Well, isn't it obvious that technology isn't taking care of the problem? It's sad and typical that techs need their hands held by government bodies to take action. NZ's initiative is well overdue, and more power to them.
It would be nice if admins implemented simple things like SPF, reverse lookups, helo checks etc. to qualify the crap that arrives at thier MTA's but it doesn't happen on any useful scale. SMTP is fundamentally flawed, and what's the IT circle jerk doing about it?
What prevents a carrier from refusing to provide DSL service to a savvy consumer who wants stand-alone broadband only for VoIP?'
Nothing, but so what? Just creates a tidy little niche for providers wanting to take advantage of the naked dsl market. You want web hosting ontop of that? No worries, we'll chuck it in for $10. Sure beats your *$200/month commitment for all the other crap you've been told you need (but really don't) from Provider-X.
Unless it becomes illegal to *not* bundle product, i'm not sure I understand how this is a bad thing. The statement is a little reactionary, IMHO.
i'm inclined to the opinion that the most effective way to fight spam is to scrap the SMTP standard in favour of a tighter protocol. SPF is a great idea, works well, but doesn't address the fundamental flaws in the way SMTP works.
All the legislation in the world isn't going to fix the transport mechanism allowing spams to be sent in the first place...
There aren't any real theoretical limits for doing this - our consciousness is just the bi-product of being such a complex organism. The only risk, really, is the loss of information commensurate with the entropy in the transport mechanism (heat, light whatever). You'd probably find after a half dozen teleportations you'd start forgetting your own name, or your joints started to hurt etc...
The internet would be of only passing interest to most (non-academic) men if otherwise.
Exploring ones depravities in a (semi) anonymous environment sure beats the hell out of making your perversions known to the local Adult Shop attendant.
"erm.. yes, i'd like to see your collection of Japanese midget amputee shizer movies please. yes, the ones with the well-hung diarrhetic farm animals..."
the books are simply amazing, probably one of the best pieces of literature written in the 20th century.
If by amazing you mean, 'So boring the thought of extinguishing cigarettes on my eyeballs is preferential to ploughing to the end of another chapter', then yes... you're right. And if by 'best' you mean 'dull', 'drab', 'self-indulgent', 'pretentious' and 'sophomoric' then you're doubly right:). Of course, Tolkien was a brilliant writer and without doubt posessed mastery of the English language, though this didn't really translate to the quality of his story writing. Editors wouldn't have been too expensive in the early 1950's; Surely he could have payed a few hundred pounds to have somebody cut out all the crap for him before he put it to press. Essential reading, none-the-less, but for all the wrong reasons.
The movies on the otherhand are almost a completely different story; with artistic licenses allowing for the creation of rediculously fabricated premises (<rant>Since when did Aragorn fall of a cliff with a Worg ontop of him and get washed-up onshore? wtf? haven't we already seen this crap with Gandalf and the Balrog?</rant>), while simultaneously discarding the core concepts of the title by apparently placing them in the 'too hard and confusing for our poor arty-type brains' basket. By that logic I think we can be safe in knowing that Mr Jackson will skip the Silmarillion in favour of an even more 'dumbed-down' version of The Hobbit. But i guess that's what Jackson gets for having Hollywood own his hairy fat ass.
What would be more 'surprising'... coming into work and finding new patches need to be applied; Or coming into work and finding your IIS server '0wn3d'? I'm assuming this doesn't extend to critical updates. If it does, wtf is M$ thinking??
It just seemed like a typical D&D game (read: FedEx Sim) to me. Suped up, of course with a snazzy 3D engine and the all powerful 3rd Edition Rules. Fundamentally it wasn't any different from *any* other Forgotten Realms game released on PC (or on the tabletop for that matter). I got more enjoyment out of the goldbox sets of the 90's like Pools of Radiance, Savage Frontier and (Dragonlance) Dark Queen of Krynn. The linear nature of the story lines and the primary target audience (13 year olds;) doesn't really make me say 'wow i'm excited about this game' anymore...
Times have changed. D&D has not.
Baldurs Gate was an epic story and and exceptional game, with weeks worth of gameplay. Tactically, the battles were far superior to NWN and really gave you a sense of ownership of the characters; Even though 83% of the party were just NPC's. It kept me hooked for months, through all the expansion packs, and the supreme smugness I felt when my character chose godhood and was reviled by the universe is something I have never felt in any other D&D game. NWN seemed more aimed to multiplay than the dismal SP (single player) experience (which I still haven't bothered completing). Rather than doing a poor job on the SP game in the first iteration, more time should have been spent on adding feature sets to the scripting language and world development tools. Get people hooked on the interface, get them modding like crazy, then show them how it's done properly and wow them with the expansions.
Just some thoughts, but yeah, i agree... NWN sucked arse.
the litigation you propose is against the victim of a crime
You make some fair and valid points. I don't think I communicated my meaning correctly. I was more trying to infer that, yes, crackers and exploiters are fundamentally responsible and should be locked up for their actions; but users can (and should) take simple and proactive measures to minimise the risk of exploitation. It's a complicated issue, with many areas of blame - is the problem exlusively the domain of crackers? the vendors? the users? the architecture? The demographic? All five? A mixture? Who knows?:)
I just think you need to identify potential risks and take measures to avoid them. I realise that you can only take measures within the limits of your knowledge, but to me that doesn't justify not having at least a basic contingency plan.
I think it's more that we have to send a strong message which says 'This is wrong! if you do this you will be punished severely!'.
Not exactly rocket science - If you perpetrate the crime knowing that jail time is the consequence don't expect good representation in a court of law.
It seems to always come back to the fact that people in our incresingly litigious society are unprepared to take responsibility for their actions. An appeal against a speeding fine would not hold up in court with the claim that the speedometer was faulty; as this is the vehicle owners responsibility to maintain. Similarly, if you haven't patched your machine and implemented at least a basic packet filter then you are failing to act responsibly and thus should be liable for incurred damages. (It would be pointless to argue the full extend of damages, of course; but limited liability usually ensues with cases of misappropriation).
I'm not saying we should make everyone take security courses or MCSE's before they purchase an 'Attractive Nuisance'; but surely there must be an onus on self education, risk management and awareness. All pretty basic skills - and not something you usually have to pay money for.
Dedicated synths will always have a more robust sound in the production environment - nothing will ever replace my JP-8000, SP-808 and 202 sequencers and samplers, 12RU effects outboard, mixers, preamp etc for delivering pure, phat, phunkin sound.
But of course, that isn't the point with this product. It's a great entry point for beginners; and may possibly be an excuse for those with weekly gigs to downsize somewhat and not have to lug multiple sequencers around.
Many kudos to the developers; What a breath of fresh air.
I'm far too busy to spare time enough to 'thumb through' dictionaries for your sake. Unfortunate
that the proper use of language has caused you such offence. I was not claiming eloquence, merely what was on
my mind. On a personal note, being a linguistic perfectionist has not hindered my success as a developer.
Quite the contrary.
Hopefully we can both be adults and move past this. I'd like to avoid effort in conversing with you
in future, as my obvious wit, talent and view of the 'hacker' culture has offended you. Unfortunately I
find your sparkling repartee less than stimulating; And while I genuinely appreciate the obsessive time
you must have taken to stalk me and add your 'special touch' to my postings; Our relationship can no
longer continue as it has in the past.
I'm sure you understand how genuinely saddened I am by our break-up; But i think it is time to move on.
Regrettably the nature of the internet (read: reality) infers that you can not be everything to everyone,
and that certain views and opinions you hold are likely to cause offense. That's life; and I understand
this. Please do not expect any furthur correspondence from me. If you wish to continue this aimless
matinee, you are perfectly welcome; though I will not be spending any more time justifying myself to
half-wits.
Apologies friend, but at the end of the day I couldn't care less of your opinion.
Unfortunately my familiarity with illicit substances is rather limited, so comments on the validity of your claim are somewhat... jejune.
However, the tenuous logical basis on which you form your opinions has already been proven in this forum to be nought more than the rants
of a raging simpleton; So lets say for the sake of argument (and in the name of reality) that your claim I am a 'drug addict' is
entirely unfounded, nescient, and for all purposes incorrect. As a point of fact, I don't believe 9-tetrahydrocannabinol has ever
been publicly linked with a case of 'brain melt'. Where did you get this idea from? I'm genuinely interested.
Biggotry works for you; It adds the nuance of jingoism to your already loathsome collection of characteristics, namely ignorance, hypocricy,
puerility, attenuation and swainishness... and i've only just met you.
If you would like to furthur discuss this matter, I await your progression from Anonymous Coward to Certified Pundit with much anticipation.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, isn't it obvious that technology isn't taking care of the problem? It's sad and typical that techs need their hands held by government bodies to take action. NZ's initiative is well overdue, and more power to them.
It would be nice if admins implemented simple things like SPF, reverse lookups, helo checks etc. to qualify the crap that arrives at thier MTA's but it doesn't happen on any useful scale. SMTP is fundamentally flawed, and what's the IT circle jerk doing about it?
sorry Mr Technology - you failed.
What prevents a carrier from refusing to provide DSL service to a savvy consumer who wants stand-alone broadband only for VoIP?'
/. bitches)
Nothing, but so what? Just creates a tidy little niche for providers wanting to take advantage of the naked dsl market. You want web hosting ontop of that? No worries, we'll chuck it in for $10. Sure beats your *$200/month commitment for all the other crap you've been told you need (but really don't) from Provider-X.
Unless it becomes illegal to *not* bundle product, i'm not sure I understand how this is a bad thing. The statement is a little reactionary, IMHO.
(* example only,
absolutely correct.
;)
i'm inclined to the opinion that the most effective way to fight spam is to scrap the SMTP standard in favour of a tighter protocol. SPF is a great idea, works well, but doesn't address the fundamental flaws in the way SMTP works.
All the legislation in the world isn't going to fix the transport mechanism allowing spams to be sent in the first place...
just my 2c
offtopic parent?? learn how to read fuck-tards.
Case in point :
http://antispam.yahoo.com/faqs#a10
erm...
#!/usr/bin/perl
($virtual, $domain) = split("@", $ARGV[0]);
($basename, $keyword) = split("-", $virtual);
print $basename."@".$domain;
nice one Yahoo... keep up the good work.
There aren't any real theoretical limits for doing this - our consciousness is just the bi-product of being such a complex organism. The only risk, really, is the loss of information commensurate with the entropy in the transport mechanism (heat, light whatever). You'd probably find after a half dozen teleportations you'd start forgetting your own name, or your joints started to hurt etc...
The internet would be of only passing interest to most (non-academic) men if otherwise.
Exploring ones depravities in a (semi) anonymous environment sure beats the hell out of making your perversions known to the local Adult Shop attendant.
"erm.. yes, i'd like to see your collection of Japanese midget amputee shizer movies please. yes, the ones with the well-hung diarrhetic farm animals..."
Yes. well. you get the picture.
If Hitler were alive today, he'd be a proud American.
From what? An anal raping by culture fuckers like the US? Gimme a break. The world would survive quite happily without 'yall'.
the books are simply amazing, probably one of the best pieces of literature written in the 20th century.
:). Of course, Tolkien was a brilliant writer and without doubt posessed mastery of the English language, though this didn't really translate to the quality of his story writing. Editors wouldn't have been too expensive in the early 1950's; Surely he could have payed a few hundred pounds to have somebody cut out all the crap for him before he put it to press. Essential reading, none-the-less, but for all the wrong reasons.
If by amazing you mean, 'So boring the thought of extinguishing cigarettes on my eyeballs is preferential to ploughing to the end of another chapter', then yes... you're right. And if by 'best' you mean 'dull', 'drab', 'self-indulgent', 'pretentious' and 'sophomoric' then you're doubly right
The movies on the otherhand are almost a completely different story; with artistic licenses allowing for the creation of rediculously fabricated premises (<rant>Since when did Aragorn fall of a cliff with a Worg ontop of him and get washed-up onshore? wtf? haven't we already seen this crap with Gandalf and the Balrog?</rant>), while simultaneously discarding the core concepts of the title by apparently placing them in the 'too hard and confusing for our poor arty-type brains' basket. By that logic I think we can be safe in knowing that Mr Jackson will skip the Silmarillion in favour of an even more 'dumbed-down' version of The Hobbit. But i guess that's what Jackson gets for having Hollywood own his hairy fat ass.
What would be more 'surprising'... coming into work and finding new patches need to be applied; Or coming into work and finding your IIS server '0wn3d'? I'm assuming this doesn't extend to critical updates. If it does, wtf is M$ thinking??
Perhaps we can find new ways to ./ them
So you're going to wait until the bandwagon is already rolling then, rather than actually drive it?
Doesn't really make much business sense...
What's to stop somebody reverse engineering the handshake? Or the K-lite author releasing his code so others can continue his/her/its legacy?
Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip?
To get to the same side.
badoom-tishhhhh!
1 +1 = 3, for larger values of 1
please... make me stop....
It just seemed like a typical D&D game (read: FedEx Sim) to me. Suped up, of course with a snazzy 3D engine and the all powerful 3rd Edition Rules. Fundamentally it wasn't any different from *any* other Forgotten Realms game released on PC (or on the tabletop for that matter). I got more enjoyment out of the goldbox sets of the 90's like Pools of Radiance, Savage Frontier and (Dragonlance) Dark Queen of Krynn. The linear nature of the story lines and the primary target audience (13 year olds ;) doesn't really make me say 'wow i'm excited about this game' anymore...
Times have changed. D&D has not.
Baldurs Gate was an epic story and and exceptional game, with weeks worth of gameplay. Tactically, the battles were far superior to NWN and really gave you a sense of ownership of the characters; Even though 83% of the party were just NPC's.
It kept me hooked for months, through all the expansion packs, and the supreme smugness I felt when my character chose godhood and was reviled by the universe is something I have never felt in any other D&D game.
NWN seemed more aimed to multiplay than the dismal SP (single player) experience (which I still haven't bothered completing). Rather than doing a poor job on the SP game in the first iteration, more time should have been spent on adding feature sets to the scripting language and world development tools. Get people hooked on the interface, get them modding like crazy, then show them how it's done properly and wow them with the expansions.
Just some thoughts, but yeah, i agree... NWN sucked arse.
You can read Mark Lathams comments here.
spammers usually hire VERY good technicians and pay them very well
Do you know anyone who's hiring?
All you need is some security clearance to get these guys out of action. I know i wouldn't mind taking the fall.
At least Jackson was committed, it wasn't just a string of pussy jokes.
the litigation you propose is against the victim of a crime
:)
You make some fair and valid points. I don't think I communicated my meaning correctly. I was more trying to infer that, yes, crackers and exploiters are fundamentally responsible and should be locked up for their actions; but users can (and should) take simple and proactive measures to minimise the risk of exploitation. It's a complicated issue, with many areas of blame - is the problem exlusively the domain of crackers? the vendors? the users? the architecture? The demographic? All five? A mixture? Who knows?
I just think you need to identify potential risks and take measures to avoid them. I realise that you can only take measures within the limits of your knowledge, but to me that doesn't justify not having at least a basic contingency plan.
I think it's more that we have to send a strong message which says 'This is wrong! if you do this you will be punished severely!'.
Not exactly rocket science - If you perpetrate the crime knowing that jail time is the consequence don't expect good representation in a court of law.
It seems to always come back to the fact that people in our incresingly litigious society are unprepared to take responsibility for their actions. An appeal against a speeding fine would not hold up in court with the claim that the speedometer was faulty; as this is the vehicle owners responsibility to maintain. Similarly, if you haven't patched your machine and implemented at least a basic packet filter then you are failing to act responsibly and thus should be liable for incurred damages. (It would be pointless to argue the full extend of damages, of course; but limited liability usually ensues with cases of misappropriation).
I'm not saying we should make everyone take security courses or MCSE's before they purchase an 'Attractive Nuisance'; but surely there must be an onus on self education, risk management and awareness. All pretty basic skills - and not something you usually have to pay money for.
Dedicated synths will always have a more robust sound in the production environment - nothing will ever replace my JP-8000, SP-808 and 202 sequencers and samplers, 12RU effects outboard, mixers, preamp etc for delivering pure, phat, phunkin sound.
But of course, that isn't the point with this product. It's a great entry point for beginners; and may possibly be an excuse for those with weekly gigs to downsize somewhat and not have to lug multiple sequencers around.
Many kudos to the developers; What a breath of fresh air.
I'm far too busy to spare time enough to 'thumb through' dictionaries for your sake. Unfortunate that the proper use of language has caused you such offence. I was not claiming eloquence, merely what was on my mind. On a personal note, being a linguistic perfectionist has not hindered my success as a developer.
.D.
Quite the contrary.
Hopefully we can both be adults and move past this. I'd like to avoid effort in conversing with you in future, as my obvious wit, talent and view of the 'hacker' culture has offended you. Unfortunately I find your sparkling repartee less than stimulating; And while I genuinely appreciate the obsessive time you must have taken to stalk me and add your 'special touch' to my postings; Our relationship can no longer continue as it has in the past.
I'm sure you understand how genuinely saddened I am by our break-up; But i think it is time to move on.
Regrettably the nature of the internet (read: reality) infers that you can not be everything to everyone, and that certain views and opinions you hold are likely to cause offense. That's life; and I understand this. Please do not expect any furthur correspondence from me. If you wish to continue this aimless matinee, you are perfectly welcome; though I will not be spending any more time justifying myself to half-wits.
Apologies friend, but at the end of the day I couldn't care less of your opinion.
Goodbye and good luck.
Unfortunately my familiarity with illicit substances is rather limited, so comments on the validity of your claim are somewhat... jejune. However, the tenuous logical basis on which you form your opinions has already been proven in this forum to be nought more than the rants of a raging simpleton; So lets say for the sake of argument (and in the name of reality) that your claim I am a 'drug addict' is entirely unfounded, nescient, and for all purposes incorrect. As a point of fact, I don't believe 9-tetrahydrocannabinol has ever been publicly linked with a case of 'brain melt'. Where did you get this idea from? I'm genuinely interested.
.D. xoxo
Biggotry works for you; It adds the nuance of jingoism to your already loathsome collection of characteristics, namely ignorance, hypocricy, puerility, attenuation and swainishness... and i've only just met you.
If you would like to furthur discuss this matter, I await your progression from Anonymous Coward to Certified Pundit with much anticipation.
Best regards,
xoxo