No matter how much data you have, if it isn't true it;s worthless.
Rubbish. It's still worth whatever someone else is willing to pay for it. And as long as they don't know its worthless, that can be quite a lot. Perception is everything.
And that's not even taking into account the continued refinement of data mining over time.
I am a very big fan of not punishing students (and I mean school as well as university) for failing to do their work. Why? In the real world, unless you've done something completely catastrophic generally all that happens is you get reprimanded/fired (with obvious exceptions - soldiers, doctors etc. can face courtmartials/trials, but they're the exception to the rule).
At university, all they can do is give you a zero. The incentive to do the work therefore has to be because the student WANTS the marks rather than is forced to do the work, and generally that means they have the motivation to do the job properly. Being forced to do something only guarantees a minimum standard, whereas wanting to do something guarantees a best effort, and in most cases that far exceeds the quality of the minimum standard. Little kids do need some form of pushing to get them started, but by the time they hit 15/16 there's no point giving them detentions/lines to get homework done. Just let them see the consequences of their actions and choose their own future, because that's how the real world works - without your own drive, you won't go very far at all.
Nice... I remember one of the questions in our chemistry textbooks was something along the lines of "Here is the molecular structure for cocaine. Find three different chemical mechanisms by which it could be synthesized."
The buyer has put up a website with someone else's photos on it. This is an apparent (if minor) copyright infringement if nothing else. He's redistributing copyrighted work. (The seller is presumably the copyright holder for some but not all of these photos.)
Ahh - but the seller sold the photos to the buyer along with the laptop - and furthermore did not place any restrictions on their use at the point of sale. If they were sold unwittingly, that's not the buyer's problem. The contents of the harddrive were sold as-is with no restrictions in place at the time of sale. You can't shut the gate after the horse has bolted.
Welfare fraud investigator? sounds riviting! Maybe we can all collaborate to capture those fraudulent in real life! Our we could raid the city I live in for it *ducks*
You're assuming they can actually see the end of the queue from where they are (under normal conditions). I've been in plenty of airports where the security checkpoint and the queue for it are largely contained in two separate spaces.
Odd things can be related. I remember hearing about how there were fox fur breeders somewhere (like in Russia). They decided to try to breed tamer foxes so they wouldn't have to worry about getting bit so much. Well after a few generations they succeeded. There was only one problem: all the tame foxes had a big white streak down their back, ruining the pelt. They two traits were related somehow, even though you wouldn't think it.
<surprise>You mean in Soviet Russia, chromosomes really do sequence you?</surprise>
Rubbish. Just because a part of your time has no monetary value does not make it worthless. If you want to take your implication to the logical extreme then every minute of everybody else's time is worth something, ergo nothing is ever free.
Even at a more practical level, accounting for time in such a way is naive at best. An educated user is one who is far less likely to experience the same problem. On top of that you might just learn new skills, which can be quite valuable in their own right in certain circumstances. There are plenty of people out there who have voluntarily put lots of their own time into computer security, for no monetary reward (kernel developers, I'm looking in your direction), and yet you can bet they've got a lot out of it.
At the risk of flogging a dead analogy, if you got a flat on the motorway you could (a) change the tyre yourself and possibly learn a useful skill for the future, or (b) sit in the car, wait for the AA to turn up and pay them to do it for you. Both are equally valid ways of getting the job done. One costs you money, the other is free and gives you a useful skill to boot. I know which one I would choose.
And I bet he runs WinXP under an admin account too.
I wonder how much more time he will be willing to spend admining his box once it is rooted by malware and his bank accounts are periodically cleaned out?
Some people pay mechanics to fix their cars, others do it for free themselves. Choice is a beautiful thing. But one of these groups will spot problems much earlier than the other.
If you actually looked at the source from the article (which was generated using word), it looked clean and readable. Nothing like the HTML we used to see from Word.
Yawn... wake me when it can generate valid HTML...
Quality is dropping, yet for some reason demand is still high. I don't know if this is just a normal perception as one gets in his mid 30s or if this is a real trend or not, but it seems to be a common consensus that quality is not there as it once was. To me, rock music peaked in the 70s and the 60s-70s era bands were still strong in the 80s with a more polished and professional approach. There was a slight resurgence in the early 90s, but things are tapering off from there.
Put them old hold, for a long time, with really annoying music
Where I work we actually have a mixtape of Lionel Ritchie, Celine Dion and Enya just for this purpose (for the telemarketers that call anyway). Great fun guessing among colleagues how long it will be until they hang up.
Other tricks: learn to impersonate an answering machine, or an engaged signal. Or get someone else to answer the phone and say "sorry, Paul, he told me to tell you that he's not here right now...". Or get a tape of the classic Simpsons voice message: "The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialling wand please mash the keypad with your palm now".
You're aiming too far in the other direction. Actually achieving perfection may never enter the equation, but continuous improvement is required to ensure survivability against your competitors. Otherwise we'd all still be hammering nails in with large rocks (hell, they're not perfect, but they are sufficient and easier to make than a proper hammer... until the 0.001% of the time they break in half, or bend the nail and jam it through your finger, etc.)
</bad analogy warning>
Hey, don't blame me for the bad analogy, TFA started it...
On a more serious note, can anyone define "Open source hardware"? Short of publishing blueprints for the chips, how can you open source it? Publishing a parts list and assembly instructions is not open source...
I don't know, but I agree with you. This is the first time I've heard of BlueSecurity, and as soon as the site comes back I'm joining, and recommending to everyone I know to do the same.
Slashdot Mirror
You must be new here...
No matter how much data you have, if it isn't true it;s worthless.
Rubbish. It's still worth whatever someone else is willing to pay for it. And as long as they don't know its worthless, that can be quite a lot. Perception is everything.
And that's not even taking into account the continued refinement of data mining over time.
I am a very big fan of not punishing students (and I mean school as well as university) for failing to do their work. Why? In the real world, unless you've done something completely catastrophic generally all that happens is you get reprimanded/fired (with obvious exceptions - soldiers, doctors etc. can face courtmartials/trials, but they're the exception to the rule).
At university, all they can do is give you a zero. The incentive to do the work therefore has to be because the student WANTS the marks rather than is forced to do the work, and generally that means they have the motivation to do the job properly. Being forced to do something only guarantees a minimum standard, whereas wanting to do something guarantees a best effort, and in most cases that far exceeds the quality of the minimum standard. Little kids do need some form of pushing to get them started, but by the time they hit 15/16 there's no point giving them detentions/lines to get homework done. Just let them see the consequences of their actions and choose their own future, because that's how the real world works - without your own drive, you won't go very far at all.
Nice... I remember one of the questions in our chemistry textbooks was something along the lines of "Here is the molecular structure for cocaine. Find three different chemical mechanisms by which it could be synthesized."
The buyer has put up a website with someone else's photos on it. This is an apparent (if minor) copyright infringement if nothing else. He's redistributing copyrighted work. (The seller is presumably the copyright holder for some but not all of these photos.)
Ahh - but the seller sold the photos to the buyer along with the laptop - and furthermore did not place any restrictions on their use at the point of sale. If they were sold unwittingly, that's not the buyer's problem. The contents of the harddrive were sold as-is with no restrictions in place at the time of sale. You can't shut the gate after the horse has bolted.
Caveat vendor - seller beware!
Welfare fraud investigator? sounds riviting! Maybe we can all collaborate to capture those fraudulent in real life! Our we could raid the city I live in for it *ducks*
Nice MMORPG... Massively Multiplayer Offline Ripoff Protection Game?
So what you're saying is: In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice - but in practice there is?
Think that was actually a Slashdot quote a week or two ago...
You're assuming they can actually see the end of the queue from where they are (under normal conditions). I've been in plenty of airports where the security checkpoint and the queue for it are largely contained in two separate spaces.
Odd things can be related. I remember hearing about how there were fox fur breeders somewhere (like in Russia). They decided to try to breed tamer foxes so they wouldn't have to worry about getting bit so much. Well after a few generations they succeeded. There was only one problem: all the tame foxes had a big white streak down their back, ruining the pelt. They two traits were related somehow, even though you wouldn't think it.
<surprise>You mean in Soviet Russia, chromosomes really do sequence you?</surprise>
I prefer the Centre for Usability of NanoTechnology personally...
It's only free if your time is worthless.
Rubbish. Just because a part of your time has no monetary value does not make it worthless. If you want to take your implication to the logical extreme then every minute of everybody else's time is worth something, ergo nothing is ever free.
Even at a more practical level, accounting for time in such a way is naive at best. An educated user is one who is far less likely to experience the same problem. On top of that you might just learn new skills, which can be quite valuable in their own right in certain circumstances. There are plenty of people out there who have voluntarily put lots of their own time into computer security, for no monetary reward (kernel developers, I'm looking in your direction), and yet you can bet they've got a lot out of it.
At the risk of flogging a dead analogy, if you got a flat on the motorway you could (a) change the tyre yourself and possibly learn a useful skill for the future, or (b) sit in the car, wait for the AA to turn up and pay them to do it for you. Both are equally valid ways of getting the job done. One costs you money, the other is free and gives you a useful skill to boot. I know which one I would choose.
And I bet he runs WinXP under an admin account too.
I wonder how much more time he will be willing to spend admining his box once it is rooted by malware and his bank accounts are periodically cleaned out?
Some people pay mechanics to fix their cars, others do it for free themselves. Choice is a beautiful thing. But one of these groups will spot problems much earlier than the other.
If you actually looked at the source from the article (which was generated using word), it looked clean and readable. Nothing like the HTML we used to see from Word.
Yawn... wake me when it can generate valid HTML...
I was thinking the same thing. I wonder if he's related to General Custer...
Nice...
My personal favourite is "browsing for left-handed websites", although I've hears a friend refer to it as "flogging on"...
Apparently the French think the miserable failure googlebomb was the funniest - no love lost there...
I can't wait until they extend this naming scheme to Yugoslavia - I will be first in line to buy up a pile of .FUK.YU domains...
by UnknowingFool (672806) ...
You fool! You didn't specify nolock in that first select statement
by bmalia (583394)
nolock? Is that like a MS SQL Server thing? I've never seen/used a nolock in Oracle or MySQL.
Ahh, the irony is almost as delicious as the breakfast!
Quality is dropping, yet for some reason demand is still high. I don't know if this is just a normal perception as one gets in his mid 30s or if this is a real trend or not, but it seems to be a common consensus that quality is not there as it once was. To me, rock music peaked in the 70s and the 60s-70s era bands were still strong in the 80s with a more polished and professional approach. There was a slight resurgence in the early 90s, but things are tapering off from there.
I'm mid 20s and I agree with you entirely.
Put them old hold, for a long time, with really annoying music
Where I work we actually have a mixtape of Lionel Ritchie, Celine Dion and Enya just for this purpose (for the telemarketers that call anyway). Great fun guessing among colleagues how long it will be until they hang up.
Other tricks: learn to impersonate an answering machine, or an engaged signal. Or get someone else to answer the phone and say "sorry, Paul, he told me to tell you that he's not here right now...". Or get a tape of the classic Simpsons voice message: "The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialling wand please mash the keypad with your palm now".
All good fun!
..and MMX, and any other TLA (Three-Letter Acronym, for the technobabble-impaired) you care to mention...
You're aiming too far in the other direction. Actually achieving perfection may never enter the equation, but continuous improvement is required to ensure survivability against your competitors. Otherwise we'd all still be hammering nails in with large rocks (hell, they're not perfect, but they are sufficient and easier to make than a proper hammer... until the 0.001% of the time they break in half, or bend the nail and jam it through your finger, etc.)
</bad analogy warning>
Hey, don't blame me for the bad analogy, TFA started it...
I can't think of any way to end this sentence.
I can - 5 years, 3 with good behaviour.
Yeah - Tamagotchi has gone 4D.
On a more serious note, can anyone define "Open source hardware"? Short of publishing blueprints for the chips, how can you open source it? Publishing a parts list and assembly instructions is not open source...
I don't know, but I agree with you. This is the first time I've heard of BlueSecurity, and as soon as the site comes back I'm joining, and recommending to everyone I know to do the same.