Re:Perhaps we should reconsider...
on
Code Red III
·
· Score: 1
Though I'm only getting ~20 CR hits per hour and my local network appears unaffected, I did think about exactly that.
However, as others have pointed out in other articles, "unauthorized access" is illegal, no matter what. Plus, if you shut someone down and they lose $50,000 in data (and find out you were the one who did it), they're going to have you arrested and sue you, probably for $50 million. Ask Kevin Mitnick about inflation from "damages" for "unauthorized access".
Unless this anti-worm self-propagates, then anyone with a system running this worm must have installed it themselves, and would have a hard time arguing that they didn't know what it was doing. If the anti-worm self propagates, then it's another worm that though it has benign intent, may have serious flaws that won't be picked up until it's too late. Internet worm of 1988 a case in point.
I simply use 'disposable' e-mail addresses. Having my own domain makes it rather simple. The only people who get my real e-mail address are trusted folks. Otherwise, I have about a dozen forwarding to my actual POP3 account. So, if I need to sign up somewhere and receive a confirmation e-mail, I'll give them spam-a or spam-b or whatever my current spam address is. Once that box starts getting spam, I delete it. Since I don't use a catchall address, the spam bounces off the now nonexistant address.
I've noticed though that since my throwaway accounts all have 'spam' in the user name, I actually can go months without having to delete the forwarder, despite using it regularly. Perhaps they automatically filter the 'spam' part out in an attenpt to parse the actual address, as lots of people stick 'NOSPAM' et al into their addresses in an attempt to block mail harvesters. --
What use are the CDs intended for? If they're intended to be played on a hifi audio player only, then you might run in to problems.
Typically it comes down to what the "reasonable man" considers would happen.
Agreed. However, what if I can't play them on my car's pseudo-CD-ROM player, nor can I transfer them to my Creative Nomad like I've been able to with literally hundreds of other CDs? I think it's reasonable to expect a CD you buy to work like every other CD you've bought.
If, on the other hand, you specifically ask if it will work on your computer's CD drive and they say yes, you have a right to complain.
I suppose we'll all have to start asking at the checkout. *sigh* I would think a label somewhere would be in order, if they're going to go and change the way a 20-year old format works all of a sudden. --
I wonder the viability of simply buying all your CDs with your credit card. Then, if the store refuses to take back the opened 'restricted' CD, get your credit card issuer to refund your money due to the fact you did not receive 'working goods'. --
I said to my wife as we walked back to the car after seeing AI that the Kubrick story was clearly the first 2/3, and the Speilberg influence was unmistakable for the last 1/3. --
If you want to be healthy with a reasonable physique, you need to do three things:
1. Eat right, and eat the amount of food your body needs in a day. A mere extra 350 calories (think: half a Big Mac) a day translates to 3 pounds of weight gain a month. If you want to lose weight, aim for a 500-750 calorie a day deficit.
2. Exercise. Not only does this improve your overall health, but the more calories your burn, guess what? The more you can eat without going into calorie surplus and thus gaining flab.
3. Behavior. The big problem is, people tend to lose 5-10 pounds, and then go back to their old eating/living habits. Guess what? The flab comes back, and the exercise benefits go away.
Be realistic, too. If you want to lose weight, the most you can lose and remain healthy is about 2 pounds a week, if you're lucky.
There's a lot of solid information out there, avoid the 'fad' diets, they're a bunch of garbage. Your body is like any other equipment, except it comes with no manual. Learn about it, study it, and it will generally do what you want it to for a long time. --
I believe it was said that originally that phrase was written as 'life, liberty and the pursuit of property' or in other words, wealth. Rather interesting when you look at it in light of the capitalist spin-offs (like Microsoft's strategies, stupid patents, etc) that we've been getting. --
I especially like the last quote:
"If they want us to part with it, it's up to them to determine how much they think it's worth"
Or in other words, "Cut us a big fat check and we'll let you use the name."
Sometimes, I have the fleeting thought man has invented time travel in the not too distant future, and they're messing with us.
It all at once strikes me as odd and funny. Now, why would Muslim extremists use pr0n sites and sports chat rooms to exchange encrypted messages? What are they going to use next, the Jewish Anti-Defamation League's web site for planning their next big car bombing?
Yes, American tax dollars at work, subscribing CIA agents to fetish sites so they can study their images for secret encoded messages. An extra 500 agents recruited fresh out of college to monitor sports chat rooms all day.
Now I'm trying to remember why I didn't join the CIA... --
Somestimes, one in a great while, I get the sneaking suspicion that some people do these "studies" just to get their name in the media. Nah! Nobody'd do that, right?
Anyway, personally before PDA's, I had... Notepads! Yep, I wrote things down (in pencil) on a notepad I had near me 90% of the time. My memory has always been poor for little things like phone numbers, errands to run, etc. Hell, I think I picked that up from my mom who'd write down the things she needed to pick up at the store/do for the day on a piece of paper and cross things out as she completed things. So, what, a pen/pencil and paper must make you dumb too. Taking notes in class. Post-it notes. Calendars. Microcasette recorders. After all, you're relying on them as a kind of "external memory", right?
So what if people aren't dedicating more of their finite time and effort into memorizing menial details? Good for them. I thought the whole point of our technological advancement was to increase our quality of living. --
Ah, I'm glad to see it's not just me. I've had china shipped to me, destroyed, compensated by UPS for, then shipped again and again destroyed. I just took the check from UPS the second time and told the sender I'd just buy the china set locally, thanks for the gift.
I shipped several extremely well packed boxes across the country and the majority had some damage, including one that was filled with packing peanuts that in spite of being *double boxed* and having enough strapping tape to look like graph paper, was destroyed. It also looked like someone had dropped a huge weight on it, causing the sides of the box to rupture.
If it's remotely fragile, I tend to think of UPS as a way of shipping something old, getting something new. On the positive side, their customer service has always been very good in cutting the check for damaged goods, just don't send those one-of-a-kind items if they're breakable. --
Wow, what an ass. I know at least in BC, Canada, requiring people to work 11 hours a day with only a half-hour lunch break would violate the law, regardless if those people are salaried or not. I have to love executives who blame the problems their flawed management has caused on their employees. I'm sure this is just the kind of thing that'll boost morale and make these folks really want to make this dot-com soar.
Or, knowing that there's still a million unfilled jobs for them out there in decent companies they could all give this guy the finger and sink his little ship. --
Considering the influence big money and big corporations have over governments, the law and people's personal rights, I'll admit this type of merger worries me a bit. It seems more and more that even the rights of governments are being dissolved as mega corporations march across borders with the purpose of not bettering people's lives, even the lives of people who own and run it, but for the sole purpose of bettering (read: increasing profits of) the corporation, regardless of the human toll in lost jobs, lost rights, and lost identity. If you travel across the country, the continent or most of the world now, it's becoming very homogenized. While sci-fi writers of old viewed the government as the big brother of the future, it seems the corporations are the real potential threat.
Another alternative to Gore-Tex?
on
Nano-pants
·
· Score: 4
Well, speaking as one who literally has relied on waterproof/breathable fabrics to survive in cold, inhospitable places (As in McKinley and the Canadian Rockies to name a couple) I'd really like to see a cheap alternative to gore-tex. Especially if it actually breathes better than GT does. Go mountaineering and/or ice climbing, and you have a tendency to put holes in your nice new $600 jacket and bib pants right away. Usually on the first day you wear them.:P
My only question is, what kind of pressure rating does it withstand before water leaks on through? Is this a shed a little rain type of PR gimmick, or is it suited to Real Wet Environments(tm)? --
Than again... NASA is practically panhandling for any funding they can get their hands on, and publicity to boot. What's next, millionare vacations on the ISS? Oh, wait... --
I think an important aspect the article also missed was that the impact of these technologies that so vasty improved the basic needs of people was not fully realized until they became readily available to the 'common folk' and could be used to their full potential.
As it said, cars were around in 1900, but only available to the very rich. Things like electricity had to be physically brought to people's homes, as did running water, which takes time and a lot of money. Not much point having an indoor toilet if to flush it you had to bring in a bucket of water from the river.
We have our basic needs fufilled pretty well now. Food, clothing, shelter, medical care. These are not our primary focus anymore. I think gene mapping is remarkable, but we won't know the real benefits of it for decades. Same for the net, or computer technology in general. In the developed nations, we are focusing on being more efficient, not on reinventing the icebox. Aside from the advances in sanitation and refrigeration, we have been intent on giving ourselves more free time. --
Actually, cold isn't a problem at extremely high altitudes. The troposphere, the lowest part of the atmosphere is charactarized by decreasing temperatures as altitude increases. It extends from 20,000-60,000 feet, depending on season and latitude. The stratosphere's temperature remains rather constant with altitude. Beyond that, the temperature actually increases with altitude, to about 10C at 150,000 feet. It drops again to about -100C at 250,000 feet, then increses to as high as 3,000C (yes, 3 thousand!) at around 400 miles altitude. Not that anything at that altitude experiences that temperature due to contact with the atmosphere, the numbers are actually based on the kinetic theory of gases. Anyway...
I could see it being possible that simple terrerestrial life forms could exist at high altitudes. I think the main problem would be lack of water vapor, and high levels of solar and cosmic radiation. --
When it comes to music, the artists have to pay for their own recording, production, etc. i.e. The artists do the lion's share of the work, so they should get the money.
Actually, producers and record companies tend to 'front' the money to artists to record material, and believe me, studio time is expensive for people who haven't already sold 2 million albums. You are right, the distribution of money is pretty uneven. The actual cost of media, including burning the CD, printing the covers, etc, is less then a dollar. The contract with the record company will allow artists maybe a dollar or two per unit sold. In the case of bands, this money is divided amongst all the members. The highest earner per CD that I am aware of is Steve Vai, who gets about $7.50 per unit, but only because he owns the record company that distributes his work. There are many artists who agree to terms of pennies per unit, just for the chance to get their music out there, perhaps get some recognition, a following and hope they're in a position for better terms after they complete their 4 album deal. That is if the company doesn't decide to exercise their option to drop the artists due to flagging sales, or poor marketing on the company's part.
People say they can't sympathize with 'rock stars' who get ripped off. Well, 'rock stars' don't get ripped off, they've already made it, and have enough clout to protect themselves. The rich get richer, as they say. The people who get ripped off are talented yet struggling artists who pray for something positive to come back in the mail every time they mail a demo out. --
Your purchase price covers the content and the media it's on. Presumably, the intellectual value of the product is the total price minus cost of media. As I understand it, once you purchase it once, you own it forever. So why can't you
obtain another copy of a CD you once owned from a friend, Napster, or wherever? Didn't you purchase the right to use that content once already? I see no difference between that and making copies of media you're currently in posession of for your own use, which is most certainly legal. --
I was looking at it, and wondering about the people who disagree with the judgement, no not believe MS has a monopoly on PC OSs, believe no action should be taken, and think the judge went too far. I'm sure many/.ers are wondering too. Assuming the votes are not MS employees.;) But, I had a convo with a friend of mine earlier today, who has just barely gotten the hang of windoze, and he was terrified of the prospect that he'd end up having to learn Linux. In his view, Linux is a scary, techno wilderness where he'd never figure out how to install Netscape again. (At least he uses Netscape) So I wonder how many people would side with MS simply because they see no alternative to using it, and truly fear losing support for their various programs, or believe without MS they'd be forced to re-learn everything they've learned about computers so far. Let's face it,/. is not exactly representative of your "average" computer user. Ever try to get your mom to use Linux?:) --
Slashdot Mirror
However, as others have pointed out in other articles, "unauthorized access" is illegal, no matter what. Plus, if you shut someone down and they lose $50,000 in data (and find out you were the one who did it), they're going to have you arrested and sue you, probably for $50 million. Ask Kevin Mitnick about inflation from "damages" for "unauthorized access".
Unless this anti-worm self-propagates, then anyone with a system running this worm must have installed it themselves, and would have a hard time arguing that they didn't know what it was doing. If the anti-worm self propagates, then it's another worm that though it has benign intent, may have serious flaws that won't be picked up until it's too late. Internet worm of 1988 a case in point.
I've noticed though that since my throwaway accounts all have 'spam' in the user name, I actually can go months without having to delete the forwarder, despite using it regularly. Perhaps they automatically filter the 'spam' part out in an attenpt to parse the actual address, as lots of people stick 'NOSPAM' et al into their addresses in an attempt to block mail harvesters.
--
Ah, I know! Hook the turbine up to a generator, and use it to power your next LAN party! Jet engines, cold beer and Quake. Who could ask for more?
--
If I were of the grassy-knoll crowd, I might think MS was engaged in industrial sabotage by 'planting' people to toss wrenches at the competition.
--
Typically it comes down to what the "reasonable man" considers would happen.
Agreed. However, what if I can't play them on my car's pseudo-CD-ROM player, nor can I transfer them to my Creative Nomad like I've been able to with literally hundreds of other CDs? I think it's reasonable to expect a CD you buy to work like every other CD you've bought.
If, on the other hand, you specifically ask if it will work on your computer's CD drive and they say yes, you have a right to complain.
I suppose we'll all have to start asking at the checkout. *sigh* I would think a label somewhere would be in order, if they're going to go and change the way a 20-year old format works all of a sudden.
--
I wonder the viability of simply buying all your CDs with your credit card. Then, if the store refuses to take back the opened 'restricted' CD, get your credit card issuer to refund your money due to the fact you did not receive 'working goods'.
--
I said to my wife as we walked back to the car after seeing AI that the Kubrick story was clearly the first 2/3, and the Speilberg influence was unmistakable for the last 1/3.
--
1. Eat right, and eat the amount of food your body needs in a day. A mere extra 350 calories (think: half a Big Mac) a day translates to 3 pounds of weight gain a month. If you want to lose weight, aim for a 500-750 calorie a day deficit.
2. Exercise. Not only does this improve your overall health, but the more calories your burn, guess what? The more you can eat without going into calorie surplus and thus gaining flab.
3. Behavior. The big problem is, people tend to lose 5-10 pounds, and then go back to their old eating/living habits. Guess what? The flab comes back, and the exercise benefits go away.
Be realistic, too. If you want to lose weight, the most you can lose and remain healthy is about 2 pounds a week, if you're lucky.
There's a lot of solid information out there, avoid the 'fad' diets, they're a bunch of garbage. Your body is like any other equipment, except it comes with no manual. Learn about it, study it, and it will generally do what you want it to for a long time.
--
I believe it was said that originally that phrase was written as 'life, liberty and the pursuit of property' or in other words, wealth. Rather interesting when you look at it in light of the capitalist spin-offs (like Microsoft's strategies, stupid patents, etc) that we've been getting.
--
"If they want us to part with it, it's up to them to determine how much they think it's worth"
Or in other words, "Cut us a big fat check and we'll let you use the name."
Sometimes, I have the fleeting thought man has invented time travel in the not too distant future, and they're messing with us.
--
Yes, American tax dollars at work, subscribing CIA agents to fetish sites so they can study their images for secret encoded messages. An extra 500 agents recruited fresh out of college to monitor sports chat rooms all day.
Now I'm trying to remember why I didn't join the CIA...
--
Anyway, personally before PDA's, I had... Notepads! Yep, I wrote things down (in pencil) on a notepad I had near me 90% of the time. My memory has always been poor for little things like phone numbers, errands to run, etc. Hell, I think I picked that up from my mom who'd write down the things she needed to pick up at the store/do for the day on a piece of paper and cross things out as she completed things. So, what, a pen/pencil and paper must make you dumb too. Taking notes in class. Post-it notes. Calendars. Microcasette recorders. After all, you're relying on them as a kind of "external memory", right?
So what if people aren't dedicating more of their finite time and effort into memorizing menial details? Good for them. I thought the whole point of our technological advancement was to increase our quality of living.
--
I shipped several extremely well packed boxes across the country and the majority had some damage, including one that was filled with packing peanuts that in spite of being *double boxed* and having enough strapping tape to look like graph paper, was destroyed. It also looked like someone had dropped a huge weight on it, causing the sides of the box to rupture.
If it's remotely fragile, I tend to think of UPS as a way of shipping something old, getting something new. On the positive side, their customer service has always been very good in cutting the check for damaged goods, just don't send those one-of-a-kind items if they're breakable.
--
Or, knowing that there's still a million unfilled jobs for them out there in decent companies they could all give this guy the finger and sink his little ship.
--
And on a side note, I think this ties in great with the article posted just before it, Death Spiral First Evidence Of Black Hole. Heh.
--
Well, speaking as one who literally has relied on waterproof/breathable fabrics to survive in cold, inhospitable places (As in McKinley and the Canadian Rockies to name a couple) I'd really like to see a cheap alternative to gore-tex. Especially if it actually breathes better than GT does. Go mountaineering and/or ice climbing, and you have a tendency to put holes in your nice new $600 jacket and bib pants right away. Usually on the first day you wear them. :P
My only question is, what kind of pressure rating does it withstand before water leaks on through? Is this a shed a little rain type of PR gimmick, or is it suited to Real Wet Environments(tm)?
--
Than again... NASA is practically panhandling for any funding they can get their hands on, and publicity to boot.
What's next, millionare vacations on the ISS? Oh, wait...
--
It certainly takes them forever to release information. I mean, I was playing Tempest in the arcade back in 1983!
--
As it said, cars were around in 1900, but only available to the very rich. Things like electricity had to be physically brought to people's homes, as did running water, which takes time and a lot of money. Not much point having an indoor toilet if to flush it you had to bring in a bucket of water from the river.
We have our basic needs fufilled pretty well now. Food, clothing, shelter, medical care. These are not our primary focus anymore. I think gene mapping is remarkable, but we won't know the real benefits of it for decades. Same for the net, or computer technology in general. In the developed nations, we are focusing on being more efficient, not on reinventing the icebox. Aside from the advances in sanitation and refrigeration, we have been intent on giving ourselves more free time.
--
"RIAA using extraterrestrial bacteria to propel nano-subs in bloodstream to delete memories of MP3s..."
--
I could see it being possible that simple terrerestrial life forms could exist at high altitudes. I think the main problem would be lack of water vapor, and high levels of solar and cosmic radiation.
--
Man, I hope my budget is never so tight that I have to plan my annual expenses to the 10th of a penny...
--
Actually, producers and record companies tend to 'front' the money to artists to record material, and believe me, studio time is expensive for people who haven't already sold 2 million albums. You are right, the distribution of money is pretty uneven. The actual cost of media, including burning the CD, printing the covers, etc, is less then a dollar. The contract with the record company will allow artists maybe a dollar or two per unit sold. In the case of bands, this money is divided amongst all the members. The highest earner per CD that I am aware of is Steve Vai, who gets about $7.50 per unit, but only because he owns the record company that distributes his work. There are many artists who agree to terms of pennies per unit, just for the chance to get their music out there, perhaps get some recognition, a following and hope they're in a position for better terms after they complete their 4 album deal. That is if the company doesn't decide to exercise their option to drop the artists due to flagging sales, or poor marketing on the company's part.
People say they can't sympathize with 'rock stars' who get ripped off. Well, 'rock stars' don't get ripped off, they've already made it, and have enough clout to protect themselves. The rich get richer, as they say. The people who get ripped off are talented yet struggling artists who pray for something positive to come back in the mail every time they mail a demo out.
--
Your purchase price covers the content and the media it's on. Presumably, the intellectual value of the product is the total price minus cost of media. As I understand it, once you purchase it once, you own it forever. So why can't you obtain another copy of a CD you once owned from a friend, Napster, or wherever? Didn't you purchase the right to use that content once already? I see no difference between that and making copies of media you're currently in posession of for your own use, which is most certainly legal.
--
I was looking at it, and wondering about the people who disagree with the judgement, no not believe MS has a monopoly on PC OSs, believe no action should be taken, and think the judge went too far. I'm sure many /.ers are wondering too. Assuming the votes are not MS employees. ;) /. is not exactly representative of your "average" computer user. Ever try to get your mom to use Linux? :)
But, I had a convo with a friend of mine earlier today, who has just barely gotten the hang of windoze, and he was terrified of the prospect that he'd end up having to learn Linux. In his view, Linux is a scary, techno wilderness where he'd never figure out how to install Netscape again. (At least he uses Netscape)
So I wonder how many people would side with MS simply because they see no alternative to using it, and truly fear losing support for their various programs, or believe without MS they'd be forced to re-learn everything they've learned about computers so far.
Let's face it,
--