There's so much wrong with your post it shouldn't be marked insightful but funny. First off, what do you think containment domes are for? That doesn't even count other measures taken in engineering a nuclear plant today which I happen to know (I'm also a nuclear engineer) are effective.
Second, there are safe, effective ways to deal with nuclear, and by that I mean actually radioactive material. The best is vitrification, i.e. turning it into a glass block, and storing it in a salt dome. Salt domes only occur in geologically stable areas. If they weren't geologicially stable, you wouldn't have a salt dome. QED.
Third, they are working on several methods of fusion, but if anyone thinks it is some kind of panacea, I must disillusion you. As with fission plants, you will generate radioactive waste due to nuetron flux production. If nothing else, the plant itself will become radioactive over time and will need to be shut down after a couple of decades of power production, and replacement of the fusion reactor, due to nuetron embrittlement just as with conventional fission plants. Still, the amount of power produced to unit of capital investment, and management of wastes should be much higher. Hopefully, ITER will prove or disprove that notion if not one of the other approaches to fusion.
Excuse me? Nuclear weapons use either U-235 or Pu-239, not U-238. If you try to use U-238, your bomb is not going to do a damn thing except create a loud bang with no other results when you set off the explosives.
Frankly both parties scare me and piss me off. Yes, I do vote, every primary and every election. I even write my Congresscritters and let them know what I think, often, and I don't use form letters so they have to read the durn things. That is if they don't just put them in the shitcan, err, trashcan. Still, I do try.
This year, I'll probably vote Libertarian, just for the heck of it, although they aren't exactly rational on some things either. What I really want is a strict Constitutionalist party but that ain't gonna happen. Too many special interests with too much money, on both sides, and too many sheep out there that want mommy government to make everything better, again on both sides although they define better slightly, very slightly, differently.
And to think I defended this country for much of my adult life. Sheesh.
Actually no, this is not new. I've been tracking what Justice is up to for quite a while now. It goes further back than the Bush Administration, the Clinton Administration also wanted to do the same thing but the tech wasn't there yet. Heck, the tech really still isn't there yet beyond tracking connections. If you want the packet data, no ISP, not even AOL, can afford this requirement.
On the other hand, most child pornographers seem to be tech stupid so I don't see much point beyond connection data. Now if I were to engage in such activity, all an ISP would have would be the fact that my computer was diving into an encrypted VPN and that's it. Once in there I'd be changing my efffective IP address at most once per second but they would have no idea I was doing that. And that doesn't count the fact that on the other end all you'd see in the weblog/ISP log would be an IP address, date, and time. All other data is not provided (it's null). That's if I go into full paranoia mode which I do when I cruise the cracking/"hacking" boards from time to time to see what the scene is up to around the world. [Security research:-). ]
There are other mechanisms to work around this, many of which are available in various security toolkits, off of security oriented web sites, etc. ad nauseum. All that will happen will be a Darwinian process where the dumb/stupid ones are caught and the smart ones will not as they get into a tech war of escalation, just as has happened with the spammers. You can do this but their weapon(s) of choice are the wrong ones but they are tech illiterate in my not so humble opinion, so we have sound and fury signifying nothing.
Actually no. I've been doing software engineering for over 30 years now and have a proven track record of zero bugs and I don't do small projects. Then again, I come from the mainframe world and then the military where bugs cost either serious money or lives and in the case of the military the consequences aren't just fines or firing, it's prision at Ft. Leavenworth.
Bugs need not exist in any software implementation. In every case I start with a logically proven, correct design. I make extensive use of validation routines, even for something as simple as the system time (I trust, but verify), and that also forms the core of my system/software security regime as well. You won't find any injection attacks working in my code. The only time I have to deviate from the code that is created from the proven design is to work around either compiler or OS bugs and, as with all my code, that is also extensively documented as well. If anything, the documentation I include at every stage of the process is huge in comparison with the actual code, just as I do with any engineering design. Yes, I have worked in a dozen fields of engineering, usually at the same time which is why I'm a system engineer, not just one kind. It really helps to have a background in systems analysis and the social sciences as well. That's useful in making sure that the business/work process is efficient and psychology is everything when designing and user testing the user interface.
I don't develop software, I engineer it to spec and deliver it on-time, on- or under-budget, and defect free. The way to do that is to demand, or otherwise not engage in the project, total control of the work site, tools used, etc., just as any field engineer would demand. You don't tell me how to design and build that bridge, you tell me where you want it, how much traffic it is to handle (which I'll internally double), maximum vehicle weight (ditto), etc., and my timeframe/budget. The get the f*ck out of my way. You don't like it, get someone else.
It took some convincing of my superiors to let me run my projects and teams my way but after the ROI on the first project, and the fact that the users loved the software, they let me do it that way ever after. The fact that my team members were able to support the software long after I left (medical discharge) was a huge plus. The first package I wrote, thirty years ago, is still in use and saving the US Army Corps of Engineers a ton of money as well.
Arrogant? Yep. They get used to it if you deliver.
I couldn't agree more. As a systems analyst and systems engineer, the first thing I do is spend at least a week working with and observing the people (workers) that will be using whatever I design. After I have the semi-final product, I do the same thing again, this time observing and talking to them about the program. Sometimes a rewrite of the UI is required and I don't have a problem with it on my end. If they are unhappy with the product, they won't use it or will use it reluctantly which is unacceptable in my book. The guts of the program are easy, the UI can be very hard. It's more about psychology than engineering in my book.
That's probably part of their decision to make it free, albeit a small part I think. Mostly the driver for their decision is the arrival of Xen. Just as with Xen, which is also free for the server component, they will get your dollars for the management component. If you are really serious, they yes you'll make the jump to ESX. So far I've found VMWare Server does everything I need and thensome aside from some issues about the Solaris 10 setup which I still haven't gotten to work in the beta. That's to be expected since it is still experimental.
I beg to differ. Before any conversation was listened to by an analyst, a warrant was to be obtained from the FISA court as per Gen. Hayden's testimony to Congress which none of the Senators disagreed with (I sat through the whole thing). All that was noted was the phone number and a recording was made of the conversation. Until a human listens to it, who knows what was said, hmmmm? Sheesh.
The plain fact of the matter is that there is only one criminal offense defined in the Constitution and that is Treason. To knowingly reveal to the enemies of the United States the secrets of the United States is to commit treason, pure and simple. At one time in this cournty, the press (media now) understood this and would neither engage in such an act nor countenance such an act. Now it gets you an award. The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States does not trump the provision under the original Constitution concerning treason.
As for what the Army, or other armed services will do, we understand the Constitution even if the press and, it seems from the posters here, many of the citizens do not. Every year we review that document; it's nice to know what you are sworn to uphold and defend. I see no conflict here nor do I know of any other active, discharged, or retired service member who does. Treason is treason.
And since the originator of this topic is the whole NSA flap over monitoring international calls to possible terrorists, I should also point out that it came out in the Hayden hearings that every 'i' was dotted and every 't' crossed in following the established proecdures about Congressional notification for black programs, unlike what the hysterical idiots are saying. What's hilarious is that the most hysterical were briefed numerous times about the program (the Democratic leadership and intelligence committee members) yet they uttered nary a peep until it hit the New York Times. Sheesh! Talk about political posturing.
The program neither originated with Bush II (actually Echelon dates back to Carter) nor is it being misused as asserted. Sorry folks.
Actually an earlier poster also brought it up and, again, actually VMWare Server (nee GSX) went free first and M$ freed their a few months later in response. I have both here and while VMWare Server is still not operating at its full potential (debug code and other issues due to it still being in beta), I agree with you about the comparison between the two products. I much prefer the VMWare product as compared to Virtual Server Release 2.
Actually VMWare Workstation is the direct competitor to VirtualPC while VMWare Server is the (mostly) direct competitor to M$ Virtual Server. Now a good question would be why VMWare Workstation 5.5 is still charged for while VMWare Server, a superior product for server consolidation work (ESX is still best there though). No idea on that since I've been testing for both companies in this space since forever for VMWare and for M$ since they entered the space.
I'd volunteer in a heart-beat whatever the dangers are. The Shuttle, despite NASA stupidity, is far safer than taking the freeway on our side of the pond. Hell, get me up to the ISS and you'd need armed guards and crowbars to pry me out of there. To insure the continuation of the race, and by that I mean the whole human race we need to get off this fragging planet. NASA ain't gonna do it, near as I can tell. I hope someone does.
With the FDA the way it is? Probably never. There is a risk involved, albeit very slight, so that's one show-stopper right there both with the FDA and with our blessed litigation system. That also happens to be why I firmly believe that if an AIDS vaccine were ever to break out of trials, it'd also never get to your nearest friendly doctor/hospital/health agency.
Actually this has already been covered in medical research done in the late '90's. I was part of the project (statistical model and lab sides) and the team (Dr. Guzek, et. al) discovered that if you use any two of three big guns on MRSA it kills it dead. Apparently those particular sub-strains that are resistant to one antibiotic are not to one of the other two. It didn't matter which of the two you chose, just that you used any two in combination.
One nice side benefit was I got immunized against this sucker although that did carry some risk as well (experimental vaccine and all). Not that I ever expect to need it, but you never know.
I've never seen a slowdown with AVG on my machines here and I've used it for years. Hell, I play 3-D games all the time while it is running, even scanning the hard drives, without a bobble in the game. I'd nose around in your system to see if it is something else or an interaction problem (esp. if you are running two AV programs in real-time, a real no-no).
If you can hang with Java, something that I've never managed to succeed in doing here. While I'm not thrilled with it, ASP.Net and C# are a bit more palatable and raw coding HTML is something I can do in my sleep (and frequently have). Well, I'm a dinosaur and it shows. Now where did I leave that Black Book.
A jihad against lawyers wouldn't be a bad idea either.
Actually I came across that once in a Science-Fiction novel: "First Citizen". by some statistical quirk, a whole bunch of lawyers turned up dead in various ways on April 1 of that year. The notion took with the public and ever after April 1 was no longer April Fools day, it became Lawyers Day whereupon open season was declared on lawyers for that one day. Sounds like a good idea here!
{Sigh} In this case, I'd rather see Creative given a collective wedgie. In case you didn't know, the patent involved here has to do with the playlist. The way the playlist is implemented in both players is the only obvious way I can see to do it and thus falls into the patent domain of an obvious technology which means the damn patent shouldn't have been implemented in the first place. BTW, under the Creative patent every player on the desktop is also in violation but they don't have deep pockets nor are they likely to cough up much to prevent an injunction. Frankly, if Creative were really interested in protecting their patent they should have gone after M$ and Real a looooong time ago for their violations. Creative was smart in that regard. M$ would have bought them out of petty cash and Real would have simply further broken their already horrible piece of crap software (which might not be a bad thing). I don't believe Apple has the cash laying around to just do a hostile takeover.
And there's the rub as they say. For me it was the prior administration. This one isn't the greatest but it does the job. I have a lot of issues, especially on the domestic front, but as for the conduct of foreign policy and the war, no issues at all save China.
Yeah, right. Can you imagine the public firestorm that would result. Your paranoia or total dislike of our military forces is showing. That order would fall under the category of an illegal order any day of the week save during a declared war, or as our beloved congress-critters like to call them these days, conflict. Sorry, but they pound that kind of thing out of our minds in the services.
I don't see how one is related to the other WRT the laws as written. Perhaps there could be an executive order to use the military in such circumstances but frankly, as ex-military myself, I don't see us shooters following such an order to take an ISP down like that. Heck, use an EMP bomb/grenade to send the message.
As for the ICC vis-a-vis American Servicemembers' Protection Act (ASPA), well to put it bluntly, they will hold one of my people at their own hazard. We are not a party to that court, signatory to any provisions of that court, and they will have jurisdiction over my cold, dead body. Believe me, you screw up you will face justice, military style, and we still have hard time and it is hard time. Not sitting around watching TV then doing your daily work out.
Way back when, one of our guys did something real stupid and got arrested in Singapore. We raised the money to buy (bribe) him out of jail. However, he then faced military justice where the penalty was a long term at Leavenworth, Ks. Beats the heck out death, somewhat. [The Marines there do NOT like sailors and express it quite well.] No extradition treaty there either. However things might have been quite different if we hadn't been able to raise the rather large bribe amongst ourselves. Ally, no ally, although I imagine the State Department would have thrown a hissy fit. So what else is new. I don't think Ronnie would have been opposed.
While I'm completely opposed to the people that commit these acts, as a practical person I have to ask how they are going to enforce this? First off, roughly half the child porn is hosted on offshore sites. Are they going to send in the SEALs or Tomahawk cruise missiles? Hmmm...?
Secondly, how are they going to track those people that use the various anonymizer networks/packages? Then there are all those child porn newsgroups that I see in various listings. Frankly, the genie is out of the bottle. Even blocking at the ISP level/connection level is out if the communications are encrypted. What they are seeking to do is technologically impossible except at the local machine level and despite what they want to achieve, even I won't allow that here despite the fact that I assume I have no privacy whatsoever anyway (that's another issue).
Sorry Alberto, baby, but the best you can do is wail in a corner 'cause that is all you'll achieve.
Love it. I'm a MS fanboy, I'll admit it as I try to be brutally honest about everything. However, I must have pissed someone off by being honest. Flamebait? Troll? Okay. Weird though for Slashdot.
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Just ask McCormick or the McCormick reaper. His patent was stripped by the US Government. So much for the Constitution.
Nope. U-238 will not form a critical mass in a nuclear weapon. And that's as far as I can discuss this subject.
Second, there are safe, effective ways to deal with nuclear, and by that I mean actually radioactive material. The best is vitrification, i.e. turning it into a glass block, and storing it in a salt dome. Salt domes only occur in geologically stable areas. If they weren't geologicially stable, you wouldn't have a salt dome. QED.
Third, they are working on several methods of fusion, but if anyone thinks it is some kind of panacea, I must disillusion you. As with fission plants, you will generate radioactive waste due to nuetron flux production. If nothing else, the plant itself will become radioactive over time and will need to be shut down after a couple of decades of power production, and replacement of the fusion reactor, due to nuetron embrittlement just as with conventional fission plants. Still, the amount of power produced to unit of capital investment, and management of wastes should be much higher. Hopefully, ITER will prove or disprove that notion if not one of the other approaches to fusion.
That's for starters.
Excuse me? Nuclear weapons use either U-235 or Pu-239, not U-238. If you try to use U-238, your bomb is not going to do a damn thing except create a loud bang with no other results when you set off the explosives.
This year, I'll probably vote Libertarian, just for the heck of it, although they aren't exactly rational on some things either. What I really want is a strict Constitutionalist party but that ain't gonna happen. Too many special interests with too much money, on both sides, and too many sheep out there that want mommy government to make everything better, again on both sides although they define better slightly, very slightly, differently.
And to think I defended this country for much of my adult life. Sheesh.
On the other hand, most child pornographers seem to be tech stupid so I don't see much point beyond connection data. Now if I were to engage in such activity, all an ISP would have would be the fact that my computer was diving into an encrypted VPN and that's it. Once in there I'd be changing my efffective IP address at most once per second but they would have no idea I was doing that. And that doesn't count the fact that on the other end all you'd see in the weblog/ISP log would be an IP address, date, and time. All other data is not provided (it's null). That's if I go into full paranoia mode which I do when I cruise the cracking/"hacking" boards from time to time to see what the scene is up to around the world. [Security research :-). ]
There are other mechanisms to work around this, many of which are available in various security toolkits, off of security oriented web sites, etc. ad nauseum. All that will happen will be a Darwinian process where the dumb/stupid ones are caught and the smart ones will not as they get into a tech war of escalation, just as has happened with the spammers. You can do this but their weapon(s) of choice are the wrong ones but they are tech illiterate in my not so humble opinion, so we have sound and fury signifying nothing.
Bugs need not exist in any software implementation. In every case I start with a logically proven, correct design. I make extensive use of validation routines, even for something as simple as the system time (I trust, but verify), and that also forms the core of my system/software security regime as well. You won't find any injection attacks working in my code. The only time I have to deviate from the code that is created from the proven design is to work around either compiler or OS bugs and, as with all my code, that is also extensively documented as well. If anything, the documentation I include at every stage of the process is huge in comparison with the actual code, just as I do with any engineering design. Yes, I have worked in a dozen fields of engineering, usually at the same time which is why I'm a system engineer, not just one kind. It really helps to have a background in systems analysis and the social sciences as well. That's useful in making sure that the business/work process is efficient and psychology is everything when designing and user testing the user interface.
I don't develop software, I engineer it to spec and deliver it on-time, on- or under-budget, and defect free. The way to do that is to demand, or otherwise not engage in the project, total control of the work site, tools used, etc., just as any field engineer would demand. You don't tell me how to design and build that bridge, you tell me where you want it, how much traffic it is to handle (which I'll internally double), maximum vehicle weight (ditto), etc., and my timeframe/budget. The get the f*ck out of my way. You don't like it, get someone else.
It took some convincing of my superiors to let me run my projects and teams my way but after the ROI on the first project, and the fact that the users loved the software, they let me do it that way ever after. The fact that my team members were able to support the software long after I left (medical discharge) was a huge plus. The first package I wrote, thirty years ago, is still in use and saving the US Army Corps of Engineers a ton of money as well.
Arrogant? Yep. They get used to it if you deliver.
I couldn't agree more. As a systems analyst and systems engineer, the first thing I do is spend at least a week working with and observing the people (workers) that will be using whatever I design. After I have the semi-final product, I do the same thing again, this time observing and talking to them about the program. Sometimes a rewrite of the UI is required and I don't have a problem with it on my end. If they are unhappy with the product, they won't use it or will use it reluctantly which is unacceptable in my book. The guts of the program are easy, the UI can be very hard. It's more about psychology than engineering in my book.
That's probably part of their decision to make it free, albeit a small part I think. Mostly the driver for their decision is the arrival of Xen. Just as with Xen, which is also free for the server component, they will get your dollars for the management component. If you are really serious, they yes you'll make the jump to ESX. So far I've found VMWare Server does everything I need and thensome aside from some issues about the Solaris 10 setup which I still haven't gotten to work in the beta. That's to be expected since it is still experimental.
I beg to differ. Before any conversation was listened to by an analyst, a warrant was to be obtained from the FISA court as per Gen. Hayden's testimony to Congress which none of the Senators disagreed with (I sat through the whole thing). All that was noted was the phone number and a recording was made of the conversation. Until a human listens to it, who knows what was said, hmmmm? Sheesh.
As for what the Army, or other armed services will do, we understand the Constitution even if the press and, it seems from the posters here, many of the citizens do not. Every year we review that document; it's nice to know what you are sworn to uphold and defend. I see no conflict here nor do I know of any other active, discharged, or retired service member who does. Treason is treason.
And since the originator of this topic is the whole NSA flap over monitoring international calls to possible terrorists, I should also point out that it came out in the Hayden hearings that every 'i' was dotted and every 't' crossed in following the established proecdures about Congressional notification for black programs, unlike what the hysterical idiots are saying. What's hilarious is that the most hysterical were briefed numerous times about the program (the Democratic leadership and intelligence committee members) yet they uttered nary a peep until it hit the New York Times. Sheesh! Talk about political posturing.
The program neither originated with Bush II (actually Echelon dates back to Carter) nor is it being misused as asserted. Sorry folks.
Actually an earlier poster also brought it up and, again, actually VMWare Server (nee GSX) went free first and M$ freed their a few months later in response. I have both here and while VMWare Server is still not operating at its full potential (debug code and other issues due to it still being in beta), I agree with you about the comparison between the two products. I much prefer the VMWare product as compared to Virtual Server Release 2.
Actually VMWare Workstation is the direct competitor to VirtualPC while VMWare Server is the (mostly) direct competitor to M$ Virtual Server. Now a good question would be why VMWare Workstation 5.5 is still charged for while VMWare Server, a superior product for server consolidation work (ESX is still best there though). No idea on that since I've been testing for both companies in this space since forever for VMWare and for M$ since they entered the space.
I'd volunteer in a heart-beat whatever the dangers are. The Shuttle, despite NASA stupidity, is far safer than taking the freeway on our side of the pond. Hell, get me up to the ISS and you'd need armed guards and crowbars to pry me out of there. To insure the continuation of the race, and by that I mean the whole human race we need to get off this fragging planet. NASA ain't gonna do it, near as I can tell. I hope someone does.
With the FDA the way it is? Probably never. There is a risk involved, albeit very slight, so that's one show-stopper right there both with the FDA and with our blessed litigation system. That also happens to be why I firmly believe that if an AIDS vaccine were ever to break out of trials, it'd also never get to your nearest friendly doctor/hospital/health agency.
One nice side benefit was I got immunized against this sucker although that did carry some risk as well (experimental vaccine and all). Not that I ever expect to need it, but you never know.
I've never seen a slowdown with AVG on my machines here and I've used it for years. Hell, I play 3-D games all the time while it is running, even scanning the hard drives, without a bobble in the game. I'd nose around in your system to see if it is something else or an interaction problem (esp. if you are running two AV programs in real-time, a real no-no).
If you can hang with Java, something that I've never managed to succeed in doing here. While I'm not thrilled with it, ASP.Net and C# are a bit more palatable and raw coding HTML is something I can do in my sleep (and frequently have). Well, I'm a dinosaur and it shows. Now where did I leave that Black Book.
Actually I came across that once in a Science-Fiction novel: "First Citizen". by some statistical quirk, a whole bunch of lawyers turned up dead in various ways on April 1 of that year. The notion took with the public and ever after April 1 was no longer April Fools day, it became Lawyers Day whereupon open season was declared on lawyers for that one day. Sounds like a good idea here!
{Sigh} In this case, I'd rather see Creative given a collective wedgie. In case you didn't know, the patent involved here has to do with the playlist. The way the playlist is implemented in both players is the only obvious way I can see to do it and thus falls into the patent domain of an obvious technology which means the damn patent shouldn't have been implemented in the first place. BTW, under the Creative patent every player on the desktop is also in violation but they don't have deep pockets nor are they likely to cough up much to prevent an injunction. Frankly, if Creative were really interested in protecting their patent they should have gone after M$ and Real a looooong time ago for their violations. Creative was smart in that regard. M$ would have bought them out of petty cash and Real would have simply further broken their already horrible piece of crap software (which might not be a bad thing). I don't believe Apple has the cash laying around to just do a hostile takeover.
And there's the rub as they say. For me it was the prior administration. This one isn't the greatest but it does the job. I have a lot of issues, especially on the domestic front, but as for the conduct of foreign policy and the war, no issues at all save China.
Yeah, right. Can you imagine the public firestorm that would result. Your paranoia or total dislike of our military forces is showing. That order would fall under the category of an illegal order any day of the week save during a declared war, or as our beloved congress-critters like to call them these days, conflict. Sorry, but they pound that kind of thing out of our minds in the services.
As for the ICC vis-a-vis American Servicemembers' Protection Act (ASPA), well to put it bluntly, they will hold one of my people at their own hazard. We are not a party to that court, signatory to any provisions of that court, and they will have jurisdiction over my cold, dead body. Believe me, you screw up you will face justice, military style, and we still have hard time and it is hard time. Not sitting around watching TV then doing your daily work out.
Way back when, one of our guys did something real stupid and got arrested in Singapore. We raised the money to buy (bribe) him out of jail. However, he then faced military justice where the penalty was a long term at Leavenworth, Ks. Beats the heck out death, somewhat. [The Marines there do NOT like sailors and express it quite well.] No extradition treaty there either. However things might have been quite different if we hadn't been able to raise the rather large bribe amongst ourselves. Ally, no ally, although I imagine the State Department would have thrown a hissy fit. So what else is new. I don't think Ronnie would have been opposed.
Secondly, how are they going to track those people that use the various anonymizer networks/packages? Then there are all those child porn newsgroups that I see in various listings. Frankly, the genie is out of the bottle. Even blocking at the ISP level/connection level is out if the communications are encrypted. What they are seeking to do is technologically impossible except at the local machine level and despite what they want to achieve, even I won't allow that here despite the fact that I assume I have no privacy whatsoever anyway (that's another issue).
Sorry Alberto, baby, but the best you can do is wail in a corner 'cause that is all you'll achieve.
Love it. I'm a MS fanboy, I'll admit it as I try to be brutally honest about everything. However, I must have pissed someone off by being honest. Flamebait? Troll? Okay. Weird though for Slashdot.