I have a compaq 8086 with *twin* 5 1/4 " drives, and it still runs ! I even have a copy of Norton Disk Commander, from way back when Norton were relevant. I haven't checked for a while though, so maybe the green screen has died.
If you found a bunch of punch cards then what would you make of them ?
They are obviously some kind of communication, because they have no artistic value. Whether they are designed to communicate with humans or a Jaccard loom is not the point. They convey information. Same goes for digital. Once someone discovers discrete patterns of ones and zeros, then the intention can be deduced. If the repeating pattern is "knit one pearl two" then you're probably reading a knitting pattern. If it says "Four score and twenty years ago..." then there's a good chance it's a historical text, or maybe fiction, either way, it's human communication. The Rosetta Stone was only useful because there were 3 different languages represented saying exactly the same thing, and they already knew some of the terms in one of the languages. So, maybe if you have a jpeg file, a txt file and an mp3 stored in the same place, then the sequences of data could be related to each other. None of that actually deciphers the context or the actual message. It just shows that the different mediums are equivalent. You still need at least one variable to start decrypting the rest. Context is irrelevant.
Timms said the council had compared the cost of the Linux desktop migration with an upgrade to Windows XP, and had found that a Microsoft upgrade would be cheaper. Most of the difference was made up of costs attributed to "decision making" and "project management", largely brought about because of a shortage of skills in open-source networking and the changes to IT processes that would result.
WTF ! open source networking ? *costs attributed to "decision making"* ?
The Linux project cost £534,710, while the equivalent XP upgrade would have cost the council £429,960. There were a range of problems with the open-source implementation, Timms said, including desktop interfaces and lack of support for removeable drives.
Don't they mean the Linux project "would" have cost - they didn't finish it. And lack of support for removable drives ?
Also have a read of this, in which they reveal that Birmingham was using suse 9.2 *without* a yearly support contract. Also, they weren't upgrading the actual hardware as far as I can tell, otherwise an XP upgrade doesn't make sense. And what's "an equivalent XP upgrade" anyway ? Did they take into account all the extra software needed to run XP at an equivalent level - anti-virus, MS Office, etc. That's without taking into account that they will have to "upgrade" windows again at some point, and thereby spend *another* £429,960 ! (Except it will be more than that because the hardware won't be up to running Vista).
Where did the rant about trucks come from? Someone has a huge chip on their shoulder I think.
The rant came from the premise that someone who has trouble navigating while driving is usually one of the first to cut you up in a lorry - "Oooh turn left NOW".
As for having a chip, well I guess being ultimately responsible for other peoples lives, every working minute of every working day, due to their own stupidity and/or incompetence, gets a bit tiring after a while. Imagine holding a hand grenade with the pin out, while idiots push you around just to gain a temporary advantage in a queue. They don't realise the risks of what they are doing and don't generally care. pic pic pic pic (pics are not meant to lay blame, just show the consequences of tangling with a lorry, even at 30mph).
As for barriers, I think you'll find that they were originally put there because people kept mounting the pavements and killing pedestrians. So much for devoting "more" attention to driving. As far as I can remember, you should already be concentrating whilst driving. The mechanical act of driving should have become almost second nature before you got your licence, but as the driving test is crap in this country anyway, none of that ever gets tested - awareness of the size of your vehicle etc.
Anyway, I switched to driving at nights, while it's peaceful;-)
If you can't navigate and drive correctly at the same time, then you have no business being in sole command of a vehicle that weighs roughly 1.5 to 2 tons. Incompetence is the cause of a good 95% of "accidents" in my experience.
People who think it's a good idea to accelerate past me when I'm driving a 44 ton lorry, then pull in 10 feet in front, then slam their brakes on to turn left. Duh ! Of course they think it's my fault if I hit them up the arse for being too close, but why was I too close ? Also, who is going to come off worse, me or the little tin car ?
Most car drivers think they can do anything they want, cocooned in their nice comfortable sound system, while everybody else on the road is an inconvenience. Remember, driving is a privilege, NOT a right.
And before you go off about lorries blocking up the roads, just bear in mind that each lorry is doing something useful, for a very large amount of people. Supermarkets need to supply thousands of people a day, houses need to be built, car drivers need to get their petrol from a garage. Should we use transit vans to supply a supermarket ? Let's see, a Ford transit can probably carry about a ton, maybe 1.5 ton. An artic can carry around 27 tons. so we would need around 27 transits every day, to supply just one supermarket (an artic takes up about 4 to 5 transit lengths). How's that going to help congestion ? Multiply for all supermarkets, petrol stations, building sites, clothing stores, in fact any shop that needs supplies. But apparently, thousands of cars, each with 1 occupant, serving only their own selfish needs is ok, it's the lorries blocking the roads !
No it hasn't. A dual carriageway is indeed where the opposing carriageways are separated by a central reservation or barrier. You can have a dual carriageway which comprises of only 2 lanes total.
Also, the speed limit on a dual carriageway is 70mph (for a car) unless otherwise indicated. The only practical difference between a dual carriageway and a motorway is that motorways have restrictions on the type of vehicles that can use them.
But don't fool yourself for one moment into thinking that some revolutionary discovery/process/etc is going to turn a third world country into a rich place. The person making this discovery will either...
But this is true for western countries too. If I came up with a revolutionary process, I would immediately be approached by corporations wishing to buy it, and if I don't wish to sell, they would turn to underhand techniques in order to take it from me.
I see no argument for preventing the general population of any country from bettering themselves. Ok, it takes time to effect political change, but that change will never come while the poor are kept poor in both financial terms and knowledge. If the majority of a population comes to realise just how badly they are being treated, and also has access to knowledge on how to change things, then that change will become inevitable.
I don't expect anybody to immediately discover any revolutionary processes due to having access to a laptop, but the general increase in affordable knowledge will at least allow access to existing knowledge.
OLPC is still a good idea IMHO.
I was listening to a program on the BBC World Service, which talked about the donation of books to "third world" countries. The point that was made, was that people have been donating books that are basically worthless for education purposes. Things like Barbara Cartland novels for example, instead of contemporary school text books. The generosity of the donors is not disputed, just misguided. Technology that allows access to relevant books/texts wil be far more useful and effective.
I'd like to see Google provide each village with a wireless LAN and server (with generator if necessary) which would have the entire Project Gutenberg collection available for any one of the residents to access over http. Of course, more contemporary works would be nice, but that is down to the generosity and philanthropy of the writers themselves.
This could be done relatively cheaply, no need for Blades ! If each server/LAN was priced at $2500 (excluding generator) then for $50 million, you could give access to around 20,000 towns/villages, which if you assume 200 people in a town/village gives access to information to 4 million people @ £12.50 per head. Many towns have many more than 200 people, and it's not like the servers would only be good for one school generation, thereby driving the per capita costs down even further.
Ok, $50 million is a lot, but it's nothing compared to the $1.65 billion they "paid" for Youtube, and bear in mind their 3rd quarter net profits this year were $733.4 million.
... been to East Africa a few times in the last couple of years (Kenya & Tanzania), and was quite surprised at how popular mobile phones are over there. In many areas they never got full wired infrastructure, so skipped a generation and went wireless.
And the OLPC project arguably allows developing countries to skip the hurdle that Western countries had in the dissemination of information.
i.e. until the invention of the printing press, the church was the only entity that had the skills of reading and writing. We lived in fear and subjugation. Once common people could get their hands on cheap reading material, they could begin to use their intelligence to learn and progress, until eventually we got to where we are now.
The OLPC project should allow exponential growth in literacy and technological knowledge, because we already have that knowledge and can share it with them. The old western nations had to do it from scratch, are we that selfish that we are not prepared to let developing nations catch up with us ?
Xpl017Elz's presentation focused on four (of a reported seven) attacks he developed against Red Hat's Fedora Core using ExecShield.
So, does this attack actually use ExecShield to gain elevated privileges, or do the attacks succeed despite ExecShield ?
According to Redhat:
It is important to note that ExecShield can only reduce the risk and impact of
buffer overflow type security issues. The presence of these technologies
should never be seen as a substitute for applying security updates provided by
the operating system vendors.and
ExecShield does not offer protection for kernel security holes.
But it seems badly spelled hacker isn't interested in telling Redhat about the supposed flaws in their software (if that is where the exploits are targeted).
Slashdot Mirror
I have a compaq 8086 with *twin* 5 1/4 " drives, and it still runs ! I even have a copy of Norton Disk Commander, from way back when Norton were relevant. I haven't checked for a while though, so maybe the green screen has died.
If you found a bunch of punch cards then what would you make of them ?
They are obviously some kind of communication, because they have no artistic value. Whether they are designed to communicate with humans or a Jaccard loom is not the point. They convey information. Same goes for digital. Once someone discovers discrete patterns of ones and zeros, then the intention can be deduced. If the repeating pattern is "knit one pearl two" then you're probably reading a knitting pattern. If it says "Four score and twenty years agoFuck me, is that the time ?
Just kidding, I entirely agree. Who said that "learning" should be "easy"? That's what makes it worthwhile.
and since IE7 requires you to validate your copy of windows, who exactly is using it ?
Ok, prove them wrong !
Also have a read of this, in which they reveal that Birmingham was using suse 9.2 *without* a yearly support contract. Also, they weren't upgrading the actual hardware as far as I can tell, otherwise an XP upgrade doesn't make sense. And what's "an equivalent XP upgrade" anyway ? Did they take into account all the extra software needed to run XP at an equivalent level - anti-virus, MS Office, etc. That's without taking into account that they will have to "upgrade" windows again at some point, and thereby spend *another* £429,960 ! (Except it will be more than that because the hardware won't be up to running Vista).
As for having a chip, well I guess being ultimately responsible for other peoples lives, every working minute of every working day, due to their own stupidity and/or incompetence, gets a bit tiring after a while. Imagine holding a hand grenade with the pin out, while idiots push you around just to gain a temporary advantage in a queue. They don't realise the risks of what they are doing and don't generally care.
As for barriers, I think you'll find that they were originally put there because people kept mounting the pavements and killing pedestrians. So much for devoting "more" attention to driving. As far as I can remember, you should already be concentrating whilst driving. The mechanical act of driving should have become almost second nature before you got your licence, but as the driving test is crap in this country anyway, none of that ever gets tested - awareness of the size of your vehicle etc.pic
pic
pic
pic
(pics are not meant to lay blame, just show the consequences of tangling with a lorry, even at 30mph).
Anyway, I switched to driving at nights, while it's peaceful ;-)
You think that's air you're breathing ?
People who think it's a good idea to accelerate past me when I'm driving a 44 ton lorry, then pull in 10 feet in front, then slam their brakes on to turn left. Duh ! Of course they think it's my fault if I hit them up the arse for being too close, but why was I too close ? Also, who is going to come off worse, me or the little tin car ?
Most car drivers think they can do anything they want, cocooned in their nice comfortable sound system, while everybody else on the road is an inconvenience. Remember, driving is a privilege, NOT a right.
And before you go off about lorries blocking up the roads, just bear in mind that each lorry is doing something useful, for a very large amount of people. Supermarkets need to supply thousands of people a day, houses need to be built, car drivers need to get their petrol from a garage. Should we use transit vans to supply a supermarket ? Let's see, a Ford transit can probably carry about a ton, maybe 1.5 ton. An artic can carry around 27 tons. so we would need around 27 transits every day, to supply just one supermarket (an artic takes up about 4 to 5 transit lengths). How's that going to help congestion ? Multiply for all supermarkets, petrol stations, building sites, clothing stores, in fact any shop that needs supplies. But apparently, thousands of cars, each with 1 occupant, serving only their own selfish needs is ok, it's the lorries blocking the roads !
Also, the speed limit on a dual carriageway is 70mph (for a car) unless otherwise indicated. The only practical difference between a dual carriageway and a motorway is that motorways have restrictions on the type of vehicles that can use them.
The Association of British Drivers
BTW, I hold a licence for car, motorbike and LGV C+E (Articulated lorry).North East Safety Camera Partnership
CBRD
I see no argument for preventing the general population of any country from bettering themselves. Ok, it takes time to effect political change, but that change will never come while the poor are kept poor in both financial terms and knowledge. If the majority of a population comes to realise just how badly they are being treated, and also has access to knowledge on how to change things, then that change will become inevitable.
I don't expect anybody to immediately discover any revolutionary processes due to having access to a laptop, but the general increase in affordable knowledge will at least allow access to existing knowledge.
OLPC is still a good idea IMHO. I was listening to a program on the BBC World Service, which talked about the donation of books to "third world" countries. The point that was made, was that people have been donating books that are basically worthless for education purposes. Things like Barbara Cartland novels for example, instead of contemporary school text books.The generosity of the donors is not disputed, just misguided. Technology that allows access to relevant books/texts wil be far more useful and effective. I'd like to see Google provide each village with a wireless LAN and server (with generator if necessary) which would have the entire Project Gutenberg collection available for any one of the residents to access over http. Of course, more contemporary works would be nice, but that is down to the generosity and philanthropy of the writers themselves. This could be done relatively cheaply, no need for Blades ! If each server/LAN was priced at $2500 (excluding generator) then for $50 million, you could give access to around 20,000 towns/villages, which if you assume 200 people in a town/village gives access to information to 4 million people @ £12.50 per head. Many towns have many more than 200 people, and it's not like the servers would only be good for one school generation, thereby driving the per capita costs down even further.
Ok, $50 million is a lot, but it's nothing compared to the $1.65 billion they "paid" for Youtube, and bear in mind their 3rd quarter net profits this year were $733.4 million.
Come on Google, don't be evil, be good !
i.e. until the invention of the printing press, the church was the only entity that had the skills of reading and writing. We lived in fear and subjugation. Once common people could get their hands on cheap reading material, they could begin to use their intelligence to learn and progress, until eventually we got to where we are now.
The OLPC project should allow exponential growth in literacy and technological knowledge, because we already have that knowledge and can share it with them. The old western nations had to do it from scratch, are we that selfish that we are not prepared to let developing nations catch up with us ?
(hint: black knight)
It is important to note that ExecShield can only reduce the risk and impact of buffer overflow type security issues. The presence of these technologies should never be seen as a substitute for applying security updates provided by the operating system vendors.and ExecShield does not offer protection for kernel security holes.According to Redhat:
But it seems badly spelled hacker isn't interested in telling Redhat about the supposed flaws in their software (if that is where the exploits are targeted).
tsk, tsk.
Hard disks don't
Which is more reliable ?
Fool ! </barracus>
Worked for me a couple of times.
6) dada21 already tried this, sold the idea and went on to write a book about it !
I don't think I'd like your kind of parties.
As far as I can tell, Microsoft won't be happy until we all live in Brazil.
Or do you mean that the chickens will be on a little treadmill, thus propelling the car ?
Either way, it seems like a step backwards to me !