I'm sure most of everyone has heard of dispoable e-mail addresses. Want to sign up for that newsletter, but don't want them to have your real e-mail address? Give them a sneakemail address. Not even my bank has my real e-mail address.
So how does this tie into this story? Easy. You can write notes in your sneakemail account for every address you create. I use sneakemail as a master password. If anyone has access to my sneakemail account, they have access to everything I do online. Thankfully, sneakemail has maximum of 30 letters on their passwords, and the option for a secure sign in. It would be rather simple to make a very difficult to break passphrase that could be left in your will, or in a safety deposit box tied to your will. Want a bunch of files to be read after you die? E-mail them to a web-mail address with enough storage, and then keep the password in your sneakemail account. I'm yet to find a Windows based method of deleting everything on your computer when you die. I imagine it would be rather simple on a *nix box.
Attempts to learn anything by monitoring everything are ignorant. You cannot learn what the terrorists are communicating without knowing who the terrorists are. It's impossible to assume that everyone is a terrorist and try to figure out what they might be saying to another. The internet is just another form of communication. There are so many ways to communicate that already exist, not including the ones that don't exist yet, that monitoring everything is ridiculous. Should the government start monitoring every method of communication? It's impossible. Anyone who is a terrorist is not going to be a terrorist only on the internet with other means of communicating available. The only way to intercept terrorist messages on the internet is to know who the terrorists are before they send their messages. They have lives somewhere that can be investigated. If the two persons suspsected are identified, then monitoring their communications is simple. Whether they use snail mail, a MUD, or anonymous cell phones, it can all be intercepted covertly.
I've always been told not to complain about a problem without a solution. Here's my solution. Identify a few terrorists. This we've done already. Next, monitor every way for those particular people to communicate. Internet, snail-mail, MUD, whatever. They're talking to someone. Identify that someone. Rinse and repeat. Monitoring a 100 million people when only 10,000 of them are terrorist is inefficient, and down right stupid.
The people working for out government do not need more information. They need better information.
OT: In Orwell's 1984, it wasn't just the monitoring that allowed them to catch everyone, especially thought-crimes, is was that the children were raised to look for suspicious behavior in adults and to report it. The technology had little to do with it. Now, where's my tin-foil hat...
So how about a social answer to our terrorist problems? This is going to sound horrible, but terrorists are people too. They have minds, consciences, and hearts just like every else does. Why don't they feel bad about killing people? Well, what does it take for you to not feel bad about killing someone? How about, if they didn't treat you like a human being? How about, if they didn't care if you were dead or not? How about, if they didn't care whether or not you had a place live or food to eat? The American government's policy toward most muslims is that they don't care, whether they're alive or dead, have a place to live or food to eat, and generally don't treat them like human beings. What the terrorists want is not us dead. They want to be treated like people. They want American foreign policy to change, because right now, they aren't treated like human beings. Just look at our holding of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba if you have any doubts about the American government's feeling towards them. Terrorists killing people is their way of making a statement, because the government won't listen to any other form. If we listened to what they had to say, they wouldn't need to kill people to communicate to us that they're unhappy with the situation.
Both sides are wrong. Killing people, for any reason, is wrong. It's a useless vicious cycle. They kill us because we refuse to listen, so we kill them for killing us, and they kill us for refusing to listen about how they don't like being killed. And before someone says 'But we didn't kill them first!', we did. Causing someone's death by being negligent is just as bad as pulling the trigger. Inaction is still an action.
I'm probably going to be modded flamebait, but the ideal government is going to include online forums just like this one so that they can get the people's opinion on issues and find an ideal compromise. The ideal government will be honestly willing to listen.
--Start Rant-- Don't like my solutions? Tell me yours. If you don't have one, then shut the fuck up about mine. Don't bitch about a problem unless you take the time to think of a solution. --End Rant--
The problems I pointed out with Exeem haven't gone away, and appear to have gotten worse.
Exeem still sucks, and it doesn't appear to be replacing Suprnova.org, as there are still hardly any files on it. I won't post the entire message from Suprnova again, but not only does it not sound induced by the MPAA, it doesn't mention Exeem or 'coming back in another form'. I think it's likely Exeem is almost as dead as Suprnova.org
Also, for those who haven't had a chance to read the Exeem forums, because they're closed to all but the beta-testers, they have no intention of making Exeem open-source.
Why was the parent modded off-topic? The article is about a college class where the finding of security holes is the requirement to pass. This post is about his opinions about classes and their requirements to pass. This is not off-topic. Don't moderate someone down because you disagree.
As I previewed my post, the parent went from (Score: 2, off-topic) to (Score: 5, interesting). I guess the moderators are psychic too. Further proof that the Slashdot moderation system actually works.
"I personally wouldn't apply a beta patch like this - sorry, "release candidate" - until it's clear that it'll result in a safer, more reliable, and above all secure system."
Before I start this post, let me explain this post has absolutely nothing to do with George Carlin.
Has anyone besides myself noticed that the word 'fuck' has become an almost accepted word by the general public? I believe at least half of the people I talk to on a regular basis use it and the rest aren't offended by it. As long as it's not used to describe actual intercourse, no one seems to mind. So why is it still considerered 'cussing'? I went through the drive-thru of a national fast-food chain the other day and, as usual, they got my order wrong. So I parked my vehicle and went inside to speak to the manager. I said to him, "I'm sorry, but you fucked up my order." He was more concerned with me apologizing for cussing than he was about getting my order correct. He's one of the few exceptions, but is anybody still offended by the word 'fuck'? I mean, really, is it that big of a deal? Even the Vice President of the US uses it regularly. What's the big deal? Words that are considered 'cuss words' change over time. A century ago, no one would ever say 'chicken breast' because breast was considered to be a 'bad word'. Is it possible that anyone is still offended by the word 'fuck' is just behind the times? A lot of people say that 'cussing' shows your lack of vocabulary. I consider myself to have a fairly large vocabulary, and to be a fairly decent speaker, but I still use 'fuck' all the time. Sometimes there are no other words to convey your point with the same emphasis as with the word 'fuck'. For example, "What the fuck is that!?". I could use 'hell' there, but it doesn't quite carry the same emphasis.
Should 'fuck' be removed from the list of seven words you're not supposed to say?
I say, "Hell, yes!", and to those that disagree, "Fuck 'em."
I'm an Exeem beta tester that's been trying to give it a fair shake. I'll probably get banned just for this post, but here's some general details about the new client.
First off, it's in beta testing, but it's not ready for beta. It has some serious isses at the moment. Torrents disappear off the network for no reason is just one of them.
Second, they don't have 5,000 beta testers. They sent out 5,000 serials, but my best guess by looking at the network is that there are less than 1,000 actually testing it and never more than 200 or 300 people running it at the same time. They actually sent out new serials to all the 5,000 beta testers because they didn't have enough people.
Third, it lacks the details. With most BT clients, such as BitTornado and G3 Torrent, you can see all kinds of details about the file you're trying to acquire, how many seeds, portions of seeds, how many complete copies are distributed amongst the peers if there are no seeds. Exeem lacks all of these details.
Fourth, it doesn't use bitTorrent. It's based on bitTorrent, and uses libTorrent, but it's not a torrent. It's their own unique format. Exeem will not be compatible with other BT clients. It's use their client or don't connect. It almost appears to be a Kazaa rip off with bitTorrent features.
Fifth. 'But it's open source? Why can't we just write our own clients?' From everything I can tell, they have no intention of making this an open source project. They're talking about the type of ads they want to put in it.
Sixth: Pr0n. A lot of people like Suprnova.org and other torrent sites because there is no pr0n. Exeem has an adult filter, but 'Adult' is one of the more popular categories for Exeem users at the moment.
Exeem will not replace bitTorrent. The problem I see is that Exeem is being developed by the same guys that run suprnova.org. Whether Exeem ever works or ever becomes popular, will they take down what appears to be the most popular torrent site on the web because of it?
There are more problems with Exeem, but these are the major ones that I see. I'm sure some of the coders of Exeem will be reading this post. Please feel free to tell me where I'm wrong and why.
"and yet when the flu vaccine had a shortage here who did they get more vaccine from? oh yes. canada.. who's drugs you can't trust..."
I believe that's the 'Canada's drugs are better than nothing' approach..
I joke, but I do think we need major changes in the pharmaceutical field. Why is it that only private corporations are doing this research? They're getting money from the US Government, aren't they? Why can't the US Government create a branch of the CDC solely for research of cures, vaccines, and treatments? These private corporations use their discoveries which were largely funded by taxpayer dollars to rip more money out of our citizens when they're done. You've already paid for these drugs with your taxes.
Instead, let's use the taxpayer dollars to fund a government run research facility. It'll take them a while before they can produce anything, but when they are ready to produce, the government can build a production facility and give out the drugs/vaccines/treatments to those that need them to live for free. Why should they be free? Because the public will have already paid for them with their tax-dollars. The people working to create these new drugs/vaccines/treatments don't want to be billionaires. For the most part, they're doing what they do because they want to help our species. It's the owners/shareholders of these large pharmaceutical companies that want to be rich and gouge the public for money. There's no reason the government can't hire the same caliber scientists and researchers to do the same thing. There's also no reason why this research group can't publish it's findings when it's done. If it's open, as in open-source, the private corporations will steal their findings to bring their drugs to the market faster. There's also no reason why this project couldn't be shared between countries, as long as they're willing to keep all findings confidential until production is ready. But we shouldn't require funding from these other countries. Unlike the US invasion of Iraq, this is one of those times when the United States should 'go it alone' whether the other countries want to come along or not.
The United States is the richest country this planet has ever seen? No. Wealth shouldn't be measured by how much you have, but by how much you give away. As much as I dislike Bill Gates for his business tactics over the past two decades, I do have to give him some respect for his efforts to help out his fellow humans.
Anyone else have any suggestions about a government run, for the people, type research facility?
Well, that would have been great if I had picked my rate. I signed up for the Advanced Electronics Computer Field (AECF) field. That was ET, FC, and DS. DS was the most computer related rate in the Navy. But, my recruiters didn't tell me that it wouldn't exist by the time I got to boot camp. So I got stuck with ET or FC. Had I known that the IT's would be running the computers, I would have been an RM in a heartbeat. I know lots of smart ITs, but most of the others are pretty slow and horrible sysadmins.
As for the nice contracting jobs for 50K a year, I could have had one of those. I was offered a few. But you start out on an installation team travelling 3 or 4 days out of the week. In order to skip the installation team, you had to be a known expert in a field before you got out. After doing 6 years of not seeing my family, I wasn't about to make a job decision that took me away from them half of every week. The contracter jobs are nice jobs, but not if you have other priorites, like seeing the people you love.
"Which is why joining the military is a good start to your occupation."
Your kidding, right? I did 6 years in the US Navy. I had the highest possible score on the ASVAB. (ASVAB is a military placement test of sorts) I told them I wanted to work with computers. That I already had experience with computer hardware and computer programming. What did I wind up doing for the Navy? Electronics. Close, but definteiy not CS work. When someone joins the Navy, they get used to a phrase very quickly. 'The needs of the Navy.' They'll put you wherever you feel like it. The other branches are no different. I never touched a computer for the Navy other than to access my e-mail.
So what is my 6 years worth? Not much for a CS job. Maybe I could convince the interviewer that my 6 years weren't a waste and that I did 6 years of electronic/computer work, but that would be lying. Join the military because you have no other options. Only 80% of people that do one term in the military get out with an honorable discharge. That's 205 that don't get their promised 'Money for school' for reasons that may or not may be their fault.
I'm not saying that everyone will have the horrible experience that I had, but the simple fact of the matter is that you're no longer in charge of the major decisions in your life. Nothing is guaranteed in the military.
I still love my country, even if I'm embarassed by it's actions. I still support our troops, even if I had a horrible experience with the military.
Buying used CD-ROM drives and plugging them in to see if A) they work and B) what's in them. I'd say one out of three has something in it. Very odd... Anyone want a copy of Disney's '102 Dalmations: Puppies To The Rescue'? No? Awww....
"You must not link to any Sony Site without first obtaining the prior written consent of Sony and such consent must be signed by Sony's Director of Business Affairs to be valid."
2600 Magazine has already taken this to court against Ford Motor Company and won. A website cannot legally prevent someone from linking to them. Here's a link to the article. The World Wide Web cannot exist in it's present form without the ability to link to anyone you choose. Take Slashdot as example. What if all the websites in these stories didn't want to be linked to? No more Slashdot.. Linking is the premise that the World Wide Web is built on.
"It's so that if they find you with fake $20s they can confirm that it matches your printer."
I was wondering when someone was going to bring this up. Just because they can read a serial number off of something you printed doesn't mean they know who you are. It means that they can confirm it was you that printed it if they find you and your printer. Even if they find the printer, as long as it's not in your possession when they find it, and without anything to connect it to you, the serial number will do them no good.
But why are we so worried about this? Are we sending anonymous threats on a regular basis? If you really are concerned about this, go to a cybercafe, public library, kinko's, friend's house, etc. Anywhere that's anonymous and won't see what you're printing will do. Or how about taking the color image you just printed, bringing it to a color copier, and photocopying it? I haven't read the article at all, but I doubt the color photocopier would rransfer something that's invisible to the naked eye. But then you run into the problem of whether or not color photocopiers have serials built into them as well..
As for the comment about people already leaving fingerprints everywhere they go, that's not entirely true. Fingerprints are not as unique as people believe. Try this article about it. Also, you don't have to leave fingerprints everywhere you go. Gloves? Also, fingerprints are residue from the oil on your fingers. The oil on your fingers is from your face and hair. If you extensively clean your hands with something like a bleach solution, then refrain from touching your hair and face entirely, you'll leave no fingerprints. Then again, how long do you think you could actually go without touching your face or hair without realizing it?
Slashdot Mirror
It's amazing, but doesn't surprise me at the same time. Is that possible?
Aero
That's absolutely amazing. The first post in a thread was marked redundant.
Aero
"or post it note it on the botton of your keyboard"
Damn it! You stole my idea..
I'm suing..
Aero
"little redundant?"
Could you cut him/her a little slack? They were posted a minute apart.
Aero
Am I the only person that hears 'barebones combo' and pictures a full/mid-tower with motherboard and power supply? (Looks something like this )
Aero
I'm sure most of everyone has heard of dispoable e-mail addresses. Want to sign up for that newsletter, but don't want them to have your real e-mail address? Give them a sneakemail address. Not even my bank has my real e-mail address.
So how does this tie into this story? Easy. You can write notes in your sneakemail account for every address you create. I use sneakemail as a master password. If anyone has access to my sneakemail account, they have access to everything I do online. Thankfully, sneakemail has maximum of 30 letters on their passwords, and the option for a secure sign in. It would be rather simple to make a very difficult to break passphrase that could be left in your will, or in a safety deposit box tied to your will. Want a bunch of files to be read after you die? E-mail them to a web-mail address with enough storage, and then keep the password in your sneakemail account. I'm yet to find a Windows based method of deleting everything on your computer when you die. I imagine it would be rather simple on a *nix box.
Aero
We would mod the parent up, but the horrible grammar and misspellings just make our heads hurt too much.
--Managment
Attempts to learn anything by monitoring everything are ignorant. You cannot learn what the terrorists are communicating without knowing who the terrorists are. It's impossible to assume that everyone is a terrorist and try to figure out what they might be saying to another. The internet is just another form of communication. There are so many ways to communicate that already exist, not including the ones that don't exist yet, that monitoring everything is ridiculous. Should the government start monitoring every method of communication? It's impossible. Anyone who is a terrorist is not going to be a terrorist only on the internet with other means of communicating available. The only way to intercept terrorist messages on the internet is to know who the terrorists are before they send their messages. They have lives somewhere that can be investigated. If the two persons suspsected are identified, then monitoring their communications is simple. Whether they use snail mail, a MUD, or anonymous cell phones, it can all be intercepted covertly.
I've always been told not to complain about a problem without a solution. Here's my solution. Identify a few terrorists. This we've done already. Next, monitor every way for those particular people to communicate. Internet, snail-mail, MUD, whatever. They're talking to someone. Identify that someone. Rinse and repeat. Monitoring a 100 million people when only 10,000 of them are terrorist is inefficient, and down right stupid.
The people working for out government do not need more information. They need better information.
OT: In Orwell's 1984, it wasn't just the monitoring that allowed them to catch everyone, especially thought-crimes, is was that the children were raised to look for suspicious behavior in adults and to report it. The technology had little to do with it. Now, where's my tin-foil hat...
So how about a social answer to our terrorist problems? This is going to sound horrible, but terrorists are people too. They have minds, consciences, and hearts just like every else does. Why don't they feel bad about killing people? Well, what does it take for you to not feel bad about killing someone? How about, if they didn't treat you like a human being? How about, if they didn't care if you were dead or not? How about, if they didn't care whether or not you had a place live or food to eat? The American government's policy toward most muslims is that they don't care, whether they're alive or dead, have a place to live or food to eat, and generally don't treat them like human beings. What the terrorists want is not us dead. They want to be treated like people. They want American foreign policy to change, because right now, they aren't treated like human beings. Just look at our holding of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba if you have any doubts about the American government's feeling towards them. Terrorists killing people is their way of making a statement, because the government won't listen to any other form. If we listened to what they had to say, they wouldn't need to kill people to communicate to us that they're unhappy with the situation.
Both sides are wrong. Killing people, for any reason, is wrong. It's a useless vicious cycle. They kill us because we refuse to listen, so we kill them for killing us, and they kill us for refusing to listen about how they don't like being killed. And before someone says 'But we didn't kill them first!', we did. Causing someone's death by being negligent is just as bad as pulling the trigger. Inaction is still an action.
I'm probably going to be modded flamebait, but the ideal government is going to include online forums just like this one so that they can get the people's opinion on issues and find an ideal compromise. The ideal government will be honestly willing to listen.
--Start Rant-- Don't like my solutions? Tell me yours. If you don't have one, then shut the fuck up about mine. Don't bitch about a problem unless you take the time to think of a solution. --End Rant--
Aero
The story from CIO made no mention of suprnova.org. That could have been any site.
Aero
Thanks for the FAQ. Seriously.
Aero
The problems I pointed out with Exeem haven't gone away, and appear to have gotten worse.
Exeem still sucks, and it doesn't appear to be replacing Suprnova.org, as there are still hardly any files on it. I won't post the entire message from Suprnova again, but not only does it not sound induced by the MPAA, it doesn't mention Exeem or 'coming back in another form'. I think it's likely Exeem is almost as dead as Suprnova.org
Also, for those who haven't had a chance to read the Exeem forums, because they're closed to all but the beta-testers, they have no intention of making Exeem open-source.
Aero
Why was the parent modded off-topic? The article is about a college class where the finding of security holes is the requirement to pass. This post is about his opinions about classes and their requirements to pass. This is not off-topic. Don't moderate someone down because you disagree.
As I previewed my post, the parent went from (Score: 2, off-topic) to (Score: 5, interesting). I guess the moderators are psychic too. Further proof that the Slashdot moderation system actually works.
Aero
"I personally wouldn't apply a beta patch like this - sorry, "release candidate" - until it's clear that it'll result in a safer, more reliable, and above all secure system."
Yeah, that worked great with XP's SP2.
Right..
Aero
In case anyone is reading this old thread, my account with suprnova/Exeem was not banned. I was indefinitely suspended..
Aero
Before I start this post, let me explain this post has absolutely nothing to do with George Carlin.
Has anyone besides myself noticed that the word 'fuck' has become an almost accepted word by the general public? I believe at least half of the people I talk to on a regular basis use it and the rest aren't offended by it. As long as it's not used to describe actual intercourse, no one seems to mind. So why is it still considerered 'cussing'? I went through the drive-thru of a national fast-food chain the other day and, as usual, they got my order wrong. So I parked my vehicle and went inside to speak to the manager. I said to him, "I'm sorry, but you fucked up my order." He was more concerned with me apologizing for cussing than he was about getting my order correct. He's one of the few exceptions, but is anybody still offended by the word 'fuck'? I mean, really, is it that big of a deal? Even the Vice President of the US uses it regularly. What's the big deal? Words that are considered 'cuss words' change over time. A century ago, no one would ever say 'chicken breast' because breast was considered to be a 'bad word'. Is it possible that anyone is still offended by the word 'fuck' is just behind the times? A lot of people say that 'cussing' shows your lack of vocabulary. I consider myself to have a fairly large vocabulary, and to be a fairly decent speaker, but I still use 'fuck' all the time. Sometimes there are no other words to convey your point with the same emphasis as with the word 'fuck'. For example, "What the fuck is that!?". I could use 'hell' there, but it doesn't quite carry the same emphasis.
Should 'fuck' be removed from the list of seven words you're not supposed to say?
I say, "Hell, yes!", and to those that disagree, "Fuck 'em."
Aero
I have two moderator points left. How do I mod this story as -1: Flamebait?
Aero
This is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Can the next Slashdot poll ask 'Who will sue Xcelis first?'?
Aero
I'm an Exeem beta tester that's been trying to give it a fair shake. I'll probably get banned just for this post, but here's some general details about the new client.
First off, it's in beta testing, but it's not ready for beta. It has some serious isses at the moment. Torrents disappear off the network for no reason is just one of them.
Second, they don't have 5,000 beta testers. They sent out 5,000 serials, but my best guess by looking at the network is that there are less than 1,000 actually testing it and never more than 200 or 300 people running it at the same time. They actually sent out new serials to all the 5,000 beta testers because they didn't have enough people.
Third, it lacks the details. With most BT clients, such as BitTornado and G3 Torrent, you can see all kinds of details about the file you're trying to acquire, how many seeds, portions of seeds, how many complete copies are distributed amongst the peers if there are no seeds. Exeem lacks all of these details.
Fourth, it doesn't use bitTorrent. It's based on bitTorrent, and uses libTorrent, but it's not a torrent. It's their own unique format. Exeem will not be compatible with other BT clients. It's use their client or don't connect. It almost appears to be a Kazaa rip off with bitTorrent features.
Fifth. 'But it's open source? Why can't we just write our own clients?' From everything I can tell, they have no intention of making this an open source project. They're talking about the type of ads they want to put in it.
Sixth: Pr0n. A lot of people like Suprnova.org and other torrent sites because there is no pr0n. Exeem has an adult filter, but 'Adult' is one of the more popular categories for Exeem users at the moment.
Exeem will not replace bitTorrent. The problem I see is that Exeem is being developed by the same guys that run suprnova.org. Whether Exeem ever works or ever becomes popular, will they take down what appears to be the most popular torrent site on the web because of it?
There are more problems with Exeem, but these are the major ones that I see. I'm sure some of the coders of Exeem will be reading this post. Please feel free to tell me where I'm wrong and why.
Aero
"and yet when the flu vaccine had a shortage here who did they get more vaccine from? oh yes. canada.. who's drugs you can't trust..."
I believe that's the 'Canada's drugs are better than nothing' approach..
I joke, but I do think we need major changes in the pharmaceutical field. Why is it that only private corporations are doing this research? They're getting money from the US Government, aren't they? Why can't the US Government create a branch of the CDC solely for research of cures, vaccines, and treatments? These private corporations use their discoveries which were largely funded by taxpayer dollars to rip more money out of our citizens when they're done. You've already paid for these drugs with your taxes.
Instead, let's use the taxpayer dollars to fund a government run research facility. It'll take them a while before they can produce anything, but when they are ready to produce, the government can build a production facility and give out the drugs/vaccines/treatments to those that need them to live for free. Why should they be free? Because the public will have already paid for them with their tax-dollars. The people working to create these new drugs/vaccines/treatments don't want to be billionaires. For the most part, they're doing what they do because they want to help our species. It's the owners/shareholders of these large pharmaceutical companies that want to be rich and gouge the public for money. There's no reason the government can't hire the same caliber scientists and researchers to do the same thing. There's also no reason why this research group can't publish it's findings when it's done. If it's open, as in open-source, the private corporations will steal their findings to bring their drugs to the market faster. There's also no reason why this project couldn't be shared between countries, as long as they're willing to keep all findings confidential until production is ready. But we shouldn't require funding from these other countries. Unlike the US invasion of Iraq, this is one of those times when the United States should 'go it alone' whether the other countries want to come along or not.
The United States is the richest country this planet has ever seen? No. Wealth shouldn't be measured by how much you have, but by how much you give away. As much as I dislike Bill Gates for his business tactics over the past two decades, I do have to give him some respect for his efforts to help out his fellow humans.
Anyone else have any suggestions about a government run, for the people, type research facility?
Aero
"Hey, here's a quote for you:
"Pick your rate, pick your fate"
Well, that would have been great if I had picked my rate. I signed up for the Advanced Electronics Computer Field (AECF) field. That was ET, FC, and DS. DS was the most computer related rate in the Navy. But, my recruiters didn't tell me that it wouldn't exist by the time I got to boot camp. So I got stuck with ET or FC. Had I known that the IT's would be running the computers, I would have been an RM in a heartbeat. I know lots of smart ITs, but most of the others are pretty slow and horrible sysadmins.
As for the nice contracting jobs for 50K a year, I could have had one of those. I was offered a few. But you start out on an installation team travelling 3 or 4 days out of the week. In order to skip the installation team, you had to be a known expert in a field before you got out. After doing 6 years of not seeing my family, I wasn't about to make a job decision that took me away from them half of every week. The contracter jobs are nice jobs, but not if you have other priorites, like seeing the people you love.
Best of luck to you.
Aero
"Which is why joining the military is a good start to your occupation."
Your kidding, right? I did 6 years in the US Navy. I had the highest possible score on the ASVAB. (ASVAB is a military placement test of sorts) I told them I wanted to work with computers. That I already had experience with computer hardware and computer programming. What did I wind up doing for the Navy? Electronics. Close, but definteiy not CS work. When someone joins the Navy, they get used to a phrase very quickly. 'The needs of the Navy.' They'll put you wherever you feel like it. The other branches are no different. I never touched a computer for the Navy other than to access my e-mail.
So what is my 6 years worth? Not much for a CS job. Maybe I could convince the interviewer that my 6 years weren't a waste and that I did 6 years of electronic/computer work, but that would be lying. Join the military because you have no other options. Only 80% of people that do one term in the military get out with an honorable discharge. That's 205 that don't get their promised 'Money for school' for reasons that may or not may be their fault.
I'm not saying that everyone will have the horrible experience that I had, but the simple fact of the matter is that you're no longer in charge of the major decisions in your life. Nothing is guaranteed in the military.
I still love my country, even if I'm embarassed by it's actions.
I still support our troops, even if I had a horrible experience with the military.
"IT Sales and Apple Certified 10AM-7PM, 9PM-2to3AM - Bartender at the major music venue here in town. Best of both worlds."
Assuming you're telling the truth..
When do you sleep?
Aero
This is almost a hobby..
Buying used CD-ROM drives and plugging them in to see if A) they work and B) what's in them. I'd say one out of three has something in it. Very odd... Anyone want a copy of Disney's '102 Dalmations: Puppies To The Rescue'? No? Awww....
Everyone needs a hobby..
Aero
"You must not link to any Sony Site without first obtaining the prior written consent of Sony and such consent must be signed by Sony's Director of Business Affairs to be valid."
2600 Magazine has already taken this to court against Ford Motor Company and won. A website cannot legally prevent someone from linking to them. Here's a link to the article. The World Wide Web cannot exist in it's present form without the ability to link to anyone you choose. Take Slashdot as example. What if all the websites in these stories didn't want to be linked to? No more Slashdot.. Linking is the premise that the World Wide Web is built on.
Aero
"It's so that if they find you with fake $20s they can confirm that it matches your printer."
I was wondering when someone was going to bring this up. Just because they can read a serial number off of something you printed doesn't mean they know who you are. It means that they can confirm it was you that printed it if they find you and your printer. Even if they find the printer, as long as it's not in your possession when they find it, and without anything to connect it to you, the serial number will do them no good.
But why are we so worried about this? Are we sending anonymous threats on a regular basis? If you really are concerned about this, go to a cybercafe, public library, kinko's, friend's house, etc. Anywhere that's anonymous and won't see what you're printing will do. Or how about taking the color image you just printed, bringing it to a color copier, and photocopying it? I haven't read the article at all, but I doubt the color photocopier would rransfer something that's invisible to the naked eye. But then you run into the problem of whether or not color photocopiers have serials built into them as well..
As for the comment about people already leaving fingerprints everywhere they go, that's not entirely true. Fingerprints are not as unique as people believe. Try this article about it. Also, you don't have to leave fingerprints everywhere you go. Gloves? Also, fingerprints are residue from the oil on your fingers. The oil on your fingers is from your face and hair. If you extensively clean your hands with something like a bleach solution, then refrain from touching your hair and face entirely, you'll leave no fingerprints. Then again, how long do you think you could actually go without touching your face or hair without realizing it?