But the Chinese Government? Come on - you're meant to be a respectable member of society who has their own opinions, and doesn't spend their life sat in front of the History Channel watching any documentary with the words 'conspiracy theory' in the title.
This is less of a concern for the private citizen than for major corporations and government entities. The speculation on this is not coming from the History Channel (I always turn off the conspiracy theory crap anyway), but from experienced scientists and engineers with strong backgrounds in security, my coworkers at a US National Lab. The assumption should always be "don't trust your hardware, don't trust your network". We take it as a given that our network already has some percentage of compromised boxes. It is understood that the Chinese probably have spies on-site and that they are attempting to compromise our information security too.
I wouldn't even be surprised to see BIOS rootkits that create instant botnets... that could potentially be useful to any government.
I do look forward to Beijing '08 to see if the army of peasants can shoot the clouds away to prevent rain...
You're right... I was thinking about the same kind of gains terrorists hope to make (changing the world to fit their expectations), not about shitloads of money.
A danger to be alert to is the possibility of viruses and rootkits that ship with the computer. Consider that most computers have a lot of parts made in China; suppose the Chinese government decides it's going to slip something into your BIOS? That is a major issue for national security, and it's not just speculation; I've seen test viruses that sit in the BIOS and do a SUID root on a specific file in/tmp on every bootup. EFI is just as vulnerable, because it's basically a complete Unix-like OS just for booting.
No, I'm not a coffee snob but I drink black Americano coffee pretty much exclusively, I can get a great double Americano in my work canteen for 65p and, as someone who goes out to Spain a lot, any bar will sell you a good Americano for about 1.
There's an espresso machine, a grinder, and a lot of beans here at the office. The heavy drinkers pooled their money to get the equipment and now they just bring in beans and milk as needed. It works out nicely and is very cheap. I don't use the machine, because I don't drink enough coffee to make contributing to the supplies pool worthwhile (I'm a Coke man myself), but I've tried it a few times and the results were pretty good.
Damn Starbucks for managing to create, market, and sell a product that people want. You know, if they weren't a bunch of sellouts, they'd still be just one shop in Seattle selling crap coffee just like everyone else, instead of 1,000,000 shops selling crap coffee.
Here is a breaking news bulletin: No matter where you go, if you order something beyond a plain black coffee, you're going to pay Starbucks prices.
I don't drink Starbucks coffee, hell I don't drink coffee that much anywhere. I'm definitely no fan of the Starbucks obsession some people have, but you know what? People who bitch about Starbucks are even more annoying in their superior love of coffee shop XYZ. And don't get me started on the "coffee shop culture", obnoxious college kids sitting around all day either fiddling with a Mac (with the Apple prominently displayed) or talking loudly to their friends about how great that last anti-war march was and how hard Algebra for Art Majors is.
At least Louis Black isn't changing every week--he sucks now, he sucked last week, and he's always sucked. The "pissed off guy shouting about stuff" routine gets really old after you finish 9th grade.
A quick summary for everyone too busy to read the comments on this and every other "Politician says X":
1. Republicans are really bad
2. George Bush is a war criminal
3. MAFIAA (that never gets old)
4. The US is the only corrupt country, ever
5. Run to Canada, land of freedom and all the ganja you can smoke
6. Did we mention how bad Republicans are? Let me do it again. And again. And again.
7. People are sheep but we Slashdotters see through it ALL.
8. Obama will bring hope. His plan for victory in Iraq is Hope. He will reduce poverty with the power of Hope.
9. Ron Paul '12
The only podcast I need is CowboyNeal.
thesync.org seems to have gone away, so if you have a masochistic bent and want to hear Hemos, CowboyNeal, CmdrTaco, et al talking about 6-year-old news, go here.
Ze Americans, zey drink only ze Budweiser, you did not know zis?
Come on, people, can we lay this to rest? These American beer comments are basically the same as French surrender jokes, German coprophilia, etc, but with less intent for humor and more intent to show how very sophisticated you are because you would never demean yourself by even LOOKING at what is really the cheapest beer of the thousands available here. It's like claiming that all American food is McDonalds; sure, we came up with it, and it's popular, but it sure as hell isn't the only option.
Yeah, on my site you first have to show your badge as you drive through the entrance gate... if you somehow get through there, you then have to swipe your card to get through the secondary fences. If your card stops working, there's a phone right by all the entrances that will put you through to security. Employees are allowed to "vouch through" somebody they know is authorized to get in (a coworker whose badge is malfunctioning), but letting in somebody you don't know is a risky career move, even though they *shouldn't* be in that area without having shown their site badge to the security guards already.
Ahh yes, good old Orson Scott Card. The best one is his retelling of the Book of Mormon, cleverly disguised as a science fiction series. I started the series with no idea that this was the case, started to wonder a little bit throughout, and then when I hit the pure solid lump of insane that is the final book realized something was definitely afoot. A quick googling and a summary of the BoM informed me that, yes, this was the case. Thanks, Mr. Card!
I can only hope it doesn't include something like that planet-o-hippies, the Gaians.
The worst would be if he tried to tie the Baroque Cycle, the Cryptonomicon, and Snow Crash all together in this book, like Asimov did at the end of Foundation.
Pity that S.F. authors seem to go a little nuts when they get old.
Slashdot Mirror
I want to see Samuel L. Jackson as Gurney Halleck. Admit it, that would be awesome.
Wait, you didn't like Thufir's cat? Awww...
We've brought you a kitty, Thufir
But the Chinese Government? Come on - you're meant to be a respectable member of society who has their own opinions, and doesn't spend their life sat in front of the History Channel watching any documentary with the words 'conspiracy theory' in the title.
This is less of a concern for the private citizen than for major corporations and government entities. The speculation on this is not coming from the History Channel (I always turn off the conspiracy theory crap anyway), but from experienced scientists and engineers with strong backgrounds in security, my coworkers at a US National Lab. The assumption should always be "don't trust your hardware, don't trust your network". We take it as a given that our network already has some percentage of compromised boxes. It is understood that the Chinese probably have spies on-site and that they are attempting to compromise our information security too.
I wouldn't even be surprised to see BIOS rootkits that create instant botnets... that could potentially be useful to any government.
I do look forward to Beijing '08 to see if the army of peasants can shoot the clouds away to prevent rain...
Damn you, that's what I thought when I read the summary. Get out of my head!
Or a usb stick in many cases. Sneaky.
You're right... I was thinking about the same kind of gains terrorists hope to make (changing the world to fit their expectations), not about shitloads of money.
A danger to be alert to is the possibility of viruses and rootkits that ship with the computer. Consider that most computers have a lot of parts made in China; suppose the Chinese government decides it's going to slip something into your BIOS? That is a major issue for national security, and it's not just speculation; I've seen test viruses that sit in the BIOS and do a SUID root on a specific file in /tmp on every bootup. EFI is just as vulnerable, because it's basically a complete Unix-like OS just for booting.
You couldn't mean...
Our oldest enemies...
The ENGLISH!?!
There wasn't much to gain by aiding the Soviet Union either.
I think the word you're looking for is "diluted", not "deluded".
trooper9, that was a highly insensitive comment. Please report immediately to your nearest Sensitivity Reeducation Camp for a programming adjustment.
There's an espresso machine, a grinder, and a lot of beans here at the office. The heavy drinkers pooled their money to get the equipment and now they just bring in beans and milk as needed. It works out nicely and is very cheap. I don't use the machine, because I don't drink enough coffee to make contributing to the supplies pool worthwhile (I'm a Coke man myself), but I've tried it a few times and the results were pretty good.
Oooh, ooh, I know, mod parent up, +5 RIAA Tie-in
Damn Starbucks for managing to create, market, and sell a product that people want. You know, if they weren't a bunch of sellouts, they'd still be just one shop in Seattle selling crap coffee just like everyone else, instead of 1,000,000 shops selling crap coffee.
Here is a breaking news bulletin: No matter where you go, if you order something beyond a plain black coffee, you're going to pay Starbucks prices.
I don't drink Starbucks coffee, hell I don't drink coffee that much anywhere. I'm definitely no fan of the Starbucks obsession some people have, but you know what? People who bitch about Starbucks are even more annoying in their superior love of coffee shop XYZ. And don't get me started on the "coffee shop culture", obnoxious college kids sitting around all day either fiddling with a Mac (with the Apple prominently displayed) or talking loudly to their friends about how great that last anti-war march was and how hard Algebra for Art Majors is.
Damn, that means I was hallucinating all those small cups of coffee I've had through the years.
At least Louis Black isn't changing every week--he sucks now, he sucked last week, and he's always sucked. The "pissed off guy shouting about stuff" routine gets really old after you finish 9th grade.
A quick summary for everyone too busy to read the comments on this and every other "Politician says X":
1. Republicans are really bad
2. George Bush is a war criminal
3. MAFIAA (that never gets old)
4. The US is the only corrupt country, ever
5. Run to Canada, land of freedom and all the ganja you can smoke
6. Did we mention how bad Republicans are? Let me do it again. And again. And again.
7. People are sheep but we Slashdotters see through it ALL.
8. Obama will bring hope. His plan for victory in Iraq is Hope. He will reduce poverty with the power of Hope.
9. Ron Paul '12
Well, it could have something to do with that Russian Mafia thing. Just a hunch.
1. Insert disc and hit "Enter" until things stop happening
2. Clean drool from keyboard
3. Post on Ubuntu forums
Responsiveness tends to be inversely proportional to CPU and memory usage.
The only podcast I need is CowboyNeal.
thesync.org seems to have gone away, so if you have a masochistic bent and want to hear Hemos, CowboyNeal, CmdrTaco, et al talking about 6-year-old news, go here.
Ze Americans, zey drink only ze Budweiser, you did not know zis?
Come on, people, can we lay this to rest? These American beer comments are basically the same as French surrender jokes, German coprophilia, etc, but with less intent for humor and more intent to show how very sophisticated you are because you would never demean yourself by even LOOKING at what is really the cheapest beer of the thousands available here. It's like claiming that all American food is McDonalds; sure, we came up with it, and it's popular, but it sure as hell isn't the only option.
Yeah, on my site you first have to show your badge as you drive through the entrance gate... if you somehow get through there, you then have to swipe your card to get through the secondary fences. If your card stops working, there's a phone right by all the entrances that will put you through to security. Employees are allowed to "vouch through" somebody they know is authorized to get in (a coworker whose badge is malfunctioning), but letting in somebody you don't know is a risky career move, even though they *shouldn't* be in that area without having shown their site badge to the security guards already.
Ahh yes, good old Orson Scott Card. The best one is his retelling of the Book of Mormon, cleverly disguised as a science fiction series. I started the series with no idea that this was the case, started to wonder a little bit throughout, and then when I hit the pure solid lump of insane that is the final book realized something was definitely afoot. A quick googling and a summary of the BoM informed me that, yes, this was the case. Thanks, Mr. Card!
I can only hope it doesn't include something like that planet-o-hippies, the Gaians.
The worst would be if he tried to tie the Baroque Cycle, the Cryptonomicon, and Snow Crash all together in this book, like Asimov did at the end of Foundation.
Pity that S.F. authors seem to go a little nuts when they get old.