With the fall of the Canadian Liberal government coming on Monday, Canada will be safe from Bil C-60 the Copyright Act amendment until at least the early Spring. This gives our American oppressed neighbours time to find a job north of the 49th, and spend time backing up their "content protected" CD collection to hard drive, or iPod without fear of abuse from the local constabulary.
" Even better than just spending time - put them to good use!"
When I was a toddler I helped my Dad with his Tandy TRS-80. It had a clicky red button I liked to press. HE didn't seem to think I was helping much though when his work was reset:-|
We already knew that there were homosexual geeks though.
Oh, you mean geek females;-)
I was teasing about geeks not gettin' any. You must be new here, because it's one of those running Slashdot jokes that stories involving sex don't belong on Slashdot.
How are babies related to Slashdot readers, you have to have sex to have a baby! Well I guess you could adopt, there's no law against a geek adopting right?
I think the most important thing for a Dad who knows nothing about kids is to learn more about their kids. Spend time with them every day, even if you don't do much. The kid will set the agenda and you can answer questions as they come up especially since you can use Wikipedia and Google.
I'm guessing that Microsoft doesn't let a home user burn a non-buggy version of the game disk on their PC [or does the XBox 360 itself have a disc burner in it?]. They can only hope it's the console that's crap, and then they can patch it remotely, instead of releasing buggy games.
"you haven't qualified what you consider to be "real actors and writers""...Ones who speak English.
Close your jaw, I'm just kidding. Ones who are paid to act, naturally. We're all actors and the world is a stage, but people who make a sole living out of it tend to be a little more confident. Although it could have been the camera work that just didn't scream "Pros did this scene," to me.
If you keep in mind that it's a comedy first, and a drama second, then you won't be disapointed. It's not supposed to be Star Trek, it's Star Wreck, another universe, so don't be whining about how it doesn't match Star Trek canon.
The ending kinda disapointed me, but mostly because I wanted more! So overall I think I gave it a [5/10] because for an amateur production it's 10/10, but up against real actors and writers it's more like a 3/10. The special effects are top drawer though, in any league.
For other Star Trek spinoffs, look up http://www.newvoyages.com/ they have two episodes of original Trek available for free by torrent. A third is on the way soon and features Star Trek TOS and Babylon 5 actor Walter Koenig [spelling?] - Chekov / Bester.
We all thought JPG, PNG, and MP3 were safe file types, but that turned out to not be the case when you used a vulnerable standard viewer. Adding more stuff introduces more risk. We have to ask is the added usability worth the mild risk?
Are you saying you don't believe me that I've seen a shattered CD inside a CDROM drive? I didn't save the shards and flakes, but I assure you it can happen.
May I point out that when IE extended the abilities of the WWW, we ended up with worms and exploits up the wazoo. Is RSS relatively safe as it is now, and if so, why muck with it? Just what we'd need is a worm that can exploit a technology designed to deliver new information to everyone at once.
SK may be one of the poorer provinces, but $500 is a lot in any place, it just isn't treated that way. As long as someone's healthy, it's hard to imagine a more safe and rich lifestyle than someone can have living in Saskatchewan [and yes I've lived in other places and travelled all around North America]. Excesses may be more common in Alberta, and it's not surprising, they've managed to exploit their natural resources more efficiently than SK has, and has made use of SK's human resources better too.
Tell someone in Myanmar or India that $500 isn't a lot. There are a heck of a lot more people in the world that would find $500 to be a life changer, than there are well to do Canadians that would snort at it.
"How is Sony able to access a system with this rootkit installed? "
Aren't there assertions out there that this spyware phones home? If so it has a network connection, and could possibly be exploited that way. Just because there's no remotely exploitable code available yet, doesn't mean someone isn't working on it;-)
I do understand the difference between something that can be contacted through a port though, and something that simply makes the system less secure. That's why I followed up my original post by saying it "indirectly" offers a backdoor, since I'm positive there will be spyware and viruses using the rootkit to hide from scanners and offer ports.
"You might as well have said for $50 you can go find an old C64. "
Sure, and some people would get as much enjoyment out of that $50, as they would for $500 getting a gameless core XBox 360.
The difference between a $500C computer and the core XBox 360 is that the computer has access to hundreds of free games and thousands more you can pay for for a lot less than $70C a game. And everything else you can do with a computer and can't with the XBox. You're paying a premium for the cutting edge, specialized 360 console.
"and your assertions were not accurate" But they are, under a certain outlook. It's not the case for everyone, but in the subjective world of opinion they certainly stand up to reason.
There's hype, but we don't have to like it being shoved down our throats.
"(And yes, I think that you're brutally retarded for complaining about what other people spend their money on.)"
That's OK, I think you're kinda cowardly for saying that to me without even logging in.
I don't in fact have a car, I use a bike, although I'm thinking of buying a car for the winter. And people complain about what others spend money on all the time, its the whole point of politics after all. Don't cut taxes, cut taxes, don't cut programs, cut them, and I need a new war in Iraq too. It's all money and $600 on an Xbox 360 is $600 more going to Microsoft, and $600 less to something else. What's more important to you, a mostly redundant console, or what $600 can do for the less fortunate who work as hard as you do? Heck you don't even have to give to another country or the poor to make a difference, you could build part of a skate park in your 'hood, buy some cool trees and have fruit for you and your friends in a few years, buy your local library a huge CD collection, really your imagination is the limit.
Don't mind me though, I'm just brooding about the inevitible downfall of western civilization in a pile of Xbox 360 kids, with not a park to play in.
"Why do you have a computer then? Why do you have a house? Why don't you live in a small hut with 15 other people?" Because I live in the greatest country in the world, and its mighty military and allies protect me in North America's Bubble Economy. We live in a bubble. We can buy an XBox 360 while still owning the original, and have 2 SUVs, because we don't have to worry about being invaded by Bangledesh. I don't have to mend my own clothes, because we pay someone $1/month to make a new shirt instead, and ensure they can't make enough to come over here and teach their children C++, and buy them the XBox 360 before I can.
"Push your country to open trade with the 3rd world countries." Better check the shirt on your back, I bet it says "Made in [Insert 3rd World Country here]". We've got trade with them, the problem is we take more than we give, and as you say if we gave more it would still only help the top 1% due to corrpution.
"don't draw conclusions about the whole world based on your neighborhood"
The whole world is my neighbourhood though, as it is your's. The mistaken belief that it is not is the reason things like Sept. 11 was so shocking to people here. Things we do in North America are felt all around the world, and if we act like affluent ignorami, then we're going to have the rest of the world rather pissed off at us. There's nothing wrong with success, unless you rub other peoples noses in it, then it's about one-upmanship, not success for success's sake.
It's because we live in a bubble here. I know you couldn't say to the face of a starving Myanmar child that it's reasonable to have 4 video game systems because you have $1000/month disposable income; you have a heart. But because our bubble [that is sometimes breached by scary events like Sept. 11, Katrina] makes sure we don't have to face the harsh reality of the rest of the world, we can sit in front of our $1000 entertainment center with a clear mind and soul. I like my digital camera as much as the next guy, but I'm not fooling myself. I know I'd have to give it up if the rest of the world, the 3rd World, ever had the ability to go to war with my country and possibly win.
I heard on the [unpaid ad] radio that the "core" doesn't come with a game, and only has one controller. The Core costs about $500. That's what I meant by paying that much for no games. It literally has no games that come with it! It probably doesn't even play Nibbles! How lame is that?
Why couldn't they have ripped off a less violent game and made the same point?
They could have had two rogue plumbers that go racing through a sewer, squashing mushrooms, until they get to a castle and rescue the princess or other blonde actress. Because you just know that it's going to happen now that there've been video games made about that!
Maybe it is too then, except that current security products and the OS knows to look for files with a "hidden" attribute. Because I consider a something that modifies a file so that it is hidden from the Operating System to be a pretty darn good hidden back door when a virus scanner can't even detect the file's presence. It indirectly provides hidden access to a system if the file that is hidden is malicious and is executed. After all the point of a backdoor is that it is an access technique that isn't detected, guarded against, or wanted. The Sony modification meets those criteria.
"Yes it can be excessive but damn if we keep up this "loser" mentality then we truly will fall behind."
You're not seeing the big picture. You're looking at it from a North American perspective, but we have to start seeing things globally. It just isn't ethical to spend $600 on a game console if you have an XBox, and Playstation, and Computer, and $600 would feed a family for a year in half of the world's nations. Sure success can be fun, and it's important to be successful, but you have to wonder at what point the nose rubbing that we do to the poorer half [90%, how's that for bad math] of the world, is going to come bite us on our butts, not our "complacency". Don't you think buying a 360 might make those people playing it more "complacent" about their success?
Slashdot Mirror
With the fall of the Canadian Liberal government coming on Monday, Canada will be safe from Bil C-60 the Copyright Act amendment until at least the early Spring. This gives our American oppressed neighbours time to find a job north of the 49th, and spend time backing up their "content protected" CD collection to hard drive, or iPod without fear of abuse from the local constabulary.
"The story is about babies... I don't see the connection." ...Thus confirming your geekly leanings :-)
You wouldn't happen to be from Carnduff? I know someone from Carnduff SK that has the last name in your email address.
" Even better than just spending time - put them to good use!"
:-|
When I was a toddler I helped my Dad with his Tandy TRS-80. It had a clicky red button I liked to press. HE didn't seem to think I was helping much though when his work was reset
"Female as well as male..."
;-)
We already knew that there were homosexual geeks though.
Oh, you mean geek females
I was teasing about geeks not gettin' any. You must be new here, because it's one of those running Slashdot jokes that stories involving sex don't belong on Slashdot.
To add a feature, any time you do math, it starts yelling out random numbers too add security:
8! 23! 42! 5432!
How are babies related to Slashdot readers, you have to have sex to have a baby! Well I guess you could adopt, there's no law against a geek adopting right?
I think the most important thing for a Dad who knows nothing about kids is to learn more about their kids. Spend time with them every day, even if you don't do much. The kid will set the agenda and you can answer questions as they come up especially since you can use Wikipedia and Google.
" What are you doing putting computer peripherals in your mouth? "
Kinda brings a new and disturbing meaning to "blowing a capacitor".
Shocking behaviour actually.
Do they have the sound of a tree falling in the forest when no one is there to hear it, yet?
I'm guessing that Microsoft doesn't let a home user burn a non-buggy version of the game disk on their PC [or does the XBox 360 itself have a disc burner in it?]. They can only hope it's the console that's crap, and then they can patch it remotely, instead of releasing buggy games.
"you haven't qualified what you consider to be "real actors and writers"" ...Ones who speak English.
Close your jaw, I'm just kidding. Ones who are paid to act, naturally. We're all actors and the world is a stage, but people who make a sole living out of it tend to be a little more confident. Although it could have been the camera work that just didn't scream "Pros did this scene," to me.
If you keep in mind that it's a comedy first, and a drama second, then you won't be disapointed. It's not supposed to be Star Trek, it's Star Wreck, another universe, so don't be whining about how it doesn't match Star Trek canon.
The ending kinda disapointed me, but mostly because I wanted more! So overall I think I gave it a [5/10] because for an amateur production it's 10/10, but up against real actors and writers it's more like a 3/10. The special effects are top drawer though, in any league.
For other Star Trek spinoffs, look up http://www.newvoyages.com/ they have two episodes of original Trek available for free by torrent. A third is on the way soon and features Star Trek TOS and Babylon 5 actor Walter Koenig [spelling?] - Chekov / Bester.
We all thought JPG, PNG, and MP3 were safe file types, but that turned out to not be the case when you used a vulnerable standard viewer. Adding more stuff introduces more risk. We have to ask is the added usability worth the mild risk?
Are you saying you don't believe me that I've seen a shattered CD inside a CDROM drive? I didn't save the shards and flakes, but I assure you it can happen.
May I point out that when IE extended the abilities of the WWW, we ended up with worms and exploits up the wazoo. Is RSS relatively safe as it is now, and if so, why muck with it? Just what we'd need is a worm that can exploit a technology designed to deliver new information to everyone at once.
SK may be one of the poorer provinces, but $500 is a lot in any place, it just isn't treated that way. As long as someone's healthy, it's hard to imagine a more safe and rich lifestyle than someone can have living in Saskatchewan [and yes I've lived in other places and travelled all around North America]. Excesses may be more common in Alberta, and it's not surprising, they've managed to exploit their natural resources more efficiently than SK has, and has made use of SK's human resources better too.
Tell someone in Myanmar or India that $500 isn't a lot. There are a heck of a lot more people in the world that would find $500 to be a life changer, than there are well to do Canadians that would snort at it.
"How is Sony able to access a system with this rootkit installed? "
;-)
Aren't there assertions out there that this spyware phones home? If so it has a network connection, and could possibly be exploited that way. Just because there's no remotely exploitable code available yet, doesn't mean someone isn't working on it
I do understand the difference between something that can be contacted through a port though, and something that simply makes the system less secure. That's why I followed up my original post by saying it "indirectly" offers a backdoor, since I'm positive there will be spyware and viruses using the rootkit to hide from scanners and offer ports.
"You might as well have said for $50 you can go find an old C64. "
Sure, and some people would get as much enjoyment out of that $50, as they would for $500 getting a gameless core XBox 360.
The difference between a $500C computer and the core XBox 360 is that the computer has access to hundreds of free games and thousands more you can pay for for a lot less than $70C a game. And everything else you can do with a computer and can't with the XBox. You're paying a premium for the cutting edge, specialized 360 console.
"and your assertions were not accurate"
But they are, under a certain outlook. It's not the case for everyone, but in the subjective world of opinion they certainly stand up to reason.
There's hype, but we don't have to like it being shoved down our throats.
"(And yes, I think that you're brutally retarded for complaining about what other people spend their money on.)"
That's OK, I think you're kinda cowardly for saying that to me without even logging in.
I don't in fact have a car, I use a bike, although I'm thinking of buying a car for the winter. And people complain about what others spend money on all the time, its the whole point of politics after all. Don't cut taxes, cut taxes, don't cut programs, cut them, and I need a new war in Iraq too. It's all money and $600 on an Xbox 360 is $600 more going to Microsoft, and $600 less to something else. What's more important to you, a mostly redundant console, or what $600 can do for the less fortunate who work as hard as you do? Heck you don't even have to give to another country or the poor to make a difference, you could build part of a skate park in your 'hood, buy some cool trees and have fruit for you and your friends in a few years, buy your local library a huge CD collection, really your imagination is the limit.
Don't mind me though, I'm just brooding about the inevitible downfall of western civilization in a pile of Xbox 360 kids, with not a park to play in.
"Why do you have a computer then? Why do you have a house? Why don't you live in a small hut with 15 other people?"
Because I live in the greatest country in the world, and its mighty military and allies protect me in North America's Bubble Economy. We live in a bubble. We can buy an XBox 360 while still owning the original, and have 2 SUVs, because we don't have to worry about being invaded by Bangledesh. I don't have to mend my own clothes, because we pay someone $1/month to make a new shirt instead, and ensure they can't make enough to come over here and teach their children C++, and buy them the XBox 360 before I can.
"Push your country to open trade with the 3rd world countries."
Better check the shirt on your back, I bet it says "Made in [Insert 3rd World Country here]". We've got trade with them, the problem is we take more than we give, and as you say if we gave more it would still only help the top 1% due to corrpution.
"don't draw conclusions about the whole world based on your neighborhood"
The whole world is my neighbourhood though, as it is your's. The mistaken belief that it is not is the reason things like Sept. 11 was so shocking to people here. Things we do in North America are felt all around the world, and if we act like affluent ignorami, then we're going to have the rest of the world rather pissed off at us. There's nothing wrong with success, unless you rub other peoples noses in it, then it's about one-upmanship, not success for success's sake.
It's because we live in a bubble here. I know you couldn't say to the face of a starving Myanmar child that it's reasonable to have 4 video game systems because you have $1000/month disposable income; you have a heart. But because our bubble [that is sometimes breached by scary events like Sept. 11, Katrina] makes sure we don't have to face the harsh reality of the rest of the world, we can sit in front of our $1000 entertainment center with a clear mind and soul. I like my digital camera as much as the next guy, but I'm not fooling myself. I know I'd have to give it up if the rest of the world, the 3rd World, ever had the ability to go to war with my country and possibly win.
I heard on the [unpaid ad] radio that the "core" doesn't come with a game, and only has one controller. The Core costs about $500. That's what I meant by paying that much for no games. It literally has no games that come with it! It probably doesn't even play Nibbles! How lame is that?
Why couldn't they have ripped off a less violent game and made the same point?
They could have had two rogue plumbers that go racing through a sewer, squashing mushrooms, until they get to a castle and rescue the princess or other blonde actress. Because you just know that it's going to happen now that there've been video games made about that!
Here's my review of the show:0 87823
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=168937&cid=14
If you thought of downloading it, don't bother, it was lame.
"Otherwise, "attrib +h" would be a backdoor."
Maybe it is too then, except that current security products and the OS knows to look for files with a "hidden" attribute. Because I consider a something that modifies a file so that it is hidden from the Operating System to be a pretty darn good hidden back door when a virus scanner can't even detect the file's presence. It indirectly provides hidden access to a system if the file that is hidden is malicious and is executed. After all the point of a backdoor is that it is an access technique that isn't detected, guarded against, or wanted. The Sony modification meets those criteria.
"Yes it can be excessive but damn if we keep up this "loser" mentality then we truly will fall behind."
You're not seeing the big picture. You're looking at it from a North American perspective, but we have to start seeing things globally. It just isn't ethical to spend $600 on a game console if you have an XBox, and Playstation, and Computer, and $600 would feed a family for a year in half of the world's nations. Sure success can be fun, and it's important to be successful, but you have to wonder at what point the nose rubbing that we do to the poorer half [90%, how's that for bad math] of the world, is going to come bite us on our butts, not our "complacency". Don't you think buying a 360 might make those people playing it more "complacent" about their success?
Revolutions get started one 360 at a time.