windows DNI package and chant the Product-ID number.
Suddenly you see the words "Windows is detecting new hardware" flash before your eyes. You crash to the floor, writhing in agony. You feel every muscle in your body contract and retract in turn. Your mind is filled with the image of a blue inchworm, creeping slowly across a grey field. The creature finally reaches the edge of its domain, and your seizure ceases. You take a moment to regain your composure, and you are reminded of your high school anatomy course as a complete listing of every organ in your body appears before your eyes. You browse the list for a moment, and utter the phrase "OK". After a short delay, you hear the sound of a trumpet echo through the recesses of your mind.
You find yourself in a large, barren space. You look around, and discover images labeled "My Brain", "Recycle Bin, and "Set up the Microsoft Network". You feel compelled to utter the word "Start", after which a list of options floods your mind. Weary from the detection phase, you utter the word "Shut down". You close your eyes, and blackness surrounds you. You feel yourself start to drift into sleep. Your peace is interrupted, however, as a bright orange light invades your nothingness. "It's now safe to shut down your mind".
You drift into unconsciousness, and sleep for several hours. When you awaken, you are frozen in place as you see clouds and blue cycling colors. After a short eternity, the familiar "My Brain" icon reappears in your mind. But something is terribly wrong; you can feel it in your gut. Just outside the range of primary vision, you can sense something lurking about you on all four sides.
You slowly look up, and see the word "Safe Mode" glaring back at you. You back away slowly, swivel your head, and there it is, behind you as well. Your heartbeat quickened and you are terrified as you turn to your left and your right and it meets you there as well, its cold, heartless glare filling your soul with despair.
Quickly, you summon Control Panel, System, Device Manager. You feel yourself frantically gasping for air as you run through the list of installed devices. You come upon "Respiratory System" and are horrified to see a black exclamation point on a yellow field next to the entry "Lungs". You close your eyes and utter the word "Properties". On the closed curtains of your eyelids, you see your life flashing before your eyes.
You force yourself to concentrate on your situation, attempting to discover which system devices are in conflict, when suddenly your entire body seizes up in pain. You lose all sense of reality. You are floating through the clouds as you hear a voice echo through your mind: "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be terminated." You start to black out and suddenly you remember your situation. You stare in horror at your blue extremities, knowing that, without oxygen, you will not last much longer. With all the consciousness you can muster, you force yourself... To reboot.
You awaken in a place that is dark, but familiar. A solitary white prompt on a black field greets you. You look behind you and see the wreckage of the operating system that nearly spelled your demise. "Cannot find a file that may be needed to run Windows". You turn around to face the prompt, and a wide grin comes across your face. You take a deep breath and revel in the life-giving atmosphere. You laugh as you utter the words, "DELTREE WINDOWS".
Suddenly you find yourself on the floor of your home. You find the charred remains of the Windows DNI beanie littering the floor. You carefully gather them up, stack them neatly on an altar, and burn them, promising yourself never to risk your life with Microsoft again. You bury the ashes, knowing that your life is again in order.
I have no idea who originally wrote this, it was emailed to me a few years ago...
Try this little awkscript:
/var/log/http/access_log | grep "default.ida" | awk '/XXXXX/{ cr[$1]=$4"\tCodeRedII"} /NNNNN/ { cr[$1]=$4"\tCodeRed_Original" } END { for (x in cr) print x"\t"cr[x] }' > codered_analysis
cat
This creates a file, codered analysis, which contains each unique attacking host only once, with the most recent attack time. This way, you can look at the attacking machines without duplications, and can also `wc' the file to see how many unique ones have hit you.
Plus, it detects the difference between CR1 and CR2 too!