I contend that a whistleblower in the US government would be well advised to keep their position and talk to the press like this guy did after resignation. It's more effective and it makes them fire you, which is hard to do.
When they quit first, it implies there is something not being said, like the guy was misusing his expense account or hired strippers for the last meeting. Or whatever.
In one mid-sized US Government program, I can (and do) perform the following actions:
- Each application's owner is advised of the CIO dictums and regulations covering their application and its interface. If they don't abide by them, the application doesn't go online. They comply.
- If the application is not certified, the application does not go online. This means an extensive sheaf of documentation about its form and function. While this is not foolproof, it is very effective at getting stupid errors out of the way.
- The network itself is accredited. Once again, a lengthy process based on standardized criteria that is redone every three years. This accreditation is called DITSCAP and can be googled.
- OS and common application patches (called IAVAs and generated by ACERT, the 'Army Computer Emergency Response Team', which would give a link for but it's Army-only with authentication required) are required to be applied. If an application owner declines to be patched, it's the CIO's judgement if we want to unplug their server or not. Generally we will, and the application owner relents.
Mind you, we just host applications. There are several layers of border security beyond us on the network, controlled by different organizations, that we have to justify things like port opens to. The list is kept to an utter minimum.
This is only the big picture of what we do, and the details would take more writing than i'm likely to do on a Sunday afternoon.
I have no idea what's going on at DHS, but what I know is that they share installations with my branch of the government, and they have to comply with the same rules when they do.
Security IS taken seriously. This guy has a political problem and that's why he resigned. Everyone wants to make a big splash when they don't get along with their cohorts. Only the classy ones keep their mouths shut. This guy isn't one of those, apparently.
This was a cop and a judge in a corrupt town in Northern New Jersey. Try not to get pulled over here. After getting off on my ticket I figured i'd pay the $100 court costs just to avoid the $500/year insurance surcharge. It wasn't worth it to argue with the judge.
Imagine you get a speeding ticket. You follow 'due process' and fight the ticket. Let's say you win (I have done this). You will be made to pay court costs, which are probably as much as the ticket. If you lose, the fine will be outrageous and the judge might slap community service or some incarceration atop of that if you piss him off too much.
That ticket is just a cop telling you he accuses you of doing this. The DHS people were doing the same thing. If they want to fight it, go to court. Expect to pay a lot of money and really be screwed if you lose, though.
DHS is a multiheaded department that is also responsible for customs enforcement. If that's their job, then it is logical they do it, terrorists or no. Entire offices who specialize in finding illegal imports aren't going to be useful for gun battles against terrorist cells, no?
Taking your logic, i've decided to stop using condoms, stop eating, stop all my bodily functions in fact. After all, there are terrorists in the world.
The best candidate seems to be an eutectic solution of sodium and potassium, (NaK). The melting point is as low as -12 C. Its density and viscosity are similar to water but it has a lower specific heat and a much higher thermal conductivity. NaK can be used with nickel, chrome and steel but it is aggressive to cadmium, antimony, bismuth, copper, lead, silicon, tin, and magnesium. It also reacts violently with air and water. It is apparent that this alloy is associated with several material and handling problems. Liquid sodium has nevertheless been used as a coolant for nuclear reactors, which shows that these drawbacks can be managed.
Sure, but do we want to manage flammable liquids that combust when exposed to air in our home? Pumped through our computer? Not to mention that it eats away at silicon and most likely the PCB itself.
This story discusses a matter that is assuredly still classified. No discussion by those in the know will be permitted at this time. I suspect that in time, the story will be known to be far more complex than is being let on by the single mid-level staff officer that I saw quoted.
Whenever you learn the details about a situation, generally you find that the answer lies somewhere in between the extremes portrayed by those who mouth off to the press.
"persistence". Okay. That very CP/M that IBM and Microsoft stole from him was the basis for DR-DOS (via CP/M-86), which Microsoft proceeded to sandbag via various anticompetitive means, ultimately resulting in a very hefty payoff for Caldera, plus significant contribution to the antitrust case against Microsoft.
He was persistent. He did work hard. He had a slime ball working against him for whom laws are optional.
You need an Office CAL also - mind you the systems already have purchased XP licenses. It's hard to justify to get the same level of service (hopefully).
I don't read any of the tripe on the bestseller list, but I certainly believe that a large quantity of Americans support the terrorists.
I do believe, however, that most of them are doing so unwittingly. Low intensity warfare is like that. "No one is shooting at me today, so time to get back to partisan bickering and lining my own pockets!!"
Human nature. I still find it reprehensible but whatever, that isn't going to change it.
"Without problems" is a stretch. I'm not about to deploy it. I don't know of anywhere that has. We use it on systems where the SA wants to run Linux, but with full knowledge that there will (not can, but will) be problems. No deployment to end users at all, and it will probably stay that way.
What happens when they fax over that Word 2000 document that looks like crap with jaggy fonts to someone who ignores it after a casual glance, like I have done with a thousand resumes that just didn't catch my eye?
Yep. Listen, people who think like you make my job searches easier, so please keep doing that. Thanks!
Try doing the same when you were pushing Crossover Office on the user who doesn't want anything but stuff that works. They will ask 'why'. Your explanation will not be good enough in most cases.
It might be, but not in the business world. You send a resume to a headhunter, it had best be in doc format. Ditto for internal documents. You'd best be sure that those documents look right fontwise, also.
Slashdot Mirror
That just proves how little you know about government service.
I contend that a whistleblower in the US government would be well advised to keep their position and talk to the press like this guy did after resignation. It's more effective and it makes them fire you, which is hard to do.
When they quit first, it implies there is something not being said, like the guy was misusing his expense account or hired strippers for the last meeting. Or whatever.
So does the DoD, so does the rest of the US government.
Whatever your (or my, frankly) bias against Microsoft operating systems, in practice they have been functional.
You'll have to come up with something more than perceived security improvements to make the US government switch to something else.
In one mid-sized US Government program, I can (and do) perform the following actions:
- Each application's owner is advised of the CIO dictums and regulations covering their application and its interface. If they don't abide by them, the application doesn't go online. They comply.
- If the application is not certified, the application does not go online. This means an extensive sheaf of documentation about its form and function. While this is not foolproof, it is very effective at getting stupid errors out of the way.
- The network itself is accredited. Once again, a lengthy process based on standardized criteria that is redone every three years. This accreditation is called DITSCAP and can be googled.
- OS and common application patches (called IAVAs and generated by ACERT, the 'Army Computer Emergency Response Team', which would give a link for but it's Army-only with authentication required) are required to be applied. If an application owner declines to be patched, it's the CIO's judgement if we want to unplug their server or not. Generally we will, and the application owner relents.
Mind you, we just host applications. There are several layers of border security beyond us on the network, controlled by different organizations, that we have to justify things like port opens to. The list is kept to an utter minimum.
This is only the big picture of what we do, and the details would take more writing than i'm likely to do on a Sunday afternoon.
I have no idea what's going on at DHS, but what I know is that they share installations with my branch of the government, and they have to comply with the same rules when they do.
Security IS taken seriously. This guy has a political problem and that's why he resigned. Everyone wants to make a big splash when they don't get along with their cohorts. Only the classy ones keep their mouths shut. This guy isn't one of those, apparently.
This was a cop and a judge in a corrupt town in Northern New Jersey. Try not to get pulled over here. After getting off on my ticket I figured i'd pay the $100 court costs just to avoid the $500/year insurance surcharge. It wasn't worth it to argue with the judge.
Imagine you get a speeding ticket. You follow 'due process' and fight the ticket. Let's say you win (I have done this). You will be made to pay court costs, which are probably as much as the ticket. If you lose, the fine will be outrageous and the judge might slap community service or some incarceration atop of that if you piss him off too much.
That ticket is just a cop telling you he accuses you of doing this. The DHS people were doing the same thing. If they want to fight it, go to court. Expect to pay a lot of money and really be screwed if you lose, though.
DHS is a multiheaded department that is also responsible for customs enforcement. If that's their job, then it is logical they do it, terrorists or no. Entire offices who specialize in finding illegal imports aren't going to be useful for gun battles against terrorist cells, no?
Taking your logic, i've decided to stop using condoms, stop eating, stop all my bodily functions in fact. After all, there are terrorists in the world.
Limited distro support, slower than molasses, and uses something like Winelib apparently to run the IDE.
I don't think the community would do much with it given all of that.
1. He probably won't have control of Congress.
2. He is in the entertainment industry's back pocket like the rest of the Democrats.
Be real - he will do nothing about it.
From the second page you listed:
;-)
The best candidate seems to be an eutectic solution of sodium and potassium, (NaK). The melting point is as low as -12 C. Its density and viscosity are similar to water but it has a lower specific heat and a much higher thermal conductivity. NaK can be used with nickel, chrome and steel but it is aggressive to cadmium, antimony, bismuth, copper, lead, silicon, tin, and magnesium. It also reacts violently with air and water. It is apparent that this alloy is associated with several material and handling problems. Liquid sodium has nevertheless been used as a coolant for nuclear reactors, which shows that these drawbacks can be managed.
Sure, but do we want to manage flammable liquids that combust when exposed to air in our home? Pumped through our computer? Not to mention that it eats away at silicon and most likely the PCB itself.
I can see why no one considers this.
Old, cynical, unhappy with what the world has become, or more specifically the Macintosh.
It makes me wonder how much of my negative view on computing is perception.
This story discusses a matter that is assuredly still classified. No discussion by those in the know will be permitted at this time. I suspect that in time, the story will be known to be far more complex than is being let on by the single mid-level staff officer that I saw quoted.
Whenever you learn the details about a situation, generally you find that the answer lies somewhere in between the extremes portrayed by those who mouth off to the press.
Why jump on this? Seems to me the voting machines are far more of a problem with their Jet databases just crying out to be compromised.
I smell Microsoft cash somewhere in this mix.
Today's standard of copyright infringement would have been sufficient, I think. Kildall's attorney says pretty much just that.
"persistence". Okay. That very CP/M that IBM and Microsoft stole from him was the basis for DR-DOS (via CP/M-86), which Microsoft proceeded to sandbag via various anticompetitive means, ultimately resulting in a very hefty payoff for Caldera, plus significant contribution to the antitrust case against Microsoft.
He was persistent. He did work hard. He had a slime ball working against him for whom laws are optional.
You need an Office CAL also - mind you the systems already have purchased XP licenses. It's hard to justify to get the same level of service (hopefully).
Motion lotion
I don't read any of the tripe on the bestseller list, but I certainly believe that a large quantity of Americans support the terrorists.
I do believe, however, that most of them are doing so unwittingly. Low intensity warfare is like that. "No one is shooting at me today, so time to get back to partisan bickering and lining my own pockets!!"
Human nature. I still find it reprehensible but whatever, that isn't going to change it.
I could tell them about the chicks who dialed into my BBS who I said "Wanna fuck?" to, and actually showed up.
Incidentally, bring a blanket to the beach, that sand gets everywhere.
"Without problems" is a stretch. I'm not about to deploy it. I don't know of anywhere that has. We use it on systems where the SA wants to run Linux, but with full knowledge that there will (not can, but will) be problems. No deployment to end users at all, and it will probably stay that way.
What happens when they fax over that Word 2000 document that looks like crap with jaggy fonts to someone who ignores it after a casual glance, like I have done with a thousand resumes that just didn't catch my eye?
Yep. Listen, people who think like you make my job searches easier, so please keep doing that. Thanks!
Yes, but you can blame them on Microsoft.
Try doing the same when you were pushing Crossover Office on the user who doesn't want anything but stuff that works. They will ask 'why'. Your explanation will not be good enough in most cases.
It might be, but not in the business world. You send a resume to a headhunter, it had best be in doc format. Ditto for internal documents. You'd best be sure that those documents look right fontwise, also.
Let's bring over the Excel spreadsheet with the clunky macros written in VBA format that they use for payroll.
How about a powerpoint with multi-megabyte embedded graphics. Will the layout be identical? I can tell you now - no.
How about that Access database they use in HR to keep track of some absolutely vital bullshit that I have no idea about...what about that?