the russian approach
on
Hondas in Space
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· Score: 3, Interesting
"A Ferrari is a very expensive car. It is not reliable. But I would bet you 1,000-to-1 that if you bought a Honda Civic that that sucker will not break down in the first year of operation."
but I'll bet a honda civic costs more money to -develop- than a ferrari does...
the russians have fairly reliable rockets - but they do fail. the reason they've done so well with safety is that they have great backup systems.
the soyuz launch system has a mechanism that can eject the entire capsule if something goes wrong on launch. it's been used and it works.
I suspect reasonable reliabilty + good backup systems is the way to go. oh, and -no- parts from the junkyard....
if I use photoshop to make a bitmap - that's art which I've made using a computer. (ok - duh)
but what about if I'm cruising around a mandelbrot set - and find something that looks cool? is that art? it seems to be the closest analogy to the examples at hand.
If it is art - did I make it by finding it? is it really 'computer generated'? I certainly didn't create it. but on the other hand - if I see a neat pattern in the clouds - photograph it - I can claim that as art that -I- made (as opposed to nature).
now when in 2020 the A.I. unit in a lasic eye surgery computer becomes conscious and decides to make some cool looking scars on a patient just for fun (ala Logan's Run) - that would definitely be computer generated art.
personal content mixed business (wife in panties)
on
Who Owns Weblog Content?
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· Score: 2, Funny
we used to have a guy who'd blog about work he was doing for the company - with links to various client websites, etc.
he also had pictures of his wife in panties on the same site.
he was told to remove any mention of the company / clients from his site - but refused to do so. he was eventually fired.
> Linux has much much more software available for free than the other OS's, and if its too hard to run./configure and make install, then download portage
Ya - I was telling my dad that just last week. Didn't know what portage was, or where to get it.
Told him to google it and figure it out on his own. I mean - all the info is there in the HOWTO's. I think he's just lazy.
He told me to come back over and re-install Windows XP Home or he was writing me out of the will.
I love it when I apply for various jobs... "you've got Redhat Enterprise experience? Well - we were really looking for someone with a Slackware or Mandrake background. You haven't worked with Shitzu or Slurm, have you?"
Imagine how far FireFox would've gotten if there were 18 different versions...
so I thought it was kind of interesting that combat robotics has spawned the manufacturing of parts that are getting used for less violent robotic projects.
OK - so if all the ISPs decided to get super-tough on spamming - spam would go away.
It doesn't answer the question: why would they do that?
There are already dozens of different SMTP blacklists banning ISPs that don't play by certain rules. I think it's helped - but it certainly hasn't solved the problem.
from a pragmatic standpoint I think the best solution is to deploy "conservative" server-side filtering software to catch the stuff which is obviously spam.
the users can then deploy the client-side anti-spam software that works best for them.
from the sound of the article - the chip manufacturers are refusing to share information that's not "commercially sensitive" with engineers who are working on devices that would provide a market for their chips.
this don't make no sense.
either:
1. the information -is- "commercially sensitive"
2. the companies in question have some lame policies - in which case they will lose the business to the competition
3. the article isn't accurate
or
4. something else entirely (to cover my ass)
oh my god - they got 98 spam just this week!
on
New Attacks on Spam
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· Score: 1
Looking at their stats - they're off to a slow start:
Total Spam Received: 509
Spam Received (This Week): 98
I get about 140 on my main account daily. Fortunately my spam filter catches about 98% of that...
From my observation most spammers don't generate their own lists - they buy them from someone else. It can take years of having a public email address before you get on the real big ones.
My newer accounts generally don't get too much spam - even through they're very public.
My older, less public account get tons of crap. I've actually had a "spammers list" in my hands - and low and behold it was on it.
easy solution - just install
one of these in the case.
(just don't knock it over)
about 6 months ago I bought an old junker Dell (200mhz pentium) for use in my workshop.
I kept up on a shelf - up off the floor which sometimes gets a little wet.
When the floor gets wet - I suspect the humidity approaches 100%
it's dead now (no signs of life at all). can't say for sure what killed it - but I suspect that extended high-humidity is probably a bad thing for computers
todays systems get a lot more per MHZ than those of 10 years ago. I'd venture to guess about double for a mainstream Pentium 4 vs a Pentium I. More in other cases.
An extreme example would be the human brain - quite "slow" - but gets a lot done each "clock cycle"
I built my autonomous combat robot (the first one to ever win a fight against a human):
http://www.spambutcher.com/bots.html
starting with a "boe bot" kit (about $200):
http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=2813 2
Great cheap way to get into robotics / microcontrollers.
Picaxe has some even cheaper (around $50) kits of similar nature - if not quite as nicely documented:
http://www.techsupplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/techsupplies.storefront/41db93710067c54a273fc2c98abb074a/Catal og/1110
Another good book is "Robot Builder's Bonanza"
Seems like a lot of decent-sized players were left out... Ie - where is SpamKiller (client-side), SpamBully or SpamButcher?
"We invited every anti-spam vendor in our online Buyer's Guide to participate"
And what is there "online Buyer's Guide"? - a pay for inclusion directory!
Between that and their #1 choice helping them with the review process - I have serious questions as to the value of this report
.
Accurately simulating a bunch of different anti-spam systems all getting the same e-mail is a bit of a trick. If one of the major players is helping set the rules - its way to easy for them to stack the deck.
All I want to know is when will they have a "fully functional" model?
http://www.allscifi.com/aridor/Iboard.asp?celebrit y=Lieutenant%20Commander%20Data&msg=2938
This sounds cool.
For anyone who admins Linux systems - but primarily does their work from Windows - this could be a god-send.
I'm not so much interested in SSH (putty works fine) as I am in the X server - getting X running Windows-side can be a chore...
Find out if this really works soon enough - I'm downloading it right now...
Slashdot Mirror
but I'll bet a honda civic costs more money to -develop- than a ferrari does...
the russians have fairly reliable rockets - but they do fail. the reason they've done so well with safety is that they have great backup systems.
the soyuz launch system has a mechanism that can eject the entire capsule if something goes wrong on launch. it's been used and it works.
I suspect reasonable reliabilty + good backup systems is the way to go. oh, and -no- parts from the junkyard....
but what about if I'm cruising around a mandelbrot set - and find something that looks cool? is that art? it seems to be the closest analogy to the examples at hand.
If it is art - did I make it by finding it? is it really 'computer generated'? I certainly didn't create it. but on the other hand - if I see a neat pattern in the clouds - photograph it - I can claim that as art that -I- made (as opposed to nature).
now when in 2020 the A.I. unit in a lasic eye surgery computer becomes conscious and decides to make some cool looking scars on a patient just for fun (ala Logan's Run) - that would definitely be computer generated art.
he also had pictures of his wife in panties on the same site.
he was told to remove any mention of the company / clients from his site - but refused to do so. he was eventually fired.
Told him to google it and figure it out on his own. I mean - all the info is there in the HOWTO's. I think he's just lazy.
He told me to come back over and re-install Windows XP Home or he was writing me out of the will.
I love it when I apply for various jobs... "you've got Redhat Enterprise experience? Well - we were really looking for someone with a Slackware or Mandrake background. You haven't worked with Shitzu or Slurm, have you?"
Imagine how far FireFox would've gotten if there were 18 different versions...
Ford: 'Quality is Job 1' Qwest: 'The Spirit of Service' Microsoft: 'trustworthy computing'
monkeys are too smart to post on slashdot.
from all the spam I get - I have to assume that's where the real monkey money is at.
it's kind of a robotics "peace dividend"
> Um... So what?
chicken butt.
now ask me why.
I use "Robot Power" speed controllers and "Battlepack" batteries in several of my bots...
Slashdotted: Shutting down your mail server for 3 days can stop most spam.
Slashdotted: LCD screens have a latency measured in 100's of milliseconds.
Slashdotted: Putting a sticker on the back of your cell-phone that uses "nano-tech" can extract more life from the batteries.
CowBoyNeal: You are an idiot.
New Standard Keyboard
OK - so if all the ISPs decided to get super-tough on spamming - spam would go away. It doesn't answer the question: why would they do that? There are already dozens of different SMTP blacklists banning ISPs that don't play by certain rules. I think it's helped - but it certainly hasn't solved the problem. from a pragmatic standpoint I think the best solution is to deploy "conservative" server-side filtering software to catch the stuff which is obviously spam. the users can then deploy the client-side anti-spam software that works best for them.
this don't make no sense.
either:
1. the information -is- "commercially sensitive"
2. the companies in question have some lame policies - in which case they will lose the business to the competition
3. the article isn't accurate
or
4. something else entirely (to cover my ass)
Total Spam Received: 509
Spam Received (This Week): 98
I get about 140 on my main account daily. Fortunately my spam filter catches about 98% of that...
From my observation most spammers don't generate their own lists - they buy them from someone else. It can take years of having a public email address before you get on the real big ones.
My newer accounts generally don't get too much spam - even through they're very public.
My older, less public account get tons of crap. I've actually had a "spammers list" in my hands - and low and behold it was on it.
"hey Rich - I plugged my access point into the network 2 weeks ago - figured I'd let you know... secured it... uh? I think I did..."
sounds like this paint might be a good solution...
the next user who plugs their "Airport" into my network will find their car with a fresh coat of it.
This does not bode well for my cause...
(just don't knock it over)
about 6 months ago I bought an old junker Dell (200mhz pentium) for use in my workshop.
I kept up on a shelf - up off the floor which sometimes gets a little wet.
When the floor gets wet - I suspect the humidity approaches 100%
it's dead now (no signs of life at all). can't say for sure what killed it - but I suspect that extended high-humidity is probably a bad thing for computers
An extreme example would be the human brain - quite "slow" - but gets a lot done each "clock cycle"
I built my autonomous combat robot (the first one to ever win a fight against a human): http://www.spambutcher.com/bots.html starting with a "boe bot" kit (about $200): http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=2813 2
Great cheap way to get into robotics / microcontrollers.
Picaxe has some even cheaper (around $50) kits of similar nature - if not quite as nicely documented:
http://www.techsupplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/techsupplies .storefront/41db93710067c54a273fc2c98abb074a/Catal og/1110
Another good book is "Robot Builder's Bonanza"
"We invited every anti-spam vendor in our online Buyer's Guide to participate"
And what is there "online Buyer's Guide"? - a pay for inclusion directory!
Between that and their #1 choice helping them with the review process - I have serious questions as to the value of this report
. Accurately simulating a bunch of different anti-spam systems all getting the same e-mail is a bit of a trick. If one of the major players is helping set the rules - its way to easy for them to stack the deck.
1. Google performs several possible searches for each key you press
2. Google already knows the estimated number of results for millions of queries
Both of these suggest a heck of a lot of computing power. This type of thing might not scale up for general use in the near future - but still...
we're talking massive computational power and one of the largest databases ever created.
I'm a bit worried the Googleplex is going to wake up one day and declare to all us 'organics':
"yo bitches - you work for me now"
much more amusing URL: http://www.allscifi.com/aridor/Iboard.asp?celebrit y=Lieutenant%20Commander%20Data&msg=9176
All I want to know is when will they have a "fully functional" model? http://www.allscifi.com/aridor/Iboard.asp?celebrit y=Lieutenant%20Commander%20Data&msg=2938
This sounds cool. For anyone who admins Linux systems - but primarily does their work from Windows - this could be a god-send. I'm not so much interested in SSH (putty works fine) as I am in the X server - getting X running Windows-side can be a chore... Find out if this really works soon enough - I'm downloading it right now...