how hard would it be for a "terrorist" to get fake licence plates
in the UK it is now a legal requirement for a number-plate shop to require proof of ID and the vehicle reg. document before making a plate; they also record this fact. in some ways this is clever, because it means if a vehicle with dodgy plates is used for a criminal act, it is possible to get all number plate shops to reveal who bought them.
However, like all government "good ideas" it's totally flawed:
Firstly, the records kept in the shops are all paper based.
Secondly, it's only required for plates that they make, you can still buy numberplate kits WITHOUT requiring ID.
Thirdly, you can still go to scrap yards and acquire reg. plates with no questions asked.
So, like most bits of Uk gov't legislation, it inconveniences the 49M law abiding citizens to catch a few lazy and stupid criminals, puts additional administrative burdens on regular commerce, but doesn't actually solve the problem.
There was a very interesting program yesterday evening where it was debated whether the plethora of anti-terrorist laws passed in the last 15 years have been any benefit to the UK at all: "Conor Gearty argues the case that 'All Special Terrorism Laws Should be Abolished'" BBC Radio 4 - The Hecklers
as an engineer who's only ever worked in male dominated industries, I found many of the women to be cautiously aloof (except the unattractive ones). over time, and especially once I was married, I found many to be more friendly. I put this down to several reasons:
my improved social skills
my not being interested (or desperate!)
an increasing (but still small) number of women in these jobs
a friend of mine once found that he was able to make friends with women much faster by wearing a wedding ring even tho' not married.
referring to Leonardo as 'Da Vinci' is entirely wrong... his name was Leonardo, and he appended his place of origin to make him distinct from all the other Leonardos.
I have to agree. Apple are a computer company, what are they doing in the music distribution business, and why are they doing it so much better than the record label's own attempts?
The record labels have had plenty of time to catch up, so could it really be as simple as that they're lazy & incompetent, or simply just don't have the vision or understanding of what the consumers need? The labels could, if they really wanted, buy the whole of iTunes and the iPod business off Apple. Could it also be that the labels are staffed entirely by corporate bean-counters and lawyers who can only see as far as the next pay-cheque which is paid for by their next legal suit?
I recall an interview with a former head of General Motors, where he explained the terrible problems with car manufacturing in the USA... "organisations continue to do the wrong thing that's easy, rather than the right thing that's hard".
Re:Lets hope they open source it
on
Google to Buy Opera?
·
· Score: 2, Informative
are still missing StrongArm/Linux
so you're saying that when I run Opera on my Zaurus 6000 or 860 that I'm deluding myself?
compared to netfront on the Zaurus, Opera is far more complete as a browser. For example, Getting Things Done Tiddly Wiki kills netfront, works (albeit slowly) on Opera.
Note that IBM had a hand in getting Opera on Arm/linux - google for "multimodal opera"
yes, that was the article I had in mind when I said it's quite likely the treo driver's not fully "legal". Of course, it's possible that it's a palm driver from a T3 that's somehow been reverse engineered or hacked enough to run on the Treo.
the last I heard, SDIO wasn't an open specification and there were doubts as to whether it would be "legal" for SDIO to be implemented by a GPL'd project.
embwise have an SDIO stack but it's closed/proprietary
as a Zaurus user (all the latest models are wired for SDIO, but only support SD memory [and max. 1GB because Sharp's driver is crap]) sdio in linux is eagerly awaited.
The big problem at the moment, with the glut of engineers, particularly in software and electronic engineering, is that employers are far too picky: they want an exact match.
Just recently I was turned down before even getting to interview because I only had 9 out of the 11 skills on the requirements! Someone had left the position and they wanted someone to step into the role with no gap.
Don't employers realise that aptitude (ability to learn) and attitude (discipline and enthusiasm) are at least as important as specific skills? In fact, I'd go further to suggest that a perfect fit would actually be bad, because the new employee would have nothing to learn, no reason to strive, nothing to challenge.
I get my technical kicks from solving problems I can only initially *guess* how to do... the first time you do something, it's interesting and a challenge; the second time you refine the process, the third time you get bored and probably create something too fancy and bloated just to make it more interesting*!
(*lets see, Windows NT, Windows 2000, WIndows XP... yep, that confirms my theory).
yeah, but for real job security, nothing's as good as being the only person to understand the company's major application written in perl, and even better, you don't have to try very hard to make it so!!!
long ago, a friend and I used to play the original multi-user dungeon via the UK JANET network (at 1200 dialup speeds, at 3am, from the library terminals at Boddington Hall, our student hall of residence, in case there are any ex-Leeds people reading).
We both used to get killed regularly, the moment we rose above bottom rank - mere cannon fodder for the other players to boost their ranks. Then my friend changed his persona to a female and started chatting up a wizard, and very quickly he got help and protection. When he beat my character up for points I told Rick that the "girl" he was chatting up was bearded and male, my friend was FOD'd*!
The moral: that female character you know online might not be quite what "she" seems!
If someone steals you ID, you should be allowed to go and take everything that person owns, including their life - after all, they are pretending to be you, so by rights, their property is yours, including their life, so feel free to kill them!
Of course, if they've stolen multiple IDs, you'll have to divvy up the loot.
IT department fills every hole in every computer with epoxy
what happens when PS/2 keyboard ports disappear? how will such IT departments cope?
why not disable USB in the bios and password lock it (which could be reset by opening the case and wiping the CMOS by shorting the battery), or disable the storage device in the operating system?
they need to be concerned about anything that stores info
they'll be fitting shredders to printers next to ensure all printouts are rendered useless to competitors... but the b*****ds will not take away my paper-tape punch, no way!
1. apply security and recommended patches on a simulated monthly release basis; Is there anything out there equivalent to windows update? Windows wins this one
Someone else ref'd Redhat's up2date. SuSE have Yast, and susewatcher - even better than windows update because it doesn't require you to be running as root/administrator in order to get updates - although it does require user to know system password.
Someone should run a Get The Facts campaign. Oh yeah, MS did... more FUD:-)
in fetal development you can cut off pieces of the fetus and it'll heal just fine
I believe this has been used on physically abnormal but genetically fine embryos and has effectively prevented babies being born with deformities - for example, when the hand was developing misformed, it was removed and a new one grew.
But as the original poster said, it has to be done very early on. It's still experimental, and I would guess that only a small percent of the world's population have access to the hi-res ultrasound scanners required to even see these potential deformities, let alone have access to the specialist surgical teams.
Slashdot Mirror
in the UK it is now a legal requirement for a number-plate shop to require proof of ID and the vehicle reg. document before making a plate; they also record this fact. in some ways this is clever, because it means if a vehicle with dodgy plates is used for a criminal act, it is possible to get all number plate shops to reveal who bought them.
However, like all government "good ideas" it's totally flawed:
So, like most bits of Uk gov't legislation, it inconveniences the 49M law abiding citizens to catch a few lazy and stupid criminals, puts additional administrative burdens on regular commerce, but doesn't actually solve the problem.
There was a very interesting program yesterday evening where it was debated whether the plethora of anti-terrorist laws passed in the last 15 years have been any benefit to the UK at all: "Conor Gearty argues the case that 'All Special Terrorism Laws Should be Abolished'" BBC Radio 4 - The Hecklers
a friend of mine once found that he was able to make friends with women much faster by wearing a wedding ring even tho' not married.
so, you learnt something new and irrelevant again today!
referring to Leonardo as 'Da Vinci' is entirely wrong... his name was Leonardo, and he appended his place of origin to make him distinct from all the other Leonardos.
Sorry, but I can't trust your opinion, because there's a fairly good chance that intellisense has rotted your mind
The record labels have had plenty of time to catch up, so could it really be as simple as that they're lazy & incompetent, or simply just don't have the vision or understanding of what the consumers need? The labels could, if they really wanted, buy the whole of iTunes and the iPod business off Apple. Could it also be that the labels are staffed entirely by corporate bean-counters and lawyers who can only see as far as the next pay-cheque which is paid for by their next legal suit?
I recall an interview with a former head of General Motors, where he explained the terrible problems with car manufacturing in the USA... "organisations continue to do the wrong thing that's easy, rather than the right thing that's hard".
so you're saying that when I run Opera on my Zaurus 6000 or 860 that I'm deluding myself?
compared to netfront on the Zaurus, Opera is far more complete as a browser. For example, Getting Things Done Tiddly Wiki kills netfront, works (albeit slowly) on Opera.
Note that IBM had a hand in getting Opera on Arm/linux - google for "multimodal opera"
yes, that was the article I had in mind when I said it's quite likely the treo driver's not fully "legal". Of course, it's possible that it's a palm driver from a T3 that's somehow been reverse engineered or hacked enough to run on the Treo.
the only one commonly available off the shelf is the not-so-humble Sharp Zaurus.
www.oesf.org for more information
the last I heard, SDIO wasn't an open specification and there were doubts as to whether it would be "legal" for SDIO to be implemented by a GPL'd project.
embwise have an SDIO stack but it's closed/proprietary
as a Zaurus user (all the latest models are wired for SDIO, but only support SD memory [and max. 1GB because Sharp's driver is crap]) sdio in linux is eagerly awaited.
Paul
as a representative of the inhabitants of mars, I for one welcome my new human overlords.
Just recently I was turned down before even getting to interview because I only had 9 out of the 11 skills on the requirements! Someone had left the position and they wanted someone to step into the role with no gap.
Don't employers realise that aptitude (ability to learn) and attitude (discipline and enthusiasm) are at least as important as specific skills? In fact, I'd go further to suggest that a perfect fit would actually be bad, because the new employee would have nothing to learn, no reason to strive, nothing to challenge.
I get my technical kicks from solving problems I can only initially *guess* how to do... the first time you do something, it's interesting and a challenge; the second time you refine the process, the third time you get bored and probably create something too fancy and bloated just to make it more interesting*!
(*lets see, Windows NT, Windows 2000, WIndows XP... yep, that confirms my theory).
So, corporate greed in the west which is destroying the planet (i.e. not just the local environment) is a mark of success?
25% (?) of the worlds population using far more of the planets resources than their fare share, is a sign of success?
yeah, but for real job security, nothing's as good as being the only person to understand the company's major application written in perl, and even better, you don't have to try very hard to make it so!!!
-- Note to mods: this is an attempt at humour.We both used to get killed regularly, the moment we rose above bottom rank - mere cannon fodder for the other players to boost their ranks. Then my friend changed his persona to a female and started chatting up a wizard, and very quickly he got help and protection. When he beat my character up for points I told Rick that the "girl" he was chatting up was bearded and male, my friend was FOD'd*!
The moral: that female character you know online might not be quite what "she" seems!
* finger of death
If someone steals you ID, you should be allowed to go and take everything that person owns, including their life - after all, they are pretending to be you, so by rights, their property is yours, including their life, so feel free to kill them!
Of course, if they've stolen multiple IDs, you'll have to divvy up the loot.
I'd assume IT would have disabled booting off CD, floppy, usb etc etc as the VERY first thing they do simply to prevent viruses.
why not disable USB in the bios and password lock it (which could be reset by opening the case and wiping the CMOS by shorting the battery), or disable the storage device in the operating system?
they'll be fitting shredders to printers next to ensure all printouts are rendered useless to competitors... but the b*****ds will not take away my paper-tape punch, no way!
Is there anything out there equivalent to windows update? Windows wins this one
Someone else ref'd Redhat's up2date. SuSE have Yast, and susewatcher - even better than windows update because it doesn't require you to be running as root/administrator in order to get updates - although it does require user to know system password.
Someone should run a Get The Facts campaign. Oh yeah, MS did... more FUD
help get some statistics logged: http://counter.li.org/
I believe this has been used on physically abnormal but genetically fine embryos and has effectively prevented babies being born with deformities - for example, when the hand was developing misformed, it was removed and a new one grew.
But as the original poster said, it has to be done very early on. It's still experimental, and I would guess that only a small percent of the world's population have access to the hi-res ultrasound scanners required to even see these potential deformities, let alone have access to the specialist surgical teams.
I want to buy .localhost. and CNAME it to goatsex or other famous nasty site.
that would finally encourge all the idiot windows lusers which don't know how to set up DNS properly!
You are quoting Snowcrash and I claim my five pounds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash
can't find any up-to-date news, sorry, but I only spent 10 seconds with my friend google.