i heard someone talking on NPR the other day about how and why NASA is so poorly funded these days. the gist was that people have become bored with space. once, people thought everyone would be going to space. apparently that's not the case anymore, and this guy's suggestion for NASA was to make that seem possible again and they'd get funding.
i don't know how much i agree with the guy, but i figured i'd throw it out there. do fewer kids think they'll grow up to be astronauts these days?
but this isn't the only major problem with "paste first, ask later." i mean, a quick check is unlikely to find (a) any of the bugs that the original author missed (b) anything malicious that the original author didn't want you to know about.
call me paranoid, but i think these are valid issues.
it looks like a great tool for ferretting out new styles of attack, even though it's use to an individual trying to protect his/her network is rather limited. the automated system that someone else mentioned sounds much more useful.
wait, wait!
I have NEVER seen an application RUN on Windows. Instead, they just seem to execute slowly...
(well, i need more RAM.)
(oh, come on. it had to be said.)
the ones that are automatically installed? yeah, pretty much. i wouldn't consider myself a sysadmin, but i can check out fstab and know what's going on. and yes, on installation of the OS, linux generally asks you what you want to do with this and that.
i don't know much about os x, beos or amigaos, but the flavors of linux i have used have not installed anything without my asking it to. nor has it been unclear how to uninstall them.
one interesting thing to notice is that windows, though it is not spyware, does not follow these suggestions. many things are enabled on installation that are not requested or mentioned and it's not always clear what these things do or how to remove them.
well, yeah, but so can not having software
on
Can Software Kill?
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· Score: 3, Interesting
would you trust a technician to adjust the settings for a radiotherapy machine?
the therac-25 actually injured a fair number of people in the US 10-15 years ago. yeah, software fucks up sometimes. it's old news. for the article:
Nancy G. Leveson and Clark S. Turner. An investigation of the Therac-25 accidents. Computer 26, 7 (July, 1993) pages 18-41.
logos are generally designed to look a certain way. by that i mean that they contain curves and lines which are oriented in such a way that they resemble or indicate certain aspects of the logo's bearer (as the bearer would want the world to see). for example, angles can often indicate speed, while sharp edges are vaguely associated with precision. often times, the letters of a company's name are manipulated to look reminiscent object with which it is associated.
i noted at some point that tux bears a strong resemblance to a fat bald guy. it made me laugh.
the fact that people would rather use google than an online encyclopedia is the only vaguely interesting thing about this article. even that fact is fairly obvious. why go for an encyclopedia when google can probably give you a large number of very informative sources.
i only wish the article focused more on the fact that the internet is full of unreliable data. it's barely mentioned. i think it's a wonderful thing that kids are learning not to trust everything that they read from a young age. furthermore, they're learning how to take a large dataset and pick out the important points. these abilities are incredibly important life skills that haven't really been taught in schools before the internet.
it's absolutely useful. the reviewer fails to mention, however, how limited the open courseware program is.
sad as it is (and slightly off-topic), the open courseware program is essentially a publicity stunt for MIT. most of the online courses lack complete references, let along complete lecture notes or useful guidance. nor is this a priority for MIT. OCW has gotten nothing but positive publicity, so MIT feels no need to better the program. sure, it's better than nothing, but it's a major stretch to call it courseware.
thank heavens someone is putting up useful online resources. and thank goodness someone is giving us an idea of what the are!
Maybe even more significant, than, say, the difference between gentoo and *bsd.
blasphemy!:)
seriously, though, the idea that this sort of unsubstantiated blather can capture people's interest enough to justify a news article (even though the substantiated blather may be of value) really rather irks me. why read what you already know. of course i suppose comedy is the same way. people like to know the punchline. they just want you to say it half a second before they think it.
the things people study, man. i don't need a degree in psychology to know that some psome people wear headphones to isolate themselves/appear busy/exercise control over the world. if only i could publish something equally asinine as a computer pscientist and get away with it.
"programmers use variables to store, identify, and recover data. news at 11"
absolutely. anyone who says otherwise isn't giving economics enough credit.
even if this becomes something which must be placed in all TVs made in the US by law, nobody's going to come to your house and stick one in the TV you've got right now. people who really want to record high definition TV shows and movies (and there are a lot of these people) will still be able to do so, and won't be particularly inclined to purchase a TV which restricts their ability to do so.
so go out! consume! buy your TV now before it's too late!
it's all a part of their evil plan to boost the economy . . .
do you know how retroactive this law is supposed to be? that is, if a bunch of people were to create a freely-available database of facts which may contain facts gathered from databases before they were copyrighted, would that be legal? making the information available via a large source might even the odds a bit.
Slashdot Mirror
i heard someone talking on NPR the other day about how and why NASA is so poorly funded these days. the gist was that people have become bored with space. once, people thought everyone would be going to space. apparently that's not the case anymore, and this guy's suggestion for NASA was to make that seem possible again and they'd get funding.
i don't know how much i agree with the guy, but i figured i'd throw it out there. do fewer kids think they'll grow up to be astronauts these days?
call me paranoid, but i think these are valid issues.
it looks like a great tool for ferretting out new styles of attack, even though it's use to an individual trying to protect his/her network is rather limited. the automated system that someone else mentioned sounds much more useful.
wait, wait! I have NEVER seen an application RUN on Windows. Instead, they just seem to execute slowly... (well, i need more RAM.) (oh, come on. it had to be said.)
and don't forget .edu . . .
the ones that are automatically installed? yeah, pretty much. i wouldn't consider myself a sysadmin, but i can check out fstab and know what's going on. and yes, on installation of the OS, linux generally asks you what you want to do with this and that.
i thought telemarketer calls to cell phones were already illegal. is that incorrect?
i don't know much about os x, beos or amigaos, but the flavors of linux i have used have not installed anything without my asking it to. nor has it been unclear how to uninstall them.
one interesting thing to notice is that windows, though it is not spyware, does not follow these suggestions. many things are enabled on installation that are not requested or mentioned and it's not always clear what these things do or how to remove them.
the therac-25 actually injured a fair number of people in the US 10-15 years ago. yeah, software fucks up sometimes. it's old news. for the article:
Nancy G. Leveson and Clark S. Turner. An investigation of the Therac-25 accidents. Computer 26, 7 (July, 1993) pages 18-41.
i noted at some point that tux bears a strong resemblance to a fat bald guy. it made me laugh.
i only wish the article focused more on the fact that the internet is full of unreliable data. it's barely mentioned. i think it's a wonderful thing that kids are learning not to trust everything that they read from a young age. furthermore, they're learning how to take a large dataset and pick out the important points. these abilities are incredibly important life skills that haven't really been taught in schools before the internet.
don't these things happen yearly? (according to the website, they do)
if you don't like it, switch services! this is what capitalism is all about! of course, it is playing right into their evil plan . . .
sad as it is (and slightly off-topic), the open courseware program is essentially a publicity stunt for MIT. most of the online courses lack complete references, let along complete lecture notes or useful guidance. nor is this a priority for MIT. OCW has gotten nothing but positive publicity, so MIT feels no need to better the program. sure, it's better than nothing, but it's a major stretch to call it courseware.
thank heavens someone is putting up useful online resources. and thank goodness someone is giving us an idea of what the are!
blasphemy! :)
seriously, though, the idea that this sort of unsubstantiated blather can capture people's interest enough to justify a news article (even though the substantiated blather may be of value) really rather irks me. why read what you already know. of course i suppose comedy is the same way. people like to know the punchline. they just want you to say it half a second before they think it.
"programmers use variables to store, identify, and recover data. news at 11"
it's almost as good as the atkins diet: "eat your steak, honey. all those fruits and vegetables have spoiled your appetite!"
on the other hand, i feel a lot better about going for my third cup of joe today. i love the little pitter-patter of my heart going completely insane.
*whistle* wah wah wah
next they're going to prove that i steal all of my conversation from someone else. why did they bother?
i can't wait for "robots say the darnedest things"
don't despair poptix. we'll always have paris . . .
this does explain why PDF wasn't good enough for some of my prospective employers . . . and why they didn't hire me!
even if this becomes something which must be placed in all TVs made in the US by law, nobody's going to come to your house and stick one in the TV you've got right now. people who really want to record high definition TV shows and movies (and there are a lot of these people) will still be able to do so, and won't be particularly inclined to purchase a TV which restricts their ability to do so.
so go out! consume! buy your TV now before it's too late!
it's all a part of their evil plan to boost the economy . . .
do you know how retroactive this law is supposed to be? that is, if a bunch of people were to create a freely-available database of facts which may contain facts gathered from databases before they were copyrighted, would that be legal? making the information available via a large source might even the odds a bit.