And who would you trust to generate the shared N that everybody uses? Whoever knows p and q will trivially be able to break the hash function every way you can.
Write your own bignum package and run it on an un-networked computer. I did just that not long ago in 100% C code (Visual C++) using only a small __asm function to read the Pentium CPU cycle counter and the CString 'datatype'.
FWIW, it generated 2 1024(+) bit 100% provable prime numbers that could be multiplied together into a modulus in under 10 minutes on a friend's 2.8 GHz Windows PC.
Other serious problems with this hash function are (1) The output is much too long (2) it's far too regular to substitute for a random oracle where one is needed, and (3) it's much, much too slow.
Concerning (1), SHA-512 is the largest secure fixed-length hash around that I know of, has only 256 bits of security. What if you need more?
I'm not a cryptographer but I know how RSA works. Please explain (2) in detail, I am curious.
As for (3), that's the only downside to SDLH, even with using Montgomery exponentiation to speed up the calculations. If you want/need fundamentaly perfect security with factoring the modulus as the only problem, barring coercion or eavesdropping, then SDLH is for you.
It's cool - and the proof is cool - but it's not a serious contender for normal applications.
SDLH can only be broken by throwing fast and/or exotic hardware or more efficient integer factorization algorithms at it. Can the same be said of the successor to SHA-512 when/if it gets broken? Remember how the NSA tweaked DES to frustrate differential cryptanalysis before other people 'rediscovered' it?
Same thing happened with RSA -- some government guy in England's version of the NSA discovered it a few years before the 'RSA' guys 'rediscovered' it.
I wouldn't get just any turntable as most aren't really that good. There's one website I saw, though I've lost the link, that has turntables with laser styli. Not contacting the vinyl it doesn't wearout vinyl like needles do, but I wonder how well the acostics are and if the ouput is analogue and, or digital. I'd rather both, analogue could be plugged into a preamp and the digital output can be plugged into the sound card on a computer.
From the website:
Pure analog playback without any digitization Digitizing that for CD/Computer use is a simple matter of hooking up the audio output cables (L and R) from an ELP turntable to a high quality computer soundcard or other equivalent setup in order to 'rip vinyl'.
It even plays broken records too! (within reason)
But they are $15k and up!
Only for the audiophile with lots of cash and vinyl records to play with this amazing device!
Maybe Dr. Demento has one—I heard he has probably the worlds largest record collection.
Point two: Downloading songs without paying for them is bad. I agree with that as well.
Should really read:
Point two: Downloading copyrighted, for-profit, commercial songs without the expressed permission of the copyright holders and not paying for them is bad. I agree with that as well.
Non-profit or not, musicbrainz.org 'get's paid' if you buy CDs via the amazon.com affiliate links imbedded in their site.
Slashdot CAPTCHA: squash
Ironic that a.org like slashdot has to show ads to pay the bills but that is pretty much the only way they can stay on the net. I doubt their 'subscription model' makes any sort of dent in their bandwidth bills.
There's no way that advertisers can MAKE us watch ads.
Two words.
Product placement.
The two best theatrical examples I can think of:
The Truman Show Satirical, disturbing use of 'product placement' for storytelling purposes.
and
Superman: The Movie Cheerios at sunrise scene. Possibly the most tasteful product placement shot in movie history.
Everything else I've seen is just mere product placement(in-content advertising)—no matter how subtle it is. Here is a notable example of the latter style of product placement I remember:
Speed The background Miller Beer Truck in one highway scene and the characters 'swilling' said brand elsewhere in the movie. Probably just ginger ale as a stand-in for 'MGD' or non-alcoholic SHARPS instead of the real thing. No, I don't drink any alcoholic beverages (including stuff like SHARPS)—life is enough of a challenge as it to want to face it in full command of one's faculties.
Big media, big numbers, big money - views/examples
Mass media is a profit-driven, numbers game. Let me show you with a few examples....
c) stupid reality shows that should be slaughtered, dismembered, burnt, and then the ashes thrown into the sun
Reality programming is cheap and easy to produce.
Cop shows are very popular on TV.
So in 1989, John Langley and Malcolm Barbour created COPS as an 'experiment' in a new form of tv programming, which is considered to be the very first 'reality tv program'. At the time there was a screenwriter's strike so the show was greenlighted mainly on the strength of being unscripted and no need for a screenwriter.
There is now only ONE genre of reality programming on TV worth watching: Televised Poker.
It is the ONLY kind of reality programming on TV right now that both educates AND entertains thus helping you to become a better player if you pay attention and take into account the show is a 'highlight reel'.
So I tape them and watch them later--fast forwarding through the regular ads and ignoring any product placement in the shows themselves.
The shows now on tv are popular because enough people are watching them (and buying sponsor products) that they stay on the air. When that doesn't happen, the show is canceled or put on hiatus. Program quality has nothing to do with it. The most famous cancelled show in TV history has got to be the original STAR TREK series. It was a somewhat cerebral show that addressed the issues and themes of the day in a science fiction setting. The problem was most people were watching anything but the show because westerns, comedy shows, and sitcoms were more popular on TV back then. I'm surprised Bjo Trimble's letter writing campaign convinced NBC to give the show a 3rd and final season before it was cancelled. As a result of her efforts, fans got a last taste of STAR TREK on TV before it went off the air and into syndication.
The rest is history and need not be repeated here.
In the early 1980s, NBC tried to cash in on the music video craze, then in its infancy, inspiring then head honcho Brandon Tartikoff to write the famous 2 word memo: MTV COPS. Michael Mann answered with MIAMI VICE, a cop show so 'groundbreaking' that he (essentially) sued William Friedken for his film classic TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. for 'look and feel' reasons.
These examples should prove my point. Any other views?
I see your point for genuine, 1-off throwaway code.
The problem I have at work is that the code I co-written is 'business critical' and must not fail or be incorrect. It is also comprised of A LOT of 'little black boxes' that work together. Upgrading the code is a pain as the upgrade must be done ASAP and without benefit of a test system to try it out on.
Yes, the test and production systems are one in the same. It should be 'suicide' to do this but so far no problems. We're just really careful.
Whenever I write new code or tweak old code, at times I want to add in 'idiot proof' code to minimize possible future errors and down time but I am constantly told no and to 'get it done right away'. Since someone else signs my paycheck, I have to follow orders.
I guess you have to decide if any such problems can be solved in the future by a pricey programmer or a budget data entry clerk - but keep in mind that the data entry clerk is human and can accidentally/(deliberately!?!) introduce errors into your datastream. Provided the programmer is not incompetent or malicious, that won't happen with a software routine to do the same thing.
What is more importent to you? The money you save on a project or the integrity of the data your business depends on to survive (and thrive)....
Do you hate corporations so much that you need to make sure they make as little money as possible?
The corps that are still in business and not 'bookcooking' are essentially doing fine. Whatever costs they have that they won't eat and/or write off on their taxes take the form of higher prices.
Case in point
When Coca-Cola first came out, you could get a small glass of it for a nickel if I'm not mistaken. Now, one costs $1.00 from a vending machine (granted its likely 20z). Why the ridiculous price increase?
Advertising and competition.
People come up with products and services.
If word of mouth isn't enough, they use admen to get their message out -- big money!
Somebody sees the ad and 'builds a better mousetrap' - competition.
So the original maker has to spend more money to improve his product/service and andvertise it as 'new and improved'.
And the vicious cycle goes on and on.
The average consumer loses due to higher prices.
Without mass market advertising, prices would be a lot lower.
And as the late commedian Bill Hicks once said:
Quit putting a godamm dollar sign on every fucking thing on this planet!
Did they had advertisng in public bathrooms before he died? If so, his quote sums up vividly the problem with mass media advertising.
Real programmers automate as much work as possible so they can do what the do best: code up solutions to some nontrivial problem. Perhaps that one-off routine can be reused later with minor modifications. Once the 'heavy lifting' is done, the invested effort can pay real dividends.:)
That laser based record turntable brings analog/digital audio technology full circle. Too bad it only plays black records. If they can overcome that limitation somehow, that would be an accompishment!:)
Re:Like the JPEG "virus" - secure C code How to...
on
Virus Jumps to RFID
·
· Score: 1
Any programmer worth his salt knows that he has to check for invalid data, yet so many software developers (both open source and closed source) let code go to production levels that fails to perform even the most basic of validations.
Doesn't do any good if your boss doesn't want you to spend the extra time coding the data validation code in order to get the job done now to keep expenses down. As we all know, time *is* money. (as is paying labor/brainpower/both)
So much for an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
If you truly care about 'secure code', do what this guy does.
Below text is from a.chm file for his secure webserver. I posted the text here a few times before but always cause the Slashdot link to that post to 'scroll' off my post list (no, I'm not subscribing just to get access to my entire posting history...) Maybe I can keep the link to this post handy in case I have to do this again... Also, I am not a shill for this guy touting his product -- I am a fan of simple, elegant, secure code as you'll see below....
My only complaint is that the text below should be on a normal HTML web page as it should be required reading to all programmers everywere. The simple technique described below will make software secure at a fundamental level and make it all but impossible to exploit....
Security. There's a little word with a big meaning. Unlike other web servers, ProtoNova is secure. What exactly does this mean in terms of what a web server should be?
[snip]
Before I conclude, I have one other thing I wish to mention that defines security. This is the fact that ProtoNova is the only web server in existence guaranteed to be free from Buffer Overflow attacks on the stack at the application level. Let's see you try to get a guarantee like that from Apache or Microsoft. While I can't control problems with the underlying OS or libraries, I can control how I write my own code. Here's my secret to how I can make such a guarantee: Dynamically allocate all memory I use on the heap. 90% of all bug fixes for exploits (potential or otherwise) coming out of various organizations (ahem, Micro<cough>soft) are for Buffer Overflow attacks on the stack. A buffer overflow on the heap is far less dangerous than a stack-based overflow. If you don't know the difference, let me show you that I really do know what I'm talking about (whereas most journalists generally have no clue) using some C code - that is, the language most web servers are written in:
// Include necessary headers to compile #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h>
// Start of the "main" function - used to tell the OS where // to start processing source code. int main(int argc, char **argv) { // Tells the computer to create 256 places in memory _on the stack_ for storage.
char str[256];
// This just tells the user how to use the program. // Not really important, but useful.
if (argc < 2)
{
printf("Syntax: BadProgram TypeInAReallyLongString");
exit(1);
}
// This copies the data the _user_ specified into str.
strcpy(str, argv[1]);
// This prints the contents of str.
printf("%s\n", str);
return 0; }
(For you programmers out there, please ignore the comments. I realize they are "basic/newbie," but I'm attempting to explain source code to newbies).
The example above is extremely dangerous. Why? It is because there is only room reserved for 256 places in the computer's memory. What happens if the user enters data for 1000 places? This is w
The best I was able to do was around 2+ million 'running patterns' which Mitchell didn't do during his recordbreaking game. On a related note, I achieved something similar on TAPPER, finding out the game starts all over again after completing 'board 0' after board 255. Back then the game code was small and RAM was at a premium so the level counters were usually restricted to 1 8-bit byte hence the maximum level value of 255:)
Anyway, back then most of the hit videogames put out by Bally / Midway were 'pattern driven'. The best one of the bunch is TRON which had some randomization involved but the 4 subgames themselves were still pattern driven. I remember long ago spending quite a bit to master BURGERTIME. When I did, the game became ridiculously easy by moving around in a predetermined manner to get all the bad guys to 'bunch up' and move as one -- like shooting fish in a barrel.
After all that, I eventually moved on to STREET FIGHTER II and play that insted -- not quite as pattern driven against the computer AI and worthwhile to play against a skilled player who was about as good as I was. I beat the AI numerous times but never got good enough to beat 'any and all commers' hands down. The game was just a way to kill time...:)
But I have to admit, PUZZLE FIGHTER was probably the best STREET FIGHTER game of them all. That game wasn't a total 'twitchfest' like all the others in the series...
1) Malware installs itself in a 'good oddball location' (you'll see why a bit later)
2) Malware runs (on startup) and monitors the running processes as close to real time as possible
3) Malware has built in it the CRCs (likely MD5s) of known AV filescanners
THE RACE IS ON!!!
The malware has to find the AV filescanner, CRC/MD5 it and if identified, kill the AV process (if able to) and delete/muckup the AV filescanner at its leisure(?) BEFORE the AV scanner can find it, kill it, and delete it in return.
The only way around that would be to update/release the AV scanner faster than the malware authors can 'do their thing'. I don't think using some sort of 'runtime opcode munging' to change the EXE CRC at runtime will help as a mass-release software title (if possible).
Nope, to stop this kind of malware calls for 'personalized' AV with CRCs unique to the machine it is installed on before the software is obtained to install in the first place. Provided the OS maker(s) is trustworthy, such AV software should be the first program obtained and installed on the computer after the operating system.
A tired old newsmedia saying imortalized by Kelsey Grammer's Robert Hawkins in 15 MINUTES proves that nothing drives ratings up like death and misfortune.
Just look at just 3 historical events to generate 'wall to wall' coverage...
The President Kennedy Assasinaton (1963-11-22)
The Challenger disaster (1986-01-28)
and of course
9/11 (2001-09-11)
I've only seen snippets of the Kennedy Assasination coverage on TV mostly from archival footage so I can't comment.
For the Challenger disaster I happened on to it one day while running an errand. Truly a national tragedy shared by (seemingly) the entire US population thanks to nonstop coverage by CNN who got 'the scoop of the century' by still covering Space Shuttle launches after the 'big 3' networks gave it up to dish out more 'mass media entertainment'. The drawback, if it could be said of it, was that the CNN coverage that day was highly repetitive but I guess it was designed that way to accommodate people watching at different times of the day.
The same thing could be said for 9/11 coverage that day -- repetitive and somber. The thing that stuck out in my mind was that the 'big 3' networks became 'little CNNs' with around the clock news coverage for a few days afterward with NO commercial breaks at all (surely at great expense) - just the usual station identification stuff and on-screen 'watermarking' (which I hate but understand is necessary in an ad-soaked visual mass media like broadcast television).
Anyway, this kind of media coverage gives the average viewer a carthartic, detached, reassuring 'glad it wasn't me' kind of feeling. I don't know if that is ultimately good or bad but it does fuel ratings and drive/generate ad revenue for the networks.
Ultimately, it's all about the eyeballs and how much cash to extract from their owners in exchange for goods and services.... Just look at how assinine and silly commercials have become lately. The best of the bunch right now to me is the (in)famous Avis XM Satellite Radio TV commercial with 3 guys in the car lip-syncing to a rap song which I was able to find via GOOGLE - it was a bit difficult to get the MP3 of the song but I got it!:) No, I won't reveal where and how to get it because I don't want to Slashdot the source and drive up their bandwidth bill and you have to 'jump through hoops' to get the MP3 itself anyway.
Thank goodness for the VCR. I use it regularly to watch shows and zip past the ads for stuff I am eminently not interested in or have seen already. You can save around 15-20 minutes an hour watching previously recorded broadcast TV shows by bypassing the ads - you aren't missing much if most/nearly all the ads they show on TV do not interest you. If they ever make PVRs unable to fast forward/rewind to skip ads at least VCRs will be around for awhile in spite of their inferior sound and picture quality when compared to PVRs...:) Maybe that's the ultimate reason why there was the push in the U.S. to adopt 'digital TV' and dump the current analog model...it would obsolete incompatible analog VCRs and 'enforce' ad viewing/DRM with certain 'broadcast flags' when recorded/played back with approved PVRs...:P
Commercials, as wasteful and scattershot they are are the price one pay to get 'free television' in the U.S. The better, more expensive UK model would never work in the US - people would either 'go without' or 'cheat the system' to get their TV fix. Case in point: Who watches PBS programming during 'pledge drive' time then turn away/fast forward (previously recorded material) to avoid the pledge breaks interspersed within like 'standard' commercials. Just about 'everybody' I gather. But the nice thing about PBS is you get content that is pretty close to the advertized run time like hour-long
Anyone interested in just posting the 'uncut' portions somewhere so people can add it to their Project Gutenberg copies? If PG did it, they'd get into trouble for sure!
Slashdot CAPTCHA: calumny (old way to say 'defamation') coincidence?
Recently, one got through so I spent a few minutes to take care of it.
The only drawback to using a rbl is that it can be inaccurate if an innocent party starts using a blacklisted IP. But in the real world due to laziness, inertia, and corporate indifference, that is quite unlikely....:P
The 2nd half of my approach uses a few rules that simply take away the ASCII characters a spammer is likely to use in their message. I patently refuse such email at iamcf13@hotpop.com so they get deleted immediately.
All the spammers are doing is wasting the small amount of time and computing resources it takes me to get my email with this 'updated' program. But usually I am doing something else of importance at the time so presumably no time is wasted at all...
My approach is 'transparent' with the current email system and could be useful -- nowadays there is talk of replacing the current, spammed out system for something else -- a likely far remote possibility....
Food for thought....:)
P.S. Shout/mod me down if you want but you have to admit, Baysean spam filtering is just not working anymore. Challenge/response is cumbersome, considered 'bad manners' by some, and can generate more unwanted email messages. How about giving a different approach such as mine a try?....
As are about all gainfully/legally employed people [like myself at the moment] not gainfully/legally self-employed... =/
If you are 100% self-employed, count your blessings -- you've escaped the 'rat race' that saps the vitality of mankind everywhere in the name of 'increased corporate profit'....
I am not a physisict but I had a few college level physics classes...
I always wondered why nukes were so devastating, now I think I know why....
Consider a subcritical lump of 'fissile material', it has all 4 forces present in it: (below bit 'adapted from the 'info box' at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13816702/)
Strong: Glues together the parts of a nucleus. (must be a LOT of energy stored this way!) Electromagnetic: Holds electrons around atoms; explains light. (and the EM pulse of a nuclear explosion from infrared through the visible spectrum up to X-rays [and beyond]) Weak: Responsible for certain radioactive decays. (mesurable with a Geiger counter) Gravity: Keeps planets, stars, glaxies from flying apart. (said lump has mass and has a definite 'weight')
Ok, is this sequence of events right? Any physisict here feel free to correct me...anonymously if you need to....;)
Compressing said lump to a critical mass would change the EM force present which would affect the strong force and release all the energy stored there with eminently observable results
Is this sequence of events right or wrong? I am curious from a theoretical point of view...
Slashdot Mirror
And who would you trust to generate the shared N that everybody uses? Whoever knows p and q will trivially be able to break the hash function every way you can.
Write your own bignum package and run it on an un-networked computer. I did just that not long ago in 100% C code (Visual C++) using only a small __asm function to read the Pentium CPU cycle counter and the CString 'datatype'.
FWIW, it generated 2 1024(+) bit 100% provable prime numbers that could be multiplied together into a modulus in under 10 minutes on a friend's 2.8 GHz Windows PC.
Other serious problems with this hash function are (1) The output is much too long (2) it's far too regular to substitute for a random oracle where one is needed, and (3) it's much, much too slow.
Concerning (1), SHA-512 is the largest secure fixed-length hash around that I know of, has only 256 bits of security. What if you need more?
I'm not a cryptographer but I know how RSA works. Please explain (2) in detail, I am curious.
As for (3), that's the only downside to SDLH, even with using Montgomery exponentiation to speed up the calculations. If you want/need fundamentaly perfect security with factoring the modulus as the only problem, barring coercion or eavesdropping, then SDLH is for you.
It's cool - and the proof is cool - but it's not a serious contender for normal applications.
SDLH can only be broken by throwing fast and/or exotic hardware or more efficient integer factorization algorithms at it. Can the same be said of the successor to SHA-512 when/if it gets broken? Remember how the NSA tweaked DES to frustrate differential cryptanalysis before other people 'rediscovered' it?
Same thing happened with RSA -- some government guy in England's version of the NSA discovered it a few years before the 'RSA' guys 'rediscovered' it.
...is provably collision-resistant.
http://senderek.de/SDLH/
'Proof' by Ron 'RSA' Rivest...
http://diswww.mit.edu/bloom-picayune/crypto/13190
SDLH is simple and secure to any number of bits of security desired once set up properly.
Factoring the modulus in SDLH is the only way to break it.
For that you need a state of the art number factoring algorithm (currently General Number Field Sieve or Shor's Algorithm).
Case closed.
Found the link via Google!
http://www.elpj.com/
From the website: Pure analog playback without any digitization Digitizing that for CD/Computer use is a simple matter of hooking up the audio output cables (L and R) from an ELP turntable to a high quality computer soundcard or other equivalent setup in order to 'rip vinyl'.
It even plays broken records too! (within reason)
But they are $15k and up!
Only for the audiophile with lots of cash and vinyl records to play with this amazing device!
Maybe Dr. Demento has one—I heard he has probably the worlds largest record collection.
Point two: Downloading songs without paying for them is bad. I agree with that as well.
Should really read:
Point two: Downloading copyrighted, for-profit, commercial songs without the expressed permission of the copyright holders and not paying for them is bad. I agree with that as well.
I looked up one of my favorite CD's -- the OST to Supergirl (1984)
.org like slashdot has to show ads to pay the bills but that is pretty much the only way they can stay on the net. I doubt their 'subscription model' makes any sort of dent in their bandwidth bills.
Here's the proof:
MusicBrainz.org link to the 23-track SILVA AMERICA release.
'Decoded' affiliate link at Amazon.com.
Non-profit or not, musicbrainz.org 'get's paid' if you buy CDs via the amazon.com affiliate links imbedded in their site.
Slashdot CAPTCHA: squash
Ironic that a
What ever happened to punishments fitting the crime?
Just ask Michael P. Fay
Slashdot CAPTCHA: lackey (hmm....)
Take your approach one step further if you can like I do now....
Only use you (cell) phone for OUTGOING calls only and leave it unplugged or off at all other times.
No more telemarketers AT ALL!
But then you have to use a 'Don't call me, I'll call you' call model.
And it may be a safety hazard if you have to make a call RIGHT NOW in the event of an emergency.
And should the telemarketers call your voice mail (by accident) then their messages will clog your inbox until you can delete them.
Oh well....
There's no way that advertisers can MAKE us watch ads.
Two words.
Product placement.
The two best theatrical examples I can think of:
The Truman Show Satirical, disturbing use of 'product placement' for storytelling purposes.
and
Superman: The Movie Cheerios at sunrise scene. Possibly the most tasteful product placement shot in movie history.
Everything else I've seen is just mere product placement(in-content advertising)—no matter how subtle it is. Here is a notable example of the latter style of product placement I remember:
Speed The background Miller Beer Truck in one highway scene and the characters 'swilling' said brand elsewhere in the movie. Probably just ginger ale as a stand-in for 'MGD' or non-alcoholic SHARPS instead of the real thing. No, I don't drink any alcoholic beverages (including stuff like SHARPS)—life is enough of a challenge as it to want to face it in full command of one's faculties.
—30—
Big media, big numbers, big money - views/examples
Mass media is a profit-driven, numbers game. Let me show you with a few examples....
c) stupid reality shows that should be slaughtered, dismembered, burnt, and then the ashes thrown into the sun
Reality programming is cheap and easy to produce.
Cop shows are very popular on TV.
So in 1989, John Langley and Malcolm Barbour created COPS as an 'experiment' in a new form of tv programming, which is considered to be the very first 'reality tv program'. At the time there was a screenwriter's strike so the show was greenlighted mainly on the strength of being unscripted and no need for a screenwriter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COPS_(TV_series)
There is now only ONE genre of reality programming on TV worth watching: Televised Poker.
It is the ONLY kind of reality programming on TV right now that both educates AND entertains thus helping you to become a better player if you pay attention and take into account the show is a 'highlight reel'.
So I tape them and watch them later--fast forwarding through the regular ads and ignoring any product placement in the shows themselves.
The shows now on tv are popular because enough people are watching them (and buying sponsor products) that they stay on the air. When that doesn't happen, the show is canceled or put on hiatus. Program quality has nothing to do with it. The most famous cancelled show in TV history has got to be the original STAR TREK series. It was a somewhat cerebral show that addressed the issues and themes of the day in a science fiction setting. The problem was most people were watching anything but the show because westerns, comedy shows, and sitcoms were more popular on TV back then. I'm surprised Bjo Trimble's letter writing campaign convinced NBC to give the show a 3rd and final season before it was cancelled. As a result of her efforts, fans got a last taste of STAR TREK on TV before it went off the air and into syndication.
The rest is history and need not be repeated here.
This link should be sufficient:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek
In the early 1980s, NBC tried to cash in on the music video craze, then in its infancy, inspiring then head honcho Brandon Tartikoff to write the famous 2 word memo: MTV COPS. Michael Mann answered with MIAMI VICE, a cop show so 'groundbreaking' that he (essentially) sued William Friedken for his film classic TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. for 'look and feel' reasons.
These examples should prove my point. Any other views?
I see your point for genuine, 1-off throwaway code.
The problem I have at work is that the code I co-written is 'business critical' and must not fail or be incorrect. It is also comprised of A LOT of 'little black boxes' that work together. Upgrading the code is a pain as the upgrade must be done ASAP and without benefit of a test system to try it out on.
Yes, the test and production systems are one in the same. It should be 'suicide' to do this but so far no problems. We're just really careful.
Whenever I write new code or tweak old code, at times I want to add in 'idiot proof' code to minimize possible future errors and down time but I am constantly told no and to 'get it done right away'. Since someone else signs my paycheck, I have to follow orders.
I guess you have to decide if any such problems can be solved in the future by a pricey programmer or a budget data entry clerk - but keep in mind that the data entry clerk is human and can accidentally/(deliberately!?!) introduce errors into your datastream. Provided the programmer is not incompetent or malicious, that won't happen with a software routine to do the same thing.
What is more importent to you? The money you save on a project or the integrity of the data your business depends on to survive (and thrive)....
Thanks, now I know who's going to try to sue me when I release my rendition of the song:
That'd be Hasbro/(Mattel?) by way of the original composers, Rob Walsh and Johnny Douglas.
I'm surprised I still remember that after all these years.
But personnaly I wasn't a Transformers fan but did see the old feature movie from the 1980s directed by Nelson Shin.
CAPTCHA for this post: bushels
LOL since 'Shrub W' is in office now as of this post... XD
Nice little parody song!
Do you hate corporations so much that you need to make sure they make as little money as possible?
The corps that are still in business and not 'bookcooking' are essentially doing fine. Whatever costs they have that they won't eat and/or write off on their taxes take the form of higher prices.
Case in point
When Coca-Cola first came out, you could get a small glass of it for a nickel if I'm not mistaken. Now, one costs $1.00 from a vending machine (granted its likely 20z). Why the ridiculous price increase?
Advertising and competition.
People come up with products and services.
If word of mouth isn't enough, they use admen to get their message out -- big money!
Somebody sees the ad and 'builds a better mousetrap' - competition.
So the original maker has to spend more money to improve his product/service and andvertise it as 'new and improved'.
And the vicious cycle goes on and on.
The average consumer loses due to higher prices.
Without mass market advertising, prices would be a lot lower.
And as the late commedian Bill Hicks once said:
Quit putting a godamm dollar sign on every fucking thing on this planet!
Did they had advertisng in public bathrooms before he died? If so, his quote sums up vividly the problem with mass media advertising.
[PHB-like pay related rant snipped]
:)
Real programmers automate as much work as possible so they can do what the do best: code up solutions to some nontrivial problem. Perhaps that one-off routine can be reused later with minor modifications. Once the 'heavy lifting' is done, the invested effort can pay real dividends.
That laser based record turntable brings analog/digital audio technology full circle. Too bad it only plays black records. If they can overcome that limitation somehow, that would be an accompishment! :)
Doesn't do any good if your boss doesn't want you to spend the extra time coding the data validation code in order to get the job done now to keep expenses down. As we all know, time *is* money. (as is paying labor/brainpower/both)
So much for an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
If you truly care about 'secure code', do what this guy does.
Below text is from a
My only complaint is that the text below should be on a normal HTML web page as it should be required reading to all programmers everywere. The simple technique described below will make software secure at a fundamental level and make it all but impossible to exploit....
Billy Mitchell scored the first perfect game to this 1980 Namco classic back in 1999
M an)
:)
:)
read more about him here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mitchell_(Pac-
The best I was able to do was around 2+ million 'running patterns' which Mitchell didn't do during his recordbreaking game. On a related note, I achieved something similar on TAPPER, finding out the game starts all over again after completing 'board 0' after board 255. Back then the game code was small and RAM was at a premium so the level counters were usually restricted to 1 8-bit byte hence the maximum level value of 255
Anyway, back then most of the hit videogames put out by Bally / Midway were 'pattern driven'. The best one of the bunch is TRON which had some randomization involved but the 4 subgames themselves were still pattern driven. I remember long ago spending quite a bit to master BURGERTIME. When I did, the game became ridiculously easy by moving around in a predetermined manner to get all the bad guys to 'bunch up' and move as one -- like shooting fish in a barrel.
After all that, I eventually moved on to STREET FIGHTER II and play that insted -- not quite as pattern driven against the computer AI and worthwhile to play against a skilled player who was about as good as I was. I beat the AI numerous times but never got good enough to beat 'any and all commers' hands down. The game was just a way to kill time...
But I have to admit, PUZZLE FIGHTER was probably the best STREET FIGHTER game of them all. That game wasn't a total 'twitchfest' like all the others in the series...
1) Malware installs itself in a 'good oddball location' (you'll see why a bit later)
2) Malware runs (on startup) and monitors the running processes as close to real time as possible
3) Malware has built in it the CRCs (likely MD5s) of known AV filescanners
THE RACE IS ON!!!
The malware has to find the AV filescanner, CRC/MD5 it and if identified, kill the AV process (if able to) and delete/muckup the AV filescanner at its leisure(?) BEFORE the AV scanner can find it, kill it, and delete it in return.
The only way around that would be to update/release the AV scanner faster than the malware authors can 'do their thing'. I don't think using some sort of 'runtime opcode munging' to change the EXE CRC at runtime will help as a mass-release software title (if possible).
Nope, to stop this kind of malware calls for 'personalized' AV with CRCs unique to the machine it is installed on before the software is obtained to install in the first place. Provided the OS maker(s) is trustworthy, such AV software should be the first program obtained and installed on the computer after the operating system.
Even one of the pre-USA English kings claimed tobacco was unhealthy.
b acco
/ blaste/
:)
'A Counterblaste To Tobacco' by King James I of England:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Counterblast_to_To
A 'modernized' version of the text of it can be read here:
http://64.176.112.65/kjcounte.htm
The original Elizibethan version can be read here:
http://www.la.utexas.edu/research/poltheory/james
Enjoy!
Thank you for the layman's explanation.
So in other words, the weak force is ultimately responsible for 'fissile material' doing its 'nuclear thing' under proper conditions, yes?
'If it bleeds, it leads'
:) No, I won't reveal where and how to get it because I don't want to Slashdot the source and drive up their bandwidth bill and you have to 'jump through hoops' to get the MP3 itself anyway.
:) Maybe that's the ultimate reason why there was the push in the U.S. to adopt 'digital TV' and dump the current analog model...it would obsolete incompatible analog VCRs and 'enforce' ad viewing/DRM with certain 'broadcast flags' when recorded/played back with approved PVRs... :P
A tired old newsmedia saying imortalized by Kelsey Grammer's Robert Hawkins in 15 MINUTES proves that nothing drives ratings up like death and misfortune.
Just look at just 3 historical events to generate 'wall to wall' coverage...
The President Kennedy Assasinaton (1963-11-22)
The Challenger disaster (1986-01-28)
and of course
9/11 (2001-09-11)
I've only seen snippets of the Kennedy Assasination coverage on TV mostly from archival footage so I can't comment.
For the Challenger disaster I happened on to it one day while running an errand. Truly a national tragedy shared by (seemingly) the entire US population thanks to nonstop coverage by CNN who got 'the scoop of the century' by still covering Space Shuttle launches after the 'big 3' networks gave it up to dish out more 'mass media entertainment'. The drawback, if it could be said of it, was that the CNN coverage that day was highly repetitive but I guess it was designed that way to accommodate people watching at different times of the day.
The same thing could be said for 9/11 coverage that day -- repetitive and somber. The thing that stuck out in my mind was that the 'big 3' networks became 'little CNNs' with around the clock news coverage for a few days afterward with NO commercial breaks at all (surely at great expense) - just the usual station identification stuff and on-screen 'watermarking' (which I hate but understand is necessary in an ad-soaked visual mass media like broadcast television).
Anyway, this kind of media coverage gives the average viewer a carthartic, detached, reassuring 'glad it wasn't me' kind of feeling. I don't know if that is ultimately good or bad but it does fuel ratings and drive/generate ad revenue for the networks.
Ultimately, it's all about the eyeballs and how much cash to extract from their owners in exchange for goods and services.... Just look at how assinine and silly commercials have become lately. The best of the bunch right now to me is the (in)famous Avis XM Satellite Radio TV commercial with 3 guys in the car lip-syncing to a rap song which I was able to find via GOOGLE - it was a bit difficult to get the MP3 of the song but I got it!
Thank goodness for the VCR. I use it regularly to watch shows and zip past the ads for stuff I am eminently not interested in or have seen already. You can save around 15-20 minutes an hour watching previously recorded broadcast TV shows by bypassing the ads - you aren't missing much if most/nearly all the ads they show on TV do not interest you. If they ever make PVRs unable to fast forward/rewind to skip ads at least VCRs will be around for awhile in spite of their inferior sound and picture quality when compared to PVRs...
Commercials, as wasteful and scattershot they are are the price one pay to get 'free television' in the U.S. The better, more expensive UK model would never work in the US - people would either 'go without' or 'cheat the system' to get their TV fix. Case in point: Who watches PBS programming during 'pledge drive' time then turn away/fast forward (previously recorded material) to avoid the pledge breaks interspersed within like 'standard' commercials. Just about 'everybody' I gather. But the nice thing about PBS is you get content that is pretty close to the advertized run time like hour-long
In both works, items with 'monomolecular edges' were used as weapons:
:P
Linna Yamazaki's hardsuit 'battle ribbons' from BUBBLEGUM CRISIS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088863/
Takahashi's 'garrote' wire from JOHNNY MNEMONIC
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113481/
Maybe one day they'll exist in the real world. But who would use them -- THEY ARE LETHAL!!!
In the crazy world we now inhabit, expect to see a lawsuit against the critics for restraint of trade.
o w
9 -1&q=oprah+beef
9 32692-9835849?v=glance&n=283155
Old news.
Oprah vs. Beef Industry
Relevent links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oprah_Winfrey_Sh
Scroll down to 'Tuesdays With Dr Phil'
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-885
Assorted related links via Google
Be thankfull meat processing isn't as bad now as it was in THE JUNGLE
'Uncut original' pay version on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1884365302/103-5
Shouldn't this version be PD as well?
Anyone interested in just posting the 'uncut' portions somewhere so people can add it to their Project Gutenberg copies? If PG did it, they'd get into trouble for sure!
Slashdot CAPTCHA: calumny (old way to say 'defamation') coincidence?
Seriously, the spammers will adapt no matter when anti-spam tactics you use.
:P
:)
They 'cannot' beat the filtering I use now...
Not long ago, I added a form of rbl support to a personal copy of My homebrew Windows email client freebie and the results were 'amazing'....
Essentially NO spam gets through now!
Recently, one got through so I spent a few minutes to take care of it.
The only drawback to using a rbl is that it can be inaccurate if an innocent party starts using a blacklisted IP. But in the real world due to laziness, inertia, and corporate indifference, that is quite unlikely....
The 2nd half of my approach uses a few rules that simply take away the ASCII characters a spammer is likely to use in their message. I patently refuse such email at iamcf13@hotpop.com so they get deleted immediately.
All the spammers are doing is wasting the small amount of time and computing resources it takes me to get my email with this 'updated' program. But usually I am doing something else of importance at the time so presumably no time is wasted at all...
My approach is 'transparent' with the current email system and could be useful -- nowadays there is talk of replacing the current, spammed out system for something else -- a likely far remote possibility....
Food for thought....
P.S. Shout/mod me down if you want but you have to admit, Baysean spam filtering is just not working anymore. Challenge/response is cumbersome, considered 'bad manners' by some, and can generate more unwanted email messages. How about giving a different approach such as mine a try?....
Anonymous Yahoo! Employee: We do have teams of people who work to fight any abuse of any of our products.
i n=yahoo.com&submitted=1123294881&table=abuse
i n=yahoo-inc.com&submitted=1123294118&table=abuse
:P
Unblock and properly 'man' abuse@yahoo.com and abuse@yahoo-inc.com then we'll talk about stopping user wrongdoing at Yahoo!
Proof from rfc-ignorant.org:
http://www.rfc-ignorant.org/tools/detail.php?doma
http://www.rfc-ignorant.org/tools/detail.php?doma
You corporate tool...
As are about all gainfully/legally employed people [like myself at the moment] not gainfully/legally self-employed... =/
If you are 100% self-employed, count your blessings -- you've escaped the 'rat race' that saps the vitality of mankind everywhere in the name of 'increased corporate profit'....
This is not a prank/crank post....
;)
I am not a physisict but I had a few college level physics classes...
I always wondered why nukes were so devastating, now I think I know why....
Consider a subcritical lump of 'fissile material', it has all 4 forces present in it:
(below bit 'adapted from the 'info box' at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13816702/)
Strong: Glues together the parts of a nucleus. (must be a LOT of energy stored this way!)
Electromagnetic: Holds electrons around atoms; explains light. (and the EM pulse of a nuclear explosion from infrared through the visible spectrum up to X-rays [and beyond])
Weak: Responsible for certain radioactive decays. (mesurable with a Geiger counter)
Gravity: Keeps planets, stars, glaxies from flying apart. (said lump has mass and has a definite 'weight')
Ok, is this sequence of events right? Any physisict here feel free to correct me...anonymously if you need to....
Compressing said lump to a critical mass would change the EM force present which would affect the strong force and release all the energy stored there with eminently observable results
Is this sequence of events right or wrong? I am curious from a theoretical point of view...
Thank you for your consideration.