Your primary problem here is that messages are being sent which aren't expected. Most message processing routines just toss these messages off to DefWindowProc(), which is what's doing the damage here.
You could fix a few of the problems stated here, especially the abuse of the callaback function with a timer, by simply making DefWindowProc() do nothing as the default behavior with certain messages. This would reduce the effectiveness of attacks to those that utilize messages intercepted by programs which are not properly checked.
For the adventurous among the readers, user32.dll defines DefWindowProc(). Feel free to write it as you please.
Granted, there are fundamental problems in Windows that are nearly unfixable without a huge redesign. This is not one of them.
Since I can't find the article to read it (broken link as I post), I can't say definitively, but from the above site, it appears methane has been used for energy generation in Iowa since 1972. So this would appear to be nothing new, even for Iowa. Not to poo poo the post or anything.
This isn't going to be of any help, but I have a few questions.
I'm sure there are things which spreadsheets can't handle well. Off the type of my head I can think of derivatives, integration, and solving simultaneous equations. But I'm wondering what in particular you've found spreadsheets unable to do.
Further, you didn't mention a platform on which you are operating. I assume KDE running on Linux, since you mentioned KSolve. Are your restricting your search to this platform?
And, dare I ask, have you tried Excel to see if it provides functionality to do this built in, via macros, or via VB? Although VBA may not be great fun, it may allow you to do what you want without doing quite so far as writing a full program.
Taking the obligatory look at the forever cached version of lavarand.sgi.com reveals a little information. Granted, the cool images are definitely not there. A pity.
However, checking the above link reveals that the digital photography technique did not involve such interesting processing as determining transparent vs. opaque. Quoting:
The digital output of the image is then munged by an algorithm, which compresses and scrambles it. Thus the 921,600-byte image is transmogrified into an 140-byte "seed."
The technical description mentions the use of SHS-1 and then the Blum Blum Shub pseudo-random number generator. Not being familiar with such subjects, it does seem that this is even more Rube-Goldberg like than a 'simple' image processing which determines opacity.
You might check the classified section of Fark.com. Although it has its share of standard, flashy web ads, it has a classified section which shows text links along the right column of the page.
Though it's not necessarily all about porn, a good deal of the classified listings are "boobies" related. Further, such ads make the site much more money as the pricing structure is $25 for normal ads and $100 for 'Not Safe For Work' ads.
I'm sure it wasn't a magic bullet for them, however. They had the classified section in long before they started throwing in the annoying flashing ads. In fact, I think you can still go through their farkives and see the site design regress to earlier versions as you do so. Or there's always the Internet Archive
This is a rather late post that's likely of little value considering it's datedness. Just the same:
Video games aren't "anger" any more than any other competion.
Reread my post. I was saying games which people use to "let out their anger" are especially likely to have some sort of side effect. I was not labeling video games as violent. I'm quite aware that video games can be decidedly nonviolent, evidenced by such games as Pong or to a lesser extent, Captain Novolin. And as you say, a game of paintball might have the same potential negative effects as a violent video game. For instance, a fellow may callously shoot his buddy in the face after he's already been taken out to relieve some anger. That sort of 'relief' of anger is what breeds more anger over time.
teens are out there with REAL guns killing REAL life with them
That's exactly the point. Any activity that encourages one to directly express her anger can encourage the spiraling growth of anger. Violent video games, for some people, may very well encourage just this sort of behavior, which may ultimately push them that extra step towards shooting their classmates.
Video games have yet to affect my real life at all (other then reducing the amount of time I spend there). If you don't want your kids to play these games don't let them. Do not turn to society as a whole to police what your kids can do.
As mentioned by the parent (now, long since modded into oblivion), the issue of violent video games was covered this Wednesday on Nightline, and a partial write up can be read here.
Now, the coverage was obviously presented with a slant against video games. A similar slant was shown in a previous story they did about the big business of pornography. Nightline's often not about presenting an unbiased opinion.
Just the same, the most salient point probably made on the show, by a doctor of psychology I believe (correct me if I'm wrong), was that video games are akin to cigarettes in a sense. Most people who smoke don't wind up dying from lung cancer. Most people who play GTA3 also don't drive over pedestrians to get some midday stress relief.
The point here is perhaps that the true effect of these games, especially those which people use to "let out their anger", has not really been carefully studied. And, it has been seen that expressing anger tends to cause an increase in one's liklihood to be angry, not a decrease.
Despite the unwillingness of most game players to accept it, myself and a good deal of the Slashdot crowd included, it is possible that violent video games may have a subtle, but definite effect on a statistical significant amount of people. As it is, however, the current video game rating system should be sufficient to warn intelligent players and parents about games which may be inappropriate.
After reading this discussion, it seems I am nearly the only one who religiously uses Ctrl-Insert and Shift-Insert for copy and paste. Last I checked Dvorak doesn't break that.
Although the amount of active sites is certainly important, it should be noted that the drop you state is a (miniscule) drop in the total market share of internet sites, not a drop in usage. There was still a 5% increase (10.4 million to about 11 million) in active sites served by Apache. Also worth noting is the -0.85 drop by MS (also with about 5% increase in total active sites).
What is somewhat perplexing is that of the four major developers listed, only iPlanet showed a growth in the market share of active sites, and its growth is not great enough to account for the drop in Apache and MS. Who are the tiny developers that are taking over relatively large amounts of market share, then?
Slashdot Mirror
Your primary problem here is that messages are being sent which aren't expected. Most message processing routines just toss these messages off to DefWindowProc(), which is what's doing the damage here. You could fix a few of the problems stated here, especially the abuse of the callaback function with a timer, by simply making DefWindowProc() do nothing as the default behavior with certain messages. This would reduce the effectiveness of attacks to those that utilize messages intercepted by programs which are not properly checked. For the adventurous among the readers, user32.dll defines DefWindowProc(). Feel free to write it as you please. Granted, there are fundamental problems in Windows that are nearly unfixable without a huge redesign. This is not one of them.
Well, the article link seems out, so how about a little reference material on biomass for energy generation: Iowa Renewable Energy Resource Guide - Biomass and from the same site Methane Recovery.
Since I can't find the article to read it (broken link as I post), I can't say definitively, but from the above site, it appears methane has been used for energy generation in Iowa since 1972. So this would appear to be nothing new, even for Iowa. Not to poo poo the post or anything.
This isn't going to be of any help, but I have a few questions.
I'm sure there are things which spreadsheets can't handle well. Off the type of my head I can think of derivatives, integration, and solving simultaneous equations. But I'm wondering what in particular you've found spreadsheets unable to do.
Further, you didn't mention a platform on which you are operating. I assume KDE running on Linux, since you mentioned KSolve. Are your restricting your search to this platform?
And, dare I ask, have you tried Excel to see if it provides functionality to do this built in, via macros, or via VB? Although VBA may not be great fun, it may allow you to do what you want without doing quite so far as writing a full program.
Taking the obligatory look at the forever cached version of lavarand.sgi.com reveals a little information. Granted, the cool images are definitely not there. A pity.
However, checking the above link reveals that the digital photography technique did not involve such interesting processing as determining transparent vs. opaque. Quoting:
The technical description mentions the use of SHS-1 and then the Blum Blum Shub pseudo-random number generator. Not being familiar with such subjects, it does seem that this is even more Rube-Goldberg like than a 'simple' image processing which determines opacity.
You might check the classified section of Fark.com. Although it has its share of standard, flashy web ads, it has a classified section which shows text links along the right column of the page.
Though it's not necessarily all about porn, a good deal of the classified listings are "boobies" related. Further, such ads make the site much more money as the pricing structure is $25 for normal ads and $100 for 'Not Safe For Work' ads.
I'm sure it wasn't a magic bullet for them, however. They had the classified section in long before they started throwing in the annoying flashing ads. In fact, I think you can still go through their farkives and see the site design regress to earlier versions as you do so. Or there's always the Internet Archive
This is a rather late post that's likely of little value considering it's datedness. Just the same:
Reread my post. I was saying games which people use to "let out their anger" are especially likely to have some sort of side effect. I was not labeling video games as violent. I'm quite aware that video games can be decidedly nonviolent, evidenced by such games as Pong or to a lesser extent, Captain Novolin. And as you say, a game of paintball might have the same potential negative effects as a violent video game. For instance, a fellow may callously shoot his buddy in the face after he's already been taken out to relieve some anger. That sort of 'relief' of anger is what breeds more anger over time.
That's exactly the point. Any activity that encourages one to directly express her anger can encourage the spiraling growth of anger. Violent video games, for some people, may very well encourage just this sort of behavior, which may ultimately push them that extra step towards shooting their classmates.
As mentioned by the parent (now, long since modded into oblivion), the issue of violent video games was covered this Wednesday on Nightline, and a partial write up can be read here.
Now, the coverage was obviously presented with a slant against video games. A similar slant was shown in a previous story they did about the big business of pornography. Nightline's often not about presenting an unbiased opinion.
Just the same, the most salient point probably made on the show, by a doctor of psychology I believe (correct me if I'm wrong), was that video games are akin to cigarettes in a sense. Most people who smoke don't wind up dying from lung cancer. Most people who play GTA3 also don't drive over pedestrians to get some midday stress relief.
The point here is perhaps that the true effect of these games, especially those which people use to "let out their anger", has not really been carefully studied. And, it has been seen that expressing anger tends to cause an increase in one's liklihood to be angry, not a decrease.
Despite the unwillingness of most game players to accept it, myself and a good deal of the Slashdot crowd included, it is possible that violent video games may have a subtle, but definite effect on a statistical significant amount of people. As it is, however, the current video game rating system should be sufficient to warn intelligent players and parents about games which may be inappropriate.
After reading this discussion, it seems I am nearly the only one who religiously uses Ctrl-Insert and Shift-Insert for copy and paste. Last I checked Dvorak doesn't break that.
Although the amount of active sites is certainly important, it should be noted that the drop you state is a (miniscule) drop in the total market share of internet sites, not a drop in usage. There was still a 5% increase (10.4 million to about 11 million) in active sites served by Apache. Also worth noting is the -0.85 drop by MS (also with about 5% increase in total active sites). What is somewhat perplexing is that of the four major developers listed, only iPlanet showed a growth in the market share of active sites, and its growth is not great enough to account for the drop in Apache and MS. Who are the tiny developers that are taking over relatively large amounts of market share, then?