Let's get it out there and just start complaining about kids these days and how we started...
Atari 2600 and Space Invaders (I chewed the controllers)... Tandy II TRS-80 (didn't have the tape deck so I couldn't save my programs and it had no monitor - it hooked to a television)
No punchcards to complain of, but I do recall playing with an abacus when I was in kindergarten...
Thinking of it now, I did see some of those pages but didn't find many of them very helpful to me for deciphering the data itself. I just found a whole slew now that have more information than I ever found back then.
I was still in college and wasn't a very proficient coder at the time. Combined with my confusion about ICAO, and it was a wonder I got it to work at all.
You are correct that they made it available and that it was in METAR format. But METAR is not very accessible to developers... just three or four years ago I spent a good deal of time trying to find information on how to break down the METAR codes into something meaningful. I discovered that most web developers were using 3rd-party scripts to scrape the data from Weather.com. Every time weather.com changed their page, the script would need to be updated.
I found very few resources on METAR format. It seemed like it was supposed to be a secret. Once I had it figured out, there was no problem. But it took so long to figure out.
Exactly why I prefer to play against bots (instead of 12 year olds!) or a cooperative game like Raven Shield.
I grew up with two brothers that were just as competitive as me. We would fight over video games all the time. When I lost, I'd blame anything but myself - the game messed up, the controller is broken, the sun was in my eyes. Cooperative games, however, are a way to work with someone against a common enemy. Even if that enemy is another team (Halo CTF, for example) it's more fun because you know you're contributing to a group effort.
Quite possible. Since there are so few folks that are capable of hurting their business model like that - fake info floods, DoS, or some other damage - I guess it would be in their best interest to remove your info altogether rather than bank the small amount your account might bring them.
I know at least one hacker that considers himself a white knight of sorts, responding to spam/phishing with various attacks. He usually makes the vigilante argument based on child porn - that they should be attacked and he's doing everyone a favor - but he doesn't seek that out. (Imagine trying to convince a judge that you've been downloading child porn so you could help remove it from the 'Net.)
You might still be helping them in some small way by confirming that your email address is valid.
Many spam and phishing emails use links that contain an ID indicating the email address. For instance, "myspamsite.com/great_offers.php?id=1492" where "1492" corresponds to "columbus@hotmail.com" in the spammer's database. Sometimes that ID is buried within a long URL full of different parameters, too.
Valid emails (especially of those that click on them) are valuable to spammers.
It's the same reason that you shouldn't click the unsubscribe link or display remote images in your email.
I just saved a client a ton of hassle and money by showing him how to use host headers on his Windows 2003 web server... he bought 50+ domain names and was going to have them all pointing at the same website. He inquired with his ISP about buying unique IPs and they were going to charge him $5/month/IP. For a small business, that's a lot of money to spend on something like that. Using host headers didn't cost him a thing (other than an hour of my time, which was part of a larger project anyway) and he can manage them himself now.
Apache calls this "name-based virtual host" (link) and points out that it doesn't work with SSL - you need a unique IP for that.
You might not care, since you're not into hosting/server management, but it's always worth learning something new.
Fans often fail to remember that the object of their fandom is a person, too - and should be allowed privacy, respect, and free time. If one of them uses their free time to do a Slashdot interview, that's their prerogative.
I run/host a wide range of sites with varying traffic, audiences, and owners.
In our stats (using AWStats), Firefox accounts for anywhere from 2% to 50% of the traffic. Likewise, Windows accounts for somewhere between 70% and 99%.
I believe that some of the stats come from networks of sites that take hundreds or thousands of sites into account. So they eliminate many of these problems.
Still, you're automatically limiting your OS stats to a sample of Internet users (excludes servers, non-Internet users). I'm guessing that the folks coming up with these stats (like myself) are not statistics folks.
In my experience, the quality of the videos posted are often quite poor. The owners of the sites battle copyright issues constantly and risk being held responsible if their users post material illegally. Finally, the range of the audience affects the overall quality of the site. Videos that a 12-year-old finds funny may not be worth my time.
Not all the criticisms apply to this particular site or to all uses of the site, but it's there.
My point wasn't that Perl is the wrong tool for the job. It's just that it isn't always the right tool. That's what this is all about - choosing the right tool for the job.
Having seen horribly written Perl used in the wrong situation, I know that Perl can take longer to develop than PHP to do some things. Maybe it could have been sped up by using CPAN modules, but the entire application could have been built in a matter of days. The Perl version probably took a month to build, based on the sheer amount of code.
PHP isn't going anywhere, just like Perl isn't. ASP/.Net are here to stay. I have complaints about all of the above - but they all have their uses, strengths, weaknesses, and an appropriate time to employ them.
* And after watching the 15 minute demonstration of Ruby on Rails, I'm going to join you in hoping that it isn't the next big thing.
1. Professional developers are still creating websites using font tags and other deprecated nonsense. 2. Programmers are writing extensive web applications entirely in Perl cgi, often taking months to do simple tasks that PHP or ASP can do in days. 3. Existing sites are built on technologies that may be ten years old. They don't update their software every time a new technology, framework, or component comes out. They have to support old stuff in addition to building new stuff.
Police were supposed to have handheld scanners that could be used to tap into the state's database immediately. I don't know if that ever happened.
Off-topic story time: They also have the www.IN.gov website address on the license plates. Some people were really upset about that so they started putting decals over it - usually covering the bar code as well.
We got my Dad a Netflix subscription a couple of years ago and he still has it.
We got a Blockbuster Online subscription and it's fantastic. It's cheaper than Netflix and has two "free" in-store rentals each month. So you get the delivery stuff but you can also get your instant gratification if you need something on short notice.
Other than their site needing a serious reworking (no middle clicking to open new tabs?!) it's an excellent service.
1. Would you consider it appropriate for your kid to see Goatse? I sure as hell hope not. And it's easy to find places trying to trick you into seeing those kinds of pictures. coughcoughherecoughcough
2. Even good kids shouldn't be left alone in the house with an unlocked, loaded gun.
3. There are different rules for kids of different ages. You don't let a 7-year-old run rampant online.
4. It's not always your kid's judgement that you worry about. You worry about the other people out there that you can't trust.
Spending money defending yourself is a pain in the ass. Instead of paying a lawyer for two hours of formal "get bent" letter writing, tell your lawyer that he can spend however much time he needs defending you in the case (long, formal, drawn-out "get bent") as long as he gets the plaintiffs to cover his costs for you.
Then it turns these frivolous lawsuits into a very expensive endeavour.
Even if these responses are an exception within the ranks of Microsoft executives, it is somewhat comforting to know that there are people within Microsoft that feel this way.
The same extends to nearly any organization. While I am not pleased with some companies or governments, I am happy that there are good, reasonable people trying to affect change from within.
But it's not always the case - and that's the point of this discussion. There are two additional scenarios that I have seen:
1. The "security researcher" discovers a vulnerability and either uses it to leverage a job offer or doesn't inform the vendor and attempts to make a name for himself by disclosing it.
This is the researcher's fault.
2. The vulnerability is reported and the vendor implements a fix days, weeks, or months later. Sometimes a patch might require significant testing and QA before releasing it. Corporate bureaucracy might slow everything down.
This is the vendor's fault, but is not always a matter of indifference.
In one of the deciding factors of my decision to start my own company was watching one of our clients delay a project over one year past the original deadline. It was urgent - privacy and security holes galore - but due to indecision, extended vacations, bureacracy, and plenty of other crap the project was never completed during my time there. I left 11 months past deadline. Apparently they launched it six months later.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's get it out there and just start complaining about kids these days and how we started...
Atari 2600 and Space Invaders (I chewed the controllers)...
Tandy II TRS-80 (didn't have the tape deck so I couldn't save my programs and it had no monitor - it hooked to a television)
No punchcards to complain of, but I do recall playing with an abacus when I was in kindergarten...
(re: subject)
Thinking of it now, I did see some of those pages but didn't find many of them very helpful to me for deciphering the data itself. I just found a whole slew now that have more information than I ever found back then.
I was still in college and wasn't a very proficient coder at the time. Combined with my confusion about ICAO, and it was a wonder I got it to work at all.
You are correct that they made it available and that it was in METAR format. But METAR is not very accessible to developers... just three or four years ago I spent a good deal of time trying to find information on how to break down the METAR codes into something meaningful. I discovered that most web developers were using 3rd-party scripts to scrape the data from Weather.com. Every time weather.com changed their page, the script would need to be updated.
I found very few resources on METAR format. It seemed like it was supposed to be a secret. Once I had it figured out, there was no problem. But it took so long to figure out.
It happens
Exactly why I prefer to play against bots (instead of 12 year olds!) or a cooperative game like Raven Shield.
I grew up with two brothers that were just as competitive as me. We would fight over video games all the time. When I lost, I'd blame anything but myself - the game messed up, the controller is broken, the sun was in my eyes. Cooperative games, however, are a way to work with someone against a common enemy. Even if that enemy is another team (Halo CTF, for example) it's more fun because you know you're contributing to a group effort.
Man, I miss Bubble Bobble.
Quite possible. Since there are so few folks that are capable of hurting their business model like that - fake info floods, DoS, or some other damage - I guess it would be in their best interest to remove your info altogether rather than bank the small amount your account might bring them.
I know at least one hacker that considers himself a white knight of sorts, responding to spam/phishing with various attacks. He usually makes the vigilante argument based on child porn - that they should be attacked and he's doing everyone a favor - but he doesn't seek that out. (Imagine trying to convince a judge that you've been downloading child porn so you could help remove it from the 'Net.)
You might still be helping them in some small way by confirming that your email address is valid.
Many spam and phishing emails use links that contain an ID indicating the email address. For instance, "myspamsite.com/great_offers.php?id=1492" where "1492" corresponds to "columbus@hotmail.com" in the spammer's database. Sometimes that ID is buried within a long URL full of different parameters, too.
Valid emails (especially of those that click on them) are valuable to spammers.
It's the same reason that you shouldn't click the unsubscribe link or display remote images in your email.
I just saved a client a ton of hassle and money by showing him how to use host headers on his Windows 2003 web server... he bought 50+ domain names and was going to have them all pointing at the same website. He inquired with his ISP about buying unique IPs and they were going to charge him $5/month/IP. For a small business, that's a lot of money to spend on something like that. Using host headers didn't cost him a thing (other than an hour of my time, which was part of a larger project anyway) and he can manage them himself now.
Apache calls this "name-based virtual host" (link) and points out that it doesn't work with SSL - you need a unique IP for that.
You might not care, since you're not into hosting/server management, but it's always worth learning something new.
Think shared hosting, where hundreds or thousands of websites share the same IP address by employing host headers.
I think they'd be totally lost even with additional accessibility...
ALT="-87.34870076179504,41.399547788250130"
Fans often fail to remember that the object of their fandom is a person, too - and should be allowed privacy, respect, and free time. If one of them uses their free time to do a Slashdot interview, that's their prerogative.
I just read through a list of BBSs in my area code (courtesy this site) and it felt like reading through the obituaries.
I run/host a wide range of sites with varying traffic, audiences, and owners.
In our stats (using AWStats), Firefox accounts for anywhere from 2% to 50% of the traffic. Likewise, Windows accounts for somewhere between 70% and 99%.
I believe that some of the stats come from networks of sites that take hundreds or thousands of sites into account. So they eliminate many of these problems.
Still, you're automatically limiting your OS stats to a sample of Internet users (excludes servers, non-Internet users). I'm guessing that the folks coming up with these stats (like myself) are not statistics folks.
Are you saying that you read the logs directly/manually?
See AWStats
There are other sites doing this, though with different audiences, formats, etc.
Vidiac.com
PutFile.com
In my experience, the quality of the videos posted are often quite poor. The owners of the sites battle copyright issues constantly and risk being held responsible if their users post material illegally. Finally, the range of the audience affects the overall quality of the site. Videos that a 12-year-old finds funny may not be worth my time.
Not all the criticisms apply to this particular site or to all uses of the site, but it's there.
Advertising.
That's how you pay for public television, CNN.com news articles, and Slashdot.
My point wasn't that Perl is the wrong tool for the job. It's just that it isn't always the right tool. That's what this is all about - choosing the right tool for the job.
Having seen horribly written Perl used in the wrong situation, I know that Perl can take longer to develop than PHP to do some things. Maybe it could have been sped up by using CPAN modules, but the entire application could have been built in a matter of days. The Perl version probably took a month to build, based on the sheer amount of code.
PHP isn't going anywhere, just like Perl isn't. ASP/.Net are here to stay. I have complaints about all of the above - but they all have their uses, strengths, weaknesses, and an appropriate time to employ them.
* And after watching the 15 minute demonstration of Ruby on Rails, I'm going to join you in hoping that it isn't the next big thing.
Let's see here...
1. Professional developers are still creating websites using font tags and other deprecated nonsense.
2. Programmers are writing extensive web applications entirely in Perl cgi, often taking months to do simple tasks that PHP or ASP can do in days.
3. Existing sites are built on technologies that may be ten years old. They don't update their software every time a new technology, framework, or component comes out. They have to support old stuff in addition to building new stuff.
Bar code on license plate
Police were supposed to have handheld scanners that could be used to tap into the state's database immediately. I don't know if that ever happened.
Off-topic story time:
They also have the www.IN.gov website address on the license plates. Some people were really upset about that so they started putting decals over it - usually covering the bar code as well.
We got my Dad a Netflix subscription a couple of years ago and he still has it.
We got a Blockbuster Online subscription and it's fantastic. It's cheaper than Netflix and has two "free" in-store rentals each month. So you get the delivery stuff but you can also get your instant gratification if you need something on short notice.
Other than their site needing a serious reworking (no middle clicking to open new tabs?!) it's an excellent service.
1. Would you consider it appropriate for your kid to see Goatse? I sure as hell hope not. And it's easy to find places trying to trick you into seeing those kinds of pictures. coughcoughherecoughcough
2. Even good kids shouldn't be left alone in the house with an unlocked, loaded gun.
3. There are different rules for kids of different ages. You don't let a 7-year-old run rampant online.
4. It's not always your kid's judgement that you worry about. You worry about the other people out there that you can't trust.
In my sad experience, offering a range means that you get the minimum.
So you can pad the budget.
I recommend getting the bosses really drunk before presenting the budget to them and getting them to sign off on it.
Spending money defending yourself is a pain in the ass. Instead of paying a lawyer for two hours of formal "get bent" letter writing, tell your lawyer that he can spend however much time he needs defending you in the case (long, formal, drawn-out "get bent") as long as he gets the plaintiffs to cover his costs for you.
Then it turns these frivolous lawsuits into a very expensive endeavour.
Even if these responses are an exception within the ranks of Microsoft executives, it is somewhat comforting to know that there are people within Microsoft that feel this way.
The same extends to nearly any organization. While I am not pleased with some companies or governments, I am happy that there are good, reasonable people trying to affect change from within.
There's some truth to that, yes.
But it's not always the case - and that's the point of this discussion. There are two additional scenarios that I have seen:
1. The "security researcher" discovers a vulnerability and either uses it to leverage a job offer or doesn't inform the vendor and attempts to make a name for himself by disclosing it.
This is the researcher's fault.
2. The vulnerability is reported and the vendor implements a fix days, weeks, or months later. Sometimes a patch might require significant testing and QA before releasing it. Corporate bureaucracy might slow everything down.
This is the vendor's fault, but is not always a matter of indifference.
In one of the deciding factors of my decision to start my own company was watching one of our clients delay a project over one year past the original deadline. It was urgent - privacy and security holes galore - but due to indecision, extended vacations, bureacracy, and plenty of other crap the project was never completed during my time there. I left 11 months past deadline. Apparently they launched it six months later.
Indifference? Nope.
Indecision? Inattentiveness? Incompetence? Yes.