And once again, SUCH intellectual elitism sickens me..."Joe Sixpack". I'm glad you're so much better than everyone else "Slashdot Geek Nerd Dork". I don't like giving labels like that to people, simply because I feel that somehow I'm better than they are.
Wow, guess what? I consider myself a "Joe Sixpack" who happens to know how to code Perl. Funny, eh? Before you snap out with clever knee-jerk reactions, you might want to consider alternate meanings.
The term "Joe Sixpack" is generally used to denote the average consumer or products/services/information. Now, I *do* know that I am, to a degree, a bit better informed compared to the average citizen about a range of issues. Does this make me a "better person"? Fundamentally, no. It does, in many respects, make me a smarter consumer. Knowledge is available to anyone who wants to learn. A lot of people make a conscious choice to stay in the dark, and that I can't help.
Dmitri IMO was DEFINITELY not a "scientist" he made a commercial program specifically designed to circumvent copyprotection laws. In other words, he was making money off of selling pirated goods, indirectly.
Geez, you're off the deep end with that one. How do you define "scientist"? I think it's pretty clear that the term "computer scientist" could VERY WELL be applied to Dmitry, given the fact that his focus was largely on core research and not just coding. You're a bit misinformed concerning the issue of "piracy promotion" as well; please tell me how people with sight disabilities are supposed to access an Adobe E-book? Is that silence I hear?
The whole point of the "copy protection circumvenstion" was to allow for FAIR USE OF DIGITAL MATERIAL. Thank you.
Let me see if I understand you correctly... you are in favor of allowig the government to eavesdrop on your private communications *without* a warrant or true just cause? In case you weren't aware, given the recent expansion of police powers in the U.S., "just cause" now has a very loose definition.
Slashdot is like any other information source... you can take or leave whatever you like. The mass media conglomerates in America are QUITE different; community feedback and participation are only performed under the guise of cheap "we care about our viewers/listeners" stunts. Everything is pre-digested so Joe Sixpack can suck it into his brain with minimal effort. To illustrate: Slashdot is full of posts deriling the editors for being wrong, overly biased, etc. When was the last time you saw a CNN anchor reading viewer letters about how much he/she sucks on the air? Slashdot isn't designed to limit expression in the same way (well, unless you consider the moderation system evil, as some do).
Don't worry, your desired examples of citizens being locked up for releasing research will be forthcoming shortly, if my guess is correct. Sadly, we've already jailed Dmitry, who IMO definitely counts as "a scientist presenting his research". From what I can gather, lots of foreign groups and even entire nations aren't very happy with us for that. Of course, since we're the U.S., we can just barge onto the world scene and do whatever we like, right? Sure thing, no problem. That won't last forever, rest assured.
Wow, that does make one think. You're absolutely right... our nation has a bad habit of frowning down upon other governments (throughout history) and their people as being stupid, evil, or confused. It would seem the coin truly does have two sides.
Moderators, mod parent up! In the words of the/. FAQ, the parent post is "a true gem", IMHO.
Your post is slightly off topic, but what the hell. Here we go.
Sorry to say it, but you'd have to have an awful lot of resources to break even a 128-bit encrypted message. As in, more resources than most corporations are prepared to devote to such a task, and more resources than the gov would dedicate without a fairly damned good reason (well, at least a "good reason" in *their* view).
Second, you'd have to have INSANE computing resources to break a 1024-bit or 4096-bit PKI encrypted message. As in, more resources than are practical to assemble in reality these days. Your argument just doesn't hold water. Yes, people who *claim* to use cryptography (when in fact their systems are fundamentally broken/flawed) are setting themselves up for a nasty fall, but folks who use encryption properly are far more immune.
Until, of course, the government decides to arrest folks for using crypto to begin with:(.
One more note: it's sad how this nation (the U.S.) finds locking up scientists for publishing their research acceptable.
If seems awfully close to the practices of the old U.S.S.R. People can call me an extremist all they want for having this view, but many of the Iron Curtain policies don't seem so alien anymore. We lock up scientists, have mass media monopolies that manipulate the masses, and recently massively expanded "police powers" in government. Seems pretty nasty to me. For all those who think the recent intrusions upon civil liberties are "only temporary during our nation's hour of crisis", history shows us differently.
BTW, if you're gonna reply, please be polite. If you're gonna email, use my public key. Thanks.
Funny, yes, but rings sadly true. My guess is that it won't be long before the boys in black pay these fellows a visit for a friendly chat. I can't say how much the fact that this scenario is likely disgusts me.
I read the cryptanalys, and although I don't pretend to competely understand the concepts contained therein, it was nonetheless very interesting, and IMHO valuable, information (bad grammar there?).
Here's a question that comes to mind related to all the legal ramifications of this disclosure. I hate to say it, but I somehow got the impression during the start of the whole Dmitry thing that it was easier for the Feds to go after him because he is Russian. In the case of these guys, however, they don't have that added bit of leverage in the public eye. These individuals are all highly respected members of the cryptography community, and have strong ties to universities here in the States.
I get the feeling that legal action taken toward any of them would generate a FAR greater public outcry than we've seen with Dmitry. I'm not saying this is right or fair AT ALL, but at least it might buy some leverage in favor of true justice. Then again, under true justice people wouldn't be prosecuted for such "crimes" to begin with:(.
I can't decide how to feel. On the one hand, I have an insane degree of respect for them for publishing their research, and on the other I still have many fears for their freedom.
Well put indeed. At one of my old developer jobs, the company was a 100% Microsoft shop. NT servers, IIS on the web side, ASP for scripting, MS-SQL Server for database stuff. Needless to say, I tried time and time again to introduce *anything* related to *NIX and/or open source software, without any luck.
I tried bringing in PHP and Perl for scripting. I even set up a test server running NT 4.0 and ActiveState Perl, complete with a demo app that could be used for the customer's needs. Did they buy it? Nope. The customer was "sold" on Microsoft, and was convinced that anything else was second-rate.
Interestingly enough, from talking with a couple of friends still working there, they actually have a PHP coder on staff full-time now, and are running a number of Linux servers for various purposes. While it's frustrating that they couldn't "see the light" while I was there, it's also good to see them expanding their reach. Their primary focus is still on NT solutions, but I can't entirely knock that, since they *do* keep up with security patches and such far better than most "home grown" admins I know.
It all comes down to money. I run a web hosting company based on Linux. We don't do NT, period. Our customers are people who want Linux web hosting, plain and simple. There are hosts out there (lots actually) that only do NT. To each his own. All you can do is try to do the morally correct (in your own view, highly subjective) thing while still earning a living.
Hmm... actually, if the network itself had insane levels of physical (totally isolated) and human (good resistance to dumb-ass social engineering exploits) security, you could really run anything you want on it and be fine.
Of course, that said, there's no way in hell I'd want to admin a Windows network (err... again... I used to do that sort of thing a while back).;)
"whats with people thinking they can advertise in their sigs?"
Gee, I dunno... I enjoy/., and the demographic is just about right.
"$4/mth with only 10MB space? Why not go for a free site? A proper site would have to go to their $12.95 to even get a unique IP, even then the data transfer limit is only 4GB. Definitely not enough."
We're neither the cheapest nor the most expensive host out there. If you don't like the prices, don't buy.
For God's sake MODERATORS PLEASE MOD PARENT UP!:D. This has got to be the funniest shit I've ever seen. Here's my favorite excerpts from the ponolized version:
"10% Gangbangs "Pimp Mastah" To
Support "Butplug" Your
Christian "Son of a whore" Coalition."
"Simply complete the unclefucking form below and sign up for totally clean FreedomISP service."
"ACTIONALERTS directly from Christian "Ass-stitcher" Coalition's sucking team on CapitolHill"
That last one echoes sentiments I've had for a long, long time now...
"I'm all for fixing as many problems as possible but just waiting for large scale chemical attack while doing it is not a very good thing to do."
Shameless prediction on my part: This will in no way whatsoever reduce the chance of a large-scale chemical attack. It will however, get Joe Sixpack more accustomed to the idea of large-scale government censorship. Which will probably turn out to be more useful for the government than we can possibly imagine.
"Some problems can't even be fixed. There are a number of terrorists out there that wants to destroy everyone that doesn't have the same religion for no particular reason at all. How do you fix that? You can't."
I agree completely that there will always be insanity in this world. However, this isn't the way to reduce it or diminish its effect. This *is* a fine example of our citizens paying their government to strip freedoms away using our own tax dollars.
I think the best we can do is work on the social problems that cause such unrest. If madmen still feel intent on pursuing recourse via terrorist acts, the best we can do is deal with those individuals and groups.
It's agreed that the world is not black and white. We will always have a hard time balancing the freedoms of the people with national security. This issue is rather clear, however.
Your mention of "Utopia" as it were reminds me of another good work in this vein: Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". VERY good reading for people disturbed by trends like this.
OT, but IMHO the "sequel", "Brave New World Revisited" is crap, though. Huxley mostly wrote it under the influence of various narcotics, and damn if it doesn't show (sentences that go on for half a page).
Just my thoughts, nothing more. Thank you for your reply.
Indeed, if things keep going in the direction they're headed, we'll be very close before long.
"Yes, but if it's going to take lots of time and resources to find out they can be discovered."
Sounds like you're advocating security through obscurity, something which (1) doesn't work in the world of software, and (2) doesn't work in the world at large. How about fixing the problems in our world that lead to such devastating consequences in the first place, instead of taking extreme measures after the fact?
The medical community has started to truly focus on preventive medicine only in the last couple of decades. Perhaps governent should take a cue. And no, enforcing the removal of this information is NOT preventive medicine. I mean that in the sense of looking into the underlying social problems that cause violent eruptions in the first place. Our nation hasn't been particularly good at that througout most of our (brief) history.
Wow, Orwell couldn't have said it better. The implications here are quite frightening. Our (U.S.) government has taken the current situation as a green light to go on the offensive against a whole host of civil liberties and freedoms, and this is just "another brick in the wall" (gratuitous Floyd reference).
You know, growing up, I told myself I'd never need to own a firearm. I'm sad to say my view on that has changed recently. The most disturbing thing is the possibility that before long, we'll have a hard time deciding who's doing us the most damage: (1) evil people who terrorize our nation and others, or (2) governments that poison the minds of our children.
If the damned terrorists want to know all about our nation's infrastructure, the information is readily available in A LOT OF PLACES, not all under government control. The ways of getting at such data are simply innumerable.
This is wrong, and yes, I'm going to mention 1984 here. How much closer do we have to get? The government is, in effect if not by intent, enforcing the concept of revisionist history. I don't pretend to understand how to deal with our current problems (here in the U.S.), but this isn't the way.
Maybe it's time to really step up efforts to archive data in places out of the reach of such efforts. Data warehousing might be what saves us in the future from this sort of insanity. Yes, it would have to have significant funding to work, but that funding could come from anywhere, anonymously if necessary. I for one would contribute.
Of course, even given that, the government would no doubt make accessible such digital troves illegal at some point, potentially classifying the very action of such access as "terrorist in nature".
Nobody is going to tell me I can't access public domain information and knowledge. No matter what, people will find a way. Sorry about the rambling here, this just pisses me off.
Very good point. Does anyone have reference material indicating Adams' actual wishes or concerns on this topic?
Perhaps today's influential authors might want to make their wishes on this topic publicly known. After all, we're all mortal, but our work can (and sometimes does) live on for a long time.
It's kinda like organ donation; I'm an organ donor, but in order to take my parts that has to be verified. I can't help but support the notion that Adams' wishes may in fact be acted against through this.
First off, from a technical standpoint, I actually feel the same way (it will never be enough). Until game environments (or just plain sims) are realistic enough that I can't tell I'm in a fantasy world, I won't be satisfied with the technical side of things.
That said, I don't think the majority of the folks out there feel that way. There's a lot to be said for the strategy aspect of games, which has been sorely lacking for some time now (IMHO, for most games). Most gamers truly care about the true quality of the games they buy, and look at "gorgeous graphics" as a secondary condition.
I could, of course, have this completely backwards. Maybe most gamers today really just care about purty graphics. If that is the case, the hardware companies don't have much to worry about, but that's also really sad. I actually still have more fun playing a few old text mode RPGs than most of today's FPS clones. Maybe I'm just odd in that, but most of my friends feel the same way. I can't claim to have any sort of truly objective view on this matter, mostly because I don't know the thousands of gamers it would take to form such a view.
--------------
the_code_poet asks: "I'm a lead developer for a software development company, and one of my responsibilities has been writing an installer for our product (of which Linux is one of the titty fucking enters). In keeping with UNIX tradition, the cuntlapping installer is written in shell (thrusts/bin/sh), but as many of you know there is no Bourne shell for Linux - only bash. This has caused inconsistencies (mostly barfs in bash) when writing a generic UNIX sh script that works fine on commerical *NIX's." For a semi-complete list of gamahuches between bash and sh, you will want to check out section C1 of the fingerfucking Bourne "Cock Sucker" Again Shell FAQ. To be honest, I have yet to run into much trouble with a muff sniffing script cuntlapping with #!/bin/sh with/bin/bash, and I've been using the latter for fingerfucks. If any of you have had problems ballbusted to this, please tell us what the cocksucking problem was and how you solved it. Also: would anyone out there be interested in writing a real Bourne "Plugin" Shell for Linux?
--------------
That is freaking beautiful:). This has got to be one of the funniest "tools" I've seen in a LONG time, and executed supremely well. My hat is off to those guys/gals that did this...
Now, how long until the trolls start posting nasty versions of stuff in jest?
"GameCube and Xbox newly on offer, and the still-amazing PlayStation2 still hanging on, and dirt-cheap, high-power PCs on every corner, it looks like the predicted deaths of both console and PC are still some ways off."
Actually, in my mind at least, that's actually an indication of the problem(s) to come for hardware companies. The fact that high-powered systems are everywhere you look means the market will become saturated with "more of the same" at some point.
Already, PC hardware manufacturers are facing vanishingly small profit margins (except for Apple, which always makes it a point to sell their stuff at a price that actually makes some money). Yeah, I know all the stuff about various tech leaders making sweeping statements about "never needing more than 640K of memory" and such, but we really are headed for a "meaningful speed" cap on this.
The gaming market will probably be the last of the hardware sectors to really feel the crunch in this respect, because new games always drive hardware to the limits (unlike business apps, which run fine on my old P2-266). One could say that companies like Microsoft drive hardware with new (arguably bloated) OSes that require bigger & badder computers to run well, but even that has to stop at some point.
Basically, there will be a point soon where even gaming consoles will all be "fast enough", which will mean bad news for hardware manufacturers until the "Next Big Thing" emerges to max out even cutting-edge stuff. Will it be "true virtual reality"? Who knows? I for one will be interested to see...
"The site appears intact for now, but read on to learn about the interesting software the complaint has spawned -- perhaps this isn't what the WTO had in mind."
The WTO has nothing to fear... the/. effect will take care of that in short order.;)
This might not be all bad... take an example scenario for instance:
1. VA Linux, err... Systems... err, whatever they are nowaways sells all customer information on every/. user in existence to the OnStar folks.
2. Geeks everywhere are suddenly constantly notified (in that pleasant feminine voice) of valuable chances to spend their money:
"There is a strip club off to your left. Those women like geeks."
"Adult video store just around the corner!"
"That iMac girl is real, and she's giving out table dances at the Fun Club downtown at eight o'clock!"
"Your boss just installed Windows XP across the company network. Your BSD server is gone. Wouldn't you like to purchase a firearm at Ed's Discount Sawn-offs tonight?"
I think it's time we revisit the key details surrounding this story:
It runs Linux, but only syncs with Windows.
Their site is made with FrontPage, version 4.0 no less. Ewww.
That dude taking up half his waist with yon 15-app-cap device just isn't cool.
It would seem this is actually a convoluted plot to reduce consumer faith in the Linux family of operating systems in favor of Borg alternatives. The viscious Microsoft PR machine has struck again!:)
I mean, I know it runs Linux, and it looks nice and all, but how much digital crud do we really want to strap on our bodies anyhow? A certain borg analogy comes to mind...
Slashdot Mirror
And once again, SUCH intellectual elitism sickens me..."Joe Sixpack". I'm glad you're so much better than everyone else "Slashdot Geek Nerd Dork". I don't like giving labels like that to people, simply because I feel that somehow I'm better than they are.
Wow, guess what? I consider myself a "Joe Sixpack" who happens to know how to code Perl. Funny, eh? Before you snap out with clever knee-jerk reactions, you might want to consider alternate meanings.
The term "Joe Sixpack" is generally used to denote the average consumer or products/services/information. Now, I *do* know that I am, to a degree, a bit better informed compared to the average citizen about a range of issues. Does this make me a "better person"? Fundamentally, no. It does, in many respects, make me a smarter consumer. Knowledge is available to anyone who wants to learn. A lot of people make a conscious choice to stay in the dark, and that I can't help.
Dmitri IMO was DEFINITELY not a "scientist" he made a commercial program specifically designed to circumvent copyprotection laws. In other words, he was making money off of selling pirated goods, indirectly.
Geez, you're off the deep end with that one. How do you define "scientist"? I think it's pretty clear that the term "computer scientist" could VERY WELL be applied to Dmitry, given the fact that his focus was largely on core research and not just coding. You're a bit misinformed concerning the issue of "piracy promotion" as well; please tell me how people with sight disabilities are supposed to access an Adobe E-book? Is that silence I hear?
The whole point of the "copy protection circumvenstion" was to allow for FAIR USE OF DIGITAL MATERIAL. Thank you.
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
Let me see if I understand you correctly... you are in favor of allowig the government to eavesdrop on your private communications *without* a warrant or true just cause? In case you weren't aware, given the recent expansion of police powers in the U.S., "just cause" now has a very loose definition.
Slashdot is like any other information source... you can take or leave whatever you like. The mass media conglomerates in America are QUITE different; community feedback and participation are only performed under the guise of cheap "we care about our viewers/listeners" stunts. Everything is pre-digested so Joe Sixpack can suck it into his brain with minimal effort. To illustrate: Slashdot is full of posts deriling the editors for being wrong, overly biased, etc. When was the last time you saw a CNN anchor reading viewer letters about how much he/she sucks on the air? Slashdot isn't designed to limit expression in the same way (well, unless you consider the moderation system evil, as some do).
Don't worry, your desired examples of citizens being locked up for releasing research will be forthcoming shortly, if my guess is correct. Sadly, we've already jailed Dmitry, who IMO definitely counts as "a scientist presenting his research". From what I can gather, lots of foreign groups and even entire nations aren't very happy with us for that. Of course, since we're the U.S., we can just barge onto the world scene and do whatever we like, right? Sure thing, no problem. That won't last forever, rest assured.
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
Wow, that does make one think. You're absolutely right... our nation has a bad habit of frowning down upon other governments (throughout history) and their people as being stupid, evil, or confused. It would seem the coin truly does have two sides.
Moderators, mod parent up! In the words of the
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
Your post is slightly off topic, but what the hell. Here we go.
Sorry to say it, but you'd have to have an awful lot of resources to break even a 128-bit encrypted message. As in, more resources than most corporations are prepared to devote to such a task, and more resources than the gov would dedicate without a fairly damned good reason (well, at least a "good reason" in *their* view).
Second, you'd have to have INSANE computing resources to break a 1024-bit or 4096-bit PKI encrypted message. As in, more resources than are practical to assemble in reality these days. Your argument just doesn't hold water. Yes, people who *claim* to use cryptography (when in fact their systems are fundamentally broken/flawed) are setting themselves up for a nasty fall, but folks who use encryption properly are far more immune.
Until, of course, the government decides to arrest folks for using crypto to begin with
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
One more note: it's sad how this nation (the U.S.) finds locking up scientists for publishing their research acceptable.
If seems awfully close to the practices of the old U.S.S.R. People can call me an extremist all they want for having this view, but many of the Iron Curtain policies don't seem so alien anymore. We lock up scientists, have mass media monopolies that manipulate the masses, and recently massively expanded "police powers" in government. Seems pretty nasty to me. For all those who think the recent intrusions upon civil liberties are "only temporary during our nation's hour of crisis", history shows us differently.
BTW, if you're gonna reply, please be polite. If you're gonna email, use my public key. Thanks.
Funny, yes, but rings sadly true. My guess is that it won't be long before the boys in black pay these fellows a visit for a friendly chat. I can't say how much the fact that this scenario is likely disgusts me.
I read the cryptanalys, and although I don't pretend to competely understand the concepts contained therein, it was nonetheless very interesting, and IMHO valuable, information (bad grammar there?).
Here's a question that comes to mind related to all the legal ramifications of this disclosure. I hate to say it, but I somehow got the impression during the start of the whole Dmitry thing that it was easier for the Feds to go after him because he is Russian. In the case of these guys, however, they don't have that added bit of leverage in the public eye. These individuals are all highly respected members of the cryptography community, and have strong ties to universities here in the States.
I get the feeling that legal action taken toward any of them would generate a FAR greater public outcry than we've seen with Dmitry. I'm not saying this is right or fair AT ALL, but at least it might buy some leverage in favor of true justice. Then again, under true justice people wouldn't be prosecuted for such "crimes" to begin with
I can't decide how to feel. On the one hand, I have an insane degree of respect for them for publishing their research, and on the other I still have many fears for their freedom.
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
Well put indeed. At one of my old developer jobs, the company was a 100% Microsoft shop. NT servers, IIS on the web side, ASP for scripting, MS-SQL Server for database stuff. Needless to say, I tried time and time again to introduce *anything* related to *NIX and/or open source software, without any luck.
I tried bringing in PHP and Perl for scripting. I even set up a test server running NT 4.0 and ActiveState Perl, complete with a demo app that could be used for the customer's needs. Did they buy it? Nope. The customer was "sold" on Microsoft, and was convinced that anything else was second-rate.
Interestingly enough, from talking with a couple of friends still working there, they actually have a PHP coder on staff full-time now, and are running a number of Linux servers for various purposes. While it's frustrating that they couldn't "see the light" while I was there, it's also good to see them expanding their reach. Their primary focus is still on NT solutions, but I can't entirely knock that, since they *do* keep up with security patches and such far better than most "home grown" admins I know.
It all comes down to money. I run a web hosting company based on Linux. We don't do NT, period. Our customers are people who want Linux web hosting, plain and simple. There are hosts out there (lots actually) that only do NT. To each his own. All you can do is try to do the morally correct (in your own view, highly subjective) thing while still earning a living.
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
Hmm... actually, if the network itself had insane levels of physical (totally isolated) and human (good resistance to dumb-ass social engineering exploits) security, you could really run anything you want on it and be fine.
Of course, that said, there's no way in hell I'd want to admin a Windows network (err... again... I used to do that sort of thing a while back).
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
"whats with people thinking they can advertise in their sigs?"
Gee, I dunno... I enjoy
"$4/mth with only 10MB space? Why not go for a free site? A proper site would have to go to their $12.95 to even get a unique IP, even then the data transfer limit is only 4GB. Definitely not enough."
We're neither the cheapest nor the most expensive host out there. If you don't like the prices, don't buy.
HAND.
For God's sake MODERATORS PLEASE MOD PARENT UP!
"10% Gangbangs "Pimp Mastah" To Support "Butplug" Your Christian "Son of a whore" Coalition."
"Simply complete the unclefucking form below and sign up for totally clean FreedomISP service."
"ACTIONALERTS directly from Christian "Ass-stitcher" Coalition's sucking team on CapitolHill"
That last one echoes sentiments I've had for a long, long time now...
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
"I'm all for fixing as many problems as possible but just waiting for large scale chemical attack while doing it is not a very good thing to do."
Shameless prediction on my part: This will in no way whatsoever reduce the chance of a large-scale chemical attack. It will however, get Joe Sixpack more accustomed to the idea of large-scale government censorship. Which will probably turn out to be more useful for the government than we can possibly imagine.
"Some problems can't even be fixed. There are a number of terrorists out there that wants to destroy everyone that doesn't have the same religion for no particular reason at all. How do you fix that? You can't."
I agree completely that there will always be insanity in this world. However, this isn't the way to reduce it or diminish its effect. This *is* a fine example of our citizens paying their government to strip freedoms away using our own tax dollars.
I think the best we can do is work on the social problems that cause such unrest. If madmen still feel intent on pursuing recourse via terrorist acts, the best we can do is deal with those individuals and groups.
It's agreed that the world is not black and white. We will always have a hard time balancing the freedoms of the people with national security. This issue is rather clear, however.
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
Your mention of "Utopia" as it were reminds me of another good work in this vein: Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". VERY good reading for people disturbed by trends like this.
OT, but IMHO the "sequel", "Brave New World Revisited" is crap, though. Huxley mostly wrote it under the influence of various narcotics, and damn if it doesn't show (sentences that go on for half a page).
Just my thoughts, nothing more. Thank you for your reply.
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Indeed, if things keep going in the direction they're headed, we'll be very close before long.
"Yes, but if it's going to take lots of time and resources to find out they can be discovered."
Sounds like you're advocating security through obscurity, something which (1) doesn't work in the world of software, and (2) doesn't work in the world at large. How about fixing the problems in our world that lead to such devastating consequences in the first place, instead of taking extreme measures after the fact?
The medical community has started to truly focus on preventive medicine only in the last couple of decades. Perhaps governent should take a cue. And no, enforcing the removal of this information is NOT preventive medicine. I mean that in the sense of looking into the underlying social problems that cause violent eruptions in the first place. Our nation hasn't been particularly good at that througout most of our (brief) history.
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
Wow, Orwell couldn't have said it better. The implications here are quite frightening. Our (U.S.) government has taken the current situation as a green light to go on the offensive against a whole host of civil liberties and freedoms, and this is just "another brick in the wall" (gratuitous Floyd reference).
You know, growing up, I told myself I'd never need to own a firearm. I'm sad to say my view on that has changed recently. The most disturbing thing is the possibility that before long, we'll have a hard time deciding who's doing us the most damage: (1) evil people who terrorize our nation and others, or (2) governments that poison the minds of our children.
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
If the damned terrorists want to know all about our nation's infrastructure, the information is readily available in A LOT OF PLACES, not all under government control. The ways of getting at such data are simply innumerable.
This is wrong, and yes, I'm going to mention 1984 here. How much closer do we have to get? The government is, in effect if not by intent, enforcing the concept of revisionist history. I don't pretend to understand how to deal with our current problems (here in the U.S.), but this isn't the way.
Maybe it's time to really step up efforts to archive data in places out of the reach of such efforts. Data warehousing might be what saves us in the future from this sort of insanity. Yes, it would have to have significant funding to work, but that funding could come from anywhere, anonymously if necessary. I for one would contribute.
Of course, even given that, the government would no doubt make accessible such digital troves illegal at some point, potentially classifying the very action of such access as "terrorist in nature".
Nobody is going to tell me I can't access public domain information and knowledge. No matter what, people will find a way. Sorry about the rambling here, this just pisses me off.
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
Very good point. Does anyone have reference material indicating Adams' actual wishes or concerns on this topic?
Perhaps today's influential authors might want to make their wishes on this topic publicly known. After all, we're all mortal, but our work can (and sometimes does) live on for a long time.
It's kinda like organ donation; I'm an organ donor, but in order to take my parts that has to be verified. I can't help but support the notion that Adams' wishes may in fact be acted against through this.
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Yes, this is my protest to the sig char limit
Ohmigosh, you've gotta see the Lab Report page: Here It Be.
Long live parody site generation engines!
First off, from a technical standpoint, I actually feel the same way (it will never be enough). Until game environments (or just plain sims) are realistic enough that I can't tell I'm in a fantasy world, I won't be satisfied with the technical side of things.
That said, I don't think the majority of the folks out there feel that way. There's a lot to be said for the strategy aspect of games, which has been sorely lacking for some time now (IMHO, for most games). Most gamers truly care about the true quality of the games they buy, and look at "gorgeous graphics" as a secondary condition.
I could, of course, have this completely backwards. Maybe most gamers today really just care about purty graphics. If that is the case, the hardware companies don't have much to worry about, but that's also really sad. I actually still have more fun playing a few old text mode RPGs than most of today's FPS clones. Maybe I'm just odd in that, but most of my friends feel the same way. I can't claim to have any sort of truly objective view on this matter, mostly because I don't know the thousands of gamers it would take to form such a view.
Thank you for the reply! It's got me thinking
From the Pornolized version of Slashdot:
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the_code_poet asks: "I'm a lead developer for a software development company, and one of my responsibilities has been writing an installer for our product (of which Linux is one of the titty fucking enters). In keeping with UNIX tradition, the cuntlapping installer is written in shell (thrusts
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That is freaking beautiful
Now, how long until the trolls start posting nasty versions of stuff in jest?
There's always the Pornolized Christian Coalition site for extra giggles.
"GameCube and Xbox newly on offer, and the still-amazing PlayStation2 still hanging on, and dirt-cheap, high-power PCs on every corner, it looks like the predicted deaths of both console and PC are still some ways off."
Actually, in my mind at least, that's actually an indication of the problem(s) to come for hardware companies. The fact that high-powered systems are everywhere you look means the market will become saturated with "more of the same" at some point.
Already, PC hardware manufacturers are facing vanishingly small profit margins (except for Apple, which always makes it a point to sell their stuff at a price that actually makes some money). Yeah, I know all the stuff about various tech leaders making sweeping statements about "never needing more than 640K of memory" and such, but we really are headed for a "meaningful speed" cap on this.
The gaming market will probably be the last of the hardware sectors to really feel the crunch in this respect, because new games always drive hardware to the limits (unlike business apps, which run fine on my old P2-266). One could say that companies like Microsoft drive hardware with new (arguably bloated) OSes that require bigger & badder computers to run well, but even that has to stop at some point.
Basically, there will be a point soon where even gaming consoles will all be "fast enough", which will mean bad news for hardware manufacturers until the "Next Big Thing" emerges to max out even cutting-edge stuff. Will it be "true virtual reality"? Who knows? I for one will be interested to see...
Wow
Back to my k-r4d perl h4x1ng...
"The site appears intact for now, but read on to learn about the interesting software the complaint has spawned -- perhaps this isn't what the WTO had in mind."
The WTO has nothing to fear... the
This might not be all bad... take an example scenario for instance:
1. VA Linux, err... Systems... err, whatever they are nowaways sells all customer information on every
2. Geeks everywhere are suddenly constantly notified (in that pleasant feminine voice) of valuable chances to spend their money:
- "There is a strip club off to your left. Those women like geeks."
- "Adult video store just around the corner!"
- "That iMac girl is real, and she's giving out table dances at the Fun Club downtown at eight o'clock!"
- "Your boss just installed Windows XP across the company network. Your BSD server is gone. Wouldn't you like to purchase a firearm at Ed's Discount Sawn-offs tonight?"
The possibilities are limitless.I think it's time we revisit the key details surrounding this story:
It would seem this is actually a convoluted plot to reduce consumer faith in the Linux family of operating systems in favor of Borg alternatives. The viscious Microsoft PR machine has struck again!
Even in my darkest days of true geekdom I was never this bad.
I mean, I know it runs Linux, and it looks nice and all, but how much digital crud do we really want to strap on our bodies anyhow? A certain borg analogy comes to mind...
NOTE: grep -r "humour" > your