For the free market to operate properly, people need to care about companies doing bad things. They need to be passionate about it. Every person with a defeatist attitude like that is one more person the companies who do bad things don't have to worry about anymore, who they can abuse at will. When that group of apathetic people reaches critical mass (I'd argue it already did many, many years ago) look out.
So you mean all this time I fucking hated commercials I was just being a good capitalist? Man, I'm confused...
(but I do think you have a very good point, though:-)
Make your boss happy, and block on these three DNS based lists: dsbl.org, spamhaus.org, dnsbl.org. Everything coming from IP addresses in these range is basically garantueed not to contain false positives. It'll clear your inbox quite effectively. (I'm one of the volunteers helping out dsbl.org, so feel free to mail me with questions)
I'm conducting some research on behalf of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution in Washington, DC. I'd like if someone could shed some light on the following questions:
1. Describe the components of an operating system, besides the central component, the kernel. 2. What do programmers usually develop first, the compiler or the kernel? 3. Does this sequence impact the OS at all? 4. What's more complicated, the kernel or the compiler? 5. Why does operating system development take as long as it does? What are the three key things in operating system development that take the longest to perfect? 6. Do you need operating systems familiarity to write a kernel? Yes/ no? Elaborate please. 7. In your opinion, why aren't there more operating systems on the market?
There are all kinds of people (a.k.a. "kooks") who are now trying to tell you that Aspartame is bad for you
Thank you for calling me a kook. I know from personal experience what it can do to a person. Perhaps I'm hypersensitive to this crap, but sure as hell I'm reading packaging to make sure I never get it into my system again. You probably won't believe me or think it was something other than aspartame that was working on my seratonine levels, but I sure as hell am not going to prove it by ingesting it again. And I do know that should I ever meet somebody at VP level from Coca Cola or Pepsi, I will break his or her kneecaps.
If there were no marketing, you probably wouldn't own half the stuff you do.
And I fail to see why that would be a bad thing..actually, it would probably rid society of a lot of bad, crappy products, since sales would depend way more on both word-of-mouth, an on local expertise and knowing your customer personally.
Now, I have wondered what the effect on our economy would be if there were no more advertising.
Mankind has survived for many thousands of years without advertising. It's one of the things I feel we can still do without. Marketing, and the fact that a lot of crap and garbage is sold (as a side effect of marketing) is proably a huge drain on resources, and the only "plus" I can think of is that a lot of people have incomes because of it. I'd gladly increase social security benefits in exchange for a total removal of all marketing from society.
In the Netherlands they fixed the law - the owner of the car is responsible for the fine, period. If the owner wasn't driving the car, it's up to the owner to retrieve the fine from whoever was driving.
A lot of company-car's are registered with the lease company as owner, so in a sad way this makes sense.
It's stupid to pay for "TSA-compliant locks" when a simpler alternative is available
I always close my bags with tie-wraps through the zippers or whatever thingy they have for locks. It's easy to detect messing with them (and I've always got spares on me) and if the "law-enforcement" wants to open them they can. If the "bad guys" want to open them they can as well, but then again that's true for most locks (and checking in a two-ton safe is bound to cause some overweight charges from the airline)
The new Spanish leader thinks that by removing troops from the middleast his country will be safer. Well they found another bomb on the train tracks today. I hope he realizes that deals cannot be made.
And they also decided to double the number of troops they have in Afghanistan. You remember that one? The country the terrorist actually came from?
You're still too much in the "bug" mindset. You are using bounds checking to find bugs, which is fine. Now start thinking about writing software in a hostile environment, where everything is out to stomp on your program. Play Core Wars for a while.
It's not just "bug-free" you need to worry about. Writing resilient code is quite a different ballgame.
Are there any products that will ghost my drive onto another drive inaccessible to the OS by ordinary means every day?
Depends on your operating system. On mine it's a small shell script, the "dd" command, and a dollar amount for the extra disk
How can we teach people and developers the wonders of encryption so their credit card numbers and passwords can't be stolen?
Encryption is a technological answer to a social problem, and therefore not enough. People forget their credit cards in restaurants, what makes you think they remember to use encryption?
What will it take for hardware and OS makers to find a solution to most/all buffer overflows.
That was done over 30 years ago. Now using that solution is another story.
Why are non-servers on the internet 24/7? A 'disconnect me after 1 hour of inactivity' would go a long way.
Internet is very important in the life of teenagers in the West. Homework, chat, games, etc. You'll be online a significant part of the day anyway, and it takes about 20 minutes for a worm to spread to all vulnerable hosts.
Should we be encouraging residential ISPs to temporarily block ports during major outbreaks?
That would mean the next work would use more legitemate ports. Note that Witty was using an ICQ port. Next will be Messenger, or perhaps they'll discover a bug in a web server (like, say, IIS.. imagine!) and use port 80. How long can an ISP block port 80, do you think?
Should ISPs be denying access to computers found to be spewing spam, viruses, or trojans?
That would accelerate the development of stealth worms - ones that do damage but with traffic that cannot be distinguished from legit traffic. I'm not sure that's a good idea.
Why are we storing data locally? A fire or a crashed disk could mean the loss of important data, photos, etc. The internet hasn't seemed to provided users with an easy way to upload/download/synch documents off-site securely and easily.
Trust. I don't trust any other party to take good care of my data. But that's just me.
I'm sorry I don't have any good answers for you. The questions however, are interesting.
No. I don't think it is fine at all. I don't know about other countries, but here in the Netherlands there's a limit to how long you MUST keep invoices, receipts etc, and that limit is only for documents that influence your tax forms. For companies it's longer than for individuals, but neither is as long as copyright lasts. It also means every time Mickey Mouse buys an extension, I get to buy new storage space, because I have to keep stuff around longer.
The article (I read it, sorry - I'll hand in my slashdot ID at the end of this posting) mentions an "Anton Pillar order. From that article:
One of the most painful aspects of all is the requirement after the order is served, usually within 14 days, to provide documentary evidence to the court, which PROVES that you own the software that is the subject of the court order (and may extend to PROVING that ALL software is legally acquired), by showing software compliance registers (an inventory approach), license numbers, discs and manuals, AND originals of all invoices from the SUPPLIERS of the software that you own.
He sidesteps the question and reinforces the "reality" that Microsoft wants to project in one clever response.
Perhaps I'm too cynical, but the way I interpreted "[That Windows would come out on top] was never going to be a question." was "we paid for the damn thing so of course we came out on top" with a side-order of "what a stupid journalist you are when you have to ask that, it's common sense!"
Interesting, I didn't know Outlook looked at headers that way. A quick Google trip gave me nothing at all on this - can you tell me what X- header you used? I think I'm going to have me some fun this week...
I think a lot of companies will respond to hatred of advertising by resorting to product placement
And I'm opting out of buying products from companies that do that.
I'm ahead of the curve - a few years ago people told me I was an idiot when I complained about advertising on web sites. Those same people are now installing pop-up and ad-blockers. Advertising is on a slow death spiral, and indeed product placement will be next, and it will kill TV. It will take many years, though..
Does MIT count as smart in your system? In that case, how about a study that shows simple random searches are better?
If you have real solutions to the problem, then volunteer them, otherwise shut the f@#$ up.
So unless I have a real solution myself I am not allowed to point out how bogus your solution is? Sorry, but like hell I'm going to shut the fuck up. And like hell I'm going to visit the USA as long as fuckwits like you are running the country. Pity, I really like most of it.
I'm not too worried about the privacy implications, because I don't think anyone could do a deep study into my life without dying of terminal boredom.
That's just a matter of motivation. If I'm a sociopath who hates that you just talked to my girlfriend, I won't be bored easily, and I will find something to ruin your life..
Can you honestly say that you trust everybody around you with all that access?
Slashdot Mirror
Did they ask you permission to do that when you bought stuff from them? No? Then it is spam.
(and no, 'permission' buried deep in some privacy statement, or a check-box somewhere deep in a form, does NOT count)
-John
Software is like sex. If you want to pay for it, you'll always find somebody willing to take your money,
For the free market to operate properly, people need to care about companies doing bad things. They need to be passionate about it. Every person with a defeatist attitude like that is one more person the companies who do bad things don't have to worry about anymore, who they can abuse at will. When that group of apathetic people reaches critical mass (I'd argue it already did many, many years ago) look out.
:-)
So you mean all this time I fucking hated commercials I was just being a good capitalist? Man, I'm confused...
(but I do think you have a very good point, though
-John
Make your boss happy, and block on these three DNS based lists: dsbl.org, spamhaus.org, dnsbl.org. Everything coming from IP addresses in these range is basically garantueed not to contain false positives. It'll clear your inbox quite effectively. (I'm one of the volunteers helping out dsbl.org, so feel free to mail me with questions)
-John
There are all kinds of people (a.k.a. "kooks") who are now trying to tell you that Aspartame is bad for you
Thank you for calling me a kook. I know from personal experience what it can do to a person. Perhaps I'm hypersensitive to this crap, but sure as hell I'm reading packaging to make sure I never get it into my system again. You probably won't believe me or think it was something other than aspartame that was working on my seratonine levels, but I sure as hell am not going to prove it by ingesting it again. And I do know that should I ever meet somebody at VP level from Coca Cola or Pepsi, I will break his or her kneecaps.
-John
If there were no marketing, you probably wouldn't own half the stuff you do.
And I fail to see why that would be a bad thing..actually, it would probably rid society of a lot of bad, crappy products, since sales would depend way more on both word-of-mouth, an on local expertise and knowing your customer personally.
Now, I have wondered what the effect on our economy would be if there were no more advertising.
Mankind has survived for many thousands of years without advertising. It's one of the things I feel we can still do without. Marketing, and the fact that a lot of crap and garbage is sold (as a side effect of marketing) is proably a huge drain on resources, and the only "plus" I can think of is that a lot of people have incomes because of it. I'd gladly increase social security benefits in exchange for a total removal of all marketing from society.
-John
In the Netherlands they fixed the law - the owner of the car is responsible for the fine, period. If the owner wasn't driving the car, it's up to the owner to retrieve the fine from whoever was driving.
A lot of company-car's are registered with the lease company as owner, so in a sad way this makes sense.
-John
It's stupid to pay for "TSA-compliant locks" when a simpler alternative is available
I always close my bags with tie-wraps through the zippers or whatever thingy they have for locks. It's easy to detect messing with them (and I've always got spares on me) and if the "law-enforcement" wants to open them they can. If the "bad guys" want to open them they can as well, but then again that's true for most locks (and checking in a two-ton safe is bound to cause some overweight charges from the airline)
-John
The answer is sex.
No, no, the answer is not sex, the question is sex. The answer is yes.
-John
The new Spanish leader thinks that by removing troops from the middleast his country will be safer. Well they found another bomb on the train tracks today. I hope he realizes that deals cannot be made.
And they also decided to double the number of troops they have in Afghanistan. You remember that one? The country the terrorist actually came from?
-John
I've had that question asked to me as well, by a new departmental manager who was trying to find out where his people stood on this issue.
My answer was: depends. What task are you trying to accomplish?
I always use the tools best suited for a job. Sometimes (not often, I own a Mac as well) that's Windows.
-John
You're still too much in the "bug" mindset. You are using bounds checking to find bugs, which is fine. Now start thinking about writing software in a hostile environment, where everything is out to stomp on your program. Play Core Wars for a while.
It's not just "bug-free" you need to worry about. Writing resilient code is quite a different ballgame.
-John
Are there any products that will ghost my drive onto another drive inaccessible to the OS by ordinary means every day?
Depends on your operating system. On mine it's a small shell script, the "dd" command, and a dollar amount for the extra disk
How can we teach people and developers the wonders of encryption so their credit card numbers and passwords can't be stolen?
Encryption is a technological answer to a social problem, and therefore not enough. People forget their credit cards in restaurants, what makes you think they remember to use encryption?
What will it take for hardware and OS makers to find a solution to most/all buffer overflows.
That was done over 30 years ago. Now using that solution is another story.
Why are non-servers on the internet 24/7? A 'disconnect me after 1 hour of inactivity' would go a long way.
Internet is very important in the life of teenagers in the West. Homework, chat, games, etc. You'll be online a significant part of the day anyway, and it takes about 20 minutes for a worm to spread to all vulnerable hosts.
Should we be encouraging residential ISPs to temporarily block ports during major outbreaks?
That would mean the next work would use more legitemate ports. Note that Witty was using an ICQ port. Next will be Messenger, or perhaps they'll discover a bug in a web server (like, say, IIS.. imagine!) and use port 80. How long can an ISP block port 80, do you think?
Should ISPs be denying access to computers found to be spewing spam, viruses, or trojans?
That would accelerate the development of stealth worms - ones that do damage but with traffic that cannot be distinguished from legit traffic. I'm not sure that's a good idea.
Why are we storing data locally? A fire or a crashed disk could mean the loss of important data, photos, etc. The internet hasn't seemed to provided users with an easy way to upload/download/synch documents off-site securely and easily.
Trust. I don't trust any other party to take good care of my data. But that's just me.
I'm sorry I don't have any good answers for you. The questions however, are interesting.
-John
Hmmm... "spam court". Sounds like a cheap TV show. Do we get a Judge Judy as well?
-John
No. I don't think it is fine at all. I don't know about other countries, but here in the Netherlands there's a limit to how long you MUST keep invoices, receipts etc, and that limit is only for documents that influence your tax forms. For companies it's longer than for individuals, but neither is as long as copyright lasts. It also means every time Mickey Mouse buys an extension, I get to buy new storage space, because I have to keep stuff around longer.
-John
-John
Excellent, thanks!
-John
He sidesteps the question and reinforces the "reality" that Microsoft wants to project in one clever response.
Perhaps I'm too cynical, but the way I interpreted "[That Windows would come out on top] was never going to be a question." was "we paid for the damn thing so of course we came out on top" with a side-order of "what a stupid journalist you are when you have to ask that, it's common sense!"
-John
Interesting, I didn't know Outlook looked at headers that way. A quick Google trip gave me nothing at all on this - can you tell me what X- header you used? I think I'm going to have me some fun this week...
-John
Rule number one: spammers lie.
If I were you I wouldn't even bother trying, and assume that whatever number you enter that will end up on their "priority list of working numbers"
I think a lot of companies will respond to hatred of advertising by resorting to product placement
And I'm opting out of buying products from companies that do that.
I'm ahead of the curve - a few years ago people told me I was an idiot when I complained about advertising on web sites. Those same people are now installing pop-up and ad-blockers. Advertising is on a slow death spiral, and indeed product placement will be next, and it will kill TV. It will take many years, though..
-John
I wonder which kneecap to shatter first...
Does MIT count as smart in your system? In that case, how about a study that shows simple random searches are better?
If you have real solutions to the problem, then volunteer them, otherwise shut the f@#$ up.
So unless I have a real solution myself I am not allowed to point out how bogus your solution is? Sorry, but like hell I'm going to shut the fuck up. And like hell I'm going to visit the USA as long as fuckwits like you are running the country. Pity, I really like most of it.
-John
I'm not too worried about the privacy implications, because I don't think anyone could do a deep study into my life without dying of terminal boredom.
That's just a matter of motivation. If I'm a sociopath who hates that you just talked to my girlfriend, I won't be bored easily, and I will find something to ruin your life..
Can you honestly say that you trust everybody around you with all that access?
-John