How silly, considering the bulk of the Internet content -- including stuff they deem inappropriate for children -- originates outside of Australia! Is Australia, like so many other governments, trying to control International Cyberspace? What if, say, someone in Germany or Russia runs a site without any age checks that the Australian government doesn't like? Try to extradite said person to Australia?
These are dangerous times where many of the governments of the world attempt to impose parochial morality on the international "waters" of Cyberspace. And why do they attempt to do this, I wonder? Is it that they are simply trying to look like they are "doing something" to the people back at home? There's little hope of enforcement for any content originating outside of their borders.
And that brings me to another long-standing pet peeve of mine -- where are all the parents in all of this? Is it not the responsibility of the parents to control and meter out what their little Johnnies see on the Internet? What, with all the blocking software available and the like, why can't they do their own due diligence as responsible parents? Why do they expect government to be a substitute for their roles? Mommy Government, please watch my Johnny for me, will ya?.
As a parent of 3 kids, I don't expect and would not want "Mommy Government" to decide content for my kids -- that's my responsibility. Government will get it wrong more times than not, anyway.
And ultimately, if you raise your kids right, you should have no worries about their activities on the Internet. If you do anyway, you can simply not let them on it!
Mass media and mass communication technologies can make it a challenge, yes, for a paranoid parent to control what her Johnny sees. But then, you've hit on the real crux of the problem -- paranoia. Kids are not as stupid as many -- including "Mommy Government" -- may suppose. The kids will be OK, so relax.
I have mixed feelings about Flash. I think Flash has the potential to deliver amazing content, but so far the use of Flash has been mostly abysmal. 99% of Flash usage seems to be simply for doing eye-catching -- and also CPU-sucking -- advertising. Almost never do I see Flash used to truly enhance the user experience in a way that HTML never could.
On the other hand, having a consistent platform to launch a web application without worry from all the browser differences is a definite plus. But even here Flash has problems as many websites I visit will tell me "You need Flash 8" or "You need Flash 9" to view the content or no dice. Unless the site has something I truly need, I usually don't bother with going through the bother of downloading "the latest". Got no time for that BS.
Back before Flash took over the world from Java, I had the same inane problems with browser JVMs, and was always frustrated I couldn't make use of the latest and greatest features of Java because I couldn't depend on people upgrading their JVMs!
Well, I guess I've been on all sides of the "fence" here. I am toying with the idea of picking up ActionScript someday, as I rather write the code myself rather than rely on 3rd party proprietary tools to generate questionable code for a proprietary platform -- and besides, I can always do far more than those tools will allow me to do, anyway.
Of course, I consider this one particular article on a "potential" XSS exploit to be more hype than substance -- especially since they aren't disclosing the details of the possible vunerability, which is silly since so many need to be informed as to whether there's really a cause for concern or not -- but then, that's the whole idea, right? You can't sell books or other "solutions" unless you can generate lots of FUD. And that, my friends, is the real problem. It's a Memetic Mind Exploit to trick $$$$ out of your wallets!
Neither the deomcrats nor the republicans represnts my political views -- Libertarian. Besides, there are other political parites -- they simply don't get any coverage, because the Democrats and the Republicans conspire to keep all other parties shut out of the political process. Not to mention the media itself, which also is part of that conspiracy.
Aside from the myriad problems with any electronic voting system, the real issue that everyone misses is that the entire voting practice is fundamentally flawed at the roots.
The concept of a "winner takes all" system is that the losers must suffer the tyrrany of the winners. How is that so much different from a dictatorship? You are still under tyrrany, and in some ways it's worse -- it's the tyrrany of the majority, which means of course it's much harder to effect changes since you'll have the majority against you.
So where is the freedom in all of this?
Having said that, a good friend of mine has fought mightly against the electronic voting system, and I would say her contributions have finally borne some fruit! But that really does not address the deeper issues in the flaws of how the entire political process works and how we might fix these fundamental flaws.
But not to worry, for I have found the solution...acckk! (something just killed me)
While I can understand and appreciate an ISP's "need" to corrupt and tamper with the stream of data -- whether it be HTML or voice or video or what have you --, I want MY streams of data to be pristene and untampered with as I get them from the Internet.
The tampering itself can introduce all kinds of problems -- especially since no ISP can possibly account for every variety of HTML sources on the Internet. Different browsers are finicky about how they respond to HTML, so you could wind up breaking some browsers on some content depending on how the injection is done.
And, of course, I want to know that the data I received is as it really is and was intended from the source. Do they also do "man in the middle attacks" with the https: protocol? This would be especially *bad*.
If I knew my ISP was dickering around with my streams, I'd set up a proxy/tunnel to bypass it. And I would also hope my ISP would be conscientious enough to inform me in LARGE FRIENDLY LETTERS that he's tampering with my incoming data!!
I have to look at anyone as crazy who would suggest that students shouldn't use Wikipedia. If someone sees something inaccurate in Wikipedia, they should just go in and fix the inaccuracy (and cite their sources), instead of the whining. Wikipedia then becomes stronger as far as accurate, unbiased content is concerned.
I think many of the whiners have not bothered using Wikipedia themselves, really. They are just parroting the whines of others. Kinda sad.
I am proud of my contribution to Wikipedia, though I need to do some work on it. Just search for "Gravity Set" there, if you are interested.
The focus should not be on whether or not something is "authoritative", but accurate Authorities have been known to miss the mark more times than not, and usually the process of fixing authoritative inaccuracies involved pulling teeth. With the Wikis, all you have to do is go in and fix it yourself!
Alas, I am preaching to the choir.
Re:But the proof steps are known, right?
on
Open Source Math
·
· Score: 2, Informative
The advantage of having the source code is that, in a lengthy proof that involves thousands of steps that may be hard to follow, one may have an easier go at proving that the software did the steps correctly. At least, if a bug were found that would save you many hours over sweating over the actual proof!!!
Another such service is UrlBit.Us, Which, I understand, will be releasing new features soon.
I personally don't see what is so wrong with URL biting services. Sure, some may exploit them to no good end, but really, the benefits outweigh any possible detriments as I see it.
If your site is vunerable, it's going to be vunerable no matter what. Anyone with access to a configurable Apache server can create all kinds of crazy redirects to your site, and sophisticated ones too. I don't think anyone looking to do such a major exploit would think of relying on urlbit.us or tinyurl.com.
So, it seems to me that this particular concern is quite a wash, at the very least.
If she did it at all -- it is possible the keystone bobbies made a mistake in thinking some file is encrypted or has encrypted content.
I suppose if I put files on my computer with purely random sequences of bits in them, they might claim those are "encrypted" and try to force the "keys" out of me! Of course, any encryption scheme worth its weight in salt will be largely indistinguishable from a random sequence.
Also, I suppose Britain does not have the self-incrimination laws we have here. There you can be forced or coerced to witness against yourself.
Don't be fooled by the so-called economic ties between the US and China. Look at who has the upper hand in all of that. It ain't the US, folks. China props up a major portion of the US debt. China supplies many of the good the US consumes. They may have been a more even kneel in the past, but currently, this economic tie is growing more and more lopsided all the time.
There are now emerging alternative markets to the US -- namely Europe and other places. There has also been recent rumors about China dumping the USD. How true those rumors are are anyone's guess. But I also predicted this as well a few years go -- that China would seek to undo its dependence on the USD.
So, if China decided, today to dump the USD and grab the Euro, who would be the most hurt by that move? I'll leave you to answer that.
What I think China is doing is sending a "gentle" message to the US that they are not the only big boys on the block anymore.
China apparently has efforts underway to do moon exploration, also a telling sign.
All the details mean nothing by themselves, but taken together speaks of a fine tapestry of the geopolitical power plays and what is likely in store for our future -- if only you have eyes to see it.
Well, with me having posted this, let's check back in 5 years. I predicted Bush was bad news just from some observations during the first time he ran for office. I had no idea how bad though. And I (and some others) could clearly see the Iraq war as a wash, long before the rest of the country realised the obvious.
I don't claim to have ESP or any of that nonsense. All I do is look with my eyes and listen with my ears and think about it. And honestly, I wish I were wrong more often than not.
I have a better approach to avoiding stupid content. Just don't read it. No Bayesian filters needed. No silly cumbersome rules. I mean, really -- if you can't spot stupid a kilometer away, you are probably stupid yourself. And in that case you get what you deserve.
Of course, no one learns the real lesson from all of this. You (U.S.) flex your military muscle, don't expect others (China) not to do the same.
As I predicted a few years before, China is the real threat the US needs to worry about -- not some silly "terrorist" threats. I also predict Russia will ally itself with China in any such conflict.
And now for the sad point of this -- a war between the US and China is one the US cannot win at. Period. And as I always say, wars kills millions of innocents. Damned big governments and their military posturing for gain on the geopolitical front. Meanwhile us little guys -- Americans and Chinese alike -- will glow and be vaporised should the Big Boys decide to play with their nuclear toys. Which is inevitable in today's world should a war between two superpowers break out.
If it could be said that the US was, is, and is always clean in its intents with war, that would be one thing. But I think it is pretty clear that that's not the case.
All wars kill innocent people. As such, no war should be taken lightly, and the cost to innocent lives should always be on the forefront of our minds.
I would much rather see a holiday that honored the millions of innocents slain in all the wars the US has engaged in in the 20th century (as well as the recent Afghanistan and Iraq wars), rather than honor the instruments of the taking of those innocent lives.
Is it unpatriotic of me to want to honor the innocents rather than the soldiers? If "patriotism" means the slaughter of innocents, then I will be "unpatriotic" every damned time.
Unless they are landing on our shores, we shan't be fighting wars.
And now, let's see if humanity can aspire to being something better than the animals they currently show themselves to be.
Perhaps they meant 1% of the power, not "energy", of the Sun for that fraction of a second. Most people probably couldn't tell you the difference between "energy" and "power". Humans are so ignorant, for the most part.
You gotta love nuclear bombs. It'll vaporise you no matter who you are. An old grandma, a kid playing in her yard, a dad leaving for work, a mom washing the dishes. A student graduating from college. A bird in a tree. A doctor saving a life. All gone in quite literally a flash.
Really and honestly, what purpose can a 50-megatonne thermonuclear bomb really serve, except to say, "My power to vaporise millions of innocent people is greater than your power..."? While perhaps impressive from a scientific point of view, there is no practical use for nukes other than to annihilate civilization as we know it.
Yes, leave it to the governments of the world to protect us and keep us "safe". "Safe" as in safely glowing in your grave.
Oh, the high seas of corporate wars, battles, and domination.
Patents are kind of a joke these days -- they are mostly used by big corporations duking it out for leverage in the market place. Rarely are these battles of any merit beyond that.
And well, I should know, being a patent holder... oh well.
When I had my Fios installed, I deliberately told Verizon to rip out the copper. Why? Because over the years I had a lot of copper going to my house to support 3 phone lines, ISDN, Frame Relay, and DSL. It was beginning to look rather ugly, and now it's gone.
Personally, I am happy with the Fios service I've been getting thus far. Unlike all the other services I've had -- including cable modem -- it has been 100% reliable, including the data rates (which I constantly test with BitTorrent!:-) By any definition of the word, Fios 9000 is foolproof and incapable of error.:-):-):-)
Considering my past very negative experiences with Verizon, I am extremely pleased to say they seem to have "gotten it right" this time. And if they do screw up in the future, there's always cable and satellite. More expensive and more annoying, but those are my fallbacks. But so far Fios has been -- for me -- the lowest cost, most reliable, and by far the fastest Internet connection service I've ever had. Bar none.
I still think other offers of Verizon sucks, though. No one -- and definitely no company -- is perfect.
Indeed, it is sad to see a language fade into obscurity, but it is not necessarily a bad thing from the human perspective. If speaking language B makes you a bit more affluent, a bit more in connection with the world at large, a bit more prosperous than language A, then perhaps language B should die. It's all about memetics, after all.
As much as possible records of the dying languages should be made and recorded for further study. But I find the article a bit alarmist in its tone. The push a few years ago was to wipe out world hunger. We've gotten much closer to that than we were, say, 30 or 40 years ago. But in so doing, we have introduced new ecomonies to peoples that never had it before, and for them to live and thrive in those new ecomonies, they must speak the languages of those new ecomonies. Plain and simple. I get the impression that Stefan Lovgren would rather see us return to the old ways of isolation and poverty just to sustain language diversity.
And a child shall lead them. Yes, children do represent the future, and those children want to grow into successful individuals. They do not want to live the way their parents have. And can you blame them, really? Anderson is unrealistic in his approach of "The only way to ensure the survival of a language, the pair said, is to ensure that six-year-olds feel it is valued." Just how do you do that? And if you are successful, do you also cheat that 6-year-old's future from being a more prosperous one to being doomed to be the same "failures" as their parents? Not to say that the old ways have "failed", per se, but really, in a way they have, and we should just own up to that. Celebrate the 6-year-olds for seeing the writing on the wall and seizing their own futures. To hell with suffering just to keep the academics happy! You academics out there should get off your collective butts and preserve what you can while you can, not try to make people feel bad for wanting a better future.
What is a "Solar Hurricane"? This is a astronomical term to which I am unfamiliar.
I wonder if they are talking about coronal mass ejections? If so, I don't get the analogy. Hurricanes are basically large vortices's. Coronal Mass Ejections are not.
When I was in 6th grade and on, I used to carry a slide rule to school. This was in the 70s, a bit before hand-held calculators were available -- and long before they were affordable to a mere kid.
I'm fairly certain in saying I was the only kid in school who even knew what a slide-rule was -- outside of kids of engineers.
The approach to this is all wrong. Instead of sending this guy to jail, more of these "caveman hacks" should be encouraged so that corporate gets off their lazy bums and do the mind-numbing simple steps to add a modicum of security to their networks -- like changing out the default passwords already! I am amazed that I am still seeing stories like this 20 years later. Hello! Is anyone paying attention?
On the other hand, e-commerce system are extremely vulnerable if security is this lackluster. I am not surprised that millions of credit card numbers aren't posted to the Usenet everyday given these states of affairs.
I say all of this tongue firmly planted in cheek, of course. But really, it grows tiresome hearing about the same lame problems year after year when the fix is so absurdly simple even my 9-year-old could do it.
Slashdot Mirror
That is to say, I might be interested in the content, but that does not also mean I would trust them with my financial information.
These are dangerous times where many of the governments of the world attempt to impose parochial morality on the international "waters" of Cyberspace. And why do they attempt to do this, I wonder? Is it that they are simply trying to look like they are "doing something" to the people back at home? There's little hope of enforcement for any content originating outside of their borders.
And that brings me to another long-standing pet peeve of mine -- where are all the parents in all of this? Is it not the responsibility of the parents to control and meter out what their little Johnnies see on the Internet? What, with all the blocking software available and the like, why can't they do their own due diligence as responsible parents? Why do they expect government to be a substitute for their roles? Mommy Government, please watch my Johnny for me, will ya?.
As a parent of 3 kids, I don't expect and would not want "Mommy Government" to decide content for my kids -- that's my responsibility. Government will get it wrong more times than not, anyway.
And ultimately, if you raise your kids right, you should have no worries about their activities on the Internet. If you do anyway, you can simply not let them on it!
Mass media and mass communication technologies can make it a challenge, yes, for a paranoid parent to control what her Johnny sees. But then, you've hit on the real crux of the problem -- paranoia. Kids are not as stupid as many -- including "Mommy Government" -- may suppose. The kids will be OK, so relax.
On the other hand, having a consistent platform to launch a web application without worry from all the browser differences is a definite plus. But even here Flash has problems as many websites I visit will tell me "You need Flash 8" or "You need Flash 9" to view the content or no dice. Unless the site has something I truly need, I usually don't bother with going through the bother of downloading "the latest". Got no time for that BS.
Back before Flash took over the world from Java, I had the same inane problems with browser JVMs, and was always frustrated I couldn't make use of the latest and greatest features of Java because I couldn't depend on people upgrading their JVMs!
Well, I guess I've been on all sides of the "fence" here. I am toying with the idea of picking up ActionScript someday, as I rather write the code myself rather than rely on 3rd party proprietary tools to generate questionable code for a proprietary platform -- and besides, I can always do far more than those tools will allow me to do, anyway.
Of course, I consider this one particular article on a "potential" XSS exploit to be more hype than substance -- especially since they aren't disclosing the details of the possible vunerability, which is silly since so many need to be informed as to whether there's really a cause for concern or not -- but then, that's the whole idea, right? You can't sell books or other "solutions" unless you can generate lots of FUD. And that, my friends, is the real problem. It's a Memetic Mind Exploit to trick $$$$ out of your wallets!
Neither the deomcrats nor the republicans represnts my political views -- Libertarian. Besides, there are other political parites -- they simply don't get any coverage, because the Democrats and the Republicans conspire to keep all other parties shut out of the political process. Not to mention the media itself, which also is part of that conspiracy.
The concept of a "winner takes all" system is that the losers must suffer the tyrrany of the winners. How is that so much different from a dictatorship? You are still under tyrrany, and in some ways it's worse -- it's the tyrrany of the majority, which means of course it's much harder to effect changes since you'll have the majority against you.
So where is the freedom in all of this?
Having said that, a good friend of mine has fought mightly against the electronic voting system, and I would say her contributions have finally borne some fruit! But that really does not address the deeper issues in the flaws of how the entire political process works and how we might fix these fundamental flaws.
But not to worry, for I have found the solution...acckk!
(something just killed me)
The tampering itself can introduce all kinds of problems -- especially since no ISP can possibly account for every variety of HTML sources on the Internet. Different browsers are finicky about how they respond to HTML, so you could wind up breaking some browsers on some content depending on how the injection is done.
And, of course, I want to know that the data I received is as it really is and was intended from the source. Do they also do "man in the middle attacks" with the https: protocol? This would be especially *bad*.
If I knew my ISP was dickering around with my streams, I'd set up a proxy/tunnel to bypass it. And I would also hope my ISP would be conscientious enough to inform me in LARGE FRIENDLY LETTERS that he's tampering with my incoming data!!
I think many of the whiners have not bothered using Wikipedia themselves, really. They are just parroting the whines of others. Kinda sad.
I am proud of my contribution to Wikipedia, though I need to do some work on it. Just search for "Gravity Set" there, if you are interested.
The focus should not be on whether or not something is "authoritative", but accurate Authorities have been known to miss the mark more times than not, and usually the process of fixing authoritative inaccuracies involved pulling teeth. With the Wikis, all you have to do is go in and fix it yourself!
Alas, I am preaching to the choir.
I personally don't see what is so wrong with URL biting services. Sure, some may exploit them to no good end, but really, the benefits outweigh any possible detriments as I see it.
If your site is vunerable, it's going to be vunerable no matter what. Anyone with access to a configurable Apache server can create all kinds of crazy redirects to your site, and sophisticated ones too. I don't think anyone looking to do such a major exploit would think of relying on urlbit.us or tinyurl.com.
So, it seems to me that this particular concern is quite a wash, at the very least.
I suppose if I put files on my computer with purely random sequences of bits in them, they might claim those are "encrypted" and try to force the "keys" out of me! Of course, any encryption scheme worth its weight in salt will be largely indistinguishable from a random sequence.
Also, I suppose Britain does not have the self-incrimination laws we have here. There you can be forced or coerced to witness against yourself.
There are now emerging alternative markets to the US -- namely Europe and other places. There has also been recent rumors about China dumping the USD. How true those rumors are are anyone's guess. But I also predicted this as well a few years go -- that China would seek to undo its dependence on the USD.
So, if China decided, today to dump the USD and grab the Euro, who would be the most hurt by that move? I'll leave you to answer that.
What I think China is doing is sending a "gentle" message to the US that they are not the only big boys on the block anymore.
China apparently has efforts underway to do moon exploration, also a telling sign.
All the details mean nothing by themselves, but taken together speaks of a fine tapestry of the geopolitical power plays and what is likely in store for our future -- if only you have eyes to see it.
Well, with me having posted this, let's check back in 5 years. I predicted Bush was bad news just from some observations during the first time he ran for office. I had no idea how bad though. And I (and some others) could clearly see the Iraq war as a wash, long before the rest of the country realised the obvious.
I don't claim to have ESP or any of that nonsense. All I do is look with my eyes and listen with my ears and think about it. And honestly, I wish I were wrong more often than not.
Tongue planted firmly in cheek...
As I predicted a few years before, China is the real threat the US needs to worry about -- not some silly "terrorist" threats. I also predict Russia will ally itself with China in any such conflict.
And now for the sad point of this -- a war between the US and China is one the US cannot win at. Period. And as I always say, wars kills millions of innocents. Damned big governments and their military posturing for gain on the geopolitical front. Meanwhile us little guys -- Americans and Chinese alike -- will glow and be vaporised should the Big Boys decide to play with their nuclear toys. Which is inevitable in today's world should a war between two superpowers break out.
Ain't life grand.
You know what they say about "military intelligence"...
All wars kill innocent people. As such, no war should be taken lightly, and the cost to innocent lives should always be on the forefront of our minds.
I would much rather see a holiday that honored the millions of innocents slain in all the wars the US has engaged in in the 20th century (as well as the recent Afghanistan and Iraq wars), rather than honor the instruments of the taking of those innocent lives.
Is it unpatriotic of me to want to honor the innocents rather than the soldiers? If "patriotism" means the slaughter of innocents, then I will be "unpatriotic" every damned time.
Unless they are landing on our shores, we shan't be fighting wars.
And now, let's see if humanity can aspire to being something better than the animals they currently show themselves to be.
Perhaps they meant 1% of the power, not "energy", of the Sun for that fraction of a second. Most people probably couldn't tell you the difference between "energy" and "power". Humans are so ignorant, for the most part.
Really and honestly, what purpose can a 50-megatonne thermonuclear bomb really serve, except to say, "My power to vaporise millions of innocent people is greater than your power..."? While perhaps impressive from a scientific point of view, there is no practical use for nukes other than to annihilate civilization as we know it.
Yes, leave it to the governments of the world to protect us and keep us "safe". "Safe" as in safely glowing in your grave.
Patents are kind of a joke these days -- they are mostly used by big corporations duking it out for leverage in the market place. Rarely are these battles of any merit beyond that.
And well, I should know, being a patent holder... oh well.
At least this is a funny joke, as opposed to the not funny joke that is the president of the US.
Personally, I am happy with the Fios service I've been getting thus far. Unlike all the other services I've had -- including cable modem -- it has been 100% reliable, including the data rates (which I constantly test with BitTorrent! :-) By any definition of the word, Fios 9000 is foolproof and incapable of error. :-) :-) :-)
Considering my past very negative experiences with Verizon, I am extremely pleased to say they seem to have "gotten it right" this time. And if they do screw up in the future, there's always cable and satellite. More expensive and more annoying, but those are my fallbacks. But so far Fios has been -- for me -- the lowest cost, most reliable, and by far the fastest Internet connection service I've ever had. Bar none.
I still think other offers of Verizon sucks, though. No one -- and definitely no company -- is perfect.
As much as possible records of the dying languages should be made and recorded for further study. But I find the article a bit alarmist in its tone. The push a few years ago was to wipe out world hunger. We've gotten much closer to that than we were, say, 30 or 40 years ago. But in so doing, we have introduced new ecomonies to peoples that never had it before, and for them to live and thrive in those new ecomonies, they must speak the languages of those new ecomonies. Plain and simple. I get the impression that Stefan Lovgren would rather see us return to the old ways of isolation and poverty just to sustain language diversity.
And a child shall lead them. Yes, children do represent the future, and those children want to grow into successful individuals. They do not want to live the way their parents have. And can you blame them, really? Anderson is unrealistic in his approach of "The only way to ensure the survival of a language, the pair said, is to ensure that six-year-olds feel it is valued." Just how do you do that? And if you are successful, do you also cheat that 6-year-old's future from being a more prosperous one to being doomed to be the same "failures" as their parents? Not to say that the old ways have "failed", per se, but really, in a way they have, and we should just own up to that. Celebrate the 6-year-olds for seeing the writing on the wall and seizing their own futures. To hell with suffering just to keep the academics happy! You academics out there should get off your collective butts and preserve what you can while you can, not try to make people feel bad for wanting a better future.
What is a "Solar Hurricane"? This is a astronomical term to which I am unfamiliar.
I wonder if they are talking about coronal mass ejections? If so, I don't get the analogy. Hurricanes are basically large vortices's. Coronal Mass Ejections are not.
I'm fairly certain in saying I was the only kid in school who even knew what a slide-rule was -- outside of kids of engineers.
On the other hand, e-commerce system are extremely vulnerable if security is this lackluster. I am not surprised that millions of credit card numbers aren't posted to the Usenet everyday given these states of affairs.
I say all of this tongue firmly planted in cheek, of course. But really, it grows tiresome hearing about the same lame problems year after year when the fix is so absurdly simple even my 9-year-old could do it.
So he could become world (in)famous for it! Might be worth a 2-year jail term to some...