The logo of a high profile tech site on your sign. What kind of geek wouldn't walk up and enquire about a job at a booth with a slashdot logo and "As seen on slashdot" in the corner?
We have a couple of BigIP load balancing appliances which manage access to the terminal servers.
120 terminal servers in each location, one location in each major city. The users who connect from the branch offices are using thin clients running windows embedded.
They punch in thier branch id and that takes them to one of the terminal servers assigned to their group. All of thier user files, configuration files, applications, etc are stored on nas volumes and re-mapped at each login.
The user can access any of thier applications, files, document directories, and group shared drives from any thin client in thier branch and each of the terminal servers is configured the same.
This way, if one terminal server goes down, all they need to do is power off thier thin client and log back on. Then they are right back where they left off.
If an entire city or one of the many reduntant backbones goes down, we switch everyone to an alternate location (from thier city to the next closest city) and they can still work just fine.
If either of the bigIP appliances goes offline, the other detects it and switches the users to the next available location automatically.
It all works very well over adsl lines (themes turned off, 256 color desktops at 1024x768).
We also have a bunch of developers scattered all over the world who connect to a "special" development TS farm but each of their accounts have the same restrictions concerning network storage, etc.. If one of them forks off an infinate loop, the number of users impacted is minimal since they are all spread out over the entire farm.
We have yet to have a user crash a server, and even when CPU loads approach 100%, it is generally not a problem on that server since users will generally log off and back on if the system gets to slow to use.
Also, just to be on the safe side, we reboot all of the servers once a week (they ARE windows after all) to clean out disconnected sessions, hung processes, etc...
Just a perspective from a Terminal Server administrator...
It is because there is no provision for line item vetoing of these things.
Think about it. A bill either gets passed into a law or it doesnt't.
There is no way to pick and choose what parts of the bill are passed, hence why presidents keep asking for line item veto powers. This would allow them to remove this extra crap from bills in which they do not belong.
Say they are going to pass through a major bill on redoing the entire national highway system to allow automatic driving cars and congress is under alot of pressure to pass the bill into law. Along comes some congressman who says "Hey, this is great! This bill is guaranteed to pass through both houses with minimal fuss. Why don't I tack this extra paragraph on that will channel funds to my pet project!".
The congressman knows that nobody in thier right mind would not pass the bill just because of this one paragraph is in it. Related or not. So, the bill turns into law, the guy's pet project gets it's funds, and everybody's happy except for the tax payers who just sent 5 million dollars to the guy's brother's company.
Line item veto would allow the president (who ultimately signs the bill into law based on the recommendation of congress) to say "WTF is this crap doing in here!?!" so he scratches that paragraph out and signs the rest.
The problem with the current administration is that line item veto, if allowed, would most likley be used to veto the parts of bills that would limit his power to "fight terrorists" so it's a 2 way street.
Since, based on the past, none of the studios will license a key for a linux player, I propose we create a player that, as part of playback, incorporates this "crack".
To get around this, the player will prompt for the disc key before playback. Then, the disc is decrypted as playpack is performed, thereby bypassing the "Player Key".
I ran across something like this once. I was doing a Google search for some data and caught a link to a NASA website.
Clicking the link took me to a page that had links to pdf reports, etc. Clicking on one of those took me to a standard apache index page with a list of the contents of the directory.
After clicking around in there, the source files for a multi-thousand (close to $10,000) cold fusion enterprise CMS system were discovered. Clicking on one of the.cfm files revealed the source, the code was not running. Very obviously, the web server was not configured correctly. After looking around some more, there was a database backup directory with db dumps for the CMS system dating back a couple of years.
Opening one of those files revealed usernames and passwords (in plain text mind you) for many thousands of nasa employees, scientists, politicians, etc... that had accounts on the CMS.
Another file contained the software license and key to run said CMS software in it's most expensive form, the Enterprise Ultra edition with unlimited domains and users.
I sent an email to the server administrator that was listed as being the registered user of the CMS stating that their code, license, and database were out in the open and only *one click* away from a google search. The query I used was basic, simply something like "weather Data" although I can't remember the exact term now. No "Google hacking" involved, and google only returned 4 results. Theirs being #1.
I never received a reply from NASA, and after about 6 months, the page was not fixed, but the CMS and database backups were finally removed.
Sometimes, even disclosing a problem to a very public website doesn't generate a response.
I have owned a Suzuki Cappuccino for the last 8 years and I can say first hand, the one in the game handles very close to the real thing. Only problem is the one in GT:HD doesn't accelerate nearly as quickly as my real one and the engine sounds are totally different.
The graphics for this game are excellent in my opinion, even though I am still in standard def.
Need to get one of those force feedback steering wheel thingies and give it a try.
Oh, BTW, the right analog stick CAN be used for gas and brakes.
FTA: "The team has not yet observed some of the other exotic effects possible with a negative refractive index, such as the ability to bend light backwards."
Last time I czeched, this was a device called a "mirror".
I've been able to do this on my cell phone (integrated) here in Japan for years.
Every picture I take has it's GPS coordinates embeded into it, and I can make a comment on the picture as well.
Old news. Wayyyyyyy old news.
http://www.psphacks.net/
I went to Eureka High School from 1989 until 1993 AND had an older brother there from 1983 until 1987 as well as other friends there during the 2 years where my family was not directly enrolled and I have never heard of any such incident. You, my internet stranger, are a victim of belief in one of those "urban legends".
Eureka Senior High School does not have any skylights, in either the main building, nor the science building, let alone the agriculture building(that leaves the PE building but falling through a skylight in there means you'd be landing in a swimming pool).
Response requested and submitted.
Just one more reason to live outside of the US.
As an expat, I can say that looking from the outside:
"Freedom is no longer the ability to do what you want. Freedom is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want."
- Aaron Anderson
Almost every cellular phone company that is not based in Japan competes with the ones who are.
I have seen 2 models of cellular phone here in Japan without a camera built in. Both of those models are meant for "old people". It's simply a keypad with an lcd display so you can double czech the number you are calling. Keys are big for people who have a hard time pushing these tiny buttons. Even the latest phones designed for elementary school children have cameras and gps built into them.
On the other hand, some of the latest models here in Japan come with 4 megapixel cameras built in.
I am of the mind, however, that a phone should be exactly that. Something to call others with. A way to take calls when I am not in the office. Don't get me wrong. I like my current phone (W21S) but I never use any of the features of it. I call people. People call me. What use have I for the GPS, TV tuner, Radio, Java, QR Code reader, and camera that are built in? The camera does come in handy sometimes, for those spontaneous shots or situations, but other than that, I don't need the other features. Hell, I'm thinking of re-activating my "old" lcd only phone mostly because of it's "lack" of features.
Here in Japan, we simply cannot buy phones without most of these features. They don't exist.
I DO like the GPS features though. For example. I go to the cell phone shop and pick myself up a phone with a GPS. Then, I pick up some phones for the kids (and wife). Those phones will transmit their GPS coordinates to my phone when I request to know the other phone's locations. If the "child" phones are not within GPS range (due to the kids being in school or on the bus or whatnot), then I will get approximations on where they are based on triangulation of the standby signal they generate when in contact with 3 or more cellular towers. All in all, a good way to keep track of those teenagers' whereabouts;) It also lets me add the GPS coordinates to any picture that is taken with the built in camera, and will plot it on a map for me online if I wish.
Get used to the idea that cell phones will have cameras built into them. If you don't like that, use land lines.
Slashdot Mirror
The logo of a high profile tech site on your sign. What kind of geek wouldn't walk up and enquire about a job at a booth with a slashdot logo and "As seen on slashdot" in the corner?
The place I work for does it like this:
We have a couple of BigIP load balancing appliances which manage access to the terminal servers.
120 terminal servers in each location, one location in each major city. The users who connect from the branch offices are using thin clients running windows embedded.
They punch in thier branch id and that takes them to one of the terminal servers assigned to their group. All of thier user files, configuration files, applications, etc are stored on nas volumes and re-mapped at each login.
The user can access any of thier applications, files, document directories, and group shared drives from any thin client in thier branch and each of the terminal servers is configured the same.
This way, if one terminal server goes down, all they need to do is power off thier thin client and log back on. Then they are right back where they left off.
If an entire city or one of the many reduntant backbones goes down, we switch everyone to an alternate location (from thier city to the next closest city) and they can still work just fine.
If either of the bigIP appliances goes offline, the other detects it and switches the users to the next available location automatically.
It all works very well over adsl lines (themes turned off, 256 color desktops at 1024x768).
We also have a bunch of developers scattered all over the world who connect to a "special" development TS farm but each of their accounts have the same restrictions concerning network storage, etc.. If one of them forks off an infinate loop, the number of users impacted is minimal since they are all spread out over the entire farm.
We have yet to have a user crash a server, and even when CPU loads approach 100%, it is generally not a problem on that server since users will generally log off and back on if the system gets to slow to use.
Also, just to be on the safe side, we reboot all of the servers once a week (they ARE windows after all) to clean out disconnected sessions, hung processes, etc...
Just a perspective from a Terminal Server administrator...
It is because there is no provision for line item vetoing of these things.
Think about it. A bill either gets passed into a law or it doesnt't.
There is no way to pick and choose what parts of the bill are passed, hence why presidents keep asking for line item veto powers. This would allow them to remove this extra crap from bills in which they do not belong.
Say they are going to pass through a major bill on redoing the entire national highway system to allow automatic driving cars and congress is under alot of pressure to pass the bill into law. Along comes some congressman who says "Hey, this is great! This bill is guaranteed to pass through both houses with minimal fuss. Why don't I tack this extra paragraph on that will channel funds to my pet project!".
The congressman knows that nobody in thier right mind would not pass the bill just because of this one paragraph is in it. Related or not. So, the bill turns into law, the guy's pet project gets it's funds, and everybody's happy except for the tax payers who just sent 5 million dollars to the guy's brother's company.
Line item veto would allow the president (who ultimately signs the bill into law based on the recommendation of congress) to say "WTF is this crap doing in here!?!" so he scratches that paragraph out and signs the rest.
The problem with the current administration is that line item veto, if allowed, would most likley be used to veto the parts of bills that would limit his power to "fight terrorists" so it's a 2 way street.
You put a dry sponge into your microwave didn't you?
How about a player for linux?
Since, based on the past, none of the studios will license a key for a linux player, I propose we create a player that, as part of playback, incorporates this "crack".
To get around this, the player will prompt for the disc key before playback. Then, the disc is decrypted as playpack is performed, thereby bypassing the "Player Key".
I ran across something like this once. I was doing a Google search for some data and caught a link to a NASA website.
.cfm files revealed the source, the code was not running. Very obviously, the web server was not configured correctly. After looking around some more, there was a database backup directory with db dumps for the CMS system dating back a couple of years.
Clicking the link took me to a page that had links to pdf reports, etc. Clicking on one of those took me to a standard apache index page with a list of the contents of the directory.
After clicking around in there, the source files for a multi-thousand (close to $10,000) cold fusion enterprise CMS system were discovered. Clicking on one of the
Opening one of those files revealed usernames and passwords (in plain text mind you) for many thousands of nasa employees, scientists, politicians, etc... that had accounts on the CMS.
Another file contained the software license and key to run said CMS software in it's most expensive form, the Enterprise Ultra edition with unlimited domains and users.
I sent an email to the server administrator that was listed as being the registered user of the CMS stating that their code, license, and database were out in the open and only *one click* away from a google search. The query I used was basic, simply something like "weather Data" although I can't remember the exact term now. No "Google hacking" involved, and google only returned 4 results. Theirs being #1.
I never received a reply from NASA, and after about 6 months, the page was not fixed, but the CMS and database backups were finally removed.
Sometimes, even disclosing a problem to a very public website doesn't generate a response.
Look at all the trouble Joey got in for downloading a Garbage File.
But instead, i'm reading an article on slashdot about procrastination.
Talk about the right story for the right job!
I have owned a Suzuki Cappuccino for the last 8 years and I can say first hand, the one in the game handles very close to the real thing. Only problem is the one in GT:HD doesn't accelerate nearly as quickly as my real one and the engine sounds are totally different.
The graphics for this game are excellent in my opinion, even though I am still in standard def.
Need to get one of those force feedback steering wheel thingies and give it a try.
Oh, BTW, the right analog stick CAN be used for gas and brakes.
FTA: "The team has not yet observed some of the other exotic effects possible with a negative refractive index, such as the ability to bend light backwards." Last time I czeched, this was a device called a "mirror".
I've been able to do this on my cell phone (integrated) here in Japan for years. Every picture I take has it's GPS coordinates embeded into it, and I can make a comment on the picture as well. Old news. Wayyyyyyy old news. http://www.psphacks.net/
Funny...
I went to Eureka High School from 1989 until 1993 AND had an older brother there from 1983 until 1987 as well as other friends there during the 2 years where my family was not directly enrolled and I have never heard of any such incident. You, my internet stranger, are a victim of belief in one of those "urban legends".
Eureka Senior High School does not have any skylights, in either the main building, nor the science building, let alone the agriculture building(that leaves the PE building but falling through a skylight in there means you'd be landing in a swimming pool).
Some people will believe anything I guess...
Cheers!
"Besides... young programmers in a backwater Nova Scotia fishing village? Eh? Isn't that town still on dial-up?"
Appearantly you believe that no programming took place before broadband was available.
Wow, if only 90% of slashdotites had experienced the 80s and early 90s as a teen or an adult instead of an infant.
Is it just me, or does this sound a helluvalot like the opening chapters in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy?
Read those books... Sounds like a really good idea to have a testing ground in the Antarctic...
Cheers
Time to tote out my favorite quote again:
"In the United States, freedom is no longer the ability do do what you want. Freedom is the means to stop others from doing what they want."
- Aaron Anderson
Response requested and submitted. Just one more reason to live outside of the US. As an expat, I can say that looking from the outside: "Freedom is no longer the ability to do what you want. Freedom is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want." - Aaron Anderson
When you turn 65, move to Japan :D
Not going to happen.
;) It also lets me add the GPS coordinates to any picture that is taken with the built in camera, and will plot it on a map for me online if I wish.
Almost every cellular phone company that is not based in Japan competes with the ones who are.
I have seen 2 models of cellular phone here in Japan without a camera built in. Both of those models are meant for "old people". It's simply a keypad with an lcd display so you can double czech the number you are calling. Keys are big for people who have a hard time pushing these tiny buttons. Even the latest phones designed for elementary school children have cameras and gps built into them.
On the other hand, some of the latest models here in Japan come with 4 megapixel cameras built in.
I am of the mind, however, that a phone should be exactly that. Something to call others with. A way to take calls when I am not in the office. Don't get me wrong. I like my current phone (W21S) but I never use any of the features of it. I call people. People call me. What use have I for the GPS, TV tuner, Radio, Java, QR Code reader, and camera that are built in? The camera does come in handy sometimes, for those spontaneous shots or situations, but other than that, I don't need the other features. Hell, I'm thinking of re-activating my "old" lcd only phone mostly because of it's "lack" of features.
Here in Japan, we simply cannot buy phones without most of these features. They don't exist.
I DO like the GPS features though. For example. I go to the cell phone shop and pick myself up a phone with a GPS. Then, I pick up some phones for the kids (and wife). Those phones will transmit their GPS coordinates to my phone when I request to know the other phone's locations. If the "child" phones are not within GPS range (due to the kids being in school or on the bus or whatnot), then I will get approximations on where they are based on triangulation of the standby signal they generate when in contact with 3 or more cellular towers. All in all, a good way to keep track of those teenagers' whereabouts
Get used to the idea that cell phones will have cameras built into them. If you don't like that, use land lines.
Sorry.