I've considered the Open Source idea to be similar to the Potluck Dinner... everybody brings a little something to the party: somebody brings the chips, somebody else brings the soda, another brings the potato salad, etc.
Sure, we don't give away all our food, we can't afford to. However, everybody can benefit from sharing amongst ourselves what we can afford to.
However, some people try to crash the party, don't bring their own contributions, and see the party as simply a free buffet. (And then cause a ruckus claiming someone stole their recipe...) These are the companies which pile their plates high, but which refuse to bring even a bag of pretzels.
SCO will have to either look stupid or look stupid
In other words, the GPL is the branch they're standing on (in regards to distributing GPL'd software), and which they're busily trying to saw through.
First, they don't accept the GPL as valid: so no soup for them.
Second, even if the GPL is proven invalid, as they claim, the developers' own copyright prevents distribution without written permission. Still no soup for them.
Either way, SCO can go suck wind. I'll miss their antics when they're gone.
Of course, this is just another example of a technology invented to circumvent another technology, for example, spammers and spam filters.
It reminds me of the principle that proposes that any invention which requires further inventions to deal with unwanted side effects, needs instead to be redesigned to eliminate the unwanted side effect in the first place. (Example: the fable of the Sultan who got cats to get rid of the mice, got dogs to get rid of the cats, got elephants to get rid of the dogs, and then got mice to get rid of the elephants. Oops.)
It's what separates elegance from "kludge."
(However, in the case of RFID tags, whether invasion of privacy is wanted or not, depends on who you ask.)
when they keep trying to trick people into stating something that would void their warranty.
Many moons ago, I had a laptop with a failed floppy drive. I tried calling the tech support center, explained that I had failed hardware, and it was still under warranty. The person there said she would transfer me to the right department, would I please hold. Pretty soon I was disconnected.
Tried it again. Same result.
So the 3rd time, I said "I have some failed hardware, I need an estimate how much it would be to fix it."
This time I got through to a technician, and when he asked me what the problem was, I explained, and then mentioned as an aside, "Oh, and it's still under warranty!"
Maybe they were just having problems with their phone system... makes you wonder.
Robots of the future will be like Bender: swilling beer and grain alcohol to power their fuel cell reactors and supporting their boozing gambling and all-around larcenous lifestyles!
(Oh, and I, for one, welcome our new fuel-cell-powered robot overlords.)
was known as a safe. It had an authentication system known as a combination lock and/or key. This firewall system was best designed for interfacing with Sneakernet 1.0, formerly known as Loafernet.
Not saying they're lying, but SCO at one time denied any plans to attack Linux... You can't trust anything these corporate weasels say unless they're under oath, and probably not even then. (growl)
And at only $5,999 it is sure "to meet budget and performance requirements.""
Something to go along with my $750 hammer. You know what I like best? The fact that they priced it at $5999, not $6000. That makes it seem so much more affordable.
Dang marketing weenies.
Re:Not only cost, but what about security?
on
WiFi Free-For-All
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
change your passwords before and after you use a public 802.11 node.
Public node, public commode. Always practice good security and hygiene.
Unfortunately, good security is not as easy as flushing with your elbow and washing your hands. It's technical (uh, I mean the security part), and most people aren't.
I wonder what kind of legal fine print protects the owners of these hotspots from liability? Has anybody been sued yet for not protecting the customer enough from being hacked?
a) boost it into a higher, safe orbit and b) at some later time replace the aging gyroscopes
It's space, but isn't it still a very hostile place to be, even for a space telescope? You've orbital junk, radiation, etc., so what is the "shelf life" of a space telescope, even in a higher, "safe" orbit?
So, how long can you wait to do maintenance, before it's just space junk?
And now thanks to the Internet, intellectual jobs, which would include (but is certainly not limited to) programmers, tech support, accountants, scientific research, financial research, and eventually, executive positions within companies.
The only jobs that won't eventually export are those which require a physical presence, such as police, fire fighters, doctors, auto mechanics, retail sales clerks, burger flippers, etc. (But I'm sure we can import some people for those jobs, or replace them with robotic telepresence... eventually.)
Actually, the only job in this country which is guaranteed not to be outsourced, is President of the United States. But I hear the pay is lousy and the hours are long.
The only jobs that won't eventually export are those which require a physical presence, such as police, fire fighters, doctors, auto mechanics, retail sales clerks, burger flippers, etc. (But I'm sure we can impo
OK, I read that as one of the programmers whose job was outsourced to India, then realized from the context that he was talking about one of the Indian programmers who (allegedly) pulled the blackmail.
the spammers will just put "for entertainment purposes only" or words to that effect in the fine teeny-weeny legal speak. Psychic hotlines been doing that for years.
OTOH, I've heard those penis pumps (with prolonged use) actually do make your penis slightly larger, but that they also turn it into a big numb sausage hardly fit for peeing out of, never mind sex.
Or was it a social engineer who managed to call someone and get the root password?
Unless they happen to have some back office numbers, they'd waste 45 seconds (more!) just navigating the voice answering system. And even without that, just the preliminaries of "hello, how are you, nice weather we're having, by the way what's the root password?" would take a couple minutes easy.
I think any hacker worth his paranoia would stay far away from any openly advertised hackfest. A good (and at liberty) hacker is an anonymous hacker.
For some reason, the book "Code" by Charles Petzold has come to mind. This is a very good read-- he starts by describing Morse code, and by the end of the book, after one logical progression after another, he winds up explaining computer architecture.
I guess I mention it because it would be very good to read just prior to picking up a good book on assembly.
Frodo, this Code was Assembled in the time of CP/M! You must take it to Mount MyDoom to have it Disassembled! But beware the, uh, Code Wraiths and Sith Lord Darl...
(And yes, I agree, knowledge of Assembly does give you better fundamentals, even if you only use it occassionally. However, I can appreciate why people don't want to write 25 lines of assembly to achieve the equivalent of 1 line of C.)
Actually, I think this article has been one of the most "nerd-worthy" postings on Slashdot in quite a while...
And yes, one the most annoying things about sitting behind a NAT is only being able to forward a port to a single host at a time. This would be great if "port knocking" could solve this, though in a very Rube Goldberg fashion.
I can pause live TV (up to 30 minutes).
I can do a quick rewind of live TV for those WTF moments.
And of course, I can easily pick shows to record, so I can watch them according to my schedule.
Also, the quality is generally better than what I've seen on cable.
However:
The occassional thunderstorm can block your signal partially or completely.
You have to pay extra for local or broadcast channels, if you can get them at all.
Also, I've noticed some what look like compression artifacts while watching live TV, not just recorded shows. This seems to be new in the past six months, and I have not changed my hardware...
And here's a tip: unless you intend to mod your DirecTivo, get the 3 year warranty. I've had mine about 18 months, and already the hard drive sometimes makes a loud grinding noise... and once or twice random characters appeared on the screen... I just hope it dies before the warranty is up.
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Sure, we don't give away all our food, we can't afford to. However, everybody can benefit from sharing amongst ourselves what we can afford to.
However, some people try to crash the party, don't bring their own contributions, and see the party as simply a free buffet. (And then cause a ruckus claiming someone stole their recipe...) These are the companies which pile their plates high, but which refuse to bring even a bag of pretzels.
In other words, the GPL is the branch they're standing on (in regards to distributing GPL'd software), and which they're busily trying to saw through.
First, they don't accept the GPL as valid: so no soup for them.
Second, even if the GPL is proven invalid, as they claim, the developers' own copyright prevents distribution without written permission. Still no soup for them.
Either way, SCO can go suck wind. I'll miss their antics when they're gone.
It reminds me of the principle that proposes that any invention which requires further inventions to deal with unwanted side effects, needs instead to be redesigned to eliminate the unwanted side effect in the first place. (Example: the fable of the Sultan who got cats to get rid of the mice, got dogs to get rid of the cats, got elephants to get rid of the dogs, and then got mice to get rid of the elephants. Oops.)
It's what separates elegance from "kludge."
(However, in the case of RFID tags, whether invasion of privacy is wanted or not, depends on who you ask.)
Many moons ago, I had a laptop with a failed floppy drive. I tried calling the tech support center, explained that I had failed hardware, and it was still under warranty. The person there said she would transfer me to the right department, would I please hold. Pretty soon I was disconnected.
Tried it again. Same result.
So the 3rd time, I said "I have some failed hardware, I need an estimate how much it would be to fix it."
This time I got through to a technician, and when he asked me what the problem was, I explained, and then mentioned as an aside, "Oh, and it's still under warranty!"
Maybe they were just having problems with their phone system... makes you wonder.
One of the deputies (Bubba?) goes to arrest a guy, who then resists, saying "Why you arresting me?"
Bubba replies, "For resisting arrest!"
Of course, it's not quite the same thing, but WTF.
They must have all just sat down to dinner. Some people (ahem) just call at the most inconvenient of times.
Much better.
(Oh, and I, for one, welcome our new fuel-cell-powered robot overlords.)
was known as a safe. It had an authentication system known as a combination lock and/or key. This firewall system was best designed for interfacing with Sneakernet 1.0, formerly known as Loafernet.
Not saying they're lying, but SCO at one time denied any plans to attack Linux... You can't trust anything these corporate weasels say unless they're under oath, and probably not even then. (growl)
Something to go along with my $750 hammer. You know what I like best? The fact that they priced it at $5999, not $6000. That makes it seem so much more affordable.
Dang marketing weenies.
Public node, public commode. Always practice good security and hygiene.
Unfortunately, good security is not as easy as flushing with your elbow and washing your hands. It's technical (uh, I mean the security part), and most people aren't.
I wonder what kind of legal fine print protects the owners of these hotspots from liability? Has anybody been sued yet for not protecting the customer enough from being hacked?
So, it looks like miners and farmers will always have a job.
It's space, but isn't it still a very hostile place to be, even for a space telescope? You've orbital junk, radiation, etc., so what is the "shelf life" of a space telescope, even in a higher, "safe" orbit?
So, how long can you wait to do maintenance, before it's just space junk?
Manufacturing jobs (but we already knew that).
And now thanks to the Internet, intellectual jobs, which would include (but is certainly not limited to) programmers, tech support, accountants, scientific research, financial research, and eventually, executive positions within companies.
The only jobs that won't eventually export are those which require a physical presence, such as police, fire fighters, doctors, auto mechanics, retail sales clerks, burger flippers, etc. (But I'm sure we can import some people for those jobs, or replace them with robotic telepresence... eventually.)
Actually, the only job in this country which is guaranteed not to be outsourced, is President of the United States. But I hear the pay is lousy and the hours are long.
The only jobs that won't eventually export are those which require a physical presence, such as police, fire fighters, doctors, auto mechanics, retail sales clerks, burger flippers, etc. (But I'm sure we can impo
OK, I read that as one of the programmers whose job was outsourced to India, then realized from the context that he was talking about one of the Indian programmers who (allegedly) pulled the blackmail.
[ob Eddie Murphy reference]
Hey man! Somebody stole your batt'ry! I say we go get the mothafucka!
Psychic hotlines been doing that for years.
OTOH, I've heard those penis pumps (with prolonged use) actually do make your penis slightly larger, but that they also turn it into a big numb sausage hardly fit for peeing out of, never mind sex.
Unless they happen to have some back office numbers, they'd waste 45 seconds (more!) just navigating the voice answering system.
And even without that, just the preliminaries of "hello, how are you, nice weather we're having, by the way what's the root password?" would take a couple minutes easy.
I think any hacker worth his paranoia would stay far away from any openly advertised hackfest. A good (and at liberty) hacker is an anonymous hacker.
I guess I mention it because it would be very good to read just prior to picking up a good book on assembly.
(And yes, I agree, knowledge of Assembly does give you better fundamentals, even if you only use it occassionally. However, I can appreciate why people don't want to write 25 lines of assembly to achieve the equivalent of 1 line of C.)
Good God.. warn me so I can get to the Minimum Safe Distance before you turn that thing on...
Yeah, um, let's see. 2.4Ghz, 1500 watts. That's not a WAP. That's a microwave oven.
And it's not good for drying out Fluffy! (fizzzzzz, pop!)
And yes, one the most annoying things about sitting behind a NAT is only being able to forward a port to a single host at a time. This would be great if "port knocking" could solve this, though in a very Rube Goldberg fashion.
I can pause live TV (up to 30 minutes).
I can do a quick rewind of live TV for those WTF moments.
And of course, I can easily pick shows to record, so I can watch them according to my schedule.
Also, the quality is generally better than what I've seen on cable.
However:
The occassional thunderstorm can block your signal partially or completely.
You have to pay extra for local or broadcast channels, if you can get them at all.
Also, I've noticed some what look like compression artifacts while watching live TV, not just recorded shows. This seems to be new in the past six months, and I have not changed my hardware...
And here's a tip: unless you intend to mod your DirecTivo, get the 3 year warranty. I've had mine about 18 months, and already the hard drive sometimes makes a loud grinding noise... and once or twice random characters appeared on the screen... I just hope it dies before the warranty is up.