Thank goodness that the Bush administration has resolved this glaring security breech, to the relief of the UofCA management (and us all).
Not to quibble, but the Bush administration does seem to have a problem separating truth from "realpolitik" and "propaganda". From a Bush_43/44 historical perspective, this administration has never let truth get in the way of their greater political goals.
The only things missing from this scenario are: (1) a WinXP/WAS2k3 control system, and (2) same 3rd party support as British Health Services (you know WHO I mean).
I have come to the conclusion that the Bush administration does not care one whit for the American taxpayer and consumer, but only for the interests of their "corporate sponsers".
Once the reports of BSE in American beef stocks became apparent, the importation of USA beef into Korea and Japan were curtailed. With some minor changes to testing for BSE, and some serious pressure from the Bush administration, those beef exports are now on the increase again.
A small Kansas meat packer that spent millions of dollars building a new feedlot, slaughterhouse, and meat packing facility was shut down by the Bush administration (FDA & USDA) because they wanted to test each and every cow before they were processed -- a testing regimen that would have garnered them most (if not all) of the export market to Japan and Korea. The attitude of the Bush administration would appear to be that small business interests that promote food safety must be suppressed in favor of the big corporate meatpackers that don't test.
Personally, I have stopped eating beef because I don't trust the Bush administration to protect my interests. Fat corporate profits trump food safety and the environment in the USA these days. And there really is no downside for the Bush administration in taking these actions, because by the time widespread human infection by BSE becomes readily apparent, they will be long out of office.
It has been reported that market demand for Pfizer's "Viagra" AD prescription has sagged. Pfizer stock price plummets 05 percent. Analysts conjecture that demand has stiffened for the two competing AD prescription brands. Stay tuned for more news...
I went to www.news.google.com, but besides getting links to similar news items, I also got Bush Administration sponsered shills & their websites. I believe that Google should properly label the shill websites strictly as "editorial content" so I can filter out all the deep cow huey. There should be limits...
The USA has had NORAD and the DEW line for about 50 years, Space Command and the KH-nn satellite system for nearly 40 years. The DPRK (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) will not be launching nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles at the USA without the threat of total destruction.
Missiles that the DPRK currently has can travel nearly 7,000 miles, which puts more than 1/3 of the USA within their range - think Boulder CO and Cheyenne Mountain, and not just Hawaii.
The DPRK also has submarines sold to them by our friends the Russians - they aren't nuke powered but they are quiet. The best-guess scenario would be that the DPRK delivers a few nukes by submarine to the USA's west coast, or smuggles them across the nearly wide-open borders. Hand-delivered nukes can be shielded much better against radioactive emmissions than any missile-borne WMD, which would thwart the USA's highlysecretive NEST teams. Without the tell-tale trace of a ballistic launch, which would pinpiont the country of origin, the USA would have a hard time determining whether a nuclear explosion onUS soil was a result of hostile action by Al-Queda, the DPRK, or any other member of the nuclear "club" (or some combination thereof).
"Dubya's" entire "justification" for a preemptive war in Iraq is nonsense, since even Dr. Rice admitted before cameras (check out the M.Moore Fahrenheit 9-11 DVD) that Saddam did not have WMD capabilities, well before initiating war. But what this war has done is to draw down USA defense forces in the homeland, leaving our borders and seaports insecure, and our nation's financial health at risk. The DPRK does not have oil - if they did, "Dubya" would have gone there first. OTOH, the IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran) does have oil and is trying to become a member of the nuclear club. But they also have a population of 75 million, which could make a USA invasion very risky (as opposed to Iraq's population of 25 million). Of the three members of "Dubya's Axis of Evil", Iraq posed as the weakest and most tempting target - beaten in one war, strangled by UN sanctions, AND with nearly 1/2 of all known oil reserves. The Bush team did the math, figured the odds, and THEN tried to build the justification for war with Iraq.
The Bush administration has been counting on pressure from the PRC on the DPRK to halt their nuclear program. 80 percent of all foreign aid flowing into the DPRK comes from the Chinese, not the RoK or the West. Let's just call that a big bad judgement call, because the DPRK is a client state of (and proxy for) the PRC. The PRC's rapid industrialization has made it the fastest growing importer of oil, which they recognized as an economic weakness for a long time. That is why they have been so deeply involved in the Middle East for as long as they have - both as an ally to these OPEC countries and as a "spoiler" to the West. Before Gulf War (I), it was Chinese "silkworm" missiles that threatened oil shipments in the Persian Gulf, deployed along the IRI coastline. And the PRC was the "hidden hand" behind the DPRK's nuclear and missile trade with Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan that brought Pakistan into the nuclear club.
You don't really thing that it was just a mistake that the CIA made when the USA targeted the PRC embassy in Iraq during Gulf War (I), "mistaking" it for the Iraqi military intelligence building?
The DPRK presents the biggest threat to its regional neighbors, as it has been for 25 years. Japan would do well to become a member of the nuclear club, and quickly, as a counter to both the DPRK's and the PRC's ambitions of regional hegenomy. They might have to re-write their constitution to do so, but so be it.
J. Edgar Hoover was the head of the FBI for nearly thirty years, regardless of which political party was in power. It was NOT because of his dashing good looks, but because he did enough illegal wiretapping and blackbag jobs to have "dirt" on anyone/everyone who might want him out of office and held the power to "make it happen".
There was a huge backlash against Pres. Clinton for "perceived" privacy violations -- remember "File-Gate"? We may never know if those charges were true, but today's reality is that between USA Patriot Act (I) and Carnivore and Echelon and TIPPS and MATRIX and Poindexter's TIA, the Federal government no longer has any compelling reason to be shy about their invasion of citizen privacy rights - we just don't have them anymore.
The neo-con Republicans now in power learned VERY quickly what means are required for them to stay in control. (Of course, they had a lot of the game plan already drawn up by the neo-con think tanks). And don't think that just because you use encryption that your private messages will stay private. There is a Japanese saying "that the nail that sticks up gets the hammer." Unless everyone everywhere switches to private email via encryption simultaneously, those that use encryption will get noticed, and will have their email broken by the powers-that-be.
It would take some sort of massive public protest by way of "civil disobedience" to switch over to PGP or other email encryption to make some difference. Widespread adoption of encrypted VoIP would be a good thing also, but don't expect the Feds to yield their new-found power. If the French can make general use of encryption illegal, so can the US government.
That's really too easy a question......anyplace that labor costs are cheaper (and slave/prison labor is hard to beat).
(1) Sri Lanka (2) Nepal (3) Peoples Repubic of China (4) Phillippines (5) Haiti (6) Peoples Republic of Vietnam (7) Afghanistan
I am certain there are at least a dozen more countries that would/could make this list - if you can't find any more, you aren't trying hard enough to save your company money.
Here's a hint: check with Carley Fiorina, she is sure to know the whole solution.
BTW: Mexico thought they were the cheapest, until they got outsourced to the PRC.
and now she's working up to a position in the Bush administration, as the new Secretary of Commerce, no doubt.
It must be nice. Totally screw up one tech company (Lucent) and bail from there with a super compensation package. Go to work for a second tech company (HP), totally screw it up, and bail out with another golden parachute.
I'm wondering if the Board(s) of Directors of these companies actually considered her comp package as extortion/bribe to exit the company.
BTW: Considering the "Peter Principle", I do
fully expect Carley to move up to the
really, really BIG TIMES and see what
she can do for the USA's economy -- after
all, there is only so much "snow" that
Sec. Snow can blow into the faces of the
gullable American taxpayer.
However, after having RTFA(s), the Cell processor would look like a very good candidate for a F/OSS
VIDEO BOARD - fast multicore processors, a large local memory, simplified RISC with most control in software, and a 64-bit PPC "traffic cop".
One additional area (at least) that I would expect the Cell processor to be incorporated into would be next generation radar and sonar systems, due to vector processing capabilities.
I would love to see an IBM development system for this architecture, but wouldn't expect to buy a PS3 and Sony "game" SDK, due to closed source and NDA incompatabilities with GPL.
(1) +create buggy & vulnerable software (2) +"fix" bugs by selling newer software (3) -extremely long delay in new OS release (4) +buy antivirus and antispyware companies (5) +subscription fees for AV + OS Updates (6) ++profit!
About time for what, exactly? eBay states that they will be making greater efforts to support their "sellers", not their "customers".
Having been ripped off by eBay "sellers" enough times to just stay away, I can tell you that until eBay tightens up accountability from their "sellers", it will always be a viper pit.
The relationship between eBay and their "sellers" is not unlike the relationship between the FDA and the pharacutical companies, or between politicians and their lobbyists -- incestuous and corrupt. The average citizen (or eBay purchaser) has little or no clout with the organization, because the organization takes its orders from those that pay the most.
eBay does not have a level playing field when it comes to protecting both the "seller" AND the "buyer" uniformly. The money that talks the loudest to eBay is from their "sellers".
Preface: Ever since 9/11/2001, the states have taken some righteous blame for the ease with which fraudulent driver's licenses have been issued. Here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the DMV (Dept. of Motor Vehicles) now requires proof of occupancy in the state before issuing new driver's licenses.
Tale of BoA Ineptness: I was surprised to find correspondence from BoA in my mailbox addressed to a person I do not know, and who has never lived at my street address. It appeared to contain a booklet of either "starter" checks or else a loan payment book. Within days, a second package arrived that was just like the first one. I returned both back to my local US Post Office with the complaint that the party that the mail was addressed to did not reside at my home. With typical USPS aplomb, this mail was re-delivered to me. (WTF?)
In the same mail, yet another letter from BoA arrived. By the feel of it, it contained a credit card, debit card, or ATM card. I wrote a letter of explanation and complaint and then mailed the entire lot back to BoA's originating address. No news back from BoA. Then 2 weeks later, a CS letter and another "credit/debit/ATM" card arrived, from Dallas, TX this time instead of Houston, TX. Again, I wrote a second letter of explanation and complaint to BoA's 2nd originating address, along with the new letters addressed to my phantom room mate. No news back from BoA -- no letter, email, or phone call. The next correspondence that I received from BoA was their CS department in North Carolina. I sent yet another cover letter to BoA, along with their latest correspondence. BoA never, ever tried to contact me (no thanks, let alone any mere acknowledgement of receipt).
The final letter I received from them came nearly a month later, also from BoA CS, also addressed to my phantom room mate. My last cover letter back with their CS letter was, shall we say, somewhat rude. Nonetheless, perhaps it was my rudeness that actually got some attention from these flaming idiots.
Identity theft has been (IMHO) partially usurped by "Address Theft" in an attempt by illegal aliens to establish residency required to obtain driver's licenses. I would advise readers of this prose to never leave mail out for pickup by the postman -- drop outgoing mail at the post office or postal box. Also, it wouldn't be a bad idea to purchase a secure (approved) mailbox for your mail. Times have changed, and not for the better.
My personal opinion of BoA dropped into the basement with this exchange of correspondence, and with BoA's totally clueless behavior. I wouldn't do business with this bunch of clowns, ever, any more than I would respond to an urgent "419" letter from Nigeria.
No doubt that MS License 7.0 will include a USB keyfob with built-in GPS, all as part of their Trusted Computing initiative. (Don't you dare move that computer from one cubicle to another without MSFT's okay + license fee.)
I can't wait for the droves of Microsofties migrating over to F/OSS when this happens.
Hey, I see nothing wrong with your scenario. Just so long as Microsoft is DOOMed!
There was a previous post on/. (damn, can't find it) that many of the desktops at Sun were already Apple Macs. The new world order could be:
(1)toasters, refrigerators, etc NetBSD (2)autos, spacecraft GNU/linux/RT (3)corprate (data) servers GNU/linux (4)mail servers FreeBSD (5)firewalls,routers OpenBSD (6)desktops Mac OS X and (7)dustbin of history MSFT
Granted, it will take a while for Borg Bill & Co. to piss away their ill-gotten gains ($50B). One really good, far-reaching class action law- suit against MSFT for their crappy software might be the tipping point, however.
However, the HST (Hubble Space Telescope) cannot be safely de-orbited without another servicing mission -- it has no retro rockets to control re-entry.
Of course, the allies of the Bush administration in the military-industrial complex COULD propose to use the HST for target practice for Dubya's latest/greatest venture -- the militarization of space.
With the current trends within the neo-con controlled Congress regarding reining in the absolutely massive budget deficits projected for the next 20 years (thanks a lot, Dubya), the only areas of government spending that is likely to remain constant or increase is with the intel and military communities. All else in the budget will be vulnerable.
BTW, if you really think that Dubya will go forward with either a manned mission to Mars, or with a honest-to-goodness replacement for the HST, just think back to how he has been funding (1) "No Child Left Behind" program or (2) Dept. of Homeland Security. Mandates, certainly. But without the funding to properly impliment them. That is why the USA still has little security on its borders, at its seaports, or with air cargo. Dubya is the ultimate BS artist on anything/everything that doesn't bring a commensurate level of profit to his corporate cronies.
Google needs to buy UUNET from MCI before MCI gets gobbled up. I think Google could could put UUNET on the "straight and narrow". Those companies that employ spammers to get "their message out" might be forced to use Google's advertising strategy instead.
I, for one, would consider that a welcome change for the better.
Of course, I am old enough to have heard that nobody needs more than 640KB of memory, or more than 20 MB of disk storage. Times and datasets DO CHANGE. Besides, just how in the bloody blue blazes do you expect MSFT to distribute MS Longhorn 2.0?
Now, can you just imagine a RAID10 array of these drives?
Like each brick in the wall, MSFT is trying to build the case FOR MSFT one issue at a time. He currently has 4 distinct audiences he is trying to sway:
(1) Massachussetts government, which needs to
decide between true F/OSS data standards
and MSFT's standards (aka embrace & extend)
(2) Brasil, whose government looks likely to
embrace F/OSS and give MSFT the boot
(3) the EU regarding software patents, without
which MSFT will lose the F/OSS standards
battle. MSFT "open standards" is oxymoronic
because it is tied to an EULA that prohibits
GPL, etcetera.
and (4) the US DoJ, which still has the right to
enforce the "sharing" of standards, but
doesn't currently have the political will
That, IMHO, is what prompted "Uncle Bill Borg" to say such a thing...
Or better still, really strong glue AND SS screws (not unlike belt & suspenders) and steel joining plates on post-and- beam construction. And that merely for framework &and forms for the rebar- reinforced concrete walls.
Face it. Programming languages are like any other tool made by man. In the hands of a skilled craftsman, any software can be rendered safe. A Michealangelo can create a beautiful statue, but I wouldn't trust a mallet and chisel in the hands of a 6 year old.
The underlying question should be: "Does.NET offer better software security than other programming languages, when used by 6 year olds?"
Slashdot Mirror
Thank goodness that the Bush administration
has resolved this glaring security breech,
to the relief of the UofCA management (and us
all).
Not to quibble, but the Bush administration
does seem to have a problem separating truth
from "realpolitik" and "propaganda". From
a Bush_43/44 historical perspective, this
administration has never let truth get in
the way of their greater political goals.
Don't you think one "black hole" is enough?
It isn't as if the USA doesn't already have
a "black hole" to piss blood and money down.
That aside, perhaps black holes are God's
equivalent of a clothes dryer - instead of
eating socks, it eats galaxies.
The only things missing from this scenario
are: (1) a WinXP/WAS2k3 control system, and
(2) same 3rd party support as British Health
Services (you know WHO I mean).
Talk about a train wreck waiting to happen...
Let me be the first to say it...
"All your bill belong to us..."
(Well, okay. Thanks, Bill.)
Exactly so.
I have come to the conclusion that the Bush
administration does not care one whit for
the American taxpayer and consumer, but only
for the interests of their "corporate sponsers".
Once the reports of BSE in American beef stocks
became apparent, the importation of USA beef into
Korea and Japan were curtailed. With some minor
changes to testing for BSE, and some serious
pressure from the Bush administration, those
beef exports are now on the increase again.
A small Kansas meat packer that spent millions of
dollars building a new feedlot, slaughterhouse,
and meat packing facility was shut down by the
Bush administration (FDA & USDA) because they
wanted to test each and every cow before they
were processed -- a testing regimen that would
have garnered them most (if not all) of the
export market to Japan and Korea. The attitude
of the Bush administration would appear to be
that small business interests that promote food
safety must be suppressed in favor of the big
corporate meatpackers that don't test.
Personally, I have stopped eating beef because
I don't trust the Bush administration to protect
my interests. Fat corporate profits trump food
safety and the environment in the USA these days.
And there really is no downside for the Bush
administration in taking these actions, because
by the time widespread human infection by BSE
becomes readily apparent, they will be long out
of office.
Am I cynical? You bet I am! With good reason.
It has been reported that market demand for
Pfizer's "Viagra" AD prescription has sagged.
Pfizer stock price plummets 05 percent.
Analysts conjecture that demand has stiffened
for the two competing AD prescription brands.
Stay tuned for more news...
There are some other things about Google...
I went to www.news.google.com, but besides
getting links to similar news items, I also
got Bush Administration sponsered shills &
their websites. I believe that Google should
properly label the shill websites strictly as
"editorial content" so I can filter out all
the deep cow huey. There should be limits...
The USA has had NORAD and the DEW line for about 50 years, Space Command and the KH-nn satellite system for nearly 40 years. The DPRK (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) will not be launching nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles at the USA without the threat of total destruction.
Missiles that the DPRK currently has can travel nearly 7,000 miles, which puts more than 1/3 of the USA within their range - think Boulder CO and Cheyenne Mountain, and not just Hawaii.
The DPRK also has submarines sold to them by our friends the Russians - they aren't nuke powered
but they are quiet. The best-guess scenario would be that the DPRK delivers a few nukes by submarine to the USA's west coast, or smuggles them across the nearly wide-open borders. Hand-delivered nukes can be shielded much better against
radioactive emmissions than any missile-borne WMD, which would thwart the USA's highlysecretive NEST teams. Without the tell-tale trace of a ballistic launch, which would pinpiont the country of origin, the USA would have a hard time determining whether a nuclear explosion onUS soil was a result of hostile action by Al-Queda, the DPRK, or any other member of the nuclear "club" (or some combination thereof).
"Dubya's" entire "justification" for a preemptive
war in Iraq is nonsense, since even Dr. Rice admitted before cameras (check out the M.Moore
Fahrenheit 9-11 DVD) that Saddam did not have WMD capabilities, well before initiating war. But what this war has done is to draw down USA defense forces in the homeland, leaving our borders and seaports insecure, and our nation's financial
health at risk. The DPRK does not have oil - if they did, "Dubya" would have gone there first. OTOH, the IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran) does have oil and is trying to become a member of the nuclear club. But they also have a population of 75 million, which could make a USA invasion very risky (as opposed to Iraq's population of 25 million). Of the three members of "Dubya's Axis of Evil", Iraq posed as the weakest and most tempting target - beaten in one war, strangled by UN sanctions, AND with nearly 1/2 of all known oil reserves. The Bush team did the math, figured the odds, and THEN tried to build the justification for war with Iraq.
The Bush administration has been counting on pressure from the PRC on the DPRK to halt their nuclear program. 80 percent of all foreign aid
flowing into the DPRK comes from the Chinese, not the RoK or the West. Let's just call that a big bad judgement call, because the DPRK is a client state of (and proxy for) the PRC. The PRC's rapid industrialization has made it the fastest growing importer of oil, which they recognized as an economic weakness for a long time. That is why they have been so deeply involved in the Middle East for as long as they have - both as an ally to these OPEC countries and as a "spoiler" to the West. Before Gulf War (I), it was Chinese "silkworm" missiles that threatened oil shipments in the Persian Gulf, deployed along the IRI coastline. And the PRC was the "hidden hand" behind the DPRK's nuclear and missile trade with Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan that brought Pakistan into the nuclear club.
You don't really thing that it was just a mistake
that the CIA made when the USA targeted the PRC
embassy in Iraq during Gulf War (I), "mistaking"
it for the Iraqi military intelligence building?
The DPRK presents the biggest threat to its regional neighbors, as it has been for 25 years.
Japan would do well to become a member of the
nuclear club, and quickly, as a counter to both
the DPRK's and the PRC's ambitions of regional hegenomy. They might have to re-write their
constitution to do so, but so be it.
J. Edgar Hoover was the head of the FBI for
nearly thirty years, regardless of which
political party was in power. It was NOT
because of his dashing good looks, but because
he did enough illegal wiretapping and blackbag
jobs to have "dirt" on anyone/everyone who
might want him out of office and held the power
to "make it happen".
There was a huge backlash against Pres. Clinton
for "perceived" privacy violations -- remember
"File-Gate"? We may never know if those charges
were true, but today's reality is that between
USA Patriot Act (I) and Carnivore and Echelon
and TIPPS and MATRIX and Poindexter's TIA, the
Federal government no longer has any compelling
reason to be shy about their invasion of citizen
privacy rights - we just don't have them anymore.
The neo-con Republicans now in power learned
VERY quickly what means are required for them
to stay in control. (Of course, they had a lot
of the game plan already drawn up by the neo-con
think tanks). And don't think that just because
you use encryption that your private messages
will stay private. There is a Japanese saying
"that the nail that sticks up gets the hammer."
Unless everyone everywhere switches to private
email via encryption simultaneously, those that
use encryption will get noticed, and will have
their email broken by the powers-that-be.
It would take some sort of massive public protest
by way of "civil disobedience" to switch over to
PGP or other email encryption to make some
difference. Widespread adoption of encrypted
VoIP would be a good thing also, but don't
expect the Feds to yield their new-found power.
If the French can make general use of encryption
illegal, so can the US government.
Just my rapidly depreciating $00.02 worth.
That's really too easy a question... ...anyplace that labor costs are cheaper
(and slave/prison labor is hard to beat).
(1) Sri Lanka
(2) Nepal
(3) Peoples Repubic of China
(4) Phillippines
(5) Haiti
(6) Peoples Republic of Vietnam
(7) Afghanistan
I am certain there are at least a dozen
more countries that would/could make this
list - if you can't find any more, you
aren't trying hard enough to save your
company money.
Here's a hint: check with Carley Fiorina,
she is sure to know the whole solution.
BTW: Mexico thought they were the cheapest,
until they got outsourced to the PRC.
and now she's working up to a position in
the Bush administration, as the new Secretary
of Commerce, no doubt.
It must be nice. Totally screw up one tech
company (Lucent) and bail from there with a
super compensation package. Go to work for
a second tech company (HP), totally screw it
up, and bail out with another golden parachute.
I'm wondering if the Board(s) of Directors of
these companies actually considered her comp
package as extortion/bribe to exit the company.
BTW: Considering the "Peter Principle", I do
fully expect Carley to move up to the
really, really BIG TIMES and see what
she can do for the USA's economy -- after
all, there is only so much "snow" that
Sec. Snow can blow into the faces of the
gullable American taxpayer.
will be using this "SoC".
However, after having RTFA(s), the Cell processor
would look like a very good candidate for a F/OSS
VIDEO BOARD - fast multicore processors, a large
local memory, simplified RISC with most control
in software, and a 64-bit PPC "traffic cop".
One additional area (at least) that I would
expect the Cell processor to be incorporated
into would be next generation radar and sonar
systems, due to vector processing capabilities.
I would love to see an IBM development system
for this architecture, but wouldn't expect to
buy a PS3 and Sony "game" SDK, due to closed
source and NDA incompatabilities with GPL.
and vast improvements in CG technology
since the 1970's has made these "flybys"
a "reality".
I, for one, welcome our new Pixar masters!
the theme of the "Mission Impossible II" movie.
(1) +create buggy & vulnerable software
(2) +"fix" bugs by selling newer software
(3) -extremely long delay in new OS release
(4) +buy antivirus and antispyware companies
(5) +subscription fees for AV + OS Updates
(6) ++profit!
About time for what, exactly? eBay states that
they will be making greater efforts to support
their "sellers", not their "customers".
Having been ripped off by eBay "sellers" enough
times to just stay away, I can tell you that
until eBay tightens up accountability from
their "sellers", it will always be a viper pit.
The relationship between eBay and their "sellers"
is not unlike the relationship between the FDA
and the pharacutical companies, or between
politicians and their lobbyists -- incestuous
and corrupt. The average citizen (or eBay
purchaser) has little or no clout with the
organization, because the organization takes
its orders from those that pay the most.
eBay does not have a level playing field when
it comes to protecting both the "seller" AND
the "buyer" uniformly. The money that talks
the loudest to eBay is from their "sellers".
Preface:
Ever since 9/11/2001, the states have taken
some righteous blame for the ease with which
fraudulent driver's licenses have been issued.
Here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the DMV
(Dept. of Motor Vehicles) now requires proof
of occupancy in the state before issuing new
driver's licenses.
Tale of BoA Ineptness:
I was surprised to find correspondence from
BoA in my mailbox addressed to a person I do
not know, and who has never lived at my street
address. It appeared to contain a booklet of
either "starter" checks or else a loan payment
book. Within days, a second package arrived
that was just like the first one. I returned
both back to my local US Post Office with the
complaint that the party that the mail was
addressed to did not reside at my home. With
typical USPS aplomb, this mail was re-delivered
to me. (WTF?)
In the same mail, yet another letter from BoA
arrived. By the feel of it, it contained a
credit card, debit card, or ATM card. I wrote
a letter of explanation and complaint and then
mailed the entire lot back to BoA's originating
address. No news back from BoA. Then 2 weeks
later, a CS letter and another "credit/debit/ATM"
card arrived, from Dallas, TX this time instead
of Houston, TX. Again, I wrote a second letter
of explanation and complaint to BoA's 2nd
originating address, along with the new letters
addressed to my phantom room mate. No news
back from BoA -- no letter, email, or phone call.
The next correspondence that I received from
BoA was their CS department in North Carolina.
I sent yet another cover letter to BoA, along
with their latest correspondence. BoA never,
ever tried to contact me (no thanks, let alone
any mere acknowledgement of receipt).
The final letter I received from them came
nearly a month later, also from BoA CS, also
addressed to my phantom room mate. My last
cover letter back with their CS letter was,
shall we say, somewhat rude. Nonetheless,
perhaps it was my rudeness that actually got
some attention from these flaming idiots.
Identity theft has been (IMHO) partially
usurped by "Address Theft" in an attempt
by illegal aliens to establish residency
required to obtain driver's licenses. I would
advise readers of this prose to never leave
mail out for pickup by the postman -- drop
outgoing mail at the post office or postal box.
Also, it wouldn't be a bad idea to purchase
a secure (approved) mailbox for your mail.
Times have changed, and not for the better.
My personal opinion of BoA dropped into the
basement with this exchange of correspondence,
and with BoA's totally clueless behavior. I
wouldn't do business with this bunch of clowns,
ever, any more than I would respond to an urgent
"419" letter from Nigeria.
is really, really tight DRM regional encoding.
No doubt that MS License 7.0 will include a
USB keyfob with built-in GPS, all as part of
their Trusted Computing initiative. (Don't
you dare move that computer from one cubicle
to another without MSFT's okay + license fee.)
I can't wait for the droves of Microsofties
migrating over to F/OSS when this happens.
Hey, I see nothing wrong with your scenario.
/. (damn, can't
Just so long as Microsoft is DOOMed!
There was a previous post on
find it) that many of the desktops at Sun
were already Apple Macs. The new world order
could be:
(1)toasters, refrigerators, etc NetBSD
(2)autos, spacecraft GNU/linux/RT
(3)corprate (data) servers GNU/linux
(4)mail servers FreeBSD
(5)firewalls,routers OpenBSD
(6)desktops Mac OS X
and
(7)dustbin of history MSFT
Granted, it will take a while for Borg Bill &
Co. to piss away their ill-gotten gains ($50B).
One really good, far-reaching class action law-
suit against MSFT for their crappy software
might be the tipping point, however.
(2) Avoid mixing Imperial and SI units in
your calculations (thanks NASA & Lockheed)
So I should expect the University of Calgary
to be offering the following courses over
the next school year?
WMD 101, 102 (Chemistry & Physics Depts),
Terrorism 101, 102 (Pol. Science & Theology)
Organizing Terror Cells 101 (Sociology)
However, the HST (Hubble Space Telescope) cannot
be safely de-orbited without another servicing
mission -- it has no retro rockets to control
re-entry.
Of course, the allies of the Bush administration
in the military-industrial complex COULD propose
to use the HST for target practice for Dubya's
latest/greatest venture -- the militarization of
space.
With the current trends within the neo-con
controlled Congress regarding reining in the
absolutely massive budget deficits projected
for the next 20 years (thanks a lot, Dubya),
the only areas of government spending that is
likely to remain constant or increase is with
the intel and military communities. All else
in the budget will be vulnerable.
BTW, if you really think that Dubya will go
forward with either a manned mission to Mars,
or with a honest-to-goodness replacement for
the HST, just think back to how he has been
funding (1) "No Child Left Behind" program
or (2) Dept. of Homeland Security. Mandates,
certainly. But without the funding to properly
impliment them. That is why the USA still has
little security on its borders, at its seaports,
or with air cargo. Dubya is the ultimate BS
artist on anything/everything that doesn't bring
a commensurate level of profit to his corporate
cronies.
Google needs to buy UUNET from MCI before
MCI gets gobbled up. I think Google could
could put UUNET on the "straight and narrow".
Those companies that employ spammers to get
"their message out" might be forced to use
Google's advertising strategy instead.
I, for one, would consider that a welcome
change for the better.
1 TB of storage sounds pretty good to me.
Of course, I am old enough to have heard that
nobody needs more than 640KB of memory, or
more than 20 MB of disk storage. Times and
datasets DO CHANGE. Besides, just how in the
bloody blue blazes do you expect MSFT to
distribute MS Longhorn 2.0?
Now, can you just imagine a RAID10 array
of these drives?
Like each brick in the wall, MSFT is trying
to build the case FOR MSFT one issue at a
time. He currently has 4 distinct audiences
he is trying to sway:
(1) Massachussetts government, which needs to
decide between true F/OSS data standards
and MSFT's standards (aka embrace & extend)
(2) Brasil, whose government looks likely to
embrace F/OSS and give MSFT the boot
(3) the EU regarding software patents, without
which MSFT will lose the F/OSS standards
battle. MSFT "open standards" is oxymoronic
because it is tied to an EULA that prohibits
GPL, etcetera.
and
(4) the US DoJ, which still has the right to
enforce the "sharing" of standards, but
doesn't currently have the political will
That, IMHO, is what prompted "Uncle Bill Borg"
to say such a thing...
Or better still, really strong glue AND
.NET offer better software security
SS screws (not unlike belt & suspenders)
and steel joining plates on post-and-
beam construction. And that merely for
framework &and forms for the rebar-
reinforced concrete walls.
Face it. Programming languages are like
any other tool made by man. In the hands
of a skilled craftsman, any software can
be rendered safe. A Michealangelo can
create a beautiful statue, but I wouldn't
trust a mallet and chisel in the hands of
a 6 year old.
The underlying question should be:
"Does
than other programming languages, when used
by 6 year olds?"
IMHO, the answer is: "No difference!"