The person who leaked this memo did so for a reason. He believes that things like confidential notices to Mozillians and planned press releases a few days later are part of where Mozilla is going wrong. The community should be informed and their feedback should be discussed openly before such decisions are made. The way that Mozilla operates today is more like any other large and secretive company than a community-driven effort. Which is, arguably, what they have become (at least judging from their revenue and the large number of employees).
Wherever you stand on this decision, the person who pasted the confidential message to Pastebin didn't do so out of spite, or because he was being "a dick", but because he's concerned about what Mozilla is becoming. Here's the commentary at the end of the leaked memo:
And a more broadly focused post script that won't necessarily make
sense to those outside Mozilla (or even a good chunk of those within):
The fact that this message was marked "confidential" is part of a
deeply, deeply troubling trend. The biggest irony? Uninitiated
employees--those being discussed in.governance right now, and who
feel that there's actually quite a lot at Mozilla that shouldn't
happen in the public--will point to this incident to try to make their
point, in a tremendous display of Not Fucking Getting It.
Let's rewind a year or three, MoCo.
Editing the message source directly is another poorly designed dialog, it shouldn't be a dialog at all
This sounds tremendously useful, but I can't find any way to edit the message source at all. All I see is the "View source" menu item (or Ctrl+U shortcut), which gives me a read-only view of the source. Can you please explain how you get to a source editor?
Council delegates applauded warmly as representatives of United States of America were welcomed to the Council session for the first time as official Observers. This new status follows the agreement between CERN and the United States for a contribution of $531 million to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project which was signed in Washington on 8 December (see PR07.97).
It's quite likely that more funds have been contributed by the US in the 15 years since then.
So thank you for your contribution. You were part of the LHC project from the start.
[the Higgs field]... then fills the universe and binds to particles giving them mass.
I'm not a physicist, so please correct me if I misunderstood. Are you saying that this field surrounds us and penetrates us, and that it binds the galaxy together?
Damn it, this really bothers me. I'm usually very careful to check my theories and hunches before I post a comment, but I really messed that one up. Now instead of modding me down, like I asked, people are modding it up. Apologies to Roberto Lim and Robin Miller, and anybody who read what I wrote but missed the AC's correction.
I want to blame the Euro soccer finals and copious amounts of alcohol, but I should know better than to drink and post.
Just for the record, "acknowledged Mobile Raptor blogger Roberto Lim" = Roblimo (357), former Slashdot editor.
TFA follows the same scheme as many recent Slashdot submissions - ask an inflammatory question (to which to answer is usually "no") to generate page views and a heated discussion. I read (part of) TFA, and the only thing it does is present some pros and some cons and leave the question open.
Right. It would be interesting if we could use something like this to train Photoshop filters to get closer to the result we want...
On a side note, one of the example photo conversions on page 7 of the PDF (or here from the third link) has the i-programmer writer commenting "I can't help but think that the bird looks a lot like something from Angry Birds...". That's not an accident: the original source image is this photo of a red cardinal bird, which was photoshopped by DeviantArt user mohamedraoof to look like a "Natural Angry Bird". All three images, the original photo, the deviation, and the sumi-e version look very nice in their own way.
When the drone loses communication for a length of time it is programmed to return to base and land unless it reestablishes communications and receives alternate orders. But it uses GPS to find out where the base is.
The drone knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't, or where it isn't from where it is (whichever is greater), it obtains a difference or deviation. The guidance subsystem uses deviation to generate corrective commands to drive the drone from a position where it is to a position where it isn't and arriving at a position where it wasn't, it now is. Consequently, the position where it is is now the position that it wasn't, and it follows that the position that it was is now the position that it isn't.
In the event that the position that it is in is not the position that it wasn't, the system has acquired a variation, the variation being the difference between where the drone is and where it wasn't. If variation is considered to be a significant factor, it too may be corrected by the GEA. However, the drone must also know where it was. The drone guidance computer scenario works as follows. Because a variation has modified some of the information the drone has obtained, it is not sure just where it is. However, it is sure where it isn't, within reason, and it knows where it was. It now subtracts where it should be from where it wasn't, or vice versa, and by differentiating this from the algebraic sum of where it shouldn't be and where it was, it is able to obtain the deviation and its variation, which is called error.
[...] Mr. Dotcom - who has yet to be proved guilty of any crime [...]
Let's keep the facts straight: he has been convicted for computer fraud, trading credit cards, insider trading, and embezzlement.
He hasn't been convicted of any crime in the MegaUpload case, yet, but that's not possible before there's a trial.
Notwithstanding the fuckup by the FBI and NZ authorities in this case, the question of his guilt will be decided much later.
Just don't paint the man as a saint, cause he isn't.
What people object to is not that Apple is taking good ideas and improving on them, but that they then turn around and try to prevent others from doing the same. "No, these are MY rounded corners. You can't have them. Even if our design was inspired by German industrial designers from the 60s." That's not just silly, it's dishonest and cowardly.
You're right, that's the most important question. What do you do once you've got their crown jewels? Me, I'm a self-employed contractor. Half of the time, I get called in to work on fairly large projects where nobody expects me - or even wants me - to be on location all of the time. So I work from my office or from home. And sure enough, I've got their code, their passwords, and usually (if it fits on my laptop) their database. As an external contractor, I don't get fired. My contract just ends. This occurs far more frequently than employees get fired (I hope). Do I delete all of the data after I complete phase 8 of project X, while I wait if/when they'll call me back for phase 9? No, I don't. I keep it all. The only thing I worry about is that it's stored safely (meaning full disk encryption, at the least, and disconnected encrypted drives for old projects).
I have no idea how much all of that data would be worth to the right (wrong) people. I never really thought about it. When somebody _gives_ me their passwords and/or their data, that implies a level of trust I just couldn't violate (unless forced, but that's not what we're talking about here). I enjoy cracking passwords and finding exploits as much as the next guy, but once somebody trusts me, they're off limits.
I don't know. In the last 15 years I've gotten along fine with each and every customer I've had. Some were more difficult than others, but there has never been a situation where I was even remotely tempted to betray them or sell them out. Might be a different story if I were working for organized crime, or some other organization whose morals I deeply object to, but as an external contractor I get to choose my customers. If I ever get sucked into something like that.. I have no idea what I'd do. I probably wouldn't pull a Bradley Manning, but who knows... Whistleblowing is one thing, blackmail is quite the opposite.
That's insane... My current plan has 2000 free minutes of talk (to any network, excluding foreign nets), 2000 free SMS (same; only sending costs, receiving is free), and 4GB high-speed data per month. After the 4GB are used up, I get unlimited data with less bandwidth for the rest of the month (although in practice, 4GB is plenty). The plan binds me for two years, because I opted for the "free" Samsung Galaxy S2 phone. I pay 20 € per month, including taxes. Service provider: "3" (Hutchinson) in Austria.
I cannot believe that the rates in the US are so much higher... usually everything is cheaper over there (except getting sick).
Do you also wish that's, that you, you had, you'd, you would, you could, you do, you wi-, you once, you, you could do so, you, you do, you could, you, you want, you want them to do you so much you could do anything?
Amazingly on topic in a story about speech impaired toddlers...
Actually, IIRC theres good reason NOT to believe that there is a war. As I recall there are several clues point to the fact that there simply isnt any war, and that the entire thing is a hoax to keep the people under control.
I agree, that's how it feels when you read the book. But if true - why switch enemies periodically, only to cover it up later and deny it ever happened? The system would work just fine, and even save some trouble (altering records and disappearing people), if the enemy was always Eurasia.
Yes, rules like that are not uncommon. They have their uses in environments where you can't use proper encryption. However, I can see several disadvantages to your method:
For one, the dependency on a single physical storage medium (paper notebook) is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it denies remote attackers the option to download a complete list of hashes, but on the other hand, it also denies you the possibility of retrieving your passwords when you don't have the notebook with you. Notebooks can also get lost or misplaced, they can be stolen, and they can burn. There's no easy way to make automatic backups of your password list.
More relevant to your particular system is that your rules can be reverse engineered. If someone does have access to the list, they only need a few compromised accounts (or planted passwords) to decypher the rest. If they're lucky, they may get away with a single known password. A rule like "ignore all the odd digits" can easily be cracked when the attacker knows the actual password and your garbled reminder - especially when you write down which rules you applied to it.
All in all, you're better off with a digital format and strong encryption. For passwords which are so sensitive that you can't even trust something like KeePassX (and your OS, and all the drivers on your system, etc etc) - don't write them down anywhere.
I use KeePassX, myself. The database file is in a Subversion repository. But I have to admit that one part of my setup is completely insecure: I periodically print out a full list of passwords, put it in a sealed envelope, and place it in a relative's safe. This way, if something happens to me, they can access (and close, if necessary) all of my accounts.
Good point. Lack of humor would be one indication, I suppose, but I have to admit it's hard to distinguish between tongue-in-cheek and an unintentionally comic position.
Both creationism and the FES are prime examples of pseudoscience, and both claim to be serious. With the FES, I get the impression that some people are playing out a thought experiment ("Imagine the Earth was flat. How would we have to adjust the universe to make this work?"), whereas creationists sound more like, "we believe the Earth is 6000 years old, and you can't disprove it". Motivation is another indication. The Flat Earth supporters are supposedly doing to "uncover the truth, and the global conspiracy". Creationists do it because God said so.
These points don't work well with other conspiracy theories, like 9/11 truthers. If I can't find elements of satire on those pages, the only way to distinguish between trolls and a crackpots is context.
Come on, don't abuse the Flat Earth Society as an example for idiocy and denial. That website is brilliantly done. They say (in their FAQ) it's not a joke site, but that only means they're trolling you with a straight face. If you look closely enough, you find more than enough hints that the whole society is part elaborate hoax and part intellectual challenge for its supposed "proponents". The same page, the FAQ, has this gem, for example:
Q: "What is underneath the Earth?"
A: This is unknown. Some believe it to be just rocks, others believe the Earth rests on the back of four elephants and a turtle.
I rest my case.
If they weren't currently out of t-shirts I would have bought one.
I'm not sure how to interpret your question... I never said that the US were worse than the rest of the world, that would be ridiculous. Just as ridiculous as relocating your family because of some incompetent TSA agents. If you're unhappy where you live, you need to travel abroad and see for yourself. Just don't judge a whole nation by the behavior of its airport security staff.
Slashdot Mirror
He isn't completely gone. He just looks smaller, now that you're all grown up.
The good news is he may have a twin brother, so you get two dogs for the price of one.
The person who leaked this memo did so for a reason. He believes that things like confidential notices to Mozillians and planned press releases a few days later are part of where Mozilla is going wrong. The community should be informed and their feedback should be discussed openly before such decisions are made. The way that Mozilla operates today is more like any other large and secretive company than a community-driven effort. Which is, arguably, what they have become (at least judging from their revenue and the large number of employees).
Wherever you stand on this decision, the person who pasted the confidential message to Pastebin didn't do so out of spite, or because he was being "a dick", but because he's concerned about what Mozilla is becoming. Here's the commentary at the end of the leaked memo:
CJ
Editing the message source directly is another poorly designed dialog, it shouldn't be a dialog at all
This sounds tremendously useful, but I can't find any way to edit the message source at all. All I see is the "View source" menu item (or Ctrl+U shortcut), which gives me a read-only view of the source. Can you please explain how you get to a source editor?
Assuming you're in the US, that's just not true. The United States have had observer status at CERN since 1997.
Here's a quote from the relevant press release:
It's quite likely that more funds have been contributed by the US in the 15 years since then.
So thank you for your contribution. You were part of the LHC project from the start.
CJ
[the Higgs field] ... then fills the universe and binds to particles giving them mass.
I'm not a physicist, so please correct me if I misunderstood. Are you saying that this field surrounds us and penetrates us, and that it binds the galaxy together?
Damn it, this really bothers me. I'm usually very careful to check my theories and hunches before I post a comment, but I really messed that one up. Now instead of modding me down, like I asked, people are modding it up. Apologies to Roberto Lim and Robin Miller, and anybody who read what I wrote but missed the AC's correction.
I want to blame the Euro soccer finals and copious amounts of alcohol, but I should know better than to drink and post.
You're correct, I was jumping to conclusions. Please mod my post down.
Agree.
Just for the record, "acknowledged Mobile Raptor blogger Roberto Lim" = Roblimo (357), former Slashdot editor.
TFA follows the same scheme as many recent Slashdot submissions - ask an inflammatory question (to which to answer is usually "no") to generate page views and a heated discussion. I read (part of) TFA, and the only thing it does is present some pros and some cons and leave the question open.
In summary, nothing to see here, move along.
Right. It would be interesting if we could use something like this to train Photoshop filters to get closer to the result we want...
On a side note, one of the example photo conversions on page 7 of the PDF (or here from the third link) has the i-programmer writer commenting "I can't help but think that the bird looks a lot like something from Angry Birds...". That's not an accident: the original source image is this photo of a red cardinal bird, which was photoshopped by DeviantArt user mohamedraoof to look like a "Natural Angry Bird". All three images, the original photo, the deviation, and the sumi-e version look very nice in their own way.
Actually, I would put the fault on the complainer here....
So would I.
I especially like how he asked Rasmus Lerdorf to "escalate this bug to someone"...
CJ
When the drone loses communication for a length of time it is programmed to return to base and land unless it reestablishes communications and receives alternate orders. But it uses GPS to find out where the base is.
The drone knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't, or where it isn't from where it is (whichever is greater), it obtains a difference or deviation. The guidance subsystem uses deviation to generate corrective commands to drive the drone from a position where it is to a position where it isn't and arriving at a position where it wasn't, it now is. Consequently, the position where it is is now the position that it wasn't, and it follows that the position that it was is now the position that it isn't.
In the event that the position that it is in is not the position that it wasn't, the system has acquired a variation, the variation being the difference between where the drone is and where it wasn't. If variation is considered to be a significant factor, it too may be corrected by the GEA. However, the drone must also know where it was. The drone guidance computer scenario works as follows. Because a variation has modified some of the information the drone has obtained, it is not sure just where it is. However, it is sure where it isn't, within reason, and it knows where it was. It now subtracts where it should be from where it wasn't, or vice versa, and by differentiating this from the algebraic sum of where it shouldn't be and where it was, it is able to obtain the deviation and its variation, which is called error.
[...] Mr. Dotcom - who has yet to be proved guilty of any crime [...]
Let's keep the facts straight: he has been convicted for computer fraud, trading credit cards, insider trading, and embezzlement.
He hasn't been convicted of any crime in the MegaUpload case, yet, but that's not possible before there's a trial.
Notwithstanding the fuckup by the FBI and NZ authorities in this case, the question of his guilt will be decided much later.
Just don't paint the man as a saint, cause he isn't.
Just arrest all LISP programmers and beat them up until they Smalltalk.
What people object to is not that Apple is taking good ideas and improving on them, but that they then turn around and try to prevent others from doing the same. "No, these are MY rounded corners. You can't have them. Even if our design was inspired by German industrial designers from the 60s." That's not just silly, it's dishonest and cowardly.
You're right, that's the most important question. What do you do once you've got their crown jewels? Me, I'm a self-employed contractor. Half of the time, I get called in to work on fairly large projects where nobody expects me - or even wants me - to be on location all of the time. So I work from my office or from home. And sure enough, I've got their code, their passwords, and usually (if it fits on my laptop) their database. As an external contractor, I don't get fired. My contract just ends. This occurs far more frequently than employees get fired (I hope). Do I delete all of the data after I complete phase 8 of project X, while I wait if/when they'll call me back for phase 9? No, I don't. I keep it all. The only thing I worry about is that it's stored safely (meaning full disk encryption, at the least, and disconnected encrypted drives for old projects).
I have no idea how much all of that data would be worth to the right (wrong) people. I never really thought about it. When somebody _gives_ me their passwords and/or their data, that implies a level of trust I just couldn't violate (unless forced, but that's not what we're talking about here). I enjoy cracking passwords and finding exploits as much as the next guy, but once somebody trusts me, they're off limits.
I don't know. In the last 15 years I've gotten along fine with each and every customer I've had. Some were more difficult than others, but there has never been a situation where I was even remotely tempted to betray them or sell them out. Might be a different story if I were working for organized crime, or some other organization whose morals I deeply object to, but as an external contractor I get to choose my customers. If I ever get sucked into something like that.. I have no idea what I'd do. I probably wouldn't pull a Bradley Manning, but who knows... Whistleblowing is one thing, blackmail is quite the opposite.
CJ
Patented does not mean better.
But it does mean more expensive.
That's insane... My current plan has 2000 free minutes of talk (to any network, excluding foreign nets), 2000 free SMS (same; only sending costs, receiving is free), and 4GB high-speed data per month. After the 4GB are used up, I get unlimited data with less bandwidth for the rest of the month (although in practice, 4GB is plenty). The plan binds me for two years, because I opted for the "free" Samsung Galaxy S2 phone. I pay 20 € per month, including taxes. Service provider: "3" (Hutchinson) in Austria.
I cannot believe that the rates in the US are so much higher... usually everything is cheaper over there (except getting sick).
Do you also wish that's, that you, you had, you'd, you would, you could, you do, you wi-, you once, you, you could do so, you, you do, you could, you, you want, you want them to do you so much you could do anything?
Amazingly on topic in a story about speech impaired toddlers...
I'm going to hell.
Actually, IIRC theres good reason NOT to believe that there is a war. As I recall there are several clues point to the fact that there simply isnt any war, and that the entire thing is a hoax to keep the people under control.
I agree, that's how it feels when you read the book. But if true - why switch enemies periodically, only to cover it up later and deny it ever happened? The system would work just fine, and even save some trouble (altering records and disappearing people), if the enemy was always Eurasia.
If I ever catch a bass with a serial number, I'll give up fishing.
Stranger things have been known to happen...
Yes, rules like that are not uncommon. They have their uses in environments where you can't use proper encryption. However, I can see several disadvantages to your method:
For one, the dependency on a single physical storage medium (paper notebook) is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it denies remote attackers the option to download a complete list of hashes, but on the other hand, it also denies you the possibility of retrieving your passwords when you don't have the notebook with you. Notebooks can also get lost or misplaced, they can be stolen, and they can burn. There's no easy way to make automatic backups of your password list.
More relevant to your particular system is that your rules can be reverse engineered. If someone does have access to the list, they only need a few compromised accounts (or planted passwords) to decypher the rest. If they're lucky, they may get away with a single known password. A rule like "ignore all the odd digits" can easily be cracked when the attacker knows the actual password and your garbled reminder - especially when you write down which rules you applied to it.
All in all, you're better off with a digital format and strong encryption. For passwords which are so sensitive that you can't even trust something like KeePassX (and your OS, and all the drivers on your system, etc etc) - don't write them down anywhere.
I use KeePassX, myself. The database file is in a Subversion repository. But I have to admit that one part of my setup is completely insecure: I periodically print out a full list of passwords, put it in a sealed envelope, and place it in a relative's safe. This way, if something happens to me, they can access (and close, if necessary) all of my accounts.
Good point. Lack of humor would be one indication, I suppose, but I have to admit it's hard to distinguish between tongue-in-cheek and an unintentionally comic position.
Both creationism and the FES are prime examples of pseudoscience, and both claim to be serious. With the FES, I get the impression that some people are playing out a thought experiment ("Imagine the Earth was flat. How would we have to adjust the universe to make this work?"), whereas creationists sound more like, "we believe the Earth is 6000 years old, and you can't disprove it". Motivation is another indication. The Flat Earth supporters are supposedly doing to "uncover the truth, and the global conspiracy". Creationists do it because God said so.
These points don't work well with other conspiracy theories, like 9/11 truthers. If I can't find elements of satire on those pages, the only way to distinguish between trolls and a crackpots is context.
CJ
there are still Flat Earth believers.
Come on, don't abuse the Flat Earth Society as an example for idiocy and denial. That website is brilliantly done. They say (in their FAQ) it's not a joke site, but that only means they're trolling you with a straight face. If you look closely enough, you find more than enough hints that the whole society is part elaborate hoax and part intellectual challenge for its supposed "proponents". The same page, the FAQ, has this gem, for example:
Q: "What is underneath the Earth?"
A: This is unknown. Some believe it to be just rocks, others believe the Earth rests on the back of four elephants and a turtle.
I rest my case.
If they weren't currently out of t-shirts I would have bought one.
CJ
Biogas generators, as in... cows?
I'm not sure how to interpret your question... I never said that the US were worse than the rest of the world, that would be ridiculous. Just as ridiculous as relocating your family because of some incompetent TSA agents. If you're unhappy where you live, you need to travel abroad and see for yourself. Just don't judge a whole nation by the behavior of its airport security staff.