I beg to differ. Having sane default settings is very much part of the overall quality of a product. For very complex systems, it is insane to require an user to know the meaning and default setting of every parameter, even if the user is an expert.
Do you know the default setting of every parameter used in the fuel injection system in your car? My guess is that not even the technician at the car repair shop does. He trusts them to be sane. Does the pilot of an airplane know the default setting of every parameter in the flight control system? Not even the pre-flight checklist covers them all. He just trusts them to be sane.
I propose to start suing all retroviruses under the DMCA since they hijack our DNA in their reproductive cycle, circumventing our copy protection scheme in the process. No matter what damages are awarded, this will put an end to the spread of HIV/AIDS, for the viruses will quickly (as in: immediately) run out of finances to support the ensuing legal battles. their only options being to either face jail time or simply go extinct.
But in general, language change happens at a rate that does not cause mass confusion among its speakers. It bugs me fnord when prescriptivists bust out the canard that novel word usages will somehow lead to immediate and total incomprehensibility--as if English speakers are going to wake up fnord tomorrow morning and start randomly reassigning nouns to new referents willy-nilly.
The possible impact of nanotech on health extends much beyond just food and medical categories. Whenever life comes into contact with engineered nanostructures, there is a risk of unwanted interactions. Actnow.
Anyone notice how this mass-mailing resembles spam, only in a somewhat twisted way? Send many letters, expect only a handful of people _not_ to respond, squeeze those non-responding poor bastards for what they're worth, and squeeze everyone else somewhat less. If it wasn't for the spammers to (think they're about to) have the law at their side, this stuff deserves to be put with the likes of 419 scammers, MakeMoneyFast frauds and loan sharks.
Maybe we could coin an acronym for this stuff? I propose BLAM: Bogus Lawyerist Accusatory Mailings. Anyone with a better idea, feel welcome to respond.
Geez, and I always thought that geeks and nerds found their SO's on internet forums and IRC and exchanged GPS coordinates and vCards for their first-time reciprocal visits. Pity me.
Most antivirus/antispyware software have had this backdoor for a long time now: automatic updates. My advice: Don't trust that friendly-looking checkbox or radio button next to "Disable automatic updates" to actually do what it says, the next time you click on it.
To put it bluntly, police (and soon probably the bad guys) can probably spy on the vast majority of computer-using citizens without even needing to force entry into their homes, and without any cooperation of software companies prior to the investigation.
0. (Police: Get court order. Really?) 1. Snoop on victim's Internet traffic and find out which software phones home for its regular fix of updates. 2. Order (or obtain some other way) details on company XYZ's update technology. 3. Setup a fake update server on victims' upstream connection 4. Spoon-feed victims' computer a specially crafted 'update' 5. Monitor, Analyze, Convict, Profit!! (or whatever...)
Many, if not most, commercial software products (including the OSes from Redmond) contain the infrastructure for such a backdoor: automatic updates. Even if automatic updating can be turned off by the user, who is to say there isn't a special flag meaning "Never mind what the user has selected, INSTALL THIS UPDATE, NOW!"
Especially with virus scanners, firewalls and other security software which by their very nature rely on stealth and other advanced tricks so as not to alert the bad guys, nothing short of an external monitoring box and intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the security software may reveal such tactics.
Ideally, yes. Also, you should know which ps it is that you're running (this is very important, in more than one way!). If it is procps 3.2.7 built from Debian source, you'll know that there are 118 processes (the top line consists of headings).
In any case, it's a good idea to not just know what those processes are but what source (yep, also more than one meaning) they come from.
If you consider remote exploits, it is also a good idea to look at
netstat -p and know what those ports are, why they are open and what processes are using them.
There are many terrible, bad, good and excellent rootkit and virus scanners, firewalls and IDSes out there to help you with this.
While you're at it, why not use the Earth as a giant supercomputer? Come to think of it, this may explain this wild fascination with the number 42, the ultimate question, rumors about mice running the whole show etcetera.
Before the flames start, I want to add my assumption that suspending and then resuming is supposed to restore everything that is needed to resume normal operation (including a crime in progress).
Infrared Decoys and Angle Reflectors?
If they mean "Chaff and Mirrors", well... what the hell? More like "Smoke and Mirrors". Those are some of the oldest, still very effective means of deception. Just ask any illusionist worth his salt.
I know that putting a question to an AC is for all practical purposes identical to sending the thing to/dev/null , but anyway.
First you state that cable and DSL won't hit your area until they become profitable, then you state that Eastlink can set you up with 10Mbit bidi? How is that possible?
In the '50s, they told people to "Duck and Cover" in the event of a nuclear explosion. Should people now, in the 21st century, just "Unplug and Cower" when something on the evil Internet rears its ugly head and comes for them?
Slashdot Mirror
I beg to differ. Having sane default settings is very much part of the overall quality of a product. For very complex systems, it is insane to require an user to know the meaning and default setting of every parameter, even if the user is an expert.
Do you know the default setting of every parameter used in the fuel injection system in your car? My guess is that not even the technician at the car repair shop does. He trusts them to be sane.
Does the pilot of an airplane know the default setting of every parameter in the flight control system? Not even the pre-flight checklist covers them all. He just trusts them to be sane.
I propose to start suing all retroviruses under the DMCA since they hijack our DNA in their reproductive cycle, circumventing our copy protection scheme in the process. No matter what damages are awarded, this will put an end to the spread of HIV/AIDS, for the viruses will quickly (as in: immediately) run out of finances to support the ensuing legal battles. their only options being to either face jail time or simply go extinct.
But in general, language change happens at a rate that does not cause mass confusion among its speakers. It bugs me fnord when prescriptivists bust out the canard that novel word usages will somehow lead to immediate and total incomprehensibility--as if English speakers are going to wake up fnord tomorrow morning and start randomly reassigning nouns to new referents willy-nilly.
Illuminatus!
Classical case of short-sightedness.
The possible impact of nanotech on health extends much beyond just food and medical categories. Whenever life comes into contact with engineered nanostructures, there is a risk of unwanted interactions. Act now.
One word.
LEVIATHAN
Ok, so BLAM is taken. How about FLAM (Frivolous Lawyerist Accusatory Mailings)?
Anyone notice how this mass-mailing resembles spam, only in a somewhat twisted way? Send many letters, expect only a handful of people _not_ to respond, squeeze those non-responding poor bastards for what they're worth, and squeeze everyone else somewhat less. If it wasn't for the spammers to (think they're about to) have the law at their side, this stuff deserves to be put with the likes of 419 scammers, MakeMoneyFast frauds and loan sharks.
Maybe we could coin an acronym for this stuff? I propose BLAM: Bogus Lawyerist Accusatory Mailings. Anyone with a better idea, feel welcome to respond.
Yup, they can use COTS (common off-the-shelter) cats for that.
Geez, and I always thought that geeks and nerds found their SO's on internet forums and IRC and exchanged GPS coordinates and vCards for their first-time reciprocal visits. Pity me.
Most antivirus/antispyware software have had this backdoor for a long time now: automatic updates. My advice: Don't trust that friendly-looking checkbox or radio button next to "Disable automatic updates" to actually do what it says, the next time you click on it.
To put it bluntly, police (and soon probably the bad guys) can probably spy on the vast majority of computer-using citizens without even needing to force entry into their homes, and without any cooperation of software companies prior to the investigation.
0. (Police: Get court order. Really?)
1. Snoop on victim's Internet traffic and find out which software phones home for its regular fix of updates.
2. Order (or obtain some other way) details on company XYZ's update technology.
3. Setup a fake update server on victims' upstream connection
4. Spoon-feed victims' computer a specially crafted 'update'
5. Monitor, Analyze, Convict, Profit!! (or whatever...)
Many, if not most, commercial software products (including the OSes from Redmond) contain the infrastructure for such a backdoor: automatic updates. Even if automatic updating can be turned off by the user, who is to say there isn't a special flag meaning "Never mind what the user has selected, INSTALL THIS UPDATE, NOW!"
Especially with virus scanners, firewalls and other security software which by their very nature rely on stealth and other advanced tricks so as not to alert the bad guys, nothing short of an external monitoring box and intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the security software may reveal such tactics.
In any case, it's a good idea to not just know what those processes are but what source (yep, also more than one meaning) they come from.
If you consider remote exploits, it is also a good idea to look at netstat -p and know what those ports are, why they are open and what processes are using them.
There are many terrible, bad, good and excellent rootkit and virus scanners, firewalls and IDSes out there to help you with this.
While you're at it, why not use the Earth as a giant supercomputer? Come to think of it, this may explain this wild fascination with the number 42, the ultimate question, rumors about mice running the whole show etcetera.
Before the flames start, I want to add my assumption that suspending and then resuming is supposed to restore everything that is needed to resume normal operation (including a crime in progress).
Most modern PC's have this tech on board. It's called Suspend-To-Disk...
So, if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck and weighs as much as a duck, then it must be a duck?
P: "One Kung Pow Chicken to go, please."
W: "One Har-Wu-En-Ling coming up, sir..."
1. Profit!!
2. ??
3. Realize that Slashdot articles have many dupes.
4. Post article on Slashdot about sending information through time.
I know that putting a question to an AC is for all practical purposes identical to sending the thing to /dev/null , but anyway.
First you state that cable and DSL won't hit your area until they become profitable, then you state that Eastlink can set you up with 10Mbit bidi? How is that possible?
There is no spork.
There is only a foon.
HeiligenDAMM(n'it) :-)
Don't forget that beach party in Heiligenbrunn, Germany, where politicians of a few rich countries discuss the fate of the rest of us...
Life is an extremely dangerous and deadly disease. No matter how long it lasts, it has a 100% mortality rate.
In the '50s, they told people to "Duck and Cover" in the event of a nuclear explosion.
Should people now, in the 21st century, just "Unplug and Cower" when something on the evil Internet rears its ugly head and comes for them?