Anyone who's imagenation peaks at nameing one of the most significant viruses of out time as 'MS Blaster' deserves to get caught!
Well...Microsoft has been writing the Virus called "MS Windows" for years and nobody's prosecuted them.
A Lesson from the Movie entitled, "Office Space"
on
Blaster Writer Caught
·
· Score: 1
Since the laws have gotten tougher in the United States, Crackers and Virus Writers are no longer sent to "Club Fed" - they are incarcerated in "Federal Pound-you-in-the-ass Prison".
I guess, he'd really be a "Cracker" then, huh? (so to speak)
Interesting posts on this board concerning the evils of weapons research, but the question remains: what do we do about it? Perhaps we could peaceably approach those foreign powers whose philosophies are concerned with our destruction, but has that ever worked? Did it work with Hitler, Stalin? Did it work for anyone when Imperial Rome "came to town": and conquered hundreds of people? Of course it didn't. If someone is hell-bent on your destruction, then no amount of pleading, reasoning, negotiation or sacrifice will save you: it's a fact as old as recorded history. And they will continue to develop weapons.
Perhaps we could ignore the situation and hope it all goes away. Of course, this approach only works if there is a power willing to make the sacrifices to keep you free - like today's United States. Of course, the United States is primarily concerned with it's own self-interest, so you'd better hope that your interests stay common - otherwise, you are toast, as the United States will not play World Cop everywhere and all the time - no country would. Ultimately, for this reason, this approach doesn't work as the miseries of history's billions of conquered people can attest.
Perhaps we could try to change our Foreign Policy? Again, this approach can be lumped with the first - "the pleading, reasoning, negotiation or sacrifice" solution that has forever ultimately failed. Hey...did it stop Hitler, Rome, Greece or the other conquers? Did it - all that money, aid and patronizing - persuade North Korea's Kim Il Jong from developing nukes and threatening to turn his his neighbor's cities into "...lakes of fire"?
Perhaps if we didn't develop weapons, then the technology wouldn't be available? Well...there's a strange thought as Russia had ICBM capability before we did and Nazi Germany developed the Jet Engine, Crude Radar, Modern Rocketry, Inertial Navigation and the Panzer Tank without our help: borrowed or otherwise. No, the bad guys will keep developing arms with or without or help - that's a historical fact.
Perhaps we can take out all the bad guys at one stroke. Yeah, with nukes this is close to possible, but would it be accepted? Look at the furor that taking out a couple of bad countries lately (i.e., Iraq and Afghanistan) have cause and ask you if it can be applied indefinitely. As of this moment, we know that Iran is developing Nuclear reactors (the Enrichment Kind that can make Bomb fuel) and yet we are hesitant to fully address the fact of what will probably have to be done: bomb those plants to smithereens. Of course, countries like Israel can afford no illusions: they know that to lose once is to lose everything. So...the world is probably relying on them to bomb the Iran's reactors like they did Iraq's reactors 20-years-ago. Then, the world will point at Israel with righteous indignation and say, "...you terrible war-mongering, land-stealing Jews", while quietly thinking, "..thank you, Israel, for your courage": the is the typical moralizing reaction of those so-called intellectual cretins who think they are "...above it all".
Or, Perhaps we can do what we are doing now: stay prepared and stay ahead. It's not an ideal solution - peace is the ideal solution - but it does seem to keep us ready for what comes and, ultimately, able to deter wars before they start. Say what you want, but or nuclear and conventional development programs probably saved us from a very nasty war with the Soviets. Hey, when Ronald Reagan was in office, I thought he was just a loud-mouthed, saber-rattling cowboy, but now I realized that he was a man ahead of his time when it came to deterrence (i.e. preventing war). Seems like relatively free and honest societies can typically out-produce, and subsequently out militarize", their foes and, as a result, either drive them into bankruptcy or submission (change their ways). This is exactly what ended the Cold War without a shot; the Soviets felt they could not militarily keep up with us and that we would continue to outpace them militarily as time progressed. In other words, conviction and long-term focus peacefully won the day - the exact elements we need now to continue to develop armament, and the reason we should continue to develop arms.
This isn't 1984, and this young kid certainly isn't Winston. Hey...it wasn't bomb-making, or anarcy, or anything else that got this kid in trouble - this stuff is all over the web and has been for years. Specifically, it was advocating the violent overthrow of the United States Government that got this kid toasted.
Advocating the violent overthrow of the United States government never has been, or will be, legally protected constitutional amendment and associated laws which gaurd freedom of speech, and I'm amazed that so many penis-brains on this board don't get it.
From reading the articles you listed, it appears that there is a lot of credible evidence to support the Hypothesis of: 1. there was a problem with the foam comming off, and 2. the detaching foam destroyrd tiles and created a possible danger. Additionally, NASA Administartors MUST have known about it for some of these articles were posted on NASA websites by NASA reps (what, NASA Admins let people publish "unapproved" pages on thier websites?).
Anyawys, it appears that the problem was NEVER fixed. Instead, NASA's attitude - as always - is "...well, you can't prove it will cause harm!"
Well...I can't prove that my servers are going to crash either, so...I don't have to install the latest patches or run backups. And that's just what NASA appears to have done: They didn't "Patch" the problem and they didn't have a "Backup" plan. Christ, most "wet behind the ears MCSEs" know better than this!
By Greg Katnik http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/shuttle/team/kat nik.html
December 23, l997
STS-87 rolled to a stop; the mission was complete! That statement is true for the flight of the Columbia, however, a new mission began when the wheels of the Columbia came to a stop: the post flight inspections. My division is responsible for the overall analysis of these inspections and we insure that all changes made, due to these inspections, do not affect other areas that may jeopardize the flight-worthiness of the shuttle. This division does not focus on one specific area, but analyzes all information and ensures that all aspects are kept in balance.
Immediately after the Columbia rolled to a stop, the inspection crews began the process of the post flight inspection. As soon as the orbiter was approached, light spots in the tiles were observed indicating that there had been significant damage to the tiles. The tiles do a fantastic job of repelling heat, however they are very fragile and susceptible to impact damage. Damage numbering up to forty tiles is considered normal on each mission due to ice dropping off of the external tank (ET) and plume re-circulation causing this debris to impact with the tiles. But the extent of damage at the conclusion of this mission was not "normal". The pattern of hits did not follow aerodynamic expectations and the number, size and severity of hits were abnormal. Three hundred and eight hits were counted during the inspection, one-hundred and thirty two (132) were greater than one inch. Some of the hits measured fifteen (15) inches long with depths measuring up to one and one-half (1 1/2) inches. Considering that the depth of the tile is two (2) inches, a 75% penetration depth had been reached.Over one hundred (100) tiles have been removed from the Columbia because they were irreparable. The inspection revealed the damage, now the "detective process" began.
During the STS-87 mission, there was a change made on the external tank. Because of NASA's goal to use environmentally friendly products, a new method of "foaming" the external tank had been used for this mission and the STS-86 mission. It is suspected that large amounts of foam separated from the external tank and impacted the orbiter. This caused significant damage to the protective tiles of the orbiter. Foam cause damage to a ceramic tile?! That seems unlikly, however, when that foam is combined with a flight velocity between speeds of MACH two to MACH four, it becomes a projectile with incredible damage potential. The big question? At what phase of the flight did it happen and what changes need to be made to correct this for future missions? I will explain the entire process.
Although the prospect of other stars that are capabale of supporting Earth-like planets is facinating, we need to ask some fundamental questions: 1. Do they also host responsible civilizations; 2. If not, then are these civilizations developing Weapons of Mass Destructrion? If so, then it is imperative that we begin preparations immediatly. If not, then it is still our moral obligation to eventually begin the design and test of Planet-Cracking Weapons to neutralize whatever violent civilizations we may encounter.
In the meantime, I believe we should also implement a 7/24/365 inter-steller broadcast of our intentions so that civilizations who could cause potential conflict will "get the message": "Dont F__K with Earth". Specifically, I reccomend that we immediatly begin to repeatedly broadcast the "Planet Cracking" scene in "Star Wars"; although we don't have this technology yet - the Death Star, the aliens won't know that: it will be an adequate bluff.
Somehow, the main topics on this board center about "Unions" and the rigors of "Factory Piece Work" when the article in question never said anything about "Unions" or such. Obviously, the Jackasses that started many of these off topic threads have done it to all you geeks again: thrown sand in your eyes so that you can't see the truth. Basically, the truth is the main topic of the BBC news article: "Staff in technology jobs work in the white collar equivalent of a 19th century factory.".
Having worked as a Development Engineer for most of career, I can definitely say that the BBC article is right on the mark. Sad, but true, technology jobs have become the white-collar equivalent of 19th century factory work: job insecurity, no retirement, terribly long hours, job isolation, meaningfully upgrading skills almost impossible.
Regardless if you're a PHd Research Engineer or a techie wanna-be armed with a freshly-minted MCSE: you are a work-place commodity. Most often, you are viewed by your employer as high-priced overhead that's to be worked like a pack animal and terminated as soon as the project is near completion - and if you can be replaced by an indentured servant in the form of an H1B, then that's even better.
If disrespect from employers wasn't bad enough, what is transpiring at the technical level is even worse: complete delusion. There's a macho belief amongst lots of "techies" that their skills and personal entrepreneurship make them somehow "special" and not merely commodities. Their constant chest thumping would be amusing if they weren't typically chronically underemployed and, as a result, almost complete strangers to the benefits of health insurance, retirement accounts, and the like: all provided by that old-fashioned concept known as "stable employment".
Worst of all, when techies reach 40 years-of-age, or so, a magic/tragic thing happens: they become almost unemployable. The Chest Thumper (you remember them - the chronically underemployed) will tell you that older techies who are unemployable did it to themselves. According to them, the older techies have "lost their skills", "lost their drive/innovation", "lost their ability to learn new things", "won't work 80-100 hour weeks", and other such nonsense. But, the cold, hard fact is this: most employers don't like the older guys because they feel they must pay them more, and they've become a little too smart. The mentality of most body shops is that an ignorant 25 year-old chest thumper making 40K is much easier to manipulate than an experienced 40 year-old making 70K: regardless of how much more productive the older guy may be. Sad but true, there's a trend in the tech industry where 3 inexperienced guys making 40K are more highly sought than a single experienced guy making 70K - even though productivity/man-hour is sacrificed. That's because techies really are commodities.
Of course, many on these boards will say, "You've got a loser attitude...I'll never be a throw-away commodity because I work and study so hard!". Yeah, right. You just keep believing that, and in the meantime, keep grinding out those 80-hour weeks coupled with the relentless self-initiated technical study necessary to keep up with the latest technical-fad Du Jour. Then when the day comes when you have had enough, you'll be so smart and wise that you'll be able to magically start your own little entrepreneurship and make jillions of bucks and be free of anyone's control. Yeah, right...that's how it works.
For me, I've had enough. I guess all those inspired 80-100 hour weeks and years of self-study just don't cut it for guys like me - ya' know, "old" guys with "loser attitudes". So I'm gone - I'm leaving tech work. Meanwhile, I'm entering a career where I'll earn only half of what I did as an engineer and, for the first time, get to enjoy a few things I've never experienced before as an engineer: going to sleep knowing I'll probably be employed the next day; real vacations - ya' know, the kind that last for two weeks; most weekends off; the assurance that my health benefits will be around tomorrow; ability to live in a single location for more than two years; the assurance that my successful completion of a project won't result in my being terminated because I'm now considered "expensive overhead".
Will I miss the money? Probably not for I never really got the time to enjoy it while I worked as an engineer. Ain't that a bitch - all that money and no time to enjoy it? Anyways, I can be damn happy making 40-45K.
In summary, my parting shot is this: save your damn money while you can for it will save you in the future. It has been said that "Time is Money", but this is wrong. Actually, "Money is Time": time to find a new job you like and/or time to change careers. When you are 40 years or so, make damn sure you've got money - otherwise you'll have run out of time - time to change - time to be something other than someone else's throw-away commodity.
Slashdot Mirror
Since the laws have gotten tougher in the United States, Crackers and Virus Writers are no longer sent to "Club Fed" - they are incarcerated in "Federal Pound-you-in-the-ass Prison". I guess, he'd really be a "Cracker" then, huh? (so to speak)
Interesting posts on this board concerning the evils of weapons research, but the question remains: what do we do about it? Perhaps we could peaceably approach those foreign powers whose philosophies are concerned with our destruction, but has that ever worked? Did it work with Hitler, Stalin? Did it work for anyone when Imperial Rome "came to town": and conquered hundreds of people? Of course it didn't. If someone is hell-bent on your destruction, then no amount of pleading, reasoning, negotiation or sacrifice will save you: it's a fact as old as recorded history. And they will continue to develop weapons.
Perhaps we could ignore the situation and hope it all goes away. Of course, this approach only works if there is a power willing to make the sacrifices to keep you free - like today's United States. Of course, the United States is primarily concerned with it's own self-interest, so you'd better hope that your interests stay common - otherwise, you are toast, as the United States will not play World Cop everywhere and all the time - no country would. Ultimately, for this reason, this approach doesn't work as the miseries of history's billions of conquered people can attest.
Perhaps we could try to change our Foreign Policy? Again, this approach can be lumped with the first - "the pleading, reasoning, negotiation or sacrifice" solution that has forever ultimately failed. Hey...did it stop Hitler, Rome, Greece or the other conquers? Did it - all that money, aid and patronizing - persuade North Korea's Kim Il Jong from developing nukes and threatening to turn his his neighbor's cities into "...lakes of fire"?
Perhaps if we didn't develop weapons, then the technology wouldn't be available? Well...there's a strange thought as Russia had ICBM capability before we did and Nazi Germany developed the Jet Engine, Crude Radar, Modern Rocketry, Inertial Navigation and the Panzer Tank without our help: borrowed or otherwise. No, the bad guys will keep developing arms with or without or help - that's a historical fact.
Perhaps we can take out all the bad guys at one stroke. Yeah, with nukes this is close to possible, but would it be accepted? Look at the furor that taking out a couple of bad countries lately (i.e., Iraq and Afghanistan) have cause and ask you if it can be applied indefinitely. As of this moment, we know that Iran is developing Nuclear reactors (the Enrichment Kind that can make Bomb fuel) and yet we are hesitant to fully address the fact of what will probably have to be done: bomb those plants to smithereens. Of course, countries like Israel can afford no illusions: they know that to lose once is to lose everything. So...the world is probably relying on them to bomb the Iran's reactors like they did Iraq's reactors 20-years-ago. Then, the world will point at Israel with righteous indignation and say, "...you terrible war-mongering, land-stealing Jews", while quietly thinking, "..thank you, Israel, for your courage": the is the typical moralizing reaction of those so-called intellectual cretins who think they are "...above it all".
Or, Perhaps we can do what we are doing now: stay prepared and stay ahead. It's not an ideal solution - peace is the ideal solution - but it does seem to keep us ready for what comes and, ultimately, able to deter wars before they start. Say what you want, but or nuclear and conventional development programs probably saved us from a very nasty war with the Soviets. Hey, when Ronald Reagan was in office, I thought he was just a loud-mouthed, saber-rattling cowboy, but now I realized that he was a man ahead of his time when it came to deterrence (i.e. preventing war). Seems like relatively free and honest societies can typically out-produce, and subsequently out militarize", their foes and, as a result, either drive them into bankruptcy or submission (change their ways). This is exactly what ended the Cold War without a shot; the Soviets felt they could not militarily keep up with us and that we would continue to outpace them militarily as time progressed. In other words, conviction and long-term focus peacefully won the day - the exact elements we need now to continue to develop armament, and the reason we should continue to develop arms.
This isn't 1984, and this young kid certainly isn't Winston. Hey...it wasn't bomb-making, or anarcy, or anything else that got this kid in trouble - this stuff is all over the web and has been for years. Specifically, it was advocating the violent overthrow of the United States Government that got this kid toasted.
Advocating the violent overthrow of the United States government never has been, or will be, legally protected constitutional amendment and associated laws which gaurd freedom of speech, and I'm amazed that so many penis-brains on this board don't get it.
From reading the articles you listed, it appears that there is a lot of credible evidence to support the Hypothesis of: 1. there was a problem with the foam comming off, and 2. the detaching foam destroyrd tiles and created a possible danger. Additionally, NASA Administartors MUST have known about it for some of these articles were posted on NASA websites by NASA reps (what, NASA Admins let people publish "unapproved" pages on thier websites?).
Anyawys, it appears that the problem was NEVER fixed. Instead, NASA's attitude - as always - is "...well, you can't prove it will cause harm!"
Well...I can't prove that my servers are going to crash either, so...I don't have to install the latest patches or run backups. And that's just what NASA appears to have done: They didn't "Patch" the problem and they didn't have a "Backup" plan. Christ, most "wet behind the ears MCSEs" know better than this!
See: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2121/used_news. htm
t nik.html
WORKING ON A TILE DAMAGE MYSTERY
By Greg Katnik
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/shuttle/team/ka
December 23, l997
STS-87 rolled to a stop; the mission was complete! That statement is true for the flight of the Columbia, however, a new mission began when the wheels of the Columbia came to a stop: the post flight inspections. My division is responsible for the overall analysis of these inspections and we insure that all changes made, due to these inspections, do not affect other areas that may jeopardize the flight-worthiness of the shuttle. This division does not focus on one specific area, but analyzes all information and ensures that all aspects are kept in balance.
Immediately after the Columbia rolled to a stop, the inspection crews began the process of the post flight inspection. As soon as the orbiter was approached, light spots in the tiles were observed indicating that there had been significant damage to the tiles. The tiles do a fantastic job of repelling heat, however they are very fragile and susceptible to impact damage. Damage numbering up to forty tiles is considered normal on each mission due to ice dropping off of the external tank (ET) and plume re-circulation causing this debris to impact with the tiles. But the extent of damage at the conclusion of this mission was not "normal". The pattern of hits did not follow aerodynamic expectations and the number, size and severity of hits were abnormal. Three hundred and eight hits were counted during the inspection, one-hundred and thirty two (132) were greater than one inch. Some of the hits measured fifteen (15) inches long with depths measuring up to one and one-half (1 1/2) inches. Considering that the depth of the tile is two (2) inches, a 75% penetration depth had been reached.Over one hundred (100) tiles have been removed from the Columbia because they were irreparable. The inspection revealed the damage, now the "detective process" began.
During the STS-87 mission, there was a change made on the external tank. Because of NASA's goal to use environmentally friendly products, a new method of "foaming" the external tank had been used for this mission and the STS-86 mission. It is suspected that large amounts of foam separated from the external tank and impacted the orbiter. This caused significant damage to the protective tiles of the orbiter. Foam cause damage to a ceramic tile?! That seems unlikly, however, when that foam is combined with a flight velocity between speeds of MACH two to MACH four, it becomes a projectile with incredible damage potential. The big question? At what phase of the flight did it happen and what changes need to be made to correct this for future missions? I will explain the entire process.
Although the prospect of other stars that are capabale of supporting Earth-like planets is facinating, we need to ask some fundamental questions: 1. Do they also host responsible civilizations; 2. If not, then are these civilizations developing Weapons of Mass Destructrion? If so, then it is imperative that we begin preparations immediatly. If not, then it is still our moral obligation to eventually begin the design and test of Planet-Cracking Weapons to neutralize whatever violent civilizations we may encounter. In the meantime, I believe we should also implement a 7/24/365 inter-steller broadcast of our intentions so that civilizations who could cause potential conflict will "get the message": "Dont F__K with Earth". Specifically, I reccomend that we immediatly begin to repeatedly broadcast the "Planet Cracking" scene in "Star Wars"; although we don't have this technology yet - the Death Star, the aliens won't know that: it will be an adequate bluff.
Somehow, the main topics on this board center about "Unions" and the rigors of "Factory Piece Work" when the article in question never said anything about "Unions" or such. Obviously, the Jackasses that started many of these off topic threads have done it to all you geeks again: thrown sand in your eyes so that you can't see the truth. Basically, the truth is the main topic of the BBC news article: "Staff in technology jobs work in the white collar equivalent of a 19th century factory.".
Having worked as a Development Engineer for most of career, I can definitely say that the BBC article is right on the mark. Sad, but true, technology jobs have become the white-collar equivalent of 19th century factory work: job insecurity, no retirement, terribly long hours, job isolation, meaningfully upgrading skills almost impossible.
Regardless if you're a PHd Research Engineer or a techie wanna-be armed with a freshly-minted MCSE: you are a work-place commodity. Most often, you are viewed by your employer as high-priced overhead that's to be worked like a pack animal and terminated as soon as the project is near completion - and if you can be replaced by an indentured servant in the form of an H1B, then that's even better.
If disrespect from employers wasn't bad enough, what is transpiring at the technical level is even worse: complete delusion. There's a macho belief amongst lots of "techies" that their skills and personal entrepreneurship make them somehow "special" and not merely commodities. Their constant chest thumping would be amusing if they weren't typically chronically underemployed and, as a result, almost complete strangers to the benefits of health insurance, retirement accounts, and the like: all provided by that old-fashioned concept known as "stable employment".
Worst of all, when techies reach 40 years-of-age, or so, a magic/tragic thing happens: they become almost unemployable. The Chest Thumper (you remember them - the chronically underemployed) will tell you that older techies who are unemployable did it to themselves. According to them, the older techies have "lost their skills", "lost their drive/innovation", "lost their ability to learn new things", "won't work 80-100 hour weeks", and other such nonsense. But, the cold, hard fact is this: most employers don't like the older guys because they feel they must pay them more, and they've become a little too smart. The mentality of most body shops is that an ignorant 25 year-old chest thumper making 40K is much easier to manipulate than an experienced 40 year-old making 70K: regardless of how much more productive the older guy may be. Sad but true, there's a trend in the tech industry where 3 inexperienced guys making 40K are more highly sought than a single experienced guy making 70K - even though productivity/man-hour is sacrificed. That's because techies really are commodities.
Of course, many on these boards will say, "You've got a loser attitude...I'll never be a throw-away commodity because I work and study so hard!". Yeah, right. You just keep believing that, and in the meantime, keep grinding out those 80-hour weeks coupled with the relentless self-initiated technical study necessary to keep up with the latest technical-fad Du Jour. Then when the day comes when you have had enough, you'll be so smart and wise that you'll be able to magically start your own little entrepreneurship and make jillions of bucks and be free of anyone's control. Yeah, right...that's how it works.
For me, I've had enough. I guess all those inspired 80-100 hour weeks and years of self-study just don't cut it for guys like me - ya' know, "old" guys with "loser attitudes". So I'm gone - I'm leaving tech work. Meanwhile, I'm entering a career where I'll earn only half of what I did as an engineer and, for the first time, get to enjoy a few things I've never experienced before as an engineer: going to sleep knowing I'll probably be employed the next day; real vacations - ya' know, the kind that last for two weeks; most weekends off; the assurance that my health benefits will be around tomorrow; ability to live in a single location for more than two years; the assurance that my successful completion of a project won't result in my being terminated because I'm now considered "expensive overhead".
Will I miss the money? Probably not for I never really got the time to enjoy it while I worked as an engineer. Ain't that a bitch - all that money and no time to enjoy it? Anyways, I can be damn happy making 40-45K.
In summary, my parting shot is this: save your damn money while you can for it will save you in the future. It has been said that "Time is Money", but this is wrong. Actually, "Money is Time": time to find a new job you like and/or time to change careers. When you are 40 years or so, make damn sure you've got money - otherwise you'll have run out of time - time to change - time to be something other than someone else's throw-away commodity.