Reminds me of a scene near the beginning of the movie, Judge Dredd. The robot rolling down the hallway while folks are shooting at each other says, "Eat recycled food, it's good for the environment and it's OK for you. Eat recycled food."
It's really quite simple. Assume that any internet connected computer IS already compromised. Don't keep anything that shouldn't be public knowledge on that PC unless it's strongly encrypted with the largest private key possible with whatever encryption program you prefer and DON'T keep the private key on that PC. Keep it on a thumb drive. Honestly, if someone with the resources to brute force a 4 kilobit private key within your lifetime is actually interested in what's on your computer you've got much bigger problems to worry about than wether or not they know you've got porn on your computer.
I personally can't think of a single thing the U.N. has done that turned out good. The only things that even come close are actually accomplished by U.S. troops wearing blue hats.
A POX on rootkits, and those who write them. Rootkits, wether they're used by some script-kiddie to try and hack my computer or some corporation to try and monitor what I do, are unethical by thier very nature.
I haven't tried it myself yet but I know of at least one developer who writes modules for DotNetNuke using #develop. Sure, you still need the.net framework, but if you're using Windows 2000 or later you have it already and it's available for Windows NT4 (or was a little over a year ago when I was stuck using a laptop running NT4).
The real question is who was the first to know that you knew that they knew. Did you know first or did they? If they knew first what did they know? If you knew first, what did they know about what you knew and how did they find it out?
> Until governments foot the bill for all medical R&D and clinical testing...
Governments do not have money to foot the bill for anything. God, I really wish people everywhere would realize that ALL governments operate with TAXPAYER money. In the U.S., if you ask people around you how much they paid in taxes last year the majority will say something along the lines of "I didn't pay anything, they payed me X dollars." Everyone everywhere should get the mindset that every single dollar, pound, yen, or whatever monetary unit they use, spent by thier government is their money. Just in the cleanup and recovery from this years hurricane Katrina and Rita billions of MY FAVORITE DOLLARS have been utterly wasted. Just in Alabama, FEMA has paid millions to move unoccupied travel trailers around, and put them into $19 a day trailer spots at various state parks where they remain unoccupied. Why unoccupied? Maily because most of the people who need them didn't come to Alabama and because only a small percentage of travel trailer parking spots in Alabama state parks have sewer hookups. Most travel trailers have gray and black water storage tanks on board and they empty those at designated terminals at the various interstate rest stops. FEMA will not let anyone occupy one of thier trailers unless the parking spot is equipped with it's own sewer tap. So they pay millions to park unoccupied trailers in the state parks, instead of parking them in the many large unused parking lots that abound around the state where large stores, such as Winn Dixie, have closed, and tow them around from place to place. That's one example of MY F'ING MONEY going to waste. Can you tell I'm p'd? I don't mind the government using tax money to help with such disasters. I don't even mind, much, when that money is used overseas because such aid to other nations is one way of making friends and alies in the region. However, USE IT WISELY.
Stepping off my soapbox... I went into that little tirade to say this: It's the "it's the governments money" attitude that leads to such egregious waste and overspending being tolerated. If the people would just shed that attitude things would be much better, not only ih the U.S. but everywhere.
Eventually?!? I already view it that way and the only reason I'm not constantly screaming to my duly elected rep's in Congress for the U.S. to pull out of the U.N. is because we'd lose our veto power on the security council. I absolutely despise the U.N. as well as hold most foreign governments in utter contempt. Although things MIGHT be turning around in Germany. It remains to be seen.
If they're robbing a store I really don't care to hear about some circumstances that the writer of the story thinks justifies thier criminal behavior. In fact the only reason I care about thier race is if it's part of a description intended to help folks identify the culprits. If their boss screwed them out of their pay that's a different story and any attempt to link the two is nothing more than an attempt to ignite sympathy so that just maybe they'll get a lesser sentence if the case ever gets into court. Also, if some folks come along and interrupt a robbery I could really care less about thier past. Unless there is some concrete evidence that the ex KKK NRA local leaders called up Joe and his friends and told them to go out looking for hyphenated Americans and when they find them watch for any excuse to shoot, the racist proclivities of the local NRA leadership is irrelevant to the story unless the writer has an axe to grind. News stories tinted with iron shavings like my second example should be limited to the editorial pages, not presented as actual news. Or at the very least have a obligatory "In my opinion" or "I think" inserted.
In my opinion, many so-called journalists are no different than many bloggers. Way too much of what passes for journalism is really nothing more than personal opinion. If you report the facts of a story as in, "Joe and his friends went to the store and interrupted a robbery in progress. 3 people suffered gun-shot injuries. No one died." then you deserve protection. If on the other hand you spin your stories to suit some agenda like this, "Joe and his NRA buddies went out looking for trouble. They found some poor hyphenated Americans at the local quickie-mart trying to supplement their income and opened fire. This is a prime example of why all guns should be confiscated." then you deserve no more protection than any blogger.
That might be a good idea IF the government had built their index. It makes sense with airports because, gee. The gov't built the airports. Doing such a thing with google would be tantamount to theft. But then again, when was the last time something was nationalized and made more efficient? National gov't is only useful for national defense, interstate road construction, and similar large public works beyond the ability of local gov'ts. Even then, it's rarely if ever efficient. Look at the dept of homeland security. Evil bastids flew airplanes into buildings and what was the reaction of gov't? Wrap yet another layer of beurocracy around the problem. It reminds me of how oysters wrap layer after layer around an irritant. However somehow we've not yet been able to achieve the same results.
Here in good ol' Alabama, they when you fill out your state income tax form each year one of the boxes asks how much you spent on products for which you paid no "sales and use" tax. Most people just put a big whopping 0 and then pray they don't get audited. Considering that in respect to tax evasion charges you're guilty until you prove yourself innocent it's a pretty big risk. How do you PROVE that you didn't do something?
I can read the simple ones but when you throw in extraneous junk like lines and squiggles, plus distort the letters I have extreme difficulty with them. A pox on captchas and the ungodly spammers who make them necessary.
Absolutely not! Just because there are people obsessed enough with a game that they're willing pay real world $$$ for virtual items, does not make this guy's actions criminal. If a game program allows other players to steal your stuff, with or without community "rules" supposedly prohibiting such, the risk of that happening is part of the thrill of the game. What would be next? Prison or capital punishment for a PK (player killer) if the person whose character got killed freaks out and offs himself in a fit of despondency over his virtual death?
Slashdot Mirror
Reminds me of a scene near the beginning of the movie, Judge Dredd. The robot rolling down the hallway while folks are shooting at each other says, "Eat recycled food, it's good for the environment and it's OK for you. Eat recycled food."
For people who grew up in cities, the "government conspiracy" paranoia is most common.
This is because there are more people in the cities for the gov't to mess with.
For those who were brought up in rural areas, the "aliens" conspiracy is most widespread.
This is because the aliens want to avoid attracting the attention of the government.
all your branewave are belong to us...
It's really quite simple. Assume that any internet connected computer IS already compromised. Don't keep anything that shouldn't be public knowledge on that PC unless it's strongly encrypted with the largest private key possible with whatever encryption program you prefer and DON'T keep the private key on that PC. Keep it on a thumb drive. Honestly, if someone with the resources to brute force a 4 kilobit private key within your lifetime is actually interested in what's on your computer you've got much bigger problems to worry about than wether or not they know you've got porn on your computer.
I personally can't think of a single thing the U.N. has done that turned out good. The only things that even come close are actually accomplished by U.S. troops wearing blue hats.
A POX on rootkits, and those who write them. Rootkits, wether they're used by some script-kiddie to try and hack my computer or some corporation to try and monitor what I do, are unethical by thier very nature.
I haven't tried it myself yet but I know of at least one developer who writes modules for DotNetNuke using #develop. Sure, you still need the .net framework, but if you're using Windows 2000 or later you have it already and it's available for Windows NT4 (or was a little over a year ago when I was stuck using a laptop running NT4).
these electrodes could be implanted into your mouth and your throat
This calls to mind the "translator microbes" from Farscape. Maybe we'll eventually have something similar. Translator Nanites...
The real question is who was the first to know that you knew that they knew. Did you know first or did they? If they knew first what did they know? If you knew first, what did they know about what you knew and how did they find it out?
Hmmm... reminds me of the hat worm by Gary Oldman as "Zorg" in "The Fifth Element." Movie from the late 90's if my memory serves.
So true. Large bureaucracies, gov't included, are horribly inefficient at best, utter failures or totally corrupt at worst.
> Until governments foot the bill for all medical R&D and clinical testing... Governments do not have money to foot the bill for anything. God, I really wish people everywhere would realize that ALL governments operate with TAXPAYER money. In the U.S., if you ask people around you how much they paid in taxes last year the majority will say something along the lines of "I didn't pay anything, they payed me X dollars." Everyone everywhere should get the mindset that every single dollar, pound, yen, or whatever monetary unit they use, spent by thier government is their money. Just in the cleanup and recovery from this years hurricane Katrina and Rita billions of MY FAVORITE DOLLARS have been utterly wasted. Just in Alabama, FEMA has paid millions to move unoccupied travel trailers around, and put them into $19 a day trailer spots at various state parks where they remain unoccupied. Why unoccupied? Maily because most of the people who need them didn't come to Alabama and because only a small percentage of travel trailer parking spots in Alabama state parks have sewer hookups. Most travel trailers have gray and black water storage tanks on board and they empty those at designated terminals at the various interstate rest stops. FEMA will not let anyone occupy one of thier trailers unless the parking spot is equipped with it's own sewer tap. So they pay millions to park unoccupied trailers in the state parks, instead of parking them in the many large unused parking lots that abound around the state where large stores, such as Winn Dixie, have closed, and tow them around from place to place. That's one example of MY F'ING MONEY going to waste. Can you tell I'm p'd? I don't mind the government using tax money to help with such disasters. I don't even mind, much, when that money is used overseas because such aid to other nations is one way of making friends and alies in the region. However, USE IT WISELY. Stepping off my soapbox... I went into that little tirade to say this: It's the "it's the governments money" attitude that leads to such egregious waste and overspending being tolerated. If the people would just shed that attitude things would be much better, not only ih the U.S. but everywhere.
Eventually?!? I already view it that way and the only reason I'm not constantly screaming to my duly elected rep's in Congress for the U.S. to pull out of the U.N. is because we'd lose our veto power on the security council. I absolutely despise the U.N. as well as hold most foreign governments in utter contempt. Although things MIGHT be turning around in Germany. It remains to be seen.
If they're robbing a store I really don't care to hear about some circumstances that the writer of the story thinks justifies thier criminal behavior. In fact the only reason I care about thier race is if it's part of a description intended to help folks identify the culprits. If their boss screwed them out of their pay that's a different story and any attempt to link the two is nothing more than an attempt to ignite sympathy so that just maybe they'll get a lesser sentence if the case ever gets into court. Also, if some folks come along and interrupt a robbery I could really care less about thier past. Unless there is some concrete evidence that the ex KKK NRA local leaders called up Joe and his friends and told them to go out looking for hyphenated Americans and when they find them watch for any excuse to shoot, the racist proclivities of the local NRA leadership is irrelevant to the story unless the writer has an axe to grind. News stories tinted with iron shavings like my second example should be limited to the editorial pages, not presented as actual news. Or at the very least have a obligatory "In my opinion" or "I think" inserted.
In my opinion, many so-called journalists are no different than many bloggers. Way too much of what passes for journalism is really nothing more than personal opinion. If you report the facts of a story as in, "Joe and his friends went to the store and interrupted a robbery in progress. 3 people suffered gun-shot injuries. No one died." then you deserve protection. If on the other hand you spin your stories to suit some agenda like this, "Joe and his NRA buddies went out looking for trouble. They found some poor hyphenated Americans at the local quickie-mart trying to supplement their income and opened fire. This is a prime example of why all guns should be confiscated." then you deserve no more protection than any blogger.
That might be a good idea IF the government had built their index. It makes sense with airports because, gee. The gov't built the airports. Doing such a thing with google would be tantamount to theft. But then again, when was the last time something was nationalized and made more efficient? National gov't is only useful for national defense, interstate road construction, and similar large public works beyond the ability of local gov'ts. Even then, it's rarely if ever efficient. Look at the dept of homeland security. Evil bastids flew airplanes into buildings and what was the reaction of gov't? Wrap yet another layer of beurocracy around the problem. It reminds me of how oysters wrap layer after layer around an irritant. However somehow we've not yet been able to achieve the same results.
Here in good ol' Alabama, they when you fill out your state income tax form each year one of the boxes asks how much you spent on products for which you paid no "sales and use" tax. Most people just put a big whopping 0 and then pray they don't get audited. Considering that in respect to tax evasion charges you're guilty until you prove yourself innocent it's a pretty big risk. How do you PROVE that you didn't do something?
I can read the simple ones but when you throw in extraneous junk like lines and squiggles, plus distort the letters I have extreme difficulty with them. A pox on captchas and the ungodly spammers who make them necessary.
Absolutely not! Just because there are people obsessed enough with a game that they're willing pay real world $$$ for virtual items, does not make this guy's actions criminal. If a game program allows other players to steal your stuff, with or without community "rules" supposedly prohibiting such, the risk of that happening is part of the thrill of the game. What would be next? Prison or capital punishment for a PK (player killer) if the person whose character got killed freaks out and offs himself in a fit of despondency over his virtual death?