Actually, they'll poll really well if some SWAT team kicks in some doors and stops the next attack. And the NSA's contribution to that is revealed. I don't think the current surveillance regime (what we knew of it, anyway) polled terribly well after Boston. The Russians told us to watch these guys and still our entire bag of tricks didn't stop them.
True. Results would be a more effective argument. But they're not really interested in results -- at least from what people like Hayden do and say -- they're interested in pursuing unconstitutional total dragnet surveillance of everyone's communications for its own sake (and whatever nefarious uses they can come up with now or in the future). As you say, the system didn't help catch the Boston bad guys. It was never intended to. The Boston guys could have been caught by acting on the tip, getting a warrant based on that, which a judge would have certainly approved in a Constitutional, above-the-board process, tapping their phones, searching their place, interviewing acquaintances and other old-fashioned police work. All things that could be done with regular oversight and due process. No new laws, no secret courts, no black budgets.
The NSA and the Executive branch want unfettered, unlimited, unaccountable surveillance for their own reasons. "Catching terr'ists" is just the excuse. I've even got a car analogy. Back in the day, I wanted a 4 barrel carburetor and high performance manifolds from my Mustang. I told my dad that it would get better mileage that way -- you know, 'cause "better breathing." Of course he didn't fall for that, he knew I just wanted it to go faster to impress friends and (in my mind) girls.
I suppose in general that keeping "secret" things secret seems reasonable. After all, when you login to your wifi network (the first time) the password is usually masked to hide it from shoulder surfers. This does give users the impression that the data is also stored securely.
From a practical perspective, though, how much of a security risk is this?
From TFA:
So anyone who inserts a Live CD Linux distro into your laptop, can view your not-so-secret Wi-Fi password... or steal even more important data!
Wouldn't it be even easier if someone had access to your laptop to just use it then and there to access your network without rebooting, "stealing" your important data secured by nothing more than a wifi login? They're already in your home or office -- unless they stole your laptop while you were in the restroom at Starbucks -- they could also just plug their own laptop into your router or other network port and get the same thing, couldn't they? (As if your "sensitive documents" aren't just sitting there on the laptop unencrypted anyway.) Or just hang around in network range, sniffing packets and cracking your wifi encryption at their leisure? That wouldn't even require taking the risk of borrowing your computer and raising suspicioins.
So while storing any authentication data in plain text seems needlessly insecure and sloppy, relying on wifi passwords alone to protect sensitive data is an even worse idea to begin with.
Hayden: 'And I think some of the right things with regard to the commission's recommendations are not the popular things. They may not poll real well right now. They'll poll damn well after the next attack...'
So, appeal to emotion. We can safely disregard your message then since it is, by definition, not well thought out.
In Arizona, which IS a right to work state, you get suspended or fired, you DO have difficulty getting unemployment, especially if your former employer doesn't bother to answer the state's questions about the circumstances of your dismissal. THAT one got pulled on me, and I got screwed outta my unemployment until my 6 months of 'regular' unemployment expired and I then qualified for the 13 week extension.
Wow, that's just messed up. I assumed -- for no particular reason, apparently -- that they all did it like my state: state DHR sends questionnaire to former employer who can fill it out if they fired the employee for some reason they wish to elaborate on, otherwise no response means they're not contesting payment of UI. Works out better for most employees, since most bosses -- like everyone else -- don't want to do extra work like filling out a state form. Boss doesn't need to do anything special other than toss the form in the recycle bin. And state employees don't have to spend time to read and asses questionnaires that don't get returned. Everyone wins.
Video cameras to prevent drilling of the outer shell was never considered?
Right. Every bank I've ever been in in the last . . . many . . . years has cameras all around, including pointed at the 24-hour ATMs. So I guess you'd do it as surreptitiously as possible so it wouldn't necessarily get noticed on the footage without carefully watching it. Then don't do anything for a while, preferably long enough that the footage with the tampering has been overwritten -- or at least long enough that it's tedious and time-consuming to look through everything and you've got the money and made your getaway. Also, having someone else do the dirty work is always a good idea, like the POS tamperers/vandals/thieves/skimmers that hit Michaels stores using Armenian LA street gang members or something like that as contractors to collect the cash with forged debit cards. I'm probably mixing up several stories there, but the concept is the important thing, not the specific details of any one specific crime.
Nothing bad could result from a crippled intelligence system, could it?
Sure. Bad things could happen. Hayden, and others -- including US Presidents and members of Congress -- should have thought of that before putting the system in jeopardy by committing illegal acts that might result in them getting caught when someone finally blew the whistle.
If I robbed a bank, got caught, tried and imprisoned, my family would suffer. But that suffering would be the result of my bad decision, not the legal system that frowns on robbery, the police tracking me down and catching me, and the judge and jury who convict and incarcerate me.
Sounds to me like Hayden's just afraid that he'd be subject to arrest and prosecution if he visits wherever Snowden lands. If he'd only done nothing wrong, he'd have had nothing to hide, and nothing to fear punishment for if caught. Perhaps he shoulda thought of that sooner. Sure, someone else would have done the job if he'd quit instead of following orders, but at least he'd be guiltless (or less guilty). There's a certain irony that Hayden could be a criminal in a land where Snowden could be free -- although I doubt either one will happen.
Amusingly, the exception seemed to be Pac-Man. Took most of the kids several tries to just figure out what the heck they were supposed to do.
I as read that, I am trying to figure out what the heck you're supposed to do. How do you control our little yellow waka-waka friend on a touchscreen? And is it any fun that way? I just tried Duck Hunt on my phone and found that tapping ducks to "shoot" them isn't really challenging or fun.
if you thought ordering something on the 20th was a good idea and you'd have it by the 25th, you're a retard. every postal or package service gets slowed during the christmas season in north america.fact, every year, every time.
This approach is also great to use on the boss: "Sorry, Mr. Bossman. I promised you these changes by last Friday when you needed them, but you've got to admit the real fault lies in you for believing me.
I'm anxious to see what the individual mandate does to the self employed worker from Obamacare. I'm thinking I'll need to raise my bill rates next gig I do that is 1099 and not W2 to cover that.
Presumably the wise self-employed worker was incorporated -- as you suggested -- and already buying him/herself decent tax-deductible health insurance, and already charging rates sufficient to pay his employee's (his) wages and benefits. Otherwise, he was subsidizing the contracting entity as the potential expense of his employee's (again, his own) health.
I'd be better if phones came with car crash detection instead. It's quite easy to do (subject moving a more than 20mph, sudden halt, huge haptic feedback on the sensor) and could save lives more than a panic button. Hell with Bluetooth enabled car, even air bag deployment could send a signal to a phone to enable GPS and call 911 automaticaly.
Wouldn't it be sufficient to put car-crash detection in cars themselves? And call it "On Star" or something?
The panic button was the first "app" I wrote for my N900, and I use that term very loosely. Actually, just a one-liner using an existing python script:
python ssms.py NPANXXxxxx 'I''ve been kidnapped by aliens!'
A crude drawing of an alien saved as an icon file and an entry in the desktop icons directory and I had a text message panic button.
Naturally, I never tried adding the dialing of 911 in the script, for no other reason than testing it would call 911 and they don't like that.
The Robocop example is really the 'first waffle' concept. You always have to make a first waffle, and it's almost always bad -- the iron's just not warm enough, oily enough or whatever until the second one comes out. But there's always, by definition, a first one. So just plan on your first iteration of a project to fail and to start over and do it right based on what you learned about the wrong way to start. Or not. Either way, the first iteration fails. You can throw it out and start over, or you can try to make the best of that ruined waffle. So why not plan on it?
Also, read "The Mythical Man Month". Amazingly, there are managers (and managees) who haven't. They don't have time? Really, you don't have time not to.
And how did the author of TFA miss the best one: pad your time estimates like Scotty.
You joke, but it's really incentive for future artists more than former. When they see people working a few years in their youth and then earning royalties into retirement, that's quite the incentive to get into music.
Just ask any musician. They'll tell you they got in it for the money.
Isn't looking for a "hygienic" way to expose a person to microbes like looking for a pornography store without the smut? The unhygienic part of poop (or saliva, blood, skin, or any tissue or fluid) is the microbes. Example: What's the polio vaccine? Weakened or killed virus from poop. Why did kids need it? Too little exposure to poop as a result of better sanitation.
Also what dangerous zoonotic (transgenic means something else) disease do you expect to catch from Fido that you're not just as likely to get from another human? You don't want to know where your baby's doctor's tie has been.
Also, before some Slashdot Aspie suggests I'm advocating living in filth: I am not suggesting we live in filth.
One caveat I should mention: DON'T DO THIS WITHOUT PRACTICING IT FIRST. It isn't taught in driver's ed--frankly, they don't teach much there but the laws. But, if you live in an area prone to major snowfall, you should practice in an empty parking lot first until you're comfortable with how the car handles and how much gas is enough. Always keep the wheels pointed the direction you want to go, and don't give it too much gas or counter-steer too hard. Chances are, the car will straighten out after a couple swings--if you practiced before it became necessary, and didn't overdo the gas/counter-steering.
There just aren't as many empty parking lots around anymore as when I was learning to drive. Lots more light poles, bumpers, curbs, etc. And a lot more cops to attract these days too.
China holds a huge amount of our debt. They want us to buy their stuff and to borrow money from them. Why cripple our economy? Or, even worse, why do something like this that will point a finger back to them and stir up the pot against them? (and possibly lad to embargos, and so on)
Ya, it makes no sense. Like if I pulled up to the Starbucks drive-thru to order a venti double-skinny mocha latteachio with no foam and instead they went all Goldfinger on my car. You don't try to kill your best customer.
Likewise if this was some freelance/rogue/criminal/terrorist operation inside China, I'd think they (the Chinese) would be motivated to foil it themselves for the same reasons.
The NSA should have cooked up a more plausible bogus plot to foil, but instead they don't even respect us enough to make up a believable lie.
With a good antenna, OTA is really nice these days. Unfortunately, most new tvs no longer include it, but ota also includes an episode guide.
My complaint with the OTA episode guide is the too brief calendar. When my local stations provide information at all, it's rarely for more than a day or two in advance. Perhaps they've improved in the past year, but I haven't checked lately. In a fit of poor planning, I mounted the TV in a room adjoining a toddler bedroom, so evening TV disturbs her sleep. But my wife is happy watching her stories online on her laptop, so remounting the TV elsewhere and patching the holes in the wall can be deferred indefinitely. I guess we are one of the cable (and broadcast) defectors. Except that the internet comes from Time Warner Cable . ..
That light bulb is actually a 90% efficient heater -- that's why it's such an inefficient light source.
Which is 100% USELESS except during the day in the dead of winter. In fact during the summer you have to use your AC to remove that heat and thus incur additional cost that more than makes up for any savings in the winter. In the summer all of that 90% is waste heat and it is pretty annoying to heat your house with a light bulb when you want it dark. Not to mention that electric heat is relatively expensive compared available alternatives.
I live in Wisconsin, seriously, that "waste" heat is NOT wasted!
Blah blah, I live up north too. Let's see, should I heat my house with a 95% efficient furnace or a 10% efficient light bulb? Boy that's a tough one...
That light bulb is actually a 90% efficient heater -- that's why it's such an inefficient light source.
The real argument against heating with light bulbs is that in most areas, cheaper alternatives to electric resistive heat exist: gas, oil, electric heat pumps (with appropriate backup heat), etc. Also, waste heat is generated by the incandescents whether or not it can be used -- or even if it needs to be removed at additional cost.
(BTW. Incandescent heat lamps will still be available for applications heating with lamps is actually a good idea -- incubators, cafeterias, etc.)
Slashdot Mirror
He's buried here..
You can go and hire Ms. Cleo and do a seance and complain to him since he sponsored the legislation.
See, even the trees opposed copyright extension.
Actually, they'll poll really well if some SWAT team kicks in some doors and stops the next attack. And the NSA's contribution to that is revealed. I don't think the current surveillance regime (what we knew of it, anyway) polled terribly well after Boston. The Russians told us to watch these guys and still our entire bag of tricks didn't stop them.
True. Results would be a more effective argument. But they're not really interested in results -- at least from what people like Hayden do and say -- they're interested in pursuing unconstitutional total dragnet surveillance of everyone's communications for its own sake (and whatever nefarious uses they can come up with now or in the future). As you say, the system didn't help catch the Boston bad guys. It was never intended to. The Boston guys could have been caught by acting on the tip, getting a warrant based on that, which a judge would have certainly approved in a Constitutional, above-the-board process, tapping their phones, searching their place, interviewing acquaintances and other old-fashioned police work. All things that could be done with regular oversight and due process. No new laws, no secret courts, no black budgets.
The NSA and the Executive branch want unfettered, unlimited, unaccountable surveillance for their own reasons. "Catching terr'ists" is just the excuse. I've even got a car analogy. Back in the day, I wanted a 4 barrel carburetor and high performance manifolds from my Mustang. I told my dad that it would get better mileage that way -- you know, 'cause "better breathing." Of course he didn't fall for that, he knew I just wanted it to go faster to impress friends and (in my mind) girls.
I suppose in general that keeping "secret" things secret seems reasonable. After all, when you login to your wifi network (the first time) the password is usually masked to hide it from shoulder surfers. This does give users the impression that the data is also stored securely.
From a practical perspective, though, how much of a security risk is this?
From TFA:
So anyone who inserts a Live CD Linux distro into your laptop, can view your not-so-secret Wi-Fi password... or steal even more important data!
Wouldn't it be even easier if someone had access to your laptop to just use it then and there to access your network without rebooting, "stealing" your important data secured by nothing more than a wifi login? They're already in your home or office -- unless they stole your laptop while you were in the restroom at Starbucks -- they could also just plug their own laptop into your router or other network port and get the same thing, couldn't they? (As if your "sensitive documents" aren't just sitting there on the laptop unencrypted anyway.) Or just hang around in network range, sniffing packets and cracking your wifi encryption at their leisure? That wouldn't even require taking the risk of borrowing your computer and raising suspicioins.
So while storing any authentication data in plain text seems needlessly insecure and sloppy, relying on wifi passwords alone to protect sensitive data is an even worse idea to begin with.
Hayden: 'And I think some of the right things with regard to the commission's recommendations are not the popular things. They may not poll real well right now. They'll poll damn well after the next attack ...'
So, appeal to emotion. We can safely disregard your message then since it is, by definition, not well thought out.
In Arizona, which IS a right to work state, you get suspended or fired, you DO have difficulty getting unemployment, especially if your former employer doesn't bother to answer the state's questions about the circumstances of your dismissal. THAT one got pulled on me, and I got screwed outta my unemployment until my 6 months of 'regular' unemployment expired and I then qualified for the 13 week extension.
Wow, that's just messed up. I assumed -- for no particular reason, apparently -- that they all did it like my state: state DHR sends questionnaire to former employer who can fill it out if they fired the employee for some reason they wish to elaborate on, otherwise no response means they're not contesting payment of UI. Works out better for most employees, since most bosses -- like everyone else -- don't want to do extra work like filling out a state form. Boss doesn't need to do anything special other than toss the form in the recycle bin. And state employees don't have to spend time to read and asses questionnaires that don't get returned. Everyone wins.
Video cameras to prevent drilling of the outer shell was never considered?
Right. Every bank I've ever been in in the last . . . many . . . years has cameras all around, including pointed at the 24-hour ATMs. So I guess you'd do it as surreptitiously as possible so it wouldn't necessarily get noticed on the footage without carefully watching it. Then don't do anything for a while, preferably long enough that the footage with the tampering has been overwritten -- or at least long enough that it's tedious and time-consuming to look through everything and you've got the money and made your getaway. Also, having someone else do the dirty work is always a good idea, like the POS tamperers/vandals/thieves/skimmers that hit Michaels stores using Armenian LA street gang members or something like that as contractors to collect the cash with forged debit cards. I'm probably mixing up several stories there, but the concept is the important thing, not the specific details of any one specific crime.
Nothing bad could result from a crippled intelligence system, could it?
Sure. Bad things could happen. Hayden, and others -- including US Presidents and members of Congress -- should have thought of that before putting the system in jeopardy by committing illegal acts that might result in them getting caught when someone finally blew the whistle.
If I robbed a bank, got caught, tried and imprisoned, my family would suffer. But that suffering would be the result of my bad decision, not the legal system that frowns on robbery, the police tracking me down and catching me, and the judge and jury who convict and incarcerate me.
Sounds to me like Hayden's just afraid that he'd be subject to arrest and prosecution if he visits wherever Snowden lands. If he'd only done nothing wrong, he'd have had nothing to hide, and nothing to fear punishment for if caught. Perhaps he shoulda thought of that sooner. Sure, someone else would have done the job if he'd quit instead of following orders, but at least he'd be guiltless (or less guilty). There's a certain irony that Hayden could be a criminal in a land where Snowden could be free -- although I doubt either one will happen.
Amusingly, the exception seemed to be Pac-Man. Took most of the kids several tries to just figure out what the heck they were supposed to do.
I as read that, I am trying to figure out what the heck you're supposed to do. How do you control our little yellow waka-waka friend on a touchscreen? And is it any fun that way? I just tried Duck Hunt on my phone and found that tapping ducks to "shoot" them isn't really challenging or fun.
if you thought ordering something on the 20th was a good idea and you'd have it by the 25th, you're a retard. every postal or package service gets slowed during the christmas season in north america.fact, every year, every time.
This approach is also great to use on the boss: "Sorry, Mr. Bossman. I promised you these changes by last Friday when you needed them, but you've got to admit the real fault lies in you for believing me.
A lot of places likely to call some of there workers 1099's but they like to control them like W2 workers.
Also some temps are W2's but are basically self-employed and some temp / staffing agency is just doing payroll / taxes.
The IRS takes a pretty dim view of this practice, but blowing the whistle can be risky in a small enough environment that they know who did it.
I'm anxious to see what the individual mandate does to the self employed worker from Obamacare. I'm thinking I'll need to raise my bill rates next gig I do that is 1099 and not W2 to cover that.
Presumably the wise self-employed worker was incorporated -- as you suggested -- and already buying him/herself decent tax-deductible health insurance, and already charging rates sufficient to pay his employee's (his) wages and benefits. Otherwise, he was subsidizing the contracting entity as the potential expense of his employee's (again, his own) health.
I'd be better if phones came with car crash detection instead. It's quite easy to do (subject moving a more than 20mph, sudden halt, huge haptic feedback on the sensor) and could save lives more than a panic button. Hell with Bluetooth enabled car, even air bag deployment could send a signal to a phone to enable GPS and call 911 automaticaly.
Wouldn't it be sufficient to put car-crash detection in cars themselves? And call it "On Star" or something?
The panic button was the first "app" I wrote for my N900, and I use that term very loosely. Actually, just a one-liner using an existing python script:
python ssms.py NPANXXxxxx 'I''ve been kidnapped by aliens!'
A crude drawing of an alien saved as an icon file and an entry in the desktop icons directory and I had a text message panic button.
Naturally, I never tried adding the dialing of 911 in the script, for no other reason than testing it would call 911 and they don't like that.
The Robocop example is really the 'first waffle' concept. You always have to make a first waffle, and it's almost always bad -- the iron's just not warm enough, oily enough or whatever until the second one comes out. But there's always, by definition, a first one. So just plan on your first iteration of a project to fail and to start over and do it right based on what you learned about the wrong way to start. Or not. Either way, the first iteration fails. You can throw it out and start over, or you can try to make the best of that ruined waffle. So why not plan on it?
Also, read "The Mythical Man Month". Amazingly, there are managers (and managees) who haven't. They don't have time? Really, you don't have time not to.
And how did the author of TFA miss the best one: pad your time estimates like Scotty.
You joke, but it's really incentive for future artists more than former. When they see people working a few years in their youth and then earning royalties into retirement, that's quite the incentive to get into music.
Just ask any musician. They'll tell you they got in it for the money.
In Soviet Russia, dogs are allergic to you.
Also in my house.
Recently found out some of the allergens that my constantly irritate my dog, a list which includes cat and human dander.
Isn't looking for a "hygienic" way to expose a person to microbes like looking for a pornography store without the smut? The unhygienic part of poop (or saliva, blood, skin, or any tissue or fluid) is the microbes. Example: What's the polio vaccine? Weakened or killed virus from poop. Why did kids need it? Too little exposure to poop as a result of better sanitation.
Also what dangerous zoonotic (transgenic means something else) disease do you expect to catch from Fido that you're not just as likely to get from another human? You don't want to know where your baby's doctor's tie has been.
Also, before some Slashdot Aspie suggests I'm advocating living in filth: I am not suggesting we live in filth.
There is something about dog ownership that causes deafness.
The solution then to the barking dog problem is to get your own dog.
One caveat I should mention: DON'T DO THIS WITHOUT PRACTICING IT FIRST. It isn't taught in driver's ed--frankly, they don't teach much there but the laws. But, if you live in an area prone to major snowfall, you should practice in an empty parking lot first until you're comfortable with how the car handles and how much gas is enough. Always keep the wheels pointed the direction you want to go, and don't give it too much gas or counter-steer too hard. Chances are, the car will straighten out after a couple swings--if you practiced before it became necessary, and didn't overdo the gas/counter-steering.
There just aren't as many empty parking lots around anymore as when I was learning to drive. Lots more light poles, bumpers, curbs, etc. And a lot more cops to attract these days too.
China holds a huge amount of our debt. They want us to buy their stuff and to borrow money from them. Why cripple our economy? Or, even worse, why do something like this that will point a finger back to them and stir up the pot against them? (and possibly lad to embargos, and so on)
Ya, it makes no sense. Like if I pulled up to the Starbucks drive-thru to order a venti double-skinny mocha latteachio with no foam and instead they went all Goldfinger on my car. You don't try to kill your best customer.
Likewise if this was some freelance/rogue/criminal/terrorist operation inside China, I'd think they (the Chinese) would be motivated to foil it themselves for the same reasons.
The NSA should have cooked up a more plausible bogus plot to foil, but instead they don't even respect us enough to make up a believable lie.
With a good antenna, OTA is really nice these days. Unfortunately, most new tvs no longer include it, but ota also includes an episode guide.
My complaint with the OTA episode guide is the too brief calendar. When my local stations provide information at all, it's rarely for more than a day or two in advance. Perhaps they've improved in the past year, but I haven't checked lately. In a fit of poor planning, I mounted the TV in a room adjoining a toddler bedroom, so evening TV disturbs her sleep. But my wife is happy watching her stories online on her laptop, so remounting the TV elsewhere and patching the holes in the wall can be deferred indefinitely. I guess we are one of the cable (and broadcast) defectors. Except that the internet comes from Time Warner Cable . . .
electric heat pumps (with appropriate backup heat),
Why do you need a backup for heat pumps?
Efficiency drops off at lower temperatures.
That light bulb is actually a 90% efficient heater -- that's why it's such an inefficient light source.
Which is 100% USELESS except during the day in the dead of winter. In fact during the summer you have to use your AC to remove that heat and thus incur additional cost that more than makes up for any savings in the winter. In the summer all of that 90% is waste heat and it is pretty annoying to heat your house with a light bulb when you want it dark. Not to mention that electric heat is relatively expensive compared available alternatives.
Well, that is what my second paragraph said . . .
I live in Wisconsin, seriously, that "waste" heat is NOT wasted!
Blah blah, I live up north too. Let's see, should I heat my house with a 95% efficient furnace or a 10% efficient light bulb? Boy that's a tough one...
That light bulb is actually a 90% efficient heater -- that's why it's such an inefficient light source.
The real argument against heating with light bulbs is that in most areas, cheaper alternatives to electric resistive heat exist: gas, oil, electric heat pumps (with appropriate backup heat), etc. Also, waste heat is generated by the incandescents whether or not it can be used -- or even if it needs to be removed at additional cost.
(BTW. Incandescent heat lamps will still be available for applications heating with lamps is actually a good idea -- incubators, cafeterias, etc.)