I jumped the gun - I am a *roadrunner* customer, not @Home. With the merger-mania going on I missed this, so my comments about @Home are mistaken. Mediaone/roadrunner still sucks. I'd say what I posted is still accurate, but I'm not their customer so I don't have the authority nor credibility to say so.
Slashdot does not have the ability to cancel posts, so please moderate this up so people can be made aware that this post contains several factual errors. I appologize.
I'm at @Home customer who keeps regular logfiles and a firewall. I can tell you right now @Home does NOT scan anything except forwindows filesharing. Some of the @Home network blocks windowsfilesharing at the router, others scan for it and disable it. But if that's what they meant by "scanning for proxies", that's misleading.
Secondly, @Home has, at the time of this posting, not scanned the subnet *I* am on for anything on port 8000, or 8080. For that matter, I have heard a whole lot of nothing on the scanning front.
Thirdly, I have run nmap scans extensively across the @Home network. Sometimes not in stealth mode either. To date, I have received no e-mail from @Home asking me about this (it's for statistics, not hacking, incase they're reading this). This tells me security is very lax for @Home. I would not be suprised if spammers knew this. It's not hard to find out - ask any @Home customer.
Lastly, @Home customers rarely run proxies. I have scanned port 8000 and 8080 - there are maybe 2 per 1024 block of IPs. I have NEVER seen a scan from a remote site to port 8000 or 8080. So drop the charade about this being from "mis-configured proxies".
Also - @home has a strict AUP *against* security scans. They would be in violation of their own AUP to take action like what this guy has mentioned in the article. I was not able to locate their online AUP, but searching here or here should reveal it. If nothing else, I will scan it in and post it, as I still have the copy I signed.
You're describing thermite, and it's aluminum and iron oxide (aka rust) mixed in a 1:1 ratio along with a piece of magnesium to start it. Now, as far as I know, magnesium burns very hot, but you can't just start it with a match. A friend of mine tried, and it didn't do anything. A bunsen burner will start it, or a butane torch.. but I don't think a match will do it. A lighter *might*, but don't bet on it.
The optimal mixture is to turn the aluminum and iron oxide into a fine dust and mix it 1:1. The combustion, at about 20 feet, is enough to vaporize carbon-steel. It will also weld things to pavement (and leave ugly warping). If you ever wanted to fake a martian landing, this is how you do it. Don't put it on any pavement you value, and keep it atleast 150-200 feet away from anything valuable. It is not explosive, but it burns incredibly hot. The goggles are a Good Thing(tm) too - don't forget them.
Yeah, I know what you mean. Like "ascii" - pronounced "ahz-key". But really, I think the marketing-types have started inventing words because they "sound computerish". Cases in point: MMX, ActiveX, Windows 2000.
Man, you can tell you're getting old when you don't know (or care) what half the acronyms mean in an article. Yeesh. Some days I wish we'd stop abbreviating everything. Ah, but then what fun would it be if the name of something actually described what it did, eh?:)
I'd like to give Creative an award for releasing their drivers' source ahead of most everybody else in the hardware industry. I think they started the ball rolling. Now 3Com has to be the "biggest" company to release drivers - these will doubtless be VERY useful for encouraging corporate adoption of linux, but Creative started it.
Now you talk about the pissing contest. I cannot stress enough about the fact that many people do consider this a pissing contest. Signal 11 is one of these folks. He wanted the glory and I am not saying that I don't want glory in some form but I have even espoused various points of view that are in sharp contrast to what people want.
I'm sorry, but I resent that remark. Have you ever spoken with me in person? Read any of the comments on my homepage? Listened in on the moderation or sig11 threads? No. Please familiarize yourself with those posts before you go off on a karma tangent. Now, onto the next matter of glory.
I think you are agreeing with me, even though you dislike me. Atleast that's what I get from reading the above paragraph. You go on to slam me as a karma-mongering guy, and then turn around and say that I want the "glory" of posting something in sharp contrast to typical slashdot dogma. Uhhh... ok. Karma really ought to be called "dogma points" because you only earn them by playing to what the majority want to hear. You'll note the root post for this thread got marked down as "off-topic". There are hundreds of cases like this. Click up on anything you think is in "sharp contrast" to slashdot's accepted dogma and you'll see atleast one mark-down on it, usually more. Karma is had by simply posting redundant things - things that support the slashdot collective thought process. Call it what you want, but I refer to it as "dogma".
Now, if you want to discuss karma in more detail, you got my e-mail address. I'd be happy to discuss with you, in detail if you want, what I think the flaws are in this system as well as several possible solutions. Infact, I'm putting my money where my mouth is and am in the process of developing an alternate "slashdot" with some new moderation models. If you'd like to discuss THAT with me, go ahead - I'm pretty open to discussing my ideas. However, check the personal slams at the door. Until you know me, you have no right to come down on me like that.
Well, I don't know who will win the awards, but I do know who will lose them. You see, for those people who aren't nominated or win, they're going to feel left out (why wasn't MY project selected, it's more useful than xyzzy!) and resentful.
Yes, it's official: geeks have feelings. Why, oh why, did you do this Rob? Must we "award" our community members for good work? Isn't it obvious that this will serve as a demotivational tool for those who don't win the awards (and those who do will be accused of kissing up and whatnot)? Am I taking this alittle too seriously? Maybe. I'm sure people who respond to this post will think so. "It's all fun and games!" Yeah, but feelings still get hurt.
Can't we just rely on the traditional methods - "scratching the itch" and letting the work be it's own reward? Why must we move closer to traditional social rewards / punishments to enforce our community ideals? It worked fine before...
Uhh, here's the problem: there's more idiots than intelligent people, this is a democracy, and the press says what people want to hear. Conclusion: when the idiots complain they will listen and carry their story. "Why didn't somebody stop us?" will be the mandra.. never mind that our society protects your personal freedom - which DOES, infact, not stop you from doing stupid things. People want it both ways.
Believe me, the press will lap this up when the LinuxOne IPO implodes.
In response to several slashdot posters, the reason LinuxOne is hated is because when (and yes, this is practically a given) they crash they will hurt the linux "name brand" - all distributions will feel the effects of bad press. You can't escape that - this company is trying to cash in and they're gonna crash and burn. I seriously hope people don't buy a single stock - it'll be one less person to complain about the non-feasability of linux in the marketplace.
LinuxOne is cashing in on the hype (duh), but rather than taking a relaxed whats-the-worst-that-could-happen-to-me approach we ought to be out there telling people not to make a bad business decision. If we play our cards right the "linux community" (cough) would come out with a greater credibility - not only do we know the technology, but we know how to use it in the marketplace. If investors are NOT burned as a result of listening to us, they'll be willing to do it again when a company that *really can* make money comes along. Our support (think: CUSTOMERS) ought to be something a company in this market strives for.. not something to be easily discounted. If we want a community, we've gotta fight for it, and we have to act like one. This starts with a condemnation of those who are out to damage it.
I think you need to put your butt in motion, stop reading the soft pr0n, go outside, note the big fireball in the sky we call Sol and actually *MEET* a woman. I know.. it's risky... you may not return... but after you club your first one and drag her home it gets easier... =)
Bah, I say just hang an iiyama visionmaster 450 (sweet little things) off my neck and I'll use *that*. Decent resolution is very important on a monitor. Of course, it'd snap my neck in about a second, but hey.. that'll be fixed in the next service pack....
More seriously - just wait about 18*2+n (n is how badly you want the device) months and it'll be reasonably priced and have a much nicer resolution.
Yeah.... while loop... it looks something like this....
while(1) { post_slashdot_article(&dogma,&poster); for(unsigned short int = 0; i >= 50 ; i++){ int x = check_email(); if(!x) break; } if(anyone_asked_about_slash_release) sleep(3600*24);
Excuse me, but the Sig11 doll would not have fearsome karma power. He only uses his karma for good, not evil.:)
Besides.. I wouldn't mind kids using my action doll to bury the MCP action figures in the sand and then running them over with a lawn mower... *cough*.... ah, the metaphores one could draw...
Well, the problem is that as the battery drains you lose your peak power output. There is just no way to prevent it - as the chemicals are "used up" there's just not enough charge in them. By the end of the day, you may very well be *unable* to accelerate to 60 mph. You need to factor in the additional "reserve" power required to meet that acceleration curve into your calculations. Don't ask me though about the precise measurements - I don't know what battery you're using, the energy density, ad nauseum. But - peak is very important....
It would be more interesting to ask "how quick would it be to recharge these things?" Seriously.. if you had electrified strips on the freeway or at the "gas" station that refueled the vehicle, could you just get out, insert a credit card, and 5 seconds later be "full" again? If so, more frequent refills might not be such a bad thing...
Well, alcohol-driven automobiles are even more efficient than gasoline. They're not as quick on acceleration (about, what, a 5% loss? I forget the exact stat), but they burn cooler and a greater percentage of the fuel is burned. It also generates non-lethal byproducts which is a definate bonus in places like California.
No, more efficient cars aren't around for a very good reason: they make less money for the oil companies and the automobile companies. So they bury the technology or generate FUD about them not being "as efficient". Electrically-driven vehicles can be *very* efficient.. it's just that nobody wants to focus on making them commercially-feasible yet.
Uhhh, a little-known story (and a mystery to this day) is that Nicoli Tesla - the guy who created AC, the tesla coil, the electric motor, and the guy who shorted out an entire dam after one of his experiments went awry also created an electric car. During the 1930's. That could go 60 mph.
Nobody knows how he did it, he just put a couple rods in the hood and said "now it's on".. and then proceded to drive across the desert in the thing. Urban legend? No, this one actually happened, but they don't know how he did it.
Why have electric cars not been pursued more vigorously? Because there's already an economy for oil-belching poppet(sp?) valve engines which is turn-of-the-century tech. Why not use a rotary engine? Or natural gas driven automobiles? Or ones that run on alcohol?
RANT MODE=ON
The reason is simple: economics. It's the same reason your VCR has 80 buttons on it - America's obsession with "Bigger is better". It's not, goddamnit! better is the enemy of good! it's an engineering mistake to design something with more than needed! Why do we need computers in cars?! fuel injection is *NOT* that complex. Oxygen sensors?! WHY?!?!?!?!?!? are you going to be driving the thing in the MOUNTAINS?! You'll be at the same elevation for practically the entire life of the car!
Aw, hell.. I can generate more energy by simply feeding my brother chili. The wind power could move turbines.. *cough*
More seriously... the day somebody comes up with zero energy extraction is likely the same day the oil companies buy it out and don't let anyone else come near it for 50 years. No, I was serious about that - do you honestly think electric cars would NOT be around right now if Reagan (under the pressures of oil lobbying) hadn't pulled the plug (pardon the pun) on electric cars?
Slashdot Mirror
Slashdot does not have the ability to cancel posts, so please moderate this up so people can be made aware that this post contains several factual errors. I appologize.
~ Signal 11
Nothing in my logs on 1080. I've seen 23 from time to time.
Set phasers to maximum stun!
I'm at @Home customer who keeps regular logfiles and a firewall. I can tell you right now @Home does NOT scan anything except forwindows filesharing. Some of the @Home network blocks windowsfilesharing at the router, others scan for it and disable it. But if that's what they meant by "scanning for proxies", that's misleading.
Secondly, @Home has, at the time of this posting, not scanned the subnet *I* am on for anything on port 8000, or 8080. For that matter, I have heard a whole lot of nothing on the scanning front.
Thirdly, I have run nmap scans extensively across the @Home network. Sometimes not in stealth mode either. To date, I have received no e-mail from @Home asking me about this (it's for statistics, not hacking, incase they're reading this). This tells me security is very lax for @Home. I would not be suprised if spammers knew this. It's not hard to find out - ask any @Home customer.
Lastly, @Home customers rarely run proxies. I have scanned port 8000 and 8080 - there are maybe 2 per 1024 block of IPs. I have NEVER seen a scan from a remote site to port 8000 or 8080. So drop the charade about this being from "mis-configured proxies".
Also - @home has a strict AUP *against* security scans. They would be in violation of their own AUP to take action like what this guy has mentioned in the article. I was not able to locate their online AUP, but searching here or here should reveal it. If nothing else, I will scan it in and post it, as I still have the copy I signed.
The optimal mixture is to turn the aluminum and iron oxide into a fine dust and mix it 1:1. The combustion, at about 20 feet, is enough to vaporize carbon-steel. It will also weld things to pavement (and leave ugly warping). If you ever wanted to fake a martian landing, this is how you do it. Don't put it on any pavement you value, and keep it atleast 150-200 feet away from anything valuable. It is not explosive, but it burns incredibly hot. The goggles are a Good Thing(tm) too - don't forget them.
Yeah, I know what you mean. Like "ascii" - pronounced "ahz-key". But really, I think the marketing-types have started inventing words because they "sound computerish". Cases in point: MMX, ActiveX, Windows 2000.
Man, you can tell you're getting old when you don't know (or care) what half the acronyms mean in an article. Yeesh. Some days I wish we'd stop abbreviating everything. Ah, but then what fun would it be if the name of something actually described what it did, eh? :)
I'd like to give Creative an award for releasing their drivers' source ahead of most everybody else in the hardware industry. I think they started the ball rolling. Now 3Com has to be the "biggest" company to release drivers - these will doubtless be VERY useful for encouraging corporate adoption of linux, but Creative started it.
I'm sorry, but I resent that remark. Have you ever spoken with me in person? Read any of the comments on my homepage? Listened in on the moderation or sig11 threads? No. Please familiarize yourself with those posts before you go off on a karma tangent. Now, onto the next matter of glory.
I think you are agreeing with me, even though you dislike me. Atleast that's what I get from reading the above paragraph. You go on to slam me as a karma-mongering guy, and then turn around and say that I want the "glory" of posting something in sharp contrast to typical slashdot dogma. Uhhh... ok. Karma really ought to be called "dogma points" because you only earn them by playing to what the majority want to hear. You'll note the root post for this thread got marked down as "off-topic". There are hundreds of cases like this. Click up on anything you think is in "sharp contrast" to slashdot's accepted dogma and you'll see atleast one mark-down on it, usually more. Karma is had by simply posting redundant things - things that support the slashdot collective thought process. Call it what you want, but I refer to it as "dogma".
Now, if you want to discuss karma in more detail, you got my e-mail address. I'd be happy to discuss with you, in detail if you want, what I think the flaws are in this system as well as several possible solutions. Infact, I'm putting my money where my mouth is and am in the process of developing an alternate "slashdot" with some new moderation models. If you'd like to discuss THAT with me, go ahead - I'm pretty open to discussing my ideas. However, check the personal slams at the door. Until you know me, you have no right to come down on me like that.
Yes, it's official: geeks have feelings. Why, oh why, did you do this Rob? Must we "award" our community members for good work? Isn't it obvious that this will serve as a demotivational tool for those who don't win the awards (and those who do will be accused of kissing up and whatnot)? Am I taking this alittle too seriously? Maybe. I'm sure people who respond to this post will think so. "It's all fun and games!" Yeah, but feelings still get hurt.
Can't we just rely on the traditional methods - "scratching the itch" and letting the work be it's own reward? Why must we move closer to traditional social rewards / punishments to enforce our community ideals? It worked fine before...
Believe me, the press will lap this up when the LinuxOne IPO implodes.
LinuxOne is cashing in on the hype (duh), but rather than taking a relaxed whats-the-worst-that-could-happen-to-me approach we ought to be out there telling people not to make a bad business decision. If we play our cards right the "linux community" (cough) would come out with a greater credibility - not only do we know the technology, but we know how to use it in the marketplace. If investors are NOT burned as a result of listening to us, they'll be willing to do it again when a company that *really can* make money comes along. Our support (think: CUSTOMERS) ought to be something a company in this market strives for.. not something to be easily discounted. If we want a community, we've gotta fight for it, and we have to act like one. This starts with a condemnation of those who are out to damage it.
I wonder if they'll do that "The Letter" thing... Comments from any caldera employees out there (I see you! Just come forward and tell us! *g*)?
I think you need to put your butt in motion, stop reading the soft pr0n, go outside, note the big fireball in the sky we call Sol and actually *MEET* a woman. I know.. it's risky... you may not return... but after you club your first one and drag her home it gets easier... =)
More seriously - just wait about 18*2+n (n is how badly you want the device) months and it'll be reasonably priced and have a much nicer resolution.
about sourceforge, why?
Hey Jon, logon to the nearest IRC server with the nick "40tluvgrrl" and then come back and tell me there isn't free sex online.
while(1) {
post_slashdot_article(&dogma,&poster);
for(unsigned short int = 0; i >= 50 ; i++){
int x = check_email();
if(!x)
break;
}
if(anyone_asked_about_slash_release)
sleep(3600*24);
}
printf("Can't happen.\n");
abort();
Currently? If you mass-produced it?
Besides.. I wouldn't mind kids using my action doll to bury the MCP action figures in the sand and then running them over with a lawn mower... *cough*.... ah, the metaphores one could draw...
It would be more interesting to ask "how quick would it be to recharge these things?" Seriously.. if you had electrified strips on the freeway or at the "gas" station that refueled the vehicle, could you just get out, insert a credit card, and 5 seconds later be "full" again? If so, more frequent refills might not be such a bad thing...
No, more efficient cars aren't around for a very good reason: they make less money for the oil companies and the automobile companies. So they bury the technology or generate FUD about them not being "as efficient". Electrically-driven vehicles can be *very* efficient.. it's just that nobody wants to focus on making them commercially-feasible yet.
Interesting that you say that... as I recall slashdot flamed the #$@! out of a group called SETI @home for making a similar mistake.
Nobody knows how he did it, he just put a couple rods in the hood and said "now it's on".. and then proceded to drive across the desert in the thing. Urban legend? No, this one actually happened, but they don't know how he did it.
Why have electric cars not been pursued more vigorously? Because there's already an economy for oil-belching poppet(sp?) valve engines which is turn-of-the-century tech. Why not use a rotary engine? Or natural gas driven automobiles? Or ones that run on alcohol?
RANT MODE=ON
The reason is simple: economics. It's the same reason your VCR has 80 buttons on it - America's obsession with "Bigger is better". It's not, goddamnit! better is the enemy of good! it's an engineering mistake to design something with more than needed! Why do we need computers in cars?! fuel injection is *NOT* that complex. Oxygen sensors?! WHY?!?!?!?!?!? are you going to be driving the thing in the MOUNTAINS?! You'll be at the same elevation for practically the entire life of the car!
RANT MODE=OFFMore seriously... the day somebody comes up with zero energy extraction is likely the same day the oil companies buy it out and don't let anyone else come near it for 50 years. No, I was serious about that - do you honestly think electric cars would NOT be around right now if Reagan (under the pressures of oil lobbying) hadn't pulled the plug (pardon the pun) on electric cars?
I was commenting on the editorial, not the man.