Nothing happens to your privacy when tracked from floor to door, as long as it ends there.
I dont know where you guys shop, but the 17 year old moron or the "hire the handicapped" person at the checkout at stuff-mart looks at every single thing I buy.
You have _no_ right to "privacy" if you are patronizing someones store. Deal with it.
(This isnt meant to be a flame.. it is meant to point out that they track everything you buy anyway, and almost guaranteed, if you use credit or debit cards, there is a file SOMEWHERE that lists everything you bought, if you dont, like me, get that list on your statement every month.)
Now.. if the RFID tags follow you home.. thats another issue. But the show I saw on it. (Tech Tv? Might have been?) Did not seem to think that was possible.. they are a direct scan sort of thing, rather than a "scan from black helicopter" sort of thing.
Yes, you have the right to self defense, but it must be "proportional" to the harm faced. If you truly believe that your attacker was going to kill you, with whatever weapon or not, then you are justified in using deadly force in response. However, simply because someone decides they want to beat on you, or even take a swing at you does not give you the right to shoot them.
Maybe I have an odd world view.. but I dont think "self defense" should be proportional. People have been beaten to death by other people a number of times. If I am walking from the bar to the car, and three guys jump me, I should be ENTIRELY within my rights to pull my sig and quietly announce that the first person to lay a hand on me is dead. At that point, IMHO, it is a deterrant. Ounce of prevention? Sure as hell is. I would much rather be alive and feeling bad cause some drunk ass got killed, than dead at the hands of said drunk ass with my pistol never having cleared leather.
At what point does it go from "nonlethal" to "lethal" force during the beat down? Is there a magic number of "broken bones"?
Course.. I also believe you should have the right to shoot people who break into your house. I think, again, death is a great deterrant against recidivism. (Call me a Nihilist, I guess.. but my house _is_ my Castle, it is one of the few things I actually own and have control over, and my posessions are quite valuable to me. IMHO you give up your right to exist as soon as you decide to take them from me.)
And no, I dont value human life very highly, when it is criminal human life. There are too many of them around.
Note: this is not a flame, it is not an attack, it is not meant to be flamebait.. it is just the way I feel. And no, I have never shot anyone. I have never had reason to even pull my gun anywhere but at the range practicing. But I do know people whose CCW saved their lives. And ended someone elses.
Yeah. No harm no foul. I was harmed, and I was fouled.
Yes.. but you have demonstrated he caused harm, therefore there *is* a foul. I wasnt saying that Cracking is always harmless.. but in some cases (defacing a web page) the cost of repair is as simple as bringing up the cached copy, re-installing it, and fixing the exploit (if known.) There is no way that cost a million dollars.
Cracking is tresspass at the least and theft at the most. It deserves jail time. The issue is how much jail time. The guy who hacked me should face at a minimum the legal penalty for breaking into my house and rifling through my file cabinet
No argument. Define trespass though. SOmeone walks across my yard, its "trespassing". Refusing to leave when I ask them too, is "Defiant trespass". Coming into my house after I tell them to leave is anything from Breaking and Entering to Forced Entry (depending on whether I am trying to stop them or not, I think) and theft is another layer on top of that. (Hence the laundry list of charges usually piled on a burglar).
Breaking into your house and rifling your file cabinet would probably NOT net me jail time for a first time offense. Especially if nothing was taken, and none of the information gained was used against you. Its more likely a fine, time served, probation kind of thing.
If they're looking to give hackers/crackers a free ride, it won't happen. If they're trying to equal things...just make the same crime punishable by the same punishment. Rob a bank or Crack a bank, go to jail for up to ten years.
I look on this two ways. One way, the guy waving the gun around is definately more "liable". That is a threat of force, that is an action of abuse, etc etc. HOwever, mandatory sentencing laws A-La NJ "Commit a crime with a gun, go to jail" are kind of ridiculous too. All they do is threaten and scare law abiding citizens. A person who is going to hold up a gas station is aware this is a crime, folks. He is going to use a gun. However, the guy legally packing with a permit who gets a DUI or gets into a fist-fight with some thug and has a gun on him is the victim here. (The gun had nothing to do with the crime, leave it that way.. dont trump things up.)
I am a legal CCW carrier.. in some recent cases, people who have legitimately used legal guns to defend themselves have been found guilty of using deadly force where uneccesary because the judge/jury whatever found that four drunk guys armed only with their hands and feet is not considered "deadly force." Also baseball bats and crowbars. Here in PA that is a list of things that are "deadly force" and things that arent. A Billy club is not, a Lousville Slugger is.. you can shoot the guy attacking you with the baseball bat, but not the guy using the jack handle. (I dont know about you, but I think ANYONE beating on me with ANYTHING means I have the right to self defense.. to the point of stopping the attack.) Interestingly, holding your hand in your pocket in the shape of a gun, is _also_ deadly force. Priorities somewhat screwed up in the law? Yes. Anything we can do about it? Probably not, except take Judo.
IS the legal system pretty fuxored? Yeah.
(Did not mean to turn this into a self defense rant.. but it happened anyway. *shrug*)
That a lot of the problem here is due to double standards and lack of accountability.
Joe Schmoe embezzles from his S&L firm for ten years, gets caught, and it is realized that he made off with 500K. He is slapped on the wrist, fired, made to "pay it back" on time deferred payments, or maybe stuck in a white collar prison/country club for a few years.
Mike, the l337 hacker from down the street, defaces Stuff-Marts web page, pointing out that Stuff-Mart buys 80% of its stuff from china, where it is made in forced child labor camps at gunpoint, and it is repaired in an hour.
Now.. Stuff Mart's lawyers tell the jury that they *potentially* lost MILLIONS due to the damage, (when in fact, they did not "lose" anything.. and there is no way to prove how many people would have bought during that time anyway). The SM lawyers also point out that it cost "an estimated 100K dollars to repair the damage!".. which means they just budgeted in A) the new server and colocation company to handle the site, B) the three person team who maintains and handles the site already, and C) all of their IT staff who received an Email about the "hack" and therefore were "working" on it.
Its all about what the jury wants to hear, and all about language.. "potential" is used ahead of "we could have potentially lost BILLIONS in sales!" but the judge/jury does not hear the "potential". Nor do they realize that 99% of that IT staff was already working there, doing their routine jobs, and had nothing to do with the repair anyway.
(Same reason a procedure at the hospital that took all of 15 minutes costs your insurance company as much as your house did.. funky accounting and everyone wanting to be "in" on the action.)
I think a lot of "hacking" is a no harm no foul problem anyway.
No, he's confusing stupid with stupid.:) I'm from Texas, I live in Austin and know a good many smart Texans. Bush is not one of them. But I don't care if we have a moron in office so long as he doesn't make the same economic mistakes his daddy's boss made twenty years ago. Reaganomics is a textbook example (literally- economics textbooks use it as an example) of how NOT to steer national economic policy. Personally, I don't think it was ever supposed to work, just be a passable explanation for giving rich people more money.
Have you even clue one as to how economics works? Apparently you do not, nor do you watch it on a daily basis in the US. The growth during Bush sr.'s term and into Clintons terms was due to the "textbook example" you cite above. And BTW, the rampant slide since Bush got into office is due to Clintons policy, not Bush's.
I'd rather have Ashcroft than Janet Reno, than you VERY much. At least we are not currently kicking down the doors of law abiding americans who are exercising their constitutional rights, while allowing foreign nationals with bombs in on a "streamlined immigration process".
No.. it has nothing to do with "security". They do issue laptops.. slow arsed old IBM's that we are not allowed to connect high-speed. (only through the modems they provide). However, they also demand we take online certs that are nearly impossible over their slow assed VPN on an even slower assed modem.
But no mention was ever made of Virii.. no.. they are worried about PORN and PROFANITY. (To the point we were told we could not use the stock IBM background of the woman in the skirt.. it might be considered offensive.)
But they demand we do these certs on our free time, not work time, from home. I have so far refused, simply because I wont hook my machine (tho I am allowed to) to their VPN because I dont want to get busted because they dont like the name (yes.. someone got fired for having a file with a NAME they didnt like) on my machine.
They whacked this on us last year as "new and different".
They included, but were not limited to:
Drug testing (one time, so far, not random) Drivers License History/driving record check. (they did that one) Credit Check (they claim that it is due to the chance of getting a corporate credit card) Criminal background check. "other checks as necessary".
That one, "other" I specifically crossed out when I signed my "permission' to do those.
My Company (the contracting firm) basically said "Do it, or leave".. so no, I had no real choice. The fact that I live in an "employment at will" state doesnt help either.. means i can be fired any time for any thing.
(Course, my company also believes that I can be terminated for things on my personal computer at home if I connect to their VPN network and have as much as threatened to do so. Therefore I refuse to connect from my home PC, even if it is required by my job.. I tell em I will do it at 8:00 am the next morning when I get on-site.)
Its an ugly thing.. but I strongly suspect that you wont be able to do much about it..
I want to see mandatory drug testing for congress, with printed pass/fail results, personally.
Could God have whacked an amino acid with lightning?
Possibly! I have thought about that as well. But that means there was intent and purpose, rather than random chance at work. I have an easier time believing in that.
As another poster said, life is SO complex, even in relatively simple organisms, that its highly unlikely it just naturally spontaneously appeared. The answer to that, of course is "it came from outer space" which is chicken/egg as far as I'm concerned.
Mainly, I choose not to get too worked up about it, and worry more about what is happening NOW than what was happening a billion years ago.
The Simpsons was one of the deepest shows on American TV. Now it's a Saturday morning cartoon starring Captain Wacky (aka Homer). I use to watch it religiously, participate in forums, even did some work and article writing for a Simpsons website. Now the show seems so geared towards an age group far younger than mine, I hardly bother trying to catch it anymore.
So true! It seems to me that South Park and The SImpsons have swapped positions. South Park used to be all fart jokes and no real political humor, but now its so cutting edge I think Bill ("Im hipper than you, and Im EDGY!") Maher is probably offended by it on a regular basis. The Simpsons, however, is now just a bunch of fart jokes and catch phrases.
Did anyone else catch the South Park where Will Smith and Snoop moved into mansions, and the "poor" people were routing them? I had a really hard time believing that got past Comedy Central's censors.. their "politically incorrect" was usually anything but.. but this seasons SP have been really biting.
I rarely even watch The Simpsons anymore simply because its gotten so trite.
Of course, if you *don't* believe in evolution, this pretty much doesn't explain anything
Not necessarily true. I dont believe in "evolution" but see enough evidence of natural selection to believe in that small part of the theory. If it does have something to do with breathing in the womb, for instance, then I would imagine those who do not carry the trait wouldnt make it out very well.
Add to that the fact that humans are occasionally born with gills to this day, and it begins to make more sense.
Having said that, I have no real issue with natural selection.. my issue is with the lightning whacking an amino acid once and everything here springing from that.
(I am one of those wonky creationists who believe that evolution and creation are not necessarily mutually exclusive.. who is to say things werent "created" and then left to their own devices?)
Maeryk
Re:Space elevator, et al
on
Columbia Coverage
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Im seriously wondering what plans they have to deal with the electrical charge that will build up on that cable. If you follow the TSS (tethered sattelite system) tests that were perfromed on (I think) STS-46 with Atlantis and then again a year or two ago, where they reeled a big globe out on a tether to test for A) static buildup/generating capability B) the opportunity to build a rotating generation ship using a tether to create the rotation, rather than a hub (at least if you believe Nimoy on Destiny in Space (filmed on Atlantis), you will see that a cable strung out in space builds up one HELL of a charge. Enough to (they think) melt the tether off clean in the second and most recent test.
I dont know about you.. but I really dont want to be climbing (or anywhere near) a giant electrode.
ya think? I dont think the INternet has had all that great an impact on mankind. The moon walk, however, has. Possibly not the action.. but the technology behind it..
Soles designed for moon boots are used in tennis shoes.. sports bras, portable coolers that run on your cigarette lighter, scratch and fog resistant coatings for your glasses, teflon, composite golf clubs, quartz timing technology, compact hi-yeild batteries.. these are ALL the result of NASA research for things necessary for space flight.
Digital Imaging Breast Biopsy system, and Laser Angioplasty.. also both spinoffs... Im not saying the experimental military stuff is useless.. but damn dude.. NASA has invented or necessitated the invention of a hell of a lot of stuff we all take for granted these days!
Maeryk
http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html# To p
Options for vehicles: The "flying box-car" we have now.. either in current config, or structurally refigured to a more current design.. (this design was finalized in the seventies, remember). The Shuttle is a great idea.. but its _old_.
ram-driver/mass-lifter.. bung a ruddy great magnetic impulse tube up the side of Kilimonjaro or something, and use that to hurl crap into space. use small gadabouts to retrieve said stuff to the station/s. All we need then is a relatively small (read: 3 crew, small) craft to get people up there to service, position, etc.
Re-useable self launching vehicle.. Delta Clipper style. Though Buzz Aldrin seems to think it is a step backwards, the videos of the tests at White Sands are quite impressive. (Even if it _did_ fall over and blow up on the second test). Extremely "Flash Gordon" and evoked mental images of the "bounce rockets" that Heinlein usually had laying about.
I personally think a shuttle-type craft is the way to go. its not a bad idea, its just an old idea that could do with some updating.
As far as funding goes, let NASA patent its inventions, for a change, and let them charge for spaceflight. Citizens in space? No problem.. sign that fat juicy check and you can ride shotgun, Mr Billionaire! Just sign this D/D waiver.. have a nice trip!
Its time to stop treating NASA as the bastard stepchild of the US.GOV and begin viewing it as the scientific testbed it is. NASA's only vehicle, at the moment, is the Shuttle. All the other rockets (Titan, ESA stuff, etc) are owned by other countries or by the Armed Forces.
Unfortunately, NASA is the first one to get their budget slashed whenever belts get tightened, and five minutes after vehicle blows up people who control said budgets promise to "spend whatever it takes" for safety. Then they slash the budget some more. How else do you explain a 20+ year old spacecraft still flying routine missions?
(And no, ejection seats wouldnt have helped.. even if the pressure suits could have kept them alive at 40 miles up, I think the mach-18 or so speeds would have presented an issue the instant the canopy popped).
I love NASA, I love spaceflight.. im tired of it being viewed as a joke until something (experimental and dangerous) goes wrong, and then CNN is glowering at me, accusing me of not even knowing the orbiter was coming home today, or who was on it. (The press is 2/3 of the problem, I suspect. The minute a launch gets scrubbed, they get pissed, and 10 minutes after an accident, they are demanding accountability and raking up stories about "fired" directors (who actually just ended their tenure, according to o'keefe).
the only way that it coul;d be terror is if some one got in and picked a few ceramic panels off or messed with the flaps on the wings....traveling at mach 6, there is no weapon that can hit it.
Im not saying it was terrorism, so dont mod me down for fear mongering, but as someone else pointed out, it IS a hellaciously complex beast in the first part. So much so that I doubt any one engineering team knows the "whole shuttle".. it is more a complex set of systems that tie into each other. That being said it would be possible (but hardly plausible) for someone to sabotage one piece of that system. Extrapolate that to the shadowy "sleeper cells" we have heard so much about (but rarely seen) and it is possible it could have been sabotage. Again, not plausible, but possible.
if you add to that its very near the anniversary of the original Disaster, and the first Israeli astronaut was on board, well.. its just grist for the Conspiracy Mill.. (a mill I refuse to get involved in until I know more about it).
The only thing that would undoubtedly convince me at this point that it WAS sabotage would be one of those tapes surfacing that show bin laden taking credit, that were shot six months or a year ago.
As to why it blew up on re-entry not launch, it would have much greater impact as a "terrorist" act if it happened on the way back in.. we are somewhat galvanized to the fact that the thing can blow up on the way up...we have watched it, and face it.. in the back of your mind, every one of you is seeing that fireball and the contrails of the boosters vectoring away every time it goes up. But Landings have always been flawless.. not a hitch. (At least not that we "joe public" have ever heard about.. I truly wonder how many times we have come very close to losing the crew before).
So for a "terroristic" purpose, on the way back in.. (or nearly to the ground) would be the best.. plus, this way the rather toxic residue is falling over populated areas.. rather than just over the ocean.
Either way, it SUCKS and I pray for those 7 people on board!
"some of the most brilliant hackers in the world"?
SInce when are Skript Kiddeez brilliant hackers?
This article is stupefyingly filled with crap.. the whole alliterative narrative to make a "worm" into something more than a program is scary. "Clones" rather than "copies" "larva" rather than "small". "zombies" "Slither" "poisonous venom".
Ye ghods.. is this a tech article, or color text for a M:TG card?
I would suggest contacting the Better Business Bureau [bbb.org] to get these complaints addressed.
SNORT! Have you ever contacted the better business bureau? I have. I was told they dont do anything to companies/about companies that that dont honor their claims, advertise truth, etc. etc. I was actually told that as long as the companies continue to pay their "listing fee" with the BBB, the BBB could care less what the company is actually doing.
Dude.. the BBB is a money maker for the BBB, and a trap for gullible people who believe that moniker means something.
In reality, you should send a polite letter to Consumer Reports and see if they are interested, or to one of your local muck-raking news reporters looking to do a human interest story.
I have deployed and supported both Thinkpad 600 and 600X configurations, and Dell Latitude 366 and 300 MHZ models, and they all seem to have batteries that last just over a year.
Literally, to the point that we will get a sudden surge.. six or so a week, of stone dead batteries. A little digging on my part led me to believe that the six came in together as well, and they usually died a little bit over a year after purchase. (Note, this is a "little bit" after the warranty.. batteries are warranted for one year from date of purchase of the LAPTOP not the battery, at least here.)
Now, the IBM's have a charging circuit that keeps the battery "conditioned". Would this kill a battery in a year? Probably. WHat I know a lot of people do is ONLY put the battery in if they are going to use it off AC. Charge it for an hour before you need it, and run it down. When you get back to your desk, pop the battery out, and dock without the battery.. that seems to be the "rage" as rumored by our customers who have traveled to Japan, where they claim people do this.
YMMV, but as a tech who supports about 1K of these things, yeah.. the batteries die in a year, and yeah, the IBM party line is "this is normal".
Where is my opt out? I want to be able to write in and demand that any information pertaining to me isnt included. All I need is targeted email that says "Dear Sirm, special for you! We have realized you live within 10 miles of a nucluar reactor.. please to find bright flashy pink-on-blue web page linking to tinfoil hat to help! Alex Chiu has made millions with tinfoil hat! Happy shiny thank you!" and imagine the ability to up the "every woman likes a bigger hammer" and compare it to statistical databases about micro-phallus?
ye ghods.. this may "help" in one case, but I can envision about six where it will hurt!
Im trying like hell to get him off his butt and into some work. There are issues to work around.. his Mom doesnt force it on him like I do.. so that breeds arguments right there.. he knows that within two week he will be at her house and wont have to, so we are busy relearning the hows and whys every week.
The school doesnt really back you up on trying to instill those values.. its a double edged sword, really, that they hold you responsible for your kids actions.. thats a good thing if your kid is beating up other kids, or whatever, but it can also be a bad thing if the kid _knows_ this and uses it against you. "If I dont do my homework, YOU get in trouble daddy, but I dont because I have to go to school.. so they cant kick me out". (Not his words, and not an issue.. yet.. but I can see where it would be).
He lived in Cali with his Mom for a year before they moved back here.. the horror stories I heard about those schools, both from him and her, were enough to make me certain I would never be there. My son, in all of first grade, was getting told "If your parents make you do something you dont like, come talk to the teacher." Kids were "turning in" their parents for making them eat green beans, do homework, whatever. Kids have rights, to a certain point, but not over those of the parents.
Plus, my kid just happens to be inordinately stubborn.. (I know this, because I used to be just like him.. the same things that didnt work on me dont work on him..), and I know how much trouble that caused for me.. so I'm trying to avoid it for him.. but man is it hard!
(Note.. the original post pointed out that I think he SHOULD be held back, rather than holding back other students by forcing the acheivers to be held back to his level, not the other way around, as several people seem to have interpreted it).
you are personally ruining your child's future by letting him know that you and everyone else will carry his ass
Thats the point, "guy". Im not going to carry him.. but the school will.. right up to a point where they drop him and say "you are on your own" and then it will suck very much for him to be him. I have people saying "Its your responsibility to make sure its done! Its your responsibility to make sure he's in school!" and yes.. it is.. up to a point. Doing his homework for him then taping it to his coat in fourth grade so his teacher gets it is _only_ proving that he needs not bother.. its not teaching him any form of self sufficiency.
that is exactly what a lot of schools are doing these days.. theres an excuse for EVERYTHING and there are fifth graders on Zoloft. "Its not his fault".. all I'm saying is it IS his fault, and no amount of medication is going to help.. he just needs to learn to do what is expected, and if he has to fail a grade (which is what I would probably want to see happen.. but now, when it would do some good rather than later, when it will just cause more problems) to get that, then so be it.
get used to people calling your kid stupid.
Amazingly enough, my "stupid" kid has already grasped the concept of capitilization of letters in writing. Whats your excuse?
The only thing more frightening than modern schools are modern parents. What's incredible to me is that you post all this with absolutely no shame at your own failure to discipline your kid.
A couple of questions. Do you have kids of your own? Do you have any ADD/ADHD children? Do you have any idea what the FUCK you are talking about? Im just curious, see, cause its REAL easy to sit there and bitch about "parents today" when you arent one.. its a bit more difficult when you actually are one.
See.. I make sure his homework is done! I help him with it.. many hours are spent trying to get him to read the book they assigned.. 20 minutes of reading to about four hours of fighting and arguing about it.. what are you going to do? Tape it to his face? How would YOU go about making sure it gets turned in? Its done.. but it ends up on the floor of his room, not in his assignment folder. Or I find it blown up against a hedge between my house and the bus stop.
Sure.. I could probably hand carry it into school with me every day, and personally deliver it to the teacher.. but that kind of defeats the purpose of TEACHING doesnt it? At some point you have to take a step back and realize that eventually, he is going to come up against the results of his actions, and its going to suck for him. It will be painful, and it will be awful to watch, but I dont plan to be driving his lunch to him when he is 33 years old at work and forgets it even though it is right next to the door at home.
Slashdot Mirror
Nothing happens to your privacy when tracked from floor to door, as long as it ends there.
I dont know where you guys shop, but the 17 year old moron or the "hire the handicapped" person at the checkout at stuff-mart looks at every single thing I buy.
You have _no_ right to "privacy" if you are patronizing someones store. Deal with it.
(This isnt meant to be a flame.. it is meant to point out that they track everything you buy anyway, and almost guaranteed, if you use credit or debit cards, there is a file SOMEWHERE that lists everything you bought, if you dont, like me, get that list on your statement every month.)
Now.. if the RFID tags follow you home.. thats another issue. But the show I saw on it. (Tech Tv? Might have been?) Did not seem to think that was possible.. they are a direct scan sort of thing, rather than a "scan from black helicopter" sort of thing.
Maeryk
Yes, you have the right to self defense, but it must be "proportional" to the harm faced. If you truly believe that your attacker was going to kill you, with whatever weapon or not, then you are justified in using deadly force in response. However, simply because someone decides they want to beat on you, or even take a swing at you does not give you the right to shoot them.
Maybe I have an odd world view.. but I dont think "self defense" should be proportional. People have been beaten to death by other people a number of times. If I am walking from the bar to the car, and three guys jump me, I should be ENTIRELY within my rights to pull my sig and quietly announce that the first person to lay a hand on me is dead. At that point, IMHO, it is a deterrant. Ounce of prevention? Sure as hell is. I would much rather be alive and feeling bad cause some drunk ass got killed, than dead at the hands of said drunk ass with my pistol never having cleared leather.
At what point does it go from "nonlethal" to "lethal" force during the beat down? Is there a magic number of "broken bones"?
Course.. I also believe you should have the right to shoot people who break into your house. I think, again, death is a great deterrant against recidivism. (Call me a Nihilist, I guess.. but my house _is_ my Castle, it is one of the few things I actually own and have control over, and my posessions are quite valuable to me. IMHO you give up your right to exist as soon as you decide to take them from me.)
And no, I dont value human life very highly, when it is criminal human life. There are too many of them around.
Note: this is not a flame, it is not an attack, it is not meant to be flamebait.. it is just the way I feel. And no, I have never shot anyone. I have never had reason to even pull my gun anywhere but at the range practicing. But I do know people whose CCW saved their lives. And ended someone elses.
Maeryk
Yeah. No harm no foul. I was harmed, and I was fouled.
Yes.. but you have demonstrated he caused harm, therefore there *is* a foul. I wasnt saying that Cracking is always harmless.. but in some cases (defacing a web page) the cost of repair is as simple as bringing up the cached copy, re-installing it, and fixing the exploit (if known.)
There is no way that cost a million dollars.
Cracking is tresspass at the least and theft at the most. It deserves jail time. The issue is how much jail time. The guy who hacked me should face at a minimum the legal penalty for breaking into my house and rifling through my file cabinet
No argument. Define trespass though. SOmeone walks across my yard, its "trespassing". Refusing to leave when I ask them too, is "Defiant trespass". Coming into my house after I tell them to leave is anything from Breaking and Entering to Forced Entry (depending on whether I am trying to stop them or not, I think) and theft is another layer on top of that. (Hence the laundry list of charges usually piled on a burglar).
Breaking into your house and rifling your file cabinet would probably NOT net me jail time for a first time offense. Especially if nothing was taken, and none of the information gained was used against you. Its more likely a fine, time served, probation kind of thing.
Maeryk
If they're looking to give hackers/crackers a free ride, it won't happen. If they're trying to equal things...just make the same crime punishable by the same punishment. Rob a bank or Crack a bank, go to jail for up to ten years.
I look on this two ways. One way, the guy waving the gun around is definately more "liable". That is a threat of force, that is an action of abuse, etc etc. HOwever, mandatory sentencing laws A-La NJ "Commit a crime with a gun, go to jail" are kind of ridiculous too. All they do is threaten and scare law abiding citizens. A person who is going to hold up a gas station is aware this is a crime, folks. He is going to use a gun. However, the guy legally packing with a permit who gets a DUI or gets into a fist-fight with some thug and has a gun on him is the victim here. (The gun had nothing to do with the crime, leave it that way.. dont trump things up.)
I am a legal CCW carrier.. in some recent cases, people who have legitimately used legal guns to defend themselves have been found guilty of using deadly force where uneccesary because the judge/jury whatever found that four drunk guys armed only with their hands and feet is not considered "deadly force." Also baseball bats and crowbars. Here in PA that is a list of things that are "deadly force" and things that arent. A Billy club is not, a Lousville Slugger is.. you can shoot the guy attacking you with the baseball bat, but not the guy using the jack handle. (I dont know about you, but I think ANYONE beating on me with ANYTHING means I have the right to self defense.. to the point of stopping the attack.) Interestingly, holding your hand in your pocket in the shape of a gun, is _also_ deadly force. Priorities somewhat screwed up in the law? Yes. Anything we can do about it? Probably not, except take Judo.
IS the legal system pretty fuxored? Yeah.
(Did not mean to turn this into a self defense rant.. but it happened anyway. *shrug*)
That a lot of the problem here is due to double standards and lack of accountability.
Joe Schmoe embezzles from his S&L firm for ten years, gets caught, and it is realized that he made off with 500K. He is slapped on the wrist, fired, made to "pay it back" on time deferred payments, or maybe stuck in a white collar prison/country club for a few years.
Mike, the l337 hacker from down the street, defaces Stuff-Marts web page, pointing out that Stuff-Mart buys 80% of its stuff from china, where it is made in forced child labor camps at gunpoint, and it is repaired in an hour.
Now.. Stuff Mart's lawyers tell the jury that they *potentially* lost MILLIONS due to the damage, (when in fact, they did not "lose" anything.. and there is no way to prove how many people would have bought during that time anyway). The SM lawyers also point out that it cost "an estimated 100K dollars to repair the damage!".. which means they just budgeted in A) the new server and colocation company to handle the site, B) the three person team who maintains and handles the site already, and C) all of their IT staff who received an Email about the "hack" and therefore were "working" on it.
Its all about what the jury wants to hear, and all about language.. "potential" is used ahead of "we could have potentially lost BILLIONS in sales!" but the judge/jury does not hear the "potential". Nor do they realize that 99% of that IT staff was already working there, doing their routine jobs, and had nothing to do with the repair anyway.
(Same reason a procedure at the hospital that took all of 15 minutes costs your insurance company as much as your house did.. funky accounting and everyone wanting to be "in" on the action.)
I think a lot of "hacking" is a no harm no foul problem anyway.
Maeryk
Wesa gonna savda hobbits? Mui-mui! I love you! Oi! Whatsa meya saying?!?
Jar-Jaromir cant succeed.. Samwise would kill him.
Maeryk
No, he's confusing stupid with stupid. :) I'm from Texas, I live in Austin and know a good many smart Texans. Bush is not one of them. But I don't care if we have a moron in office so long as he doesn't make the same economic mistakes his daddy's boss made twenty years ago. Reaganomics is a textbook example (literally- economics textbooks use it as an example) of how NOT to steer national economic policy. Personally, I don't think it was ever supposed to work, just be a passable explanation for giving rich people more money.
Have you even clue one as to how economics works?
Apparently you do not, nor do you watch it on a daily basis in the US. The growth during Bush sr.'s term and into Clintons terms was due to the "textbook example" you cite above. And BTW, the rampant slide since Bush got into office is due to Clintons policy, not Bush's.
I'd rather have Ashcroft than Janet Reno, than you VERY much. At least we are not currently kicking down the doors of law abiding americans who are exercising their constitutional rights, while allowing foreign nationals with bombs in on a "streamlined immigration process".
Maeryk
No.. it has nothing to do with "security". They do issue laptops.. slow arsed old IBM's that we are not allowed to connect high-speed. (only through the modems they provide). However, they also demand we take online certs that are nearly impossible over their slow assed VPN on an even slower assed modem.
But no mention was ever made of Virii.. no.. they are worried about PORN and PROFANITY. (To the point we were told we could not use the stock IBM background of the woman in the skirt.. it might be considered offensive.)
But they demand we do these certs on our free time, not work time, from home. I have so far refused, simply because I wont hook my machine (tho I am allowed to) to their VPN because I dont want to get busted because they dont like the name (yes.. someone got fired for having a file with a NAME they didnt like) on my machine.
sieg heil!
Maeryk
BWAHAHAHAHAH!
Thanks! I remember that one well...
Maeryk
It is required for any contractor on the campus.
They whacked this on us last year as "new and different".
They included, but were not limited to:
Drug testing (one time, so far, not random)
Drivers License History/driving record check. (they did that one)
Credit Check (they claim that it is due to the chance of getting a corporate credit card)
Criminal background check.
"other checks as necessary".
That one, "other" I specifically crossed out when I signed my "permission' to do those.
My Company (the contracting firm) basically said "Do it, or leave".. so no, I had no real choice. The fact that I live in an "employment at will" state doesnt help either.. means i can be fired any time for any thing.
(Course, my company also believes that I can be terminated for things on my personal computer at home if I connect to their VPN network and have as much as threatened to do so. Therefore I refuse to connect from my home PC, even if it is required by my job.. I tell em I will do it at 8:00 am the next morning when I get on-site.)
Its an ugly thing.. but I strongly suspect that you wont be able to do much about it..
I want to see mandatory drug testing for congress, with printed pass/fail results, personally.
Maeryk
Could God have whacked an amino acid with lightning?
Possibly! I have thought about that as well. But that means there was intent and purpose, rather than random chance at work. I have an easier time believing in that.
As another poster said, life is SO complex, even in relatively simple organisms, that its highly unlikely it just naturally spontaneously appeared. The answer to that, of course is "it came from outer space" which is chicken/egg as far as I'm concerned.
Mainly, I choose not to get too worked up about it, and worry more about what is happening NOW than what was happening a billion years ago.
Maeryk
The Simpsons was one of the deepest shows on American TV. Now it's a Saturday morning cartoon starring Captain Wacky (aka Homer). I use to watch it religiously, participate in forums, even did some work and article writing for a Simpsons website. Now the show seems so geared towards an age group far younger than mine, I hardly bother trying to catch it anymore.
So true! It seems to me that South Park and The SImpsons have swapped positions. South Park used to be all fart jokes and no real political humor, but now its so cutting edge I think Bill ("Im hipper than you, and Im EDGY!") Maher is probably offended by it on a regular basis. The Simpsons, however, is now just a bunch of fart jokes and catch phrases.
Did anyone else catch the South Park where Will Smith and Snoop moved into mansions, and the "poor" people were routing them? I had a really hard time believing that got past Comedy Central's censors.. their "politically incorrect" was usually anything but.. but this seasons SP have been really biting.
I rarely even watch The Simpsons anymore simply because its gotten so trite.
Maeryk
Of course, if you *don't* believe in evolution, this pretty much doesn't explain anything
Not necessarily true. I dont believe in "evolution" but see enough evidence of natural selection to believe in that small part of the theory. If it does have something to do with breathing in the womb, for instance, then I would imagine those who do not carry the trait wouldnt make it out very well.
Add to that the fact that humans are occasionally born with gills to this day, and it begins to make more sense.
Having said that, I have no real issue with natural selection.. my issue is with the lightning whacking an amino acid once and everything here springing from that.
(I am one of those wonky creationists who believe that evolution and creation are not necessarily mutually exclusive.. who is to say things werent "created" and then left to their own devices?)
Maeryk
Im seriously wondering what plans they have to deal with the electrical charge that will build up on that cable. If you follow the TSS (tethered sattelite system) tests that were perfromed on (I think) STS-46 with Atlantis and then again a year or two ago, where they reeled a big globe out on a tether to test for A) static buildup/generating capability B) the opportunity to build a rotating generation ship using a tether to create the rotation, rather than a hub (at least if you believe Nimoy on Destiny in Space (filmed on Atlantis), you will see that a cable strung out in space builds up one HELL of a charge. Enough to (they think) melt the tether off clean in the second and most recent test.
I dont know about you.. but I really dont want to be climbing (or anywhere near) a giant electrode.
Maeryk
ya think? I dont think the INternet has had all that great an impact on mankind. The moon walk, however, has. Possibly not the action.. but the technology behind it..
# To p
Soles designed for moon boots are used in tennis shoes.. sports bras, portable coolers that run on your cigarette lighter, scratch and fog resistant coatings for your glasses, teflon, composite golf clubs, quartz timing technology, compact hi-yeild batteries.. these are ALL the result of NASA research for things necessary for space flight.
Digital Imaging Breast Biopsy system, and Laser Angioplasty.. also both spinoffs...
Im not saying the experimental military stuff is useless.. but damn dude.. NASA has invented or necessitated the invention of a hell of a lot of stuff we all take for granted these days!
Maeryk
http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html
Options for vehicles:
The "flying box-car" we have now.. either in current config, or structurally refigured to a more current design.. (this design was finalized in the seventies, remember). The Shuttle is a great idea.. but its _old_.
ram-driver/mass-lifter.. bung a ruddy great magnetic impulse tube up the side of Kilimonjaro or something, and use that to hurl crap into space. use small gadabouts to retrieve said stuff to the station/s. All we need then is a relatively small (read: 3 crew, small) craft to get people up there to service, position, etc.
Re-useable self launching vehicle.. Delta Clipper style. Though Buzz Aldrin seems to think it is a step backwards, the videos of the tests at White Sands are quite impressive. (Even if it _did_ fall over and blow up on the second test). Extremely "Flash Gordon" and evoked mental images of the "bounce rockets" that Heinlein usually had laying about.
I personally think a shuttle-type craft is the way to go. its not a bad idea, its just an old idea that could do with some updating.
As far as funding goes, let NASA patent its inventions, for a change, and let them charge for spaceflight. Citizens in space? No problem.. sign that fat juicy check and you can ride shotgun, Mr Billionaire! Just sign this D/D waiver.. have a nice trip!
Its time to stop treating NASA as the bastard stepchild of the US.GOV and begin viewing it as the scientific testbed it is. NASA's only vehicle, at the moment, is the Shuttle. All the other rockets (Titan, ESA stuff, etc) are owned by other countries or by the Armed Forces.
Unfortunately, NASA is the first one to get their budget slashed whenever belts get tightened, and five minutes after vehicle blows up people who control said budgets promise to "spend whatever it takes" for safety. Then they slash the budget some more. How else do you explain a 20+ year old spacecraft still flying routine missions?
(And no, ejection seats wouldnt have helped.. even if the pressure suits could have kept them alive at 40 miles up, I think the mach-18 or so speeds would have presented an issue the instant the canopy popped).
I love NASA, I love spaceflight.. im tired of it being viewed as a joke until something (experimental and dangerous) goes wrong, and then CNN is glowering at me, accusing me of not even knowing the orbiter was coming home today, or who was on it. (The press is 2/3 of the problem, I suspect. The minute a launch gets scrubbed, they get pissed, and 10 minutes after an accident, they are demanding accountability and raking up stories about "fired" directors (who actually just ended their tenure, according to o'keefe).
Maeryk
And, of course, some jackass has "three rubbery pieces that bounced off the road in front of me in Nagadoces this morning" on Ebay.
t em =3205318125&category=208
Schmuck. I seriously hope he is kidding. If not, I seriously hope he gets a knock on the door from the feds.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&i
Maeryk
the only way that it coul;d be terror is if some one got in and picked a few ceramic panels off or messed with the flaps on the wings....traveling at mach 6, there is no weapon that can hit it.
Im not saying it was terrorism, so dont mod me down for fear mongering, but as someone else pointed out, it IS a hellaciously complex beast in the first part. So much so that I doubt any one engineering team knows the "whole shuttle".. it is more a complex set of systems that tie into each other. That being said it would be possible (but hardly plausible) for someone to sabotage one piece of that system. Extrapolate that to the shadowy "sleeper cells" we have heard so much about (but rarely seen) and it is possible it could have been sabotage. Again, not plausible, but possible.
if you add to that its very near the anniversary of the original Disaster, and the first Israeli astronaut was on board, well.. its just grist for the Conspiracy Mill.. (a mill I refuse to get involved in until I know more about it).
The only thing that would undoubtedly convince me at this point that it WAS sabotage would be one of those tapes surfacing that show bin laden taking credit, that were shot six months or a year ago.
As to why it blew up on re-entry not launch, it would have much greater impact as a "terrorist" act if it happened on the way back in.. we are somewhat galvanized to the fact that the thing can blow up on the way up...we have watched it, and face it.. in the back of your mind, every one of you is seeing that fireball and the contrails of the boosters vectoring away every time it goes up. But Landings have always been flawless.. not a hitch. (At least not that we "joe public" have ever heard about.. I truly wonder how many times we have come very close to losing the crew before).
So for a "terroristic" purpose, on the way back in.. (or nearly to the ground) would be the best.. plus, this way the rather toxic residue is falling over populated areas.. rather than just over the ocean.
Either way, it SUCKS and I pray for those 7 people on board!
maeryk
"some of the most brilliant hackers in the world"?
SInce when are Skript Kiddeez brilliant hackers?
This article is stupefyingly filled with crap.. the whole alliterative narrative to make a "worm" into something more than a program is scary. "Clones" rather than "copies" "larva" rather than "small". "zombies" "Slither" "poisonous venom".
Ye ghods.. is this a tech article, or color text for a M:TG card?
maeryk
I would suggest contacting the Better Business Bureau [bbb.org] to get these complaints addressed.
SNORT! Have you ever contacted the better business bureau? I have. I was told they dont do anything to companies/about companies that that dont honor their claims, advertise truth, etc. etc. I was actually told that as long as the companies continue to pay their "listing fee" with the BBB, the BBB could care less what the company is actually doing.
Dude.. the BBB is a money maker for the BBB, and a trap for gullible people who believe that moniker means something.
In reality, you should send a polite letter to Consumer Reports and see if they are interested, or to one of your local muck-raking news reporters looking to do a human interest story.
Maeryk
I have deployed and supported both Thinkpad 600 and 600X configurations, and Dell Latitude 366 and 300 MHZ models, and they all seem to have batteries that last just over a year.
Literally, to the point that we will get a sudden surge.. six or so a week, of stone dead batteries. A little digging on my part led me to believe that the six came in together as well, and they usually died a little bit over a year after purchase. (Note, this is a "little bit" after the warranty.. batteries are warranted for one year from date of purchase of the LAPTOP not the battery, at least here.)
Now, the IBM's have a charging circuit that keeps the battery "conditioned". Would this kill a battery in a year? Probably. WHat I know a lot of people do is ONLY put the battery in if they are going to use it off AC. Charge it for an hour before you need it, and run it down. When you get back to your desk, pop the battery out, and dock without the battery.. that seems to be the "rage" as rumored by our customers who have traveled to Japan, where they claim people do this.
YMMV, but as a tech who supports about 1K of these things, yeah.. the batteries die in a year, and yeah, the IBM party line is "this is normal".
Maeryk
Where is my opt out? I want to be able to write in and demand that any information pertaining to me isnt included. All I need is targeted email that says "Dear Sirm, special for you! We have realized you live within 10 miles of a nucluar reactor.. please to find bright flashy pink-on-blue web page linking to tinfoil hat to help! Alex Chiu has made millions with tinfoil hat! Happy shiny thank you!" and imagine the ability to up the "every woman likes a bigger hammer" and compare it to statistical databases about micro-phallus?
ye ghods.. this may "help" in one case, but I can envision about six where it will hurt!
maeryk
You can't do this?
Im trying like hell to get him off his butt and into some work. There are issues to work around.. his Mom doesnt force it on him like I do.. so that breeds arguments right there.. he knows that within two week he will be at her house and wont have to, so we are busy relearning the hows and whys every week.
The school doesnt really back you up on trying to instill those values.. its a double edged sword, really, that they hold you responsible for your kids actions.. thats a good thing if your kid is beating up other kids, or whatever, but it can also be a bad thing if the kid _knows_ this and uses it against you. "If I dont do my homework, YOU get in trouble daddy, but I dont because I have to go to school.. so they cant kick me out". (Not his words, and not an issue.. yet.. but I can see where it would be).
He lived in Cali with his Mom for a year before they moved back here.. the horror stories I heard about those schools, both from him and her, were enough to make me certain I would never be there. My son, in all of first grade, was getting told "If your parents make you do something you dont like, come talk to the teacher." Kids were "turning in" their parents for making them eat green beans, do homework, whatever. Kids have rights, to a certain point, but not over those of the parents.
Plus, my kid just happens to be inordinately stubborn.. (I know this, because I used to be just like him.. the same things that didnt work on me dont work on him..), and I know how much trouble that caused for me.. so I'm trying to avoid it for him.. but man is it hard!
(Note.. the original post pointed out that I think he SHOULD be held back, rather than holding back other students by forcing the acheivers to be held back to his level, not the other way around, as several people seem to have interpreted it).
Maeryk
you are personally ruining your child's future by
letting him know that you and everyone else will carry his ass
Thats the point, "guy". Im not going to carry him.. but the school will.. right up to a point where they drop him and say "you are on your own" and then it will suck very much for him to be him. I have people saying "Its your responsibility to make sure its done! Its your responsibility to make sure he's in school!" and yes.. it is.. up to a point. Doing his homework for him then taping it to his coat in fourth grade so his teacher gets it is _only_ proving that he needs not bother.. its not teaching him any form of self sufficiency.
that is exactly what a lot of schools are doing these days.. theres an excuse for EVERYTHING and
there are fifth graders on Zoloft. "Its not his fault".. all I'm saying is it IS his fault, and no amount of medication is going to help.. he just needs to learn to do what is expected, and if he has to fail a grade (which is what I would probably want to see happen.. but now, when it would do some good rather than later, when it will just cause more problems) to get that, then so be it.
get used to people calling your kid stupid.
Amazingly enough, my "stupid" kid has already grasped the concept of capitilization of letters in writing. Whats your excuse?
Maeryk
No, YOU taught him to slack.
The only thing more frightening than modern schools are modern parents. What's incredible to me is that you post all this with absolutely no shame at your own failure to discipline your kid.
A couple of questions. Do you have kids of your own? Do you have any ADD/ADHD children? Do you have any idea what the FUCK you are talking about?
Im just curious, see, cause its REAL easy to sit there and bitch about "parents today" when you arent one.. its a bit more difficult when you actually are one.
See.. I make sure his homework is done! I help him with it.. many hours are spent trying to get him to read the book they assigned.. 20 minutes of reading to about four hours of fighting and arguing about it.. what are you going to do? Tape it to his face? How would YOU go about making sure it gets turned in? Its done.. but it ends up on the floor of his room, not in his assignment folder. Or I find it blown up against a hedge between my house and the bus stop.
Sure.. I could probably hand carry it into school with me every day, and personally deliver it to the teacher.. but that kind of defeats the purpose of TEACHING doesnt it? At some point you have to take a step back and realize that eventually, he is going to come up against the results of his actions, and its going to suck for him. It will be painful, and it will be awful to watch, but I dont plan to be driving his lunch to him when he is 33 years old at work and forgets it even though it is right next to the door at home.
Maeryk