Some people will view this kind of paranoia as a challenge, which will only encourage them to attack him.
Ahh, the self-fullfilling prophesy of paranoia: Act out enough, and you get all sorts of unwelcome attention that just confirms your egomania.
Of course, if I were really interested in getting into this guy's computers, I would shoot him once in the foot and tell him that the next bullet would go into his head if he didn't spill all his passwords. Computer security is only as good as the weakest link...
The word paranoid is the important point. He is being stupid, because a casual hacker looks for easy targets. To stop them you only have to secure your system well enough that it isn't easy to get into, so they move on, as the internet is a big place.
The only reason you would do all the silly crap that he has done, is because someone is out to get YOU, and is only after you. They are determined to get into your system, any way they can. Now, if your system is the Strategic Missile Command computers, then I could see why someone might really want to get in. However, this guys is a nobody. He isn't rich, he isn't influential, and he isnt powerful. Nobody is out to get him, so yes, he is paranoid.
I always thought that paranoids were the absolute height of egomania, since you have to think pretty highly of yourself to think that you're worth the effort.
...and in conclusion, this footage offers concrete proof that there are not martian dust devils, as my esteemed colleges suggest, but proof of Tasmain Martianius Spinnus maximus, or in laymas terms, Martian Tasmanian Devils.
The reason the French and Americans don't get along is quite simple: We hate the French for thinking that they are more arrogant than we are. So there!
You'll leave wishing that you had gone to see "MySQL Cookbook" or "Practical Postgresql", which were both showing at the same theater, and the tickets were free.
Naaah, MySQL Cookbook might be free, but they only recently decided to bother installing seats in the theater.
I look forward to the Interplanetary Internet, as it will allow humans to extend their communication capabilities out into the solar system, as a first step out into the great unknown.
But mostly, I'm just waiting for the SPACE PR0N! w00t w00t!
I have been saying since the early nineties that there is some sort of black-ops hacker team that the government funds. I would be seriously upset if my tax dollars wern't being spent on making sure that we had this sort of capability.
I'm guessing that they are mostly civilians working for the NSA and CIA with close ties to the military. I'm saying mostly civilian, as the military doesn't usually attract people with multiple degrees in advanced technical subjects. They will work closely with the teams, though, providing military intilligence to augment what the civilian agencies provide. They will be set up in small 'fire teams', so when they need to go to work, they can be assigned to seperate specific targets. During peacetime they will be constantly practicing intrusion techniques on each other, wargamming various scenarios. I'd say that they won't be ex-blackhats, as they aren't very reliable. Probably young-ish college graduates with masters degrees that are very dedicated and focused individuals. (Think FBI or CIA agent in mentality: highly reliable team players, not hot shot hackers.)
I think it sounds like very interesting work. If any of them read this posting, contact me. I don't need to tell you how, because I'm sure you can find me...;-)
al-qaeda. The Us and china are huge. You can't destroy the entire country witha single computer hack. Oh, sure, you can make life difficult if you turn off power to new york for a few hours, but on the grand scale, that is really nothing.
NK is so far behind in technological development, that they probably don't have that much online yet. I don't see Kim pouring millions into buinding a massive backbone to give the slaves access to the intArwEb. It's possible that their military has a computer network, but I'm going to guess that it probably isn't hooked up to the outside intArwEb. Just a hunch, but I could be wrong.
al-quaeda is a very small group of people, which means that if you compromise the right computer, you might get all their vital information. They work in cells, but if you grab the data from someone near the top, you might get bin laden's phone number, along with the numbers of key cell organizers.
Your response indicated that you think this whole excercise was silly showboating, and in a way it was. The idea of 'watching the watchers' isn't bad, but they just didn't really think it out very well.
The cameras and the security guards are simply the fingers of the beast. Poking at them does nothing to the brain. They should have looked up the Exec in charge of security and the president of the company, and obtrusivly followed them around for several days recording every thing they do in public. If they ask you about wht you are doing, inform them that you aren't cleared to discuss survelance operations with them, or some similarly oblique nonsense.
Similarly, the best way to put an end to silly intrusive survelance legislation, is to use it to spy on the congressmen and senators who enact it.
Considering that there is zero chance that real Hitchhiker fans will be satisfied with the movie... why do you even bother trying?
My, aren't we bold and bitchy this morning? You presume a lot with your question. I haven't read up on all the fanboy gossip about the film, but from the trialers, I have seen, yes, the movie diverges some from the book. Why is this a big deal? As long as the film stays true to the spirt of the works, (i.e. Life is random and absurd, so shutup and enjoy the ride) why does it matter?
What do you want, a exact re-creation of the book, so you can sit in a theater and silently mouth the dialouge with the actors? As an additional point, did you see the first Harry Potter flick? It was exactly like the book, and it was dull as hell. If you love the books that much, go read them again.
Any materials obtained here would still need to be sent to the moon, and then to Mars.
Except the tons and tons of hydrogen, oxygen, and water that you are going to extract from the ice frozen in the ice caps in the poles. In addition, they might be thinking of mining the ice, which would involve tunneling. To me this makes a lot of sense, as several meters of rock is wonderful protection from high speed rocks, is wonderful insulation to help maintain a constant tempature, and is a cheap way to add to the size of the space station without having to build entire new modules. The moon would be a good place to put a telescope, since it is massive enough to be stable, unlike an inhabited orbital platform, and could be the start of a massive Very Long Baseline array for looking at really distant objects. Plus, it could be the start of permanent off world colonies. Mars is a good idea, but it's kind of a long first trip. Plus, It will give us extra time, as invading aliens will probably stop to level the moonbase before attacking earth.
Actually, how many sci-fi series haven't ended up being cancelled?
As opposed to all the tv shows that were never cancelled? Almost all tv shows die the same death, declining ratings and cancellation. I can think of about 3 tv shows ever that were simple ended because the all actors were sick of them, and decided to do other things.
Profitability is based off of viewership. The more people who watch, the more the producers can charge to advertise. Sci-fi just isn't that popular on the whole (compared to say crap like friends or reality tv series dujour). Keep in mind though, that there is an opportunity cost of putting a show on the air. When you put a show on, you lose a timeblock. So, while you might make $250,000 profit each time you show an episode of 'Buck Rogers, space manwhore', you may be losing money because another producer at your station has a show ready to go that might make you $1,000,000 per episode. ('Paris Hilton gets nekkid and acts stupid, yet again!')
Profitable shows with small viewership will always get run over in limited bandwidth situations like this.
The most obvious weapon I can think of would be a.50 caliber heavy machine gun.
I don't think that there would be a real advantage in bigger guns, but rather having the capacity to carry more supplies, and communications gear. Combat isn't won or lost by having bigger guns, it is won by having better information and supply capabilities.
It's silly to throw someone in jail in a country where we already have an overcrowded jail system.
Perhaps we should stop arresting people for drug useage and posession, and simply legalize it. This will save millions of dollars anually, allow cops to focus on more important things, free up court time and jail space, and cease 'subsidizing' organized crime by pushing drug prices up. Do that and there will be plenty of space for murderers, rapists, and spamkings.
Because we at the top of the food chain, there are few if any predators that keep our population in check. We could easily deplete all the food, space, water, etc.
Just because we are at the top of the food chain, doesn't mean that we don't (or wouldn't) have predators. Once the food and space became scarce, I would predict some truly savage warfare and murderous behaviour would start. Monkeys have always been the #1 predator of monkeys...
Probably the best qualified to help 'em out would be the p0rn sites...
Mmmmm, Space ships AND Hot nekkid chicks....brilliant. Can I award Hulkster the congressional medal of Honor for the suggestion?
Seriously though, perhaps this would be a good time to point out that P2P apps like bit torrent are perfect for this sort of thing, and that perhaps the mpaa and the riaa should just shut the fuck up, because there are some very legitimate uses for P2P.
I've long felt that this should be the case. The modern workday favors it. Honestly, who cares if it's a bit darker when you go to work. When you go home, wouldn't it be nice to have it be light outside?
Get up an hour earlier. Problem fixed. Why must the government try to solve this issue for you?
Perhaps a good solution to the spam problem is finincial penalties imposed by the ISPs.
When you sign up with an ISP, you are given a contract that says the ISP is allowed to bill you $10 per unsolicited mail complaint that they get about you. It gives the ISP a money inscentive to chase down the spammers, a legal hammer (a contract) to hit them with, and it stops the problem without any heavy handed regulation by congress.
I hereby name this idea the 'MadTigger' solution, declare it copywrited, and give permission to anyone who wants to use it at no charge for all eternity.
Goodbye Michael J. Fox, and your %^$^@#$@#$ family ties reruns. Your 'Alex P. Keaton' character is probably responsable for all the new assholes in the GOP...
Goodbye Celine, you crappy Quebec whore. Whitney does twice as much coke you could ever handle, and she doesn't say,'eh' all the time.
Goodbye Crash Test Dummies. Your songs needed more lyrics anyway.
This isn't an April fool's joke, It's an April Stupid Joke(tm). April Fools jokes are at least capable of fooling someone into believing it, thus the name 'April fool'. Try to make a decent attempt, ok?
Slashdot Mirror
Some people will view this kind of paranoia as a challenge, which will only encourage them to attack him.
Ahh, the self-fullfilling prophesy of paranoia: Act out enough, and you get all sorts of unwelcome attention that just confirms your egomania.
Of course, if I were really interested in getting into this guy's computers, I would shoot him once in the foot and tell him that the next bullet would go into his head if he didn't spill all his passwords. Computer security is only as good as the weakest link...
The word paranoid is the important point. He is being stupid, because a casual hacker looks for easy targets. To stop them you only have to secure your system well enough that it isn't easy to get into, so they move on, as the internet is a big place.
The only reason you would do all the silly crap that he has done, is because someone is out to get YOU, and is only after you. They are determined to get into your system, any way they can. Now, if your system is the Strategic Missile Command computers, then I could see why someone might really want to get in. However, this guys is a nobody. He isn't rich, he isn't influential, and he isnt powerful. Nobody is out to get him, so yes, he is paranoid.
I always thought that paranoids were the absolute height of egomania, since you have to think pretty highly of yourself to think that you're worth the effort.
This story reminds me of this one time when this script kiddie asked me for my IP address and I told him 127.0.0.1!
Hey that is freakin, spooky, because that is my IP address! I thought these things were supposed to be unique...
...and in conclusion, this footage offers concrete proof that there are not martian dust devils, as my esteemed colleges suggest, but proof of Tasmain Martianius Spinnus maximus, or in laymas terms, Martian Tasmanian Devils.
No, don't retire. Pick up the THX 1138 thread and run with it. Make the movies Star Wars prevented you from making.
Yeah, where is my damn Howard the duck prequil? Do you know how long I've been waiting for that film?
The reason the French and Americans don't get along is quite simple: We hate the French for thinking that they are more arrogant than we are. So there!
You'll leave wishing that you had gone to see "MySQL Cookbook" or "Practical Postgresql", which were both showing at the same theater, and the tickets were free.
Naaah, MySQL Cookbook might be free, but they only recently decided to bother installing seats in the theater.
I look forward to the Interplanetary Internet, as it will allow humans to extend their communication capabilities out into the solar system, as a first step out into the great unknown.
But mostly, I'm just waiting for the SPACE PR0N! w00t w00t!
I have been saying since the early nineties that there is some sort of black-ops hacker team that the government funds. I would be seriously upset if my tax dollars wern't being spent on making sure that we had this sort of capability.
;-)
I'm guessing that they are mostly civilians working for the NSA and CIA with close ties to the military. I'm saying mostly civilian, as the military doesn't usually attract people with multiple degrees in advanced technical subjects. They will work closely with the teams, though, providing military intilligence to augment what the civilian agencies provide. They will be set up in small 'fire teams', so when they need to go to work, they can be assigned to seperate specific targets. During peacetime they will be constantly practicing intrusion techniques on each other, wargamming various scenarios. I'd say that they won't be ex-blackhats, as they aren't very reliable. Probably young-ish college graduates with masters degrees that are very dedicated and focused individuals. (Think FBI or CIA agent in mentality: highly reliable team players, not hot shot hackers.)
I think it sounds like very interesting work. If any of them read this posting, contact me. I don't need to tell you how, because I'm sure you can find me...
Yes, it seems this works so well for things like ICBs, cruise missles, bioweapons, etc... I mean, if you know how to attach, you know how to defend?
We have learned from building massive weapons of mass destruction, that a good defense would be very deep sealed bunkers.
al-qaeda. The Us and china are huge. You can't destroy the entire country witha single computer hack. Oh, sure, you can make life difficult if you turn off power to new york for a few hours, but on the grand scale, that is really nothing.
NK is so far behind in technological development, that they probably don't have that much online yet. I don't see Kim pouring millions into buinding a massive backbone to give the slaves access to the intArwEb. It's possible that their military has a computer network, but I'm going to guess that it probably isn't hooked up to the outside intArwEb. Just a hunch, but I could be wrong.
al-quaeda is a very small group of people, which means that if you compromise the right computer, you might get all their vital information. They work in cells, but if you grab the data from someone near the top, you might get bin laden's phone number, along with the numbers of key cell organizers.
Your response indicated that you think this whole excercise was silly showboating, and in a way it was. The idea of 'watching the watchers' isn't bad, but they just didn't really think it out very well.
The cameras and the security guards are simply the fingers of the beast. Poking at them does nothing to the brain. They should have looked up the Exec in charge of security and the president of the company, and obtrusivly followed them around for several days recording every thing they do in public. If they ask you about wht you are doing, inform them that you aren't cleared to discuss survelance operations with them, or some similarly oblique nonsense.
Similarly, the best way to put an end to silly intrusive survelance legislation, is to use it to spy on the congressmen and senators who enact it.
Considering that there is zero chance that real Hitchhiker fans will be satisfied with the movie ... why do you even bother trying?
My, aren't we bold and bitchy this morning? You presume a lot with your question. I haven't read up on all the fanboy gossip about the film, but from the trialers, I have seen, yes, the movie diverges some from the book. Why is this a big deal? As long as the film stays true to the spirt of the works, (i.e. Life is random and absurd, so shutup and enjoy the ride) why does it matter?
What do you want, a exact re-creation of the book, so you can sit in a theater and silently mouth the dialouge with the actors? As an additional point, did you see the first Harry Potter flick? It was exactly like the book, and it was dull as hell. If you love the books that much, go read them again.
Any materials obtained here would still need to be sent to the moon, and then to Mars.
Except the tons and tons of hydrogen, oxygen, and water that you are going to extract from the ice frozen in the ice caps in the poles. In addition, they might be thinking of mining the ice, which would involve tunneling. To me this makes a lot of sense, as several meters of rock is wonderful protection from high speed rocks, is wonderful insulation to help maintain a constant tempature, and is a cheap way to add to the size of the space station without having to build entire new modules. The moon would be a good place to put a telescope, since it is massive enough to be stable, unlike an inhabited orbital platform, and could be the start of a massive Very Long Baseline array for looking at really distant objects. Plus, it could be the start of permanent off world colonies. Mars is a good idea, but it's kind of a long first trip. Plus, It will give us extra time, as invading aliens will probably stop to level the moonbase before attacking earth.
Actually, how many sci-fi series haven't ended up being cancelled?
As opposed to all the tv shows that were never cancelled? Almost all tv shows die the same death, declining ratings and cancellation. I can think of about 3 tv shows ever that were simple ended because the all actors were sick of them, and decided to do other things.
Profitability is based off of viewership. The more people who watch, the more the producers can charge to advertise. Sci-fi just isn't that popular on the whole (compared to say crap like friends or reality tv series dujour). Keep in mind though, that there is an opportunity cost of putting a show on the air. When you put a show on, you lose a timeblock. So, while you might make $250,000 profit each time you show an episode of 'Buck Rogers, space manwhore', you may be losing money because another producer at your station has a show ready to go that might make you $1,000,000 per episode. ('Paris Hilton gets nekkid and acts stupid, yet again!')
Profitable shows with small viewership will always get run over in limited bandwidth situations like this.
The most obvious weapon I can think of would be a .50 caliber heavy machine gun.
I don't think that there would be a real advantage in bigger guns, but rather having the capacity to carry more supplies, and communications gear. Combat isn't won or lost by having bigger guns, it is won by having better information and supply capabilities.
It's silly to throw someone in jail in a country where we already have an overcrowded jail system.
Perhaps we should stop arresting people for drug useage and posession, and simply legalize it. This will save millions of dollars anually, allow cops to focus on more important things, free up court time and jail space, and cease 'subsidizing' organized crime by pushing drug prices up. Do that and there will be plenty of space for murderers, rapists, and spamkings.
Prohibition failed, the drug war is no different.
Because we at the top of the food chain, there are few if any predators that keep our population in check. We could easily deplete all the food, space, water, etc.
Just because we are at the top of the food chain, doesn't mean that we don't (or wouldn't) have predators. Once the food and space became scarce, I would predict some truly savage warfare and murderous behaviour would start. Monkeys have always been the #1 predator of monkeys...
Probably the best qualified to help 'em out would be the p0rn sites ...
Mmmmm, Space ships AND Hot nekkid chicks....brilliant. Can I award Hulkster the congressional medal of Honor for the suggestion?
Seriously though, perhaps this would be a good time to point out that P2P apps like bit torrent are perfect for this sort of thing, and that perhaps the mpaa and the riaa should just shut the fuck up, because there are some very legitimate uses for P2P.
I've long felt that this should be the case. The modern workday favors it. Honestly, who cares if it's a bit darker when you go to work. When you go home, wouldn't it be nice to have it be light outside?
Get up an hour earlier. Problem fixed. Why must the government try to solve this issue for you?
Hey, lets try not to let the government micro-manage this field yet. It's still pretty small.
Bwhahhahahahhaha..ah..er.ahem.
Perhaps a good solution to the spam problem is finincial penalties imposed by the ISPs.
When you sign up with an ISP, you are given a contract that says the ISP is allowed to bill you $10 per unsolicited mail complaint that they get about you. It gives the ISP a money inscentive to chase down the spammers, a legal hammer (a contract) to hit them with, and it stops the problem without any heavy handed regulation by congress.
I hereby name this idea the 'MadTigger' solution, declare it copywrited, and give permission to anyone who wants to use it at no charge for all eternity.
Goodbye Michael J. Fox, and your %^$^@#$@#$ family ties reruns. Your 'Alex P. Keaton' character is probably responsable for all the new assholes in the GOP...
Goodbye Celine, you crappy Quebec whore. Whitney does twice as much coke you could ever handle, and she doesn't say,'eh' all the time.
Goodbye Crash Test Dummies. Your songs needed more lyrics anyway.
Slashdot = Idiots + computers?
This isn't an April fool's joke, It's an April Stupid Joke(tm). April Fools jokes are at least capable of fooling someone into believing it, thus the name 'April fool'. Try to make a decent attempt, ok?