Or maybe someone'd come out with an open-source CPU--by the time that they'd be able to implement such a thing, those desktop fabrication plants would probably be capable of wrangling silicon.
Or we could buy from a Korean manufacturer or something. Imagine, an underground CPU market...that'd be something to write dystopian sci-fi about.
I think it's apparent that it's only their complete ignorance of how technology works--evidenced by these ridiculous statements--that lets them have any hope that their organization can possibly continue to be relevant in the face of the increasing numbers of technological workarounds for every countermeasure that they come up with.
One might get the impression that were they to receive adequate education in The Way Things Work, they might possibly lose all morale altogether...not necessarily a bad thing, methinks.
Perhaps we should sign them up for a correspondence course in basic computer science?
And also to recognize that no system is perfect--there will always be the cantankerous guy who is inexplicably "invaluable" to the company who thinks that "fereng1" is an uncrackable password, for instance--and to take steps more along the lines of risk mitigation than risk removal.
I can hardly wait for this to be adopted! Though it seems that it needs some new drivers or something; 1/300 or so FPS isn't going to be nearly good enough to play TF2 on.
Nice idea, but I can see a couple problems with it--namely that they could then be considered to be 'aiding and abetting' as it were (and thus potentially held liable) and also the number of tech support calls such a project would generate might be inconveniencing to the way they run their business.
Seems as though if the ruckus about 'cyberwar' and all the espionage supposedly being carried out online is correct, then all these home users whose security is apparently less effective than their corporation's security (though how effective this corporate security is, opposed to its perception, is a matter of question) would be ripe for use as local proxies, hosts for various malware, or local monitoring of 'net traffic for an enterprising spy.
Next program by DHS: Be patriotic, install our red white and blue firewall (and incidental datamining connection monitor)?
All orbits are regular--and one could always fake an accident with the thruster at the end "pushing it into an unexpected orbit"
And not all the tumble would need to be removed--just set it into a tumble that would allow the cameras or other instruments on board to record properly, on an axis around the camera lens, say.
Hell, I'm surprised they haven't done something like that already.
Which is what would make a discarded upper stage ideal--because you would expect it to be in a lower orbit than the satellite that it pushed out. Blow off a couple side panels, stabilize the tumble into something useful, and you're in with flynn.
No real surprise that folks are spotting these things. It's a little hard to hide something orbiting the earth--it's not like one can really hide it behind a bush or under a rock....though it might be interesting to insert a spy satellite into an upper stage of a rocket that delivers an otherwise innocuous communications satellite, come to think of it...
You're asking people other than you to change their behavior based on your principles?
If you can figure out how to accomplish that reliably, then every government, armed service, advertising agency, and school wants to speak with you right now.
Not all people who contract AIDS are engaging (voluntarily, anyway) in high-risk behavior.
Also, treating STDs would provide opportunity for conversion of high-risk behaviors into lower-risk behaviors, e.g. you're in the office anyway, why not have a little talk about safe sex while you're there?
Hence, treating the other (usually more obvious) STDs would presumably impact the treatment of AIDS for a number of reasons--counselling, earlier detection, and possible reduction of the viral load to a less-dangerous level.
Though IIRC, there was a recent article about a couple of patents being overturned for some AIDS drug or another; this would make (presumably lower-cost) generics available.
My personal opinion is that these drugs (of all kinds) would likely be a lot less expensive if the companies that made them did not advertise all over the place--because, frankly, they're all only available with prescriptions anyway; why not trust the doctors to prescribe what's best for the patient, rather than what's in this month's issue of People?
It's worth noting that this finding is only valid if there are no other STIs present--so if you've got the clap -and- HIV, you'll still be more likely to transmit it.
Wasn't there an article a short while ago about how treating concurrent STIs also tended to decrease the rate of AIDs infection in an area? Perhaps this is related?
One can only hope that the treatments can be made available at a decent price, so that the folks who are most likely to pass it on--poor people who don't know how to use contraception and the like--will be able to be treated.
Unlikely, though, I dare say...those drug companies do love their income.
I'm fairly sure I saw that same design on a recent list of 'worst keyboards of history'--I'm getting carpal tunnel just thinking about typing on that abomination. Not to mention it's one of those flat things of the same type as your typical McDonald's cash register of late '90s vintage--and the chief difficulty of that kind of keyboard, besides the anti-ergonomic layout, was that frequently used keys would wear away, and the contact would become exposed--and shortly thereafter, break.
The designer should be either shot, or forced to use it.
This sort of searching will result in information from "opposing sides" of controversies or arguments being deprecated, resulting in skewed information being available--because people tend to associate themselves with other people of the same opinion.
E.G., all my friends are emacs people, so the first results will favor emacs, and any vi-related articles will be deprecated. Other nontrivial examples can be extrapolated.
This will merely serve to re-enforce any prejudice, bias, or slant that a person may have. Reading competing materials--seeing things that challenge one's own point of view--can only be healthy for one's point of view, rendering it much more cosmopolitan and much less insular than it would otherwise be.
In short: this new search engine will be wildly popular amongst the type of person who enjoys violent flamewars, and will be useless for any person who wishes to consider both sides of a situation before forming an opinion.......so it's going to be an enormous success and if I had the cash I'd invest in it.:-/
Slashdot Mirror
You say that like it's a bad thing...
;-P
We don't -want- your type on Painfully Masochistic oS, anyway!
Right down to the processor level, even. If they're going to try to lock me into their hardware and software, I want none of it.
Does anyone have a link to some resources on how one might build one's own processor? How much does it cost to do that sort of thing?
Oh, it's been updated? Nice. It was one of my favorite books as a kid.
Or maybe someone'd come out with an open-source CPU--by the time that they'd be able to implement such a thing, those desktop fabrication plants would probably be capable of wrangling silicon.
Or we could buy from a Korean manufacturer or something. Imagine, an underground CPU market...that'd be something to write dystopian sci-fi about.
I think it's apparent that it's only their complete ignorance of how technology works--evidenced by these ridiculous statements--that lets them have any hope that their organization can possibly continue to be relevant in the face of the increasing numbers of technological workarounds for every countermeasure that they come up with.
One might get the impression that were they to receive adequate education in The Way Things Work, they might possibly lose all morale altogether...not necessarily a bad thing, methinks.
Perhaps we should sign them up for a correspondence course in basic computer science?
Fortunately for my present place of employment, I'm speaking of someone at my previous place of employment. ;-P
And also to recognize that no system is perfect--there will always be the cantankerous guy who is inexplicably "invaluable" to the company who thinks that "fereng1" is an uncrackable password, for instance--and to take steps more along the lines of risk mitigation than risk removal.
I can hardly wait for this to be adopted! Though it seems that it needs some new drivers or something; 1/300 or so FPS isn't going to be nearly good enough to play TF2 on.
Nice idea, but I can see a couple problems with it--namely that they could then be considered to be 'aiding and abetting' as it were (and thus potentially held liable) and also the number of tech support calls such a project would generate might be inconveniencing to the way they run their business.
Nice thought, though.
Seems as though if the ruckus about 'cyberwar' and all the espionage supposedly being carried out online is correct, then all these home users whose security is apparently less effective than their corporation's security (though how effective this corporate security is, opposed to its perception, is a matter of question) would be ripe for use as local proxies, hosts for various malware, or local monitoring of 'net traffic for an enterprising spy.
Next program by DHS: Be patriotic, install our red white and blue firewall (and incidental datamining connection monitor)?
How 'bout Spore?
All orbits are regular--and one could always fake an accident with the thruster at the end "pushing it into an unexpected orbit"
And not all the tumble would need to be removed--just set it into a tumble that would allow the cameras or other instruments on board to record properly, on an axis around the camera lens, say.
Hell, I'm surprised they haven't done something like that already.
Which is what would make a discarded upper stage ideal--because you would expect it to be in a lower orbit than the satellite that it pushed out. Blow off a couple side panels, stabilize the tumble into something useful, and you're in with flynn.
No real surprise that folks are spotting these things. It's a little hard to hide something orbiting the earth--it's not like one can really hide it behind a bush or under a rock. ...though it might be interesting to insert a spy satellite into an upper stage of a rocket that delivers an otherwise innocuous communications satellite, come to think of it...
You're asking people other than you to change their behavior based on your principles?
If you can figure out how to accomplish that reliably, then every government, armed service, advertising agency, and school wants to speak with you right now.
Not all people who contract AIDS are engaging (voluntarily, anyway) in high-risk behavior.
Also, treating STDs would provide opportunity for conversion of high-risk behaviors into lower-risk behaviors, e.g. you're in the office anyway, why not have a little talk about safe sex while you're there?
Hence, treating the other (usually more obvious) STDs would presumably impact the treatment of AIDS for a number of reasons--counselling, earlier detection, and possible reduction of the viral load to a less-dangerous level.
Thus my comment about the drug companies.
Though IIRC, there was a recent article about a couple of patents being overturned for some AIDS drug or another; this would make (presumably lower-cost) generics available.
My personal opinion is that these drugs (of all kinds) would likely be a lot less expensive if the companies that made them did not advertise all over the place--because, frankly, they're all only available with prescriptions anyway; why not trust the doctors to prescribe what's best for the patient, rather than what's in this month's issue of People?
It's worth noting that this finding is only valid if there are no other STIs present--so if you've got the clap -and- HIV, you'll still be more likely to transmit it.
Wasn't there an article a short while ago about how treating concurrent STIs also tended to decrease the rate of AIDs infection in an area? Perhaps this is related?
One can only hope that the treatments can be made available at a decent price, so that the folks who are most likely to pass it on--poor people who don't know how to use contraception and the like--will be able to be treated.
Unlikely, though, I dare say...those drug companies do love their income.
Not to mention that it's going to put an increased strain on each button--and so it's likely to break a lot faster.
Wait, hold on...you're supposed to use this thing SMS style, with your thumbs?
Now I know the designer's braindamaged. Nintendo thumb is bad enough; this guy apparently wants to turn us into thumbless lolcats or something.
I'm fairly sure I saw that same design on a recent list of 'worst keyboards of history'--I'm getting carpal tunnel just thinking about typing on that abomination. Not to mention it's one of those flat things of the same type as your typical McDonald's cash register of late '90s vintage--and the chief difficulty of that kind of keyboard, besides the anti-ergonomic layout, was that frequently used keys would wear away, and the contact would become exposed--and shortly thereafter, break.
The designer should be either shot, or forced to use it.
I could use a few of those, and the associated programmer...I can think of a lot of things I could use 'em for.
Which is even worse, really, but results in an even bigger audience.
This sort of searching will result in information from "opposing sides" of controversies or arguments being deprecated, resulting in skewed information being available--because people tend to associate themselves with other people of the same opinion.
......so it's going to be an enormous success and if I had the cash I'd invest in it. :-/
E.G., all my friends are emacs people, so the first results will favor emacs, and any vi-related articles will be deprecated. Other nontrivial examples can be extrapolated.
This will merely serve to re-enforce any prejudice, bias, or slant that a person may have. Reading competing materials--seeing things that challenge one's own point of view--can only be healthy for one's point of view, rendering it much more cosmopolitan and much less insular than it would otherwise be.
In short: this new search engine will be wildly popular amongst the type of person who enjoys violent flamewars, and will be useless for any person who wishes to consider both sides of a situation before forming an opinion.