So let's assume that the US does cough up the source code rather than risk losing the sale.
Just like if I gave you the code behind my website or program so that you could have peace of mind and/or integrate other systems with mine.
Check it, recompile it and compare it... Satisfied? Good. Sale goes ahead.
Sure, it does everything that it is supposed to according the owner's manual...
.....It also has several undocumented features that allow me backdoor access, remote control and/or streaming statistics, GPS co-ordinates. You get the idea.
The key here is trust. Can they trust the US to document the complete inner workings of the aircraft they are buying? Maybe.
If it is a matter of national security, should you be buying your weaponary and vehicles from another country as opposed to developing everything domestically? The answer of course is yes - if you want to share in a good concept and for your defences to be as good as theirs.
But unless they can be absolutely sure the source code provided is complete or unless they plan to recompile the known code that they can trust and overwrite the current version installed on every piece of equipment, they are going to end up having to trust them (the US) just as much as if the source code isn't given up to begin with.
This is one of the ultimate privileges and power of being the creator or programmer of a piece of technology. Lawsuits for contradicting a disclosure agreement of some sort are nothing against what that control is worth.
If you can't live with that, then I agree, "This is a good reason not to offshore defense technology.".
Cassette Tape? Dead.
CD? Dead - according to the parent.
CD-R? Dying??
The fact is that as each technology is replaced with something better it dies a natural death. Vinyl hangs on because in some ways it is still superior (for some applications).
What always bugged me is that we went from 90 minute tapes to 74/80 mins CDs and some things that fitted on a tape could not actually be reproduced as a single album using CD. Anyway...
With DVDs now selling for the same price as music CDs and DVD burners common place in new computers, how long can the physical CD realistically have left? The market should at least be feeling the pressure and/or dropping the price in line with the next generation of media.
I would agree that mp3 on CD-R is a superior way to listen to more music on one disc and for that reason DVD (or it's own successor) will have to replace CDs sooner rather than later and like with every other ageing format, when something truly superior becomes as cheap or cheaper, sales will decline and it will be replaced.
How long before regular CDs are replaced with mp3 encoded albums or a complete anthology comes on 1 CD instead of 4 as a box set?
How long afer that will the whole lot come as a DVD instead?
I think the short answer is that CDs are hanging on just like tape did for a while when CDs first came out, thanks to how entrenched the technology has become, but given the success of mp3 players and DVD, it won't be long. I can already imagine the next generation looking at an 800mb CD the same way that most people already regard cassette tapes, 8 track etc.
If the advertising elements are wrapped up inside the gameplay in an interactive way, perhaps we'll see in-game power-ups that include removing all ads for a short period of time, temporarily freeing up bandwidth for a few extra frags...
...or hitting your opponent with a few extra ones that get in his way at the last second.
flim: A word I have only ever heard used as in 'flim-flam' (meaning fake, deception or sham) or as slang for a five pound note in the UK (correct me if I'm wrong).
buff: Could be a reference to polishing, or perhaps muscle tone, but nudity is funnier.
So for the sentence, "I'm a real flim buff. You can tell.", let's go with either "I'm cheap, but I work out" or "I pretending to be naked, but it's just a cheap trick".
Hmmm. On second thoughts, perhaps this particular typo works better as a euphemism after all...
Let's examine this:
flim: A word I have only ever heard used as in 'flim-flam' (meaning fake, deception or sham) or as slang for a five pound note in the UK (correct me if I'm wrong).
buff: Could be a reference to polishing, or perhaps muscle tone, but nudity is funnier.
So for the sentence, "I'm a real flim buff. You can tell.", let's go with either "I'm cheap, but I work out" or "I pretending to be naked, but it's just a cheap trick".
Hmmm. On second thoughts, perhaps this particular typo works better as a euphemism after all...
Amazon's attempts to throw out e-mail evidence on the grounds that Internet communications lack reliability
Wah?
I hope I am not the only person that thinks this is a total contradiction!
Yes, shop online with us... Sure, purchase goods using the Internet... Absolutely, we can email you a new password/invoice/receipt number... Use email to communicate for business purposes - you must be F&*king crazy!!!!
If I tried to explain why, in this day and age, when running an entire business empire online, I considered "Internet communications" unreliable, I think my efforts would end up "incomprehensible" too!
Most of the time, as an IT employee with ties to the management/accounts/administration side of things I have always had full access to company data and know exactly where to look to find what I want. The only real restrictions have been my contract/confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement.
Interesting that you didn't list "integrity" as one of the restrictions.
OK OK. I have now had several responses to this effect.
To clarify, for those who will continue to get sidetracked by this idea, I am defining 'restriction' as something different to 'motivation'.
My own beliefs, morals, principles, scruples - call it what you will - are used to decide what I will or won't want to do and thus affect the motivation for me to do something (or not).
Once I have decided on a course of action based on what motivates me (to be good or to be evil) the factors that then control my actions and limit my intentions are restrictions such as security systems, permissions on a network or risk of legal repercussions.
Hope that clears things up!!
Assuming I am an evil sysadmin who has no morals then I wanted to stress that nothing stands in my way except my contract (i.e. breaking the law or being exposed legally for what I've done).
If we just assume that I would not do such things because of morals, then my entire comment is irrelevant and I'd simply fall off my chair at the thought of doing something so morally reprehensible. That was not the topic at hand so I looked at restrictions in terms of physical barriers regardless of how well I can sleep at night.
Most of the time, as an IT employee with ties to the management/accounts/administration side of things I have always had full access to company data and know exactly where to look to find what I want. The only real restrictions have been my contract/confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement.
What I would consider much more useful is an application that can hunt.avi,.mpg and.mp3 files across the network and 'slurp' them back to my iPod...
As a full-time laptop user, I have only just started spending enough time online at home to want broadband. I'll be applying soon(ish).
I shelled out for it 5 years ago for my office (PC-PHIX) and have access to it where I am working currently so that takes care of about 80% of my bandwidth needs. I check my email at home, but the rest of my use (and a higher percentage than my home usage) is done at customer's premises or friend's houses via their connections.
Since I can't take broadband with me wherever I go, it's dial-up or 'borrowed' WiFi the rest of the time.
I'm not paying for dial-up AND broadband when there is nothing at home connected to the broadband service and I don't make any calls from home so I don't need VoIP.
I also use this same dial-up account on my test laptop at work, my mobile phone (for email) and previously my handheld PDA too.
So technically (if I lived in the US), I'd fall into either the 30% (don't want) or the 14% (dial-up is adequate [because broadband is not]) or the crossover of them both.
And yes, I realise there are portable broadband solutions, but here in Australia the choices are limited and all fall into category #1 - too expensive!
Sex workers cry foul, say game "accrues points to players for the depiction of rape and murder of prostitutes."
Actually, as far as I know, you can NEVER rape prostitutes in the game - they approach you and get paid for their time and in fact, GTA San Andreas features missions where you have to SAVE them from violent, non-paying customers. If they think that either of these scenarios is upsetting, they are just complaining about their chosen career.
As for murder... well it's not targetted at prostitutes - it's anyone and everyone! So either the entire human race should hate these games or we should recognise each for what it is: a game; fiction based on some of the worst aspects of modern life (crime), and a satire of certain lifestyles in certain parts of the western world.
They are also NOT for kids and have been rated as such. Go to talk to the parents who keep giving GTA to minors.
My memory is pretty bloody good already. My data is fairly well organised too (in my phone, computer, customer database, accounting package, filing cabinet, diary, PDA etc. etc.).
So normally, I don't need it. When I am working under pressure, studying or learning about something new and complicated and need the extra edge, I do still use it.
With a new job/contract coming up where I'll be learning several new systems, I will probably go buy a couple of packets to help me memorise things until I have used them enough for them to be stored in my long term memory / become second nature like most of the other work I do.
Put simply: At around $10 per week to be on the them continuously, $500+ p.a. is too much to pay. Therefore, I only buy them when an extra advantage is necessary. Exam time - as the original parent comment mentioned - for example.
I want my mind-enhancing "remember everything you read" pills for studying.
I used to use a product called Exo Memory. Probably the same as this product which I just found online using Google, except I found mine by asking at my local Pharmacy here in Western Australia, so I never had to buy it online. (If you are from Perth, you might like to know that the Pharmacy up the road from U.W.A. in Nedlands is where I first saw this product).
In any case, it seemed to do the trick. I could read a page of information and quote you anything I'd just seen. I was remembering phone numbers after reading them ONCE for days afterwards. People's names, lyrics from songs, locations of files. Cramming took on a whole new meaning during the time I was taking it because of the sheer speed with which I was storing new information and recalling it accurately. It was wonderful stuff!!!
In moderation, I can't see the harm either... I am not responsible if it diagrees with you or vice versa, but I saw no side effects.
Though by explaining everything in one go, on one page, for those who are too lazy to click links and actually read things, you are helping a greater percentage of the population join in the fun without actually learning to or bothering to do things properly.
Sounds like a certain ISP who tried to redesign the typical web browser interface for lazy/stupid people...
Can't remember the name of THAT company off the top of my head, but you can bet Google WON'T be seen associated wtih THEM any time soon!
Sorry, I meant to include a link to dictionary.reference.com where they provide a full definition of 'gaol', mention it is a chiefly British way of spelling 'jail' and then refer users to see 'Variant of jail' which completes the definition using a more familiar term / with more familiar spelling, to ensure that my comment made sense.
If I had included this link to begin with, the joke (regardless of how funny it might actually be deemed to be) would have worked without requiring an explanation...
Now that you mention it, I think even after removing the battery the time on my cell phone was still set. I've got the same model as you. Must have some small internal backup battery...
It might be my imagination, and I'm not about to go and test it as it's not practical at all this week, but I think I have observed my phone keeping such settings without the battery installed provided it is not removed for any great length of time. This of course does suggest some kind of onboard battery backup / alternative power even if it's just a few capacitors keeping charge.
If I'm right, you can remove the battery long enough to swap an MMC card, replace the Xpress-on covers or clean the phone, but longer (20-30 minutes?) would mean setting the clock over again. Also once you have had the battery removed for a while, if you replace it, reset the settings and immediately remove it again, the time it manages without seems to shrink. This would further imply a small, rechargeable backup battery is part of the phone's mainboard.
However, this is mostly speculation and apart from pulling a phone apart, asking someone who works on them, emailing Nokia etc. etc., I have no way or verifying it at the moment. I'd love to hear from someone who knows for sure and not just regarding the Nokia 6230 either - what is the general trend for this type of thing?
The point is, the phone is certainly capable of doing things while it is 'off', probably still doing some things when the battery is removed and in the future it would not be hard at all to enhance these functions for the purposes of locating the phone as per the article.
Like I say... if you're paranoid, leave the phone at home!!
Am I the only one who thinks that some pedophile is going to hack into the system and then start snatching kids?
Yes, I expect you are.
But don't worry, we know exactly where YOU are and will have a couple of federal agents over in a minute or two to pick you up before you can put your ideas into action.
My question is, will cellphones start to not turn off when the cell phone is "off". Will "off" now mean "really low power mode" - just enough to keep transmitting?
Even with current cellphones, off is not really off. When switched 'off' your phone still keeps track of the time, date and other settings that, with the battery removed completely, need to be reset.
I use my mobile phone as my alarm clock and when I set it at night, I turn it 'off'. In the morning my phone turns itself back 'on' to trigger the alarm which shows it really is in fact ON the whole time, just in a low-power mode.
My phone is just a regular Nokia 6230 and come to think of it, my previous phones (6310i, 7110 and I think even my 3210) could do it too!
I already know people who, when they want to "make sure there's no-one listening" will remove the battery from their phone to ensure no power is being supplied to the unit.
So I expect people with that much paranoia (or that much to hide) will continue to remove their battery from time to time or... *drum roll* LEAVE THE PHONE BEHIND!
It may be a low-tech alternative, but it's REALLY effective at stopping your phone from being used as a tracking device. So long as you also remember to leave your Driver's Licence at home because they contain chips now too, take someone else's car because there's an RFID inside the licence plates and keep the disguise on for good measure because you are always on camera.
Excuse me for a second... there's a black helicopter landing in my front yard.....
Slashdot Mirror
So let's assume that the US does cough up the source code rather than risk losing the sale.
.....It also has several undocumented features that allow me backdoor access, remote control and /or streaming statistics, GPS co-ordinates. You get the idea.
Just like if I gave you the code behind my website or program so that you could have peace of mind and/or integrate other systems with mine.
Check it, recompile it and compare it... Satisfied? Good. Sale goes ahead.
Sure, it does everything that it is supposed to according the owner's manual...
The key here is trust. Can they trust the US to document the complete inner workings of the aircraft they are buying? Maybe.
If it is a matter of national security, should you be buying your weaponary and vehicles from another country as opposed to developing everything domestically? The answer of course is yes - if you want to share in a good concept and for your defences to be as good as theirs.
But unless they can be absolutely sure the source code provided is complete or unless they plan to recompile the known code that they can trust and overwrite the current version installed on every piece of equipment, they are going to end up having to trust them (the US) just as much as if the source code isn't given up to begin with.
This is one of the ultimate privileges and power of being the creator or programmer of a piece of technology. Lawsuits for contradicting a disclosure agreement of some sort are nothing against what that control is worth.
If you can't live with that, then I agree, "This is a good reason not to offshore defense technology.".
Cassette Tape? Dead.
CD? Dead - according to the parent.
CD-R? Dying??
The fact is that as each technology is replaced with something better it dies a natural death. Vinyl hangs on because in some ways it is still superior (for some applications).
What always bugged me is that we went from 90 minute tapes to 74/80 mins CDs and some things that fitted on a tape could not actually be reproduced as a single album using CD. Anyway...
With DVDs now selling for the same price as music CDs and DVD burners common place in new computers, how long can the physical CD realistically have left? The market should at least be feeling the pressure and/or dropping the price in line with the next generation of media.
I would agree that mp3 on CD-R is a superior way to listen to more music on one disc and for that reason DVD (or it's own successor) will have to replace CDs sooner rather than later and like with every other ageing format, when something truly superior becomes as cheap or cheaper, sales will decline and it will be replaced.
How long before regular CDs are replaced with mp3 encoded albums or a complete anthology comes on 1 CD instead of 4 as a box set?
How long afer that will the whole lot come as a DVD instead?
I think the short answer is that CDs are hanging on just like tape did for a while when CDs first came out, thanks to how entrenched the technology has become, but given the success of mp3 players and DVD, it won't be long. I can already imagine the next generation looking at an 800mb CD the same way that most people already regard cassette tapes, 8 track etc.
If the advertising elements are wrapped up inside the gameplay in an interactive way, perhaps we'll see in-game power-ups that include removing all ads for a short period of time, temporarily freeing up bandwidth for a few extra frags...
...or hitting your opponent with a few extra ones that get in his way at the last second.
Damn. That will teach me for doing ten things at once.
Ignore this unreadable one and read the real comment below which was supposed to be an edit, not a dupe...
In fact, don't read either of them! When you analyse a joke to death... it dies.
Let's examine this:
flim: A word I have only ever heard used as in 'flim-flam' (meaning fake, deception or sham) or as slang for a five pound note in the UK (correct me if I'm wrong).
buff: Could be a reference to polishing, or perhaps muscle tone, but nudity is funnier.
So for the sentence, "I'm a real flim buff. You can tell.", let's go with either "I'm cheap, but I work out" or "I pretending to be naked, but it's just a cheap trick".
Hmmm. On second thoughts, perhaps this particular typo works better as a euphemism after all...
Let's examine this: flim: A word I have only ever heard used as in 'flim-flam' (meaning fake, deception or sham) or as slang for a five pound note in the UK (correct me if I'm wrong). buff: Could be a reference to polishing, or perhaps muscle tone, but nudity is funnier. So for the sentence, "I'm a real flim buff. You can tell.", let's go with either "I'm cheap, but I work out" or "I pretending to be naked, but it's just a cheap trick". Hmmm. On second thoughts, perhaps this particular typo works better as a euphemism after all...
Because they specifically wanted something that they could give "a hefty kick".
Amazon's attempts to throw out e-mail evidence on the grounds that Internet communications lack reliability
Wah?
I hope I am not the only person that thinks this is a total contradiction!
Yes, shop online with us... Sure, purchase goods using the Internet... Absolutely, we can email you a new password/invoice/receipt number... Use email to communicate for business purposes - you must be F&*king crazy!!!!
If I tried to explain why, in this day and age, when running an entire business empire online, I considered "Internet communications" unreliable, I think my efforts would end up "incomprehensible" too!
Most of the time, as an IT employee with ties to the management/accounts/administration side of things I have always had full access to company data and know exactly where to look to find what I want. The only real restrictions have been my contract/confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement.
Interesting that you didn't list "integrity" as one of the restrictions.
OK OK. I have now had several responses to this effect.
To clarify, for those who will continue to get sidetracked by this idea, I am defining 'restriction' as something different to 'motivation'.
My own beliefs, morals, principles, scruples - call it what you will - are used to decide what I will or won't want to do and thus affect the motivation for me to do something (or not).
Once I have decided on a course of action based on what motivates me (to be good or to be evil) the factors that then control my actions and limit my intentions are restrictions such as security systems, permissions on a network or risk of legal repercussions.
Hope that clears things up!!
Assuming I am an evil sysadmin who has no morals then I wanted to stress that nothing stands in my way except my contract (i.e. breaking the law or being exposed legally for what I've done).
If we just assume that I would not do such things because of morals, then my entire comment is irrelevant and I'd simply fall off my chair at the thought of doing something so morally reprehensible. That was not the topic at hand so I looked at restrictions in terms of physical barriers regardless of how well I can sleep at night.
Nothing for you to see here. Please move along. Sorry, my iPod slurped the story.
--
503 Sig Unavailable
Perhaps for this article you meant 404 or 410, or perhaps we need
416 Content 'slurped' by iPod
Most of the time, as an IT employee with ties to the management/accounts/administration side of things I have always had full access to company data and know exactly where to look to find what I want. The only real restrictions have been my contract/confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement.
.avi, .mpg and .mp3 files across the network and 'slurp' them back to my iPod...
..., if I used an iPod.
What I would consider much more useful is an application that can hunt
Sleep on it... You might change your mind about opening a Hotmail account.
...portability.
As a full-time laptop user, I have only just started spending enough time online at home to want broadband. I'll be applying soon(ish).
I shelled out for it 5 years ago for my office (PC-PHIX) and have access to it where I am working currently so that takes care of about 80% of my bandwidth needs. I check my email at home, but the rest of my use (and a higher percentage than my home usage) is done at customer's premises or friend's houses via their connections.
Since I can't take broadband with me wherever I go, it's dial-up or 'borrowed' WiFi the rest of the time.
I'm not paying for dial-up AND broadband when there is nothing at home connected to the broadband service and I don't make any calls from home so I don't need VoIP.
I also use this same dial-up account on my test laptop at work, my mobile phone (for email) and previously my handheld PDA too.
So technically (if I lived in the US), I'd fall into either the 30% (don't want) or the 14% (dial-up is adequate [because broadband is not]) or the crossover of them both.
And yes, I realise there are portable broadband solutions, but here in Australia the choices are limited and all fall into category #1 - too expensive!
From the article:
Sex workers cry foul, say game "accrues points to players for the depiction of rape and murder of prostitutes."
Actually, as far as I know, you can NEVER rape prostitutes in the game - they approach you and get paid for their time and in fact, GTA San Andreas features missions where you have to SAVE them from violent, non-paying customers. If they think that either of these scenarios is upsetting, they are just complaining about their chosen career.
As for murder... well it's not targetted at prostitutes - it's anyone and everyone! So either the entire human race should hate these games or we should recognise each for what it is: a game; fiction based on some of the worst aspects of modern life (crime), and a satire of certain lifestyles in certain parts of the western world.
They are also NOT for kids and have been rated as such. Go to talk to the parents who keep giving GTA to minors.
Actually, there was only one reason: cost.
My memory is pretty bloody good already. My data is fairly well organised too (in my phone, computer, customer database, accounting package, filing cabinet, diary, PDA etc. etc.).
So normally, I don't need it. When I am working under pressure, studying or learning about something new and complicated and need the extra edge, I do still use it.
With a new job/contract coming up where I'll be learning several new systems, I will probably go buy a couple of packets to help me memorise things until I have used them enough for them to be stored in my long term memory / become second nature like most of the other work I do.
Put simply: At around $10 per week to be on the them continuously, $500+ p.a. is too much to pay. Therefore, I only buy them when an extra advantage is necessary. Exam time - as the original parent comment mentioned - for example.
How about a pill to help 'human beans' spell complicated words like 'psychologically' and 'socially'??
I want my mind-enhancing "remember everything you read" pills for studying.
I used to use a product called Exo Memory. Probably the same as this product which I just found online using Google, except I found mine by asking at my local Pharmacy here in Western Australia, so I never had to buy it online. (If you are from Perth, you might like to know that the Pharmacy up the road from U.W.A. in Nedlands is where I first saw this product).
In any case, it seemed to do the trick. I could read a page of information and quote you anything I'd just seen. I was remembering phone numbers after reading them ONCE for days afterwards. People's names, lyrics from songs, locations of files. Cramming took on a whole new meaning during the time I was taking it because of the sheer speed with which I was storing new information and recalling it accurately. It was wonderful stuff!!!
In moderation, I can't see the harm either... I am not responsible if it diagrees with you or vice versa, but I saw no side effects.
Good point.
Though by explaining everything in one go, on one page, for those who are too lazy to click links and actually read things, you are helping a greater percentage of the population join in the fun without actually learning to or bothering to do things properly.
Sounds like a certain ISP who tried to redesign the typical web browser interface for lazy/stupid people...
Can't remember the name of THAT company off the top of my head, but you can bet Google WON'T be seen associated wtih THEM any time soon!
Sorry, I meant to include a link to dictionary.reference.com where they provide a full definition of 'gaol', mention it is a chiefly British way of spelling 'jail' and then refer users to see 'Variant of jail' which completes the definition using a more familiar term / with more familiar spelling, to ensure that my comment made sense.
If I had included this link to begin with, the joke (regardless of how funny it might actually be deemed to be) would have worked without requiring an explanation...
Oh. Wait a minute. I did.
"You've got Gmail!"
Google + AOL = GAOL?
Now that you mention it, I think even after removing the battery the time on my cell phone was still set. I've got the same model as you. Must have some small internal backup battery...
It might be my imagination, and I'm not about to go and test it as it's not practical at all this week, but I think I have observed my phone keeping such settings without the battery installed provided it is not removed for any great length of time. This of course does suggest some kind of onboard battery backup / alternative power even if it's just a few capacitors keeping charge.
If I'm right, you can remove the battery long enough to swap an MMC card, replace the Xpress-on covers or clean the phone, but longer (20-30 minutes?) would mean setting the clock over again. Also once you have had the battery removed for a while, if you replace it, reset the settings and immediately remove it again, the time it manages without seems to shrink. This would further imply a small, rechargeable backup battery is part of the phone's mainboard.
However, this is mostly speculation and apart from pulling a phone apart, asking someone who works on them, emailing Nokia etc. etc., I have no way or verifying it at the moment. I'd love to hear from someone who knows for sure and not just regarding the Nokia 6230 either - what is the general trend for this type of thing?
The point is, the phone is certainly capable of doing things while it is 'off', probably still doing some things when the battery is removed and in the future it would not be hard at all to enhance these functions for the purposes of locating the phone as per the article.
Like I say... if you're paranoid, leave the phone at home!!
Am I the only one who thinks that some pedophile is going to hack into the system and then start snatching kids?
Yes, I expect you are.
But don't worry, we know exactly where YOU are and will have a couple of federal agents over in a minute or two to pick you up before you can put your ideas into action.
My question is, will cellphones start to not turn off when the cell phone is "off". Will "off" now mean "really low power mode" - just enough to keep transmitting?
Even with current cellphones, off is not really off. When switched 'off' your phone still keeps track of the time, date and other settings that, with the battery removed completely, need to be reset.
I use my mobile phone as my alarm clock and when I set it at night, I turn it 'off'. In the morning my phone turns itself back 'on' to trigger the alarm which shows it really is in fact ON the whole time, just in a low-power mode.
My phone is just a regular Nokia 6230 and come to think of it, my previous phones (6310i, 7110 and I think even my 3210) could do it too!
I already know people who, when they want to "make sure there's no-one listening" will remove the battery from their phone to ensure no power is being supplied to the unit.
So I expect people with that much paranoia (or that much to hide) will continue to remove their battery from time to time or... *drum roll* LEAVE THE PHONE BEHIND!
It may be a low-tech alternative, but it's REALLY effective at stopping your phone from being used as a tracking device. So long as you also remember to leave your Driver's Licence at home because they contain chips now too, take someone else's car because there's an RFID inside the licence plates and keep the disguise on for good measure because you are always on camera.
Excuse me for a second... there's a black helicopter landing in my front yard.....
The year 2010, when a server is finally built that can withstand the full force exerted by "The Slashdot Effect".