Not conference calls! Anything but that! Isn't it bad enough that they're in jail? Now they're being subjected to conference calls. That is surely a violatin of an inmate's rights against cruel and unusual punishment.
I thought the same thing! I imagined this tough, tattoo-decorated guy on his smuggled cellphone, hunching down behind the cot so as not to be obvious...
[Boop-beep!]
"Hello, who just joined?"
"Uhh, this is Tommy 'The Blade', on the call..."
... but now there's only love in the dark?
sorry. It started running through my head upon reading your message. Now it's running through yours too! Nyaa-nyaa!
-pm
What entertainment value vs. educational value does a game solicited towards minors which promotes violence against authority figures have?
Who the fuck cares? What entertainment value vs educational value does the NFL have? How 'bout Pac-Man? Or Six-Flags theme parks? Your question implies that entertainment alone (e.g. without "educational value") is bad. To that I can simply be glad that you are clearly in no position of power.
Would the thoughts of the freedoms we enjoy come back and haunt us? Ever?
This is a much more interesting question, and I'm afraid it's lost amongst your other rambling. I'd say yes- our freedoms "come back and haunt us" all the time. Ala Ted Kaczynski. However, as a society we seem to have decided that the freedoms (and benefits thereof) are well worth it. I agree with society.
Would a society where its children drink two or three soda's a day, eat a hamburgers several times a week, watch various degrees of violence on TV, listen to on radio or music with phrases like "pimp my ho" and "nasty bitchs" and other choice "Ghetto is good"(TM) phrases, or entertains via internet or games with violence the only option, be destined for self destruction?
My opinion: No.
We are not the first generation nor the first society to glamorize violence. I don't think it means we'll self-destruct. Quite the opposite, actually- I think we have a better chance of being a healthy and well developed society as a result of it.
You teach your children to talk through example. You teach your children to dress, act, and interact through example. Why cant a teenager wait to drive, cause he wants what has been around his set as an example.
Ummm... wow. I mean, sure - you teach your kids a lot via example. But you missed me with the "wait to drive" thing. I think teenagers want to drive because its (1) fun and (2) an extremely empowering form of freedom.
Speaking from the segment of society I live in: If you are a productive, reasonably-law-abiding member of middle class society then odds are your kids will be too. Even if you talk dirty and play "gangsta rap" music all the time. Your children will end up being dirty-talking, gangsta-rap listening members of middle class. (Or possibly Young Republicans, if they are rebellious.)
Don't believe me? Look around. Stand at the checkout line of your favorite mall record store and take note of the clothes, mannerisms, and general appearance of the people who are buying the latest "Lil' John" album. For the most part they aren't hardened criminals, drug dealers, or gang members. They're 14 - 17 year old middle class kids.
The broader your geographical jurisdiction, the narrower your enforcement powers and vice-versa.
For instance:
A federal police officer (FBI, Customs, &etc) can only enforce federal laws, but they can do it anywhere in the USA. (E.g. they can chase you across state lines &etc.)
A state officer (State Troopers, &etc.) can enforce federal or state laws, but only within their own state. So they can pull you over for speeding or issue warrants, but they can't go into other states to get you. (For that, they just call the next jurisdiction over.:)
A city / municipal officer can enforce federal, state, or local city laws, but they have the narrowest geographical jurisdiction of power.
At least- that's how the system was designed. It isn't always applied that way these days. Many exceptions have been granted that make the whole thing a cluster that many LEOs don't even understand. {sigh}
This whole thing seems like a server admin arguing against doing system backups. Sure, they *might* not be necessary, what what sane person doesn't do them?
To put your analogy into perspective: Any sane person- if the backup procedure costs more than the gross yearly revenue of the company!
the premise of "promote competition in the marketplace to drive innovation in baseball product development" comes from the fact that no one will be able just to slap together a baseball game having your favorite player in it with some cool graphics and sell it for $50.
Right. No one except Take-Two Interactive will be able to do that.
now if a new baseball game wants to enter the market place they have to provide some game play that is fun and replayable.
Bullshit. A more accurate assertion would be:
Now if a new baseball game wants to enter the market place the development company has to be able to pay Take Two Interactive's exclusive publishing price.
So you have to have enough money to convince TT to publish you, or you have to develop a game and convince them that it will make a mint, and then sign the rights over. Either way, they make out.
This promotes innovation the same way that having to compete with Anheuser Busch's marketing machine in the beer industry promotes innovation- not at all.
It's just typical corporate marketing bullshit. What it does guarantee is that everything with MLB on it will be marketed by TT with a sh!tload of money. That hardly guarantees anything- except that we'll have to see commercials for it during every major televised sporting event.
Who's got the action item list? I need a chart of next-steps and an MS project timeline. Don't forget to matrix your resources and keep the indvidual contributers in the status loop.
Althouugh after I reminded a few of my co-workers to set their clocks back an hour last April 1st they got a bit indignant. Geez, where's their sense of humor?
... when a friend or relative wants me to do some "above and beyond" computer repair:
I require them to make a $25 donation to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. They can use the receipt in email as proof.
That way they don't feel like I'm just trying to make a buck off them, and I feel more inspired to actually do a decent job of solving their problem. Plus it help out a good cause.
Mind you- I don't consider some basic stuff as "above and beyond".. Eg: configuring outlook for someones IMAP server &etc. Cleaning off adware / viruses definitely warrants a donation- and a short lesson in "what not do to on the Internet."
Re:Netcraft confirmed?
on
The VHS is Dead
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Me neither. In fact, last spring I put a microwave oven sized box of old VHS tapes on the curb.
Of course, some neighborhood kid absconded with it before the trash people came... I shudder to think of the education he has received this year.
Interestingly, they sell clear versions of this paint for use on license plates. They apparently make your plate illegible to Traffic Camera's.
Yeah, I have a whole bottle of it right here- I'll sell it to you for only $49.95! Imagine all the money you'll save on speeding and red-light tickets. Plus now you can go through toll booths without paying!
"Honey, where's that clear nail polish you just bought? Someone wants to give me fifty bucks for it!"
I mean really... you think that stuff's for real? Whaddaya gonna do when it doesn't work?
"No your honor, I'm not saying that I was breaking the law. I'm saying that the stuff he sold me doesn't work."
maybe i should re-think my long-term investments, I could do 9 min-sec years for a few mil.
From Office Space:
You know, minimum security prison is no picnic. I had a client in there once. He said the trick is: kick someone's ass the first day, or become somebody's bitch. Then everything will be alright.
don't care if it only holds 16 megs, they're going to sell a ton to people just like me.
Yep. And hopefully all four of you will then spend your free time underwater listening to music instead of strutting around pretending to be better than those of us who choose other methods of recreation.
Sheesh. Freakin' energy-drink buyin' volkswagen drivers with iPods. There's an island for all of you somewhere.
I agree, but we have to conceded at some point that the culture in the US just doesn't get it.
For example- in the 1990's Nine Inch Nails came out with a song called "Closer". This song was released as a radio single.
The song's first stanza and chorus is:
You let me violate you
You let me desecrate you
You let me penetrate you
You let me complicate you
[...]
I want to fuck you like an animal
I want to feel you from the inside
[...]
Oddly, the radio stations and FCC figured that removing the word fuck from the above lyrics made them less offensive.
To me it's a completely neglegable change. And I'm a fucking Nince Inch Nails fan!
So in short- while I totally agree with your points, the world just doesn't get it. We have to blame something, and the words are a lot easier to target than the ideas! Think of the children, man!
Plus- If the opponents did acknowledge that it was the ideas they had a problem with instead of the words then we could accuse them of Orwellian-like behavior and do away with this issue once and for all under the 1st Ammendment! And that would just be way too tidy.
-PM
Lukas Grunwald's Blackhat pres. + Linux tools!
on
A Technical RFID Primer
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Lukas Grunwald did an excellent presentation at BlackHat USA 2004 about this very subject.
The most interesting thing that I learned was that most all RFID tags have a 128 byte "user data" buffer than can be read or written by ANY RFID gate. (Ie: you can put an RFID interface on your laptop and query the tags and change the "user data" portion on them.)
Obviously, this means that any application that is sensitive to tampering should only use the hard-coded serial numbers, not the "user data" area... but history has told us how well people stick to "common sense" security practices in their implementations.
Slashdot Mirror
Not conference calls! Anything but that! Isn't it bad enough that they're in jail? Now they're being subjected to conference calls. That is surely a violatin of an inmate's rights against cruel and unusual punishment.
I thought the same thing! I imagined this tough, tattoo-decorated guy on his smuggled cellphone, hunching down behind the cot so as not to be obvious...
[Boop-beep!]
"Hello, who just joined?"
"Uhh, this is Tommy 'The Blade', on the call..."
You expected someone who goes by the moniker "phreakmonkey" to throw away an old telephone?
That is a fantastic idea! Now to find another acoustic modem that will run in "Answer" mode. (This one will only do "Originate".)
"You have five points remaining on your license..."
... but now there's only love in the dark? sorry. It started running through my head upon reading your message. Now it's running through yours too! Nyaa-nyaa! -pm
Login: sp@home.com
P/w: sarahph
Hrmm... That may be all you can do.
Me? I intend to charge them for help.
I bet that I'll end up with more money and happier users than you!
There's a page with some stats and some great pictures of it here: http://www.supercars.net/cars/2004@$Audi@$RS6%20Av ant%20Plusx.html
You're going to take this answer from someone who enters their comments on a Commodore 64?
Who the fuck cares? What entertainment value vs educational value does the NFL have? How 'bout Pac-Man? Or Six-Flags theme parks? Your question implies that entertainment alone (e.g. without "educational value") is bad. To that I can simply be glad that you are clearly in no position of power.
This is a much more interesting question, and I'm afraid it's lost amongst your other rambling. I'd say yes- our freedoms "come back and haunt us" all the time. Ala Ted Kaczynski. However, as a society we seem to have decided that the freedoms (and benefits thereof) are well worth it. I agree with society.
My opinion: No.
We are not the first generation nor the first society to glamorize violence. I don't think it means we'll self-destruct. Quite the opposite, actually- I think we have a better chance of being a healthy and well developed society as a result of it.
Ummm... wow. I mean, sure - you teach your kids a lot via example. But you missed me with the "wait to drive" thing. I think teenagers want to drive because its (1) fun and (2) an extremely empowering form of freedom.
Speaking from the segment of society I live in: If you are a productive, reasonably-law-abiding member of middle class society then odds are your kids will be too. Even if you talk dirty and play "gangsta rap" music all the time. Your children will end up being dirty-talking, gangsta-rap listening members of middle class. (Or possibly Young Republicans, if they are rebellious.)
Don't believe me? Look around. Stand at the checkout line of your favorite mall record store and take note of the clothes, mannerisms, and general appearance of the people who are buying the latest "Lil' John" album. For the most part they aren't hardened criminals, drug dealers, or gang members. They're 14 - 17 year old middle class kids.
But that's just my observation.
The broader your geographical jurisdiction, the narrower your enforcement powers and vice-versa.
For instance:
A federal police officer (FBI, Customs, &etc) can only enforce federal laws, but they can do it anywhere in the USA. (E.g. they can chase you across state lines &etc.)
A state officer (State Troopers, &etc.) can enforce federal or state laws, but only within their own state. So they can pull you over for speeding or issue warrants, but they can't go into other states to get you. (For that, they just call the next jurisdiction over. :)
A city / municipal officer can enforce federal, state, or local city laws, but they have the narrowest geographical jurisdiction of power.
At least- that's how the system was designed. It isn't always applied that way these days. Many exceptions have been granted that make the whole thing a cluster that many LEOs don't even understand. {sigh}
-pm
Right. No one except Take-Two Interactive will be able to do that.
Bullshit. A more accurate assertion would be:
Now if a new baseball game wants to enter the market place the development company has to be able to pay Take Two Interactive's exclusive publishing price.
So you have to have enough money to convince TT to publish you, or you have to develop a game and convince them that it will make a mint, and then sign the rights over. Either way, they make out.
This promotes innovation the same way that having to compete with Anheuser Busch's marketing machine in the beer industry promotes innovation- not at all.
It's just typical corporate marketing bullshit. What it does guarantee is that everything with MLB on it will be marketed by TT with a sh!tload of money. That hardly guarantees anything- except that we'll have to see commercials for it during every major televised sporting event.
{sigh}
Who's got the action item list? I need a chart of next-steps and an MS project timeline. Don't forget to matrix your resources and keep the indvidual contributers in the status loop.
Whoa... for some reason that disturbs me. Like I've been spending all this time in some kind of psychological observation honeypot or something.
Y'all are real, right? Tell me your are!!!
{pokes screen with finger}
Helloooo????
Althouugh after I reminded a few of my co-workers to set their clocks back an hour last April 1st they got a bit indignant. Geez, where's their sense of humor?
Wha?? And deny the kharma whores the opportunity to race to repost the (+5, Insightful) comments from 6 months ago? Where's the sport in that?!?!
-pm
I require them to make a $25 donation to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. They can use the receipt in email as proof.
That way they don't feel like I'm just trying to make a buck off them, and I feel more inspired to actually do a decent job of solving their problem. Plus it help out a good cause.
Mind you- I don't consider some basic stuff as "above and beyond".. Eg: configuring outlook for someones IMAP server &etc. Cleaning off adware / viruses definitely warrants a donation- and a short lesson in "what not do to on the Internet."
Of course, some neighborhood kid absconded with it before the trash people came... I shudder to think of the education he has received this year.
"Honey, where's that clear nail polish you just bought? Someone wants to give me fifty bucks for it!"
I mean really... you think that stuff's for real? Whaddaya gonna do when it doesn't work?
"No your honor, I'm not saying that I was breaking the law. I'm saying that the stuff he sold me doesn't work."
heh. yeah.
From Office Space:
You know, minimum security prison is no picnic. I had a client in there once. He said the trick is: kick someone's ass the first day, or become somebody's bitch. Then everything will be alright.
Or worse, you could get sentanced to one of those "Federal Pound-me-in-the-ass Prisons."
(but it was considered a joke... don't take it too personally.) 8-)
Yep. And hopefully all four of you will then spend your free time underwater listening to music instead of strutting around pretending to be better than those of us who choose other methods of recreation.
Sheesh. Freakin' energy-drink buyin' volkswagen drivers with iPods. There's an island for all of you somewhere.
For example- in the 1990's Nine Inch Nails came out with a song called "Closer". This song was released as a radio single.
The song's first stanza and chorus is:
Oddly, the radio stations and FCC figured that removing the word fuck from the above lyrics made them less offensive.
To me it's a completely neglegable change. And I'm a fucking Nince Inch Nails fan!
So in short- while I totally agree with your points, the world just doesn't get it. We have to blame something, and the words are a lot easier to target than the ideas! Think of the children, man!
Plus- If the opponents did acknowledge that it was the ideas they had a problem with instead of the words then we could accuse them of Orwellian-like behavior and do away with this issue once and for all under the 1st Ammendment! And that would just be way too tidy.
-PM
The most interesting thing that I learned was that most all RFID tags have a 128 byte "user data" buffer than can be read or written by ANY RFID gate. (Ie: you can put an RFID interface on your laptop and query the tags and change the "user data" portion on them.)
Obviously, this means that any application that is sensitive to tampering should only use the hard-coded serial numbers, not the "user data" area... but history has told us how well people stick to "common sense" security practices in their implementations.
His paper and the Linux tool that allows you to query and change the data are located here: http://www.blackhat.com/html/bh-media-archives/bh- archives-2004.html (scroll down to Lukas Grunwald under "Layer 0".