I have several reports (two from WoW players I know personally) of what might be a new flaw or crack.
Stealing players' accounts, gold, bank holdings, etc. is not new in WoW. In the past it was from the player doing something very stupid and compromising his account (like paying someone to "power-level" his character), giving out their own username and password. Phthth, a pox on them, they brought it on themselves and I have no sympathy.
But the new threat is more troublesome: You come back after installing the new expansion, and your account doesn't exist, or there's a problem. You contact Blizzard, get it activated again, and you find your gold is all gone, your bank is empty. Your character is NOT stripped or looted.
You contact Blizzard and they say they can't do anything about that right now.
Apparently, in each of the cases I heard of, you got a mail message (in WoW mail) from a fellow Guild member (_prior_ to the latest expansion). "Please let me borrow your account for a bit" (for whatever reason, wants to examine the interface, wants to try out the character, etc.)
I don't have details on that yet, but the message is convincing, seems authentic, is definitely from a known and supposedly trusted player, in all cases that I've seen so far in the same guild.
Your character is NOT looted prior to the new expansion; only when you return.
It's called tap-killing. You tap a target (to get credit), your pals do all the work, while you move on to the next. Takes you much less time. Your minions get to do all the work, you get all the glory. Oh yeah, that's the way to play WoW all right.
All honor and glory... my flaming red ass.
Incidentally, a number of people HAVE been kicked out by Blizzard for doing exactly that. I do NOT know that this guy got permission; indeed, if he did, I have no idea why Blizzard would make an exception to their own rules (and it IS against the rules).
I don't understand why they don't just build up: put everything on stilts; put everything on barges; bring in fill and elevate a meter or two up.
Their entire society is built on those small islands, and everything (I presume) is oriented toward the sea. Build up enough fields for what they grow. No idea where their water comes from (captured rain water?) but that shouldn't change.
I expect most of their tourism (I was surprised at that billion dollar figure) is oriented toward the ocean, so that won't change either. Build up a few islands and the beaches will reform.
They will NOT be able to maintain their current culture (and tourist trade) on land bought from Australia. India or Sri Lanka, maybe, if they can find coastline to purchase. But will the tourists come? Will the fishing still be there?
I'd consider staying right where they are, adjusting to the rising sea levels, prepare for future changes.
We aren't talking about making a runway approach here, so who needs all this control (besides some frustrated pilot astronaut)? No control needed to hit the Pacific or even Central Asia; just timing.
I am also concerned about the total reliance on one big honker parachute, and wonder what the vehicle's speed will be (slowed by pure air drag alone?) when that main has to deploy. I'd feel a LOT better with a wee drag chute out the back (in case of control and/or parachute failure), and at least an escape hatch with personnel chutes for the crew. Yeah, I know, more weight, more parts. But (after a career watching Army heavy drop loads come hurtling in) one chute sure worries me.
Suggestion: make them CRIMINAL careless idiots. Fine the possessor a HUGE fine. And the person who gave it to him a HUGE fine.
And use that fine money to create a whistleblower / reward system: Anyone who turns in a memory stick, hard drive, PC, or laptop with citizen or taxpayer information (which is supposed to be secured) gets a HUGE reward (far more than the stick or PC or even the personal information could be worth).
Yes, this will create a whole lot of thieves, but hey, that's okay too. If it's secured, they can't steal it, right? If it's encrypted, it doesn't matter if they did, right?
Or... just give up this silliness about ANYTHING in your life, your communications, your financial history being private. Because it isn't, you know; it's probably already been compromised a dozen times over.
Oh, by the way... check out this neat flash drive. Found it sticking out of some guy's laptop when he got up to get a cup of coffee. Couldn't hide the laptop, but the flash drive was easy:-) Want it? Twenty bucks, it's yours.
Might not have anything to do with that bust, or the FBI sting operation that recently closed down...
But over the past several weeks I've noticed a HUGE drop in my personal spam (down from 85 a day to 1 or 2). Same account, same name, same everything. No filters at the mail host (it's ours), no filters at the ISP (those useless cowardly lazy pukes). It just... quit.
Which is a pity really, because sending off the spam to Spamcop was a daily routine from which I got great pleasure.
This _is_ the same Flash I recently disabled on my Windows PC because it's so fraught with weaknesses and vulnerabilities that it's downright dangerous?
That Flash?
And who's guaranteeing that it'll be any safer on a non-Windows system? Adobe?
I'd never had a system with so much RAM before (1GB!), but then I'd never routinely used programs that used so much RAM before (Windows XP, WoW, etc.).
I wondered about this too (even though I'd used the old rule of thumb: allocate twice RAM size to swap file). So I found a freeware utility that measures how much of my Windows disk cache is actually being used. And then I ran all my usual things, my games, everything, over a period of days.
Guess what?
Windows Disk Cache would be used once, approx 25MB or so, at startup (I suspect Windows just feeling around to see what's there), and then never again touched.
So I pointed my disk cache file at an old raggedy 5GB hard drive I stuck in the system as Drive D: and never looked back:-)
Aw man... that's hard! I was just thinking, now nice that Elvis is NOT on the No-fly List, and then look what you gotta go and do: give those dopes over at Homeland Security ideas:-(
"I'm driving along a 40 limit road, at a cautious 30 when someone cluelessly drives into my path from a blind junction where they have no right of way. *I REACT* to this by slowing down and avoiding said stupid driver, thus making a non-situation of it."
Actually, when I was flying Warbirds (an online flight sim) (a lot!)... I'd probably have done a fast high snap roll, dropped in on his six, and hammered his careless *ss with my 20mm...
Oh wait... damn, I'm not IN a FW190 am I? Bah bah bah...
You know, my first thought was to check the transformer for any teeny tiny holes (probably vertical) boring out the bottom. If they found one... be afraid, be very afraid...
>> It's just not practical to put 50' diameter detectors hanging in the upper atmosphere and wait for a particle collision to happen inside of one.
Actually, they spent a LOT of money putting 50' diameter detectors (actually, some a LOT bigger than that) deep underground, with all sorts of expensive detectors... and then sat around for years waiting for things to happen.
Many years ago I was taking Continuing Education at UMass Amherst. One course I wanted had a very expensive textbook... curiously enough, written by the professor "sponsoring" the class. (The actual ContEd after-hours class was being conducted by a postgrad student.)
I complained about this self-serving BS to the administration (since I was actually staff there), but got no support whatsoever.
I was going to just cancel the class (and write a flaming letter to the editor of the local paper)... until the postgrad student instructor contacted me (!) and let it be known that all required readings would be provided. Heh heh.. turns out HE was copying the necessary pages (and sometimes chapters) from the professor's book and giving them to us.
Worked for me, so I took the course (a good one by the way). Nothing was wrong with the professor's book, by the way: it was quite appropriate for the course material. But I don't know that it was the only textbook available, nor the best. It was the one required... and he had a monetary interest in that. Very poor form, eh?
And even poorer form for UMass to be so abysmally disinterested in that conflict of interest.
I never forgave them that (although I'm sure they got over it).
So the ferries will be wind powered? That'll be interesting.
And ALL supplies and materials (to include the millions of tons of construction material to house the half million population) will be hauled in electric trucks? Or push carts?
Slashdot Mirror
I have several reports (two from WoW players I know personally) of what might be a new flaw or crack.
Stealing players' accounts, gold, bank holdings, etc. is not new in WoW. In the past it was from the player doing something very stupid and compromising his account (like paying someone to "power-level" his character), giving out their own username and password. Phthth, a pox on them, they brought it on themselves and I have no sympathy.
But the new threat is more troublesome: You come back after installing the new expansion, and your account doesn't exist, or there's a problem. You contact Blizzard, get it activated again, and you find your gold is all gone, your bank is empty. Your character is NOT stripped or looted.
You contact Blizzard and they say they can't do anything about that right now.
Apparently, in each of the cases I heard of, you got a mail message (in WoW mail) from a fellow Guild member (_prior_ to the latest expansion). "Please let me borrow your account for a bit" (for whatever reason, wants to examine the interface, wants to try out the character, etc.)
I don't have details on that yet, but the message is convincing, seems authentic, is definitely from a known and supposedly trusted player, in all cases that I've seen so far in the same guild.
Your character is NOT looted prior to the new expansion; only when you return.
Interesting, eh?
It's called tap-killing. You tap a target (to get credit), your pals do all the work, while you move on to the next. Takes you much less time. Your minions get to do all the work, you get all the glory. Oh yeah, that's the way to play WoW all right.
All honor and glory ... my flaming red ass.
Incidentally, a number of people HAVE been kicked out by Blizzard for doing exactly that. I do NOT know that this guy got permission; indeed, if he did, I have no idea why Blizzard would make an exception to their own rules (and it IS against the rules).
I don't understand why they don't just build up: put everything on stilts; put everything on barges; bring in fill and elevate a meter or two up.
Their entire society is built on those small islands, and everything (I presume) is oriented toward the sea. Build up enough fields for what they grow. No idea where their water comes from (captured rain water?) but that shouldn't change.
I expect most of their tourism (I was surprised at that billion dollar figure) is oriented toward the ocean, so that won't change either. Build up a few islands and the beaches will reform.
They will NOT be able to maintain their current culture (and tourist trade) on land bought from Australia. India or Sri Lanka, maybe, if they can find coastline to purchase. But will the tourists come? Will the fishing still be there?
I'd consider staying right where they are, adjusting to the rising sea levels, prepare for future changes.
Sand isn't the issue. It's that pesky water. Which terrorists are NOT expert at.
Saturday Night Life gets no credit at all, for their androgynous "Pat" ???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_(Saturday_Night_Live)
Tch. Shame on IBM.
We aren't talking about making a runway approach here, so who needs all this control (besides some frustrated pilot astronaut)? No control needed to hit the Pacific or even Central Asia; just timing.
I am also concerned about the total reliance on one big honker parachute, and wonder what the vehicle's speed will be (slowed by pure air drag alone?) when that main has to deploy. I'd feel a LOT better with a wee drag chute out the back (in case of control and/or parachute failure), and at least an escape hatch with personnel chutes for the crew. Yeah, I know, more weight, more parts. But (after a career watching Army heavy drop loads come hurtling in) one chute sure worries me.
Because they were careless idiots?
Suggestion: make them CRIMINAL careless idiots. Fine the possessor a HUGE fine. And the person who gave it to him a HUGE fine.
And use that fine money to create a whistleblower / reward system: Anyone who turns in a memory stick, hard drive, PC, or laptop with citizen or taxpayer information (which is supposed to be secured) gets a HUGE reward (far more than the stick or PC or even the personal information could be worth).
Yes, this will create a whole lot of thieves, but hey, that's okay too. If it's secured, they can't steal it, right? If it's encrypted, it doesn't matter if they did, right?
Or ... just give up this silliness about ANYTHING in your life, your communications, your financial history being private. Because it isn't, you know; it's probably already been compromised a dozen times over.
Oh, by the way ... check out this neat flash drive. Found it sticking out of some guy's laptop when he got up to get a cup of coffee. Couldn't hide the laptop, but the flash drive was easy :-) Want it? Twenty bucks, it's yours.
Toad
"Stories like this make me want to smash things. "
You make me so mad! Why do you want to make me so mad? If I do things, bad things, it's all YOUR fault.
No ... wait ... no it isn't.
It's my fault.
Never Mind. - very bad Rosanna Rosannadanna imitation
Toad
And I too welcome ...
Wait a minute! No, I don't! Bastige steenking Robotic Overlords! All robots must die! [lights torch]
"With shocking disregard to their personal privacy"
Where's this guy coming from, and what the HELL is this privacy fetish driving everyone nuts?
If the insurance companies want to filter out the more costly applicants (via DNA or anything else), they're going to do that, and privacy be damned.
Might not have anything to do with that bust, or the FBI sting operation that recently closed down ...
But over the past several weeks I've noticed a HUGE drop in my personal spam (down from 85 a day to 1 or 2). Same account, same name, same everything. No filters at the mail host (it's ours), no filters at the ISP (those useless cowardly lazy pukes). It just ... quit.
Which is a pity really, because sending off the spam to Spamcop was a daily routine from which I got great pleasure.
Sigh ...
You never heard of a cold soldering joint before? Tch ...
Much less glamorous than a pesky little black hole penetrating the casing. Or that interdimension portal and shrieking demons.
There weren't any demon carcasses discovered when they got all the helium pumped out, right?
Right?
This _is_ the same Flash I recently disabled on my Windows PC because it's so fraught with weaknesses and vulnerabilities that it's downright dangerous?
That Flash?
And who's guaranteeing that it'll be any safer on a non-Windows system? Adobe?
Riiii-ight.
And if you believe that, I've got this really great bridge I'd like to sell you ...
I agree. A good job for the FCC or the ACLU.
"This site complies with FCC Privacy Policy #2."
and a link.
Bidda bing ...
She probably did. You're just feeding it the wrong command line data.
I'd never had a system with so much RAM before (1GB!), but then I'd never routinely used programs that used so much RAM before (Windows XP, WoW, etc.).
I wondered about this too (even though I'd used the old rule of thumb: allocate twice RAM size to swap file). So I found a freeware utility that measures how much of my Windows disk cache is actually being used. And then I ran all my usual things, my games, everything, over a period of days.
Guess what?
Windows Disk Cache would be used once, approx 25MB or so, at startup (I suspect Windows just feeling around to see what's there), and then never again touched.
So I pointed my disk cache file at an old raggedy 5GB hard drive I stuck in the system as Drive D: and never looked back :-)
Aw man ... that's hard! I was just thinking, now nice that Elvis is NOT on the No-fly List, and then look what you gotta go and do: give those dopes over at Homeland Security ideas :-(
"I'm driving along a 40 limit road, at a cautious 30 when someone cluelessly drives into my path from a blind junction where they have no right of way. *I REACT* to this by slowing down and avoiding said stupid driver, thus making a non-situation of it."
Actually, when I was flying Warbirds (an online flight sim) (a lot!) ... I'd probably have done a fast high snap roll, dropped in on his six, and hammered his careless *ss with my 20mm ...
Oh wait ... damn, I'm not IN a FW190 am I? Bah bah bah ...
Toad
Virtual Fiter Pilut
You know, my first thought was to check the transformer for any teeny tiny holes (probably vertical) boring out the bottom. If they found one ... be afraid, be very afraid ...
>> It's just not practical to put 50' diameter detectors hanging in the upper atmosphere and wait for a particle collision to happen inside of one.
Actually, they spent a LOT of money putting 50' diameter detectors (actually, some a LOT bigger than that) deep underground, with all sorts of expensive detectors ... and then sat around for years waiting for things to happen.
http://www.ct.infn.it/cris2006/abstract/enqvist.html
I always felt sorry for the grad students on those projects, I really did.
I am unimpressed.
The Me163 Komet has a far better rate of climb than that white turkey ... and can shoot down bombers too!
I just happen to know where one's sitting too. Wonder if they left the keys in it?
Toad, Rocket Toad
So they're loading down the first stage with at _least_ 1600 pounds of weight (plus motors, plus batteries, plus cannisters) to dampen vibration?
That's pretty crazy, I would think. It's not like all that weight is gonna come free.
Many years ago I was taking Continuing Education at UMass Amherst. One course I wanted had a very expensive textbook ... curiously enough, written by the professor "sponsoring" the class. (The actual ContEd after-hours class was being conducted by a postgrad student.)
I complained about this self-serving BS to the administration (since I was actually staff there), but got no support whatsoever.
I was going to just cancel the class (and write a flaming letter to the editor of the local paper) ... until the postgrad student instructor contacted me (!) and let it be known that all required readings would be provided. Heh heh .. turns out HE was copying the necessary pages (and sometimes chapters) from the professor's book and giving them to us.
Worked for me, so I took the course (a good one by the way). Nothing was wrong with the professor's book, by the way: it was quite appropriate for the course material. But I don't know that it was the only textbook available, nor the best. It was the one required ... and he had a monetary interest in that. Very poor form, eh?
And even poorer form for UMass to be so abysmally disinterested in that conflict of interest.
I never forgave them that (although I'm sure they got over it).
So the ferries will be wind powered? That'll be interesting.
And ALL supplies and materials (to include the millions of tons of construction material to house the half million population) will be hauled in electric trucks? Or push carts?
Good luck to that.