His belief is founded on the principle that you can just plug a speaker into a microphone jack and have it work. I explained that the principle was the same for both and an actual physical thing involving sound wave energy but, while he understood - I think, he refuses to accept that the same isn't true for a television screen.
I'm not sure that I could be so evil as to take his money. I might do it as a practical joke. I can do the whole "mad scientist" thing for a few months and then "produce" his filter and make it particularly gaudy and obviously useless. That has some entertainment value - worth more than money as far as I'm concerned.;-)
Why is that distinction meaningful? Again - I'm quite clearly not biased. It doesn't matter to me nor do I feel qualified to opine. I simply point out that he makes a good argument. Perhaps you missed that and are thrashing about for imaginary reasons.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I don't necessarily agree, but that's a moot point. I don't need others to think like I do to give me an ego - I may even be wrong.
I don't mind people in pain being given an out. I'd much prefer to minimize their pain on the way out. Yes, that includes even the depressed people. The idea of forcing people to live with pain, even temporary, doesn't sit well with me. It's interesting to hear other people's views even if they seem mostly an appeal to emotion to me. Thanks.
I described in another post how I do it. I'll give money to those who need it and are reasonably close. I do so quietly and try to go for a semblance of anonymity but I'm sure they know better. If it's a loan then it's a contract and those are usually to help them better themselves - such as starting or expanding a business. Hell yeah, I'll risk that. I take partial ownership and a percentage of the profits. If it tanks then there are still assets to divest or keep.
Absolutely. The breadth has scaled, significantly. It's also easier for the storage of data on a wider scale. Add to that the general person wants to be a celebrity and we've a recipe for a loss of privacy. I think the difference is, today, we can opt not to behave in the norm and actually have more privacy (not just on the internet) than ever before. Which is what it appeared you were decrying. Which is why I was kind of confused - you're normally pretty smart and I read your posts. It might have made a fun debate though. I love a good debate but I hate an argument. If that makes any sense.
I did get rid of a bunch of pictures and videos but I was more selective. It was really quite exhilarating. I had stuff that I'd acquired years ago. And yeah, I could probably restore every single bit of it - I've got redundant backups even, off site actually. So, I could... I'm not going to. It's kind of liberating, in a way.
Unless it has arrived in the past month, nothing. Maybe I wasn't included? It was an update that I'd last done - I'd had clearance prior when I was enlisted because I dealt with prisoners and confidential and classified data at times - even just to handle it. I'd kind of like to know something.
I first noticed one when I was in Australia. I've owned one ever since. I used to use a coffee pot and just use it for water. I'd make instant coffee at times but I usually drank tea. I have an 'instant' hot water tap on my coffee maker in the kitchen but it's nice to not leave my upstairs office for a quick cuppa and whatnot.
Then you're not really in the industry. DirecTV had the greatest reverse troll of all time. Basically the card cloners were keeping busy while DTV kept adding more and more security methods. Except they were sneaking in a little extra code at the time so all of their updates eventually built a time-bomb, in effect, and so the cloners were all happy and the war kept going. Finally, on Super Bowl Sunday, the DTV code got a final update which nuked every single one of the cloned cards that was plugged into the system - forever. Someone tried to figure out what went on and, sure enough, in the last code update - when disassembled, said something like, "Ha ha! We win!" It was epic. The greatest hack battle of all time. Even better than playing with live SysOps while you trashed their corporate system.
That's just a brief history but that's the gist of it. If you worked in the industry then you'd know this. It's the stuff of legends. By the way, the DTV code took months and months and months to set up - they included something like an extra four bytes in their updates or something like that. It all went together like a giant puzzle in the background and hidden. It was beautiful - I think they overvolted the chip on them or did something to the memory but I don't recall exactly and am too lazy to look it up. My understanding is that some of the people who'd been stealing the service actually called and tried to get new cards and complained about the loss of equipment. It was, from an outsider, epic. I don't actually watch TV so it doesn't affect me but I still read about it as did everyone else. Which means you're probably not in the business.
Hey now... There's nothing wrong with open source. There's something wrong with stupid people. Those people will remain the same regardless of source. Also, you can't steal what is given away so if they're giving the source away then it wasn't really stolen.;-)
I didn't know you were from Iceland. I've been their twice and you guys are awesome. Polite, human, and personable. I actually considered retiring there. It's too windy for me. I don't mind the cold but I hate the wind. That's not what stopped me from moving and retiring there but it was a drawback. Does the wind ever stop?
And they fire them at targets - over the horizon (often at land-based targets) while on the water, still with forward momentum, and with the three-dimensional movement from wave action. And they hit their target. Heh... Some of the earliest computers were on navel vessels and used for targeting. And it is awesome. I've been in Norfolk when they were out to sea but close enough to still hear them. Every ounce of me wanted to get closer. I've only seen videos, otherwise.
I confess, I'm an aged three year old. Truly, I just want to push the button.
I did some work for the federal government, specifically a military contract (yes, they use traffic modeling too) and, for some bizarre reason the information was considered classified. I do not really pretend to understand why. I can't tell you what the information was but I can tell you that it probably didn't need to be classified - maybe as FOUO, I guess. But we had to work with the data on their equipment and on site. Anyhow, this was about 12 years ago. I've not heard a thing but I worry that my data was included in the OPM hack.
Not one word. Not even a reply to my email. Nothing... I'm less than impressed with how this has been handled. I guess that's my only point. It's not like I was going to be on topic or anything. Well, tangentially related, that's pretty good - for me.
Laws don't prevent anything. They set a punishment value for those who violate them. That's a silly argument to make, really. People can still murder - might as well not legislate against it. *sighs* You, if you're a hobbyist, are getting draconian laws no matter what. Sorry but the assholes are going to ruin it for you. Your attitude, extrapolated and fairly common among posters here, is one of the reasons why. "You can't stop me!" That's why you're gonna get fucked.
You're aware that the stock market crashed and Germany was fucked and the Jewish people controlled the debt, right? (Note, this is not a statement about Jews being bad or anything, just a statement of reality.) Hitler predicted this in his book, he wrote that after a failed coup attempt. It happened. People listened. They already didn't like the Jewish people but now they were also broke. They elected Hitler, democratically, and he had emphatically stated he'd deal with the Jewish problem.
The Holocaust was, very much, because of scarcity. Specifically, few goods and lots of worthless money.
I'll stop there but you can go through the rest and rethink your statement if you want.
Too late.;-) And nah, she's pretty normal, it's just her circumstances that have put her where she is. Both her parents are now incarcerated, for example. (Yes, I've permission to disclose such.) It's not like I can't afford to put her in a room. I don't think I'd be financially burdened to do so in perpetuity, to be frank.
What ended up happening is, well, I opened up a few of my credit union and bank accounts as well as a copy of my 'play' portfolio - the one I use to just learn and play with. Those add up to a goodly sum. I told her that I had something to disclose and that I'd declined advances earlier because I'd wanted to make see her intentions. I then showed her. She didn't say anything at first and then she turned and said, "So, are we still going out to dinner?" I said yes. She kinda giggled and said, jokingly, "So you're going to be my sugar daddy, huh?" (And chuckled - it was obviously humor.)
She then had a billion and ten questions. Which I answered. She wanted to know why I'd not disclosed it earlier and I told her how it changes people, how they react, and that it's tough for me to really judge their motives so I felt that it was best to at least spend some time with her first. And we spent a lot of time together first. It was all crammed into a relatively short time-frame but it adds up to a lot of time. She understood my reasoning and I'd never lied to her, I'd just not told her. Prior to this, I'd told her that I was out searching for some meaning to life and that I was curious about what the world had to offer. Both of which are completely true. Being honest was essential for me.
Dunno where it goes from here but it's going somewhere. In fact, she's still sleeping while I am drinking icky hotel coffee. I should probably stop paying for her room now. It's not like she's used it. So, I can continue on my wanderlust and take her with me or I can bring her home or I can continue on my wanderlust without her or I can go home without her. I'm growing fond of her but I'm kind of cautious and this was rather unexpected.
I'm a big fan of protected sex. Pregnancy is still possible but, to be honest, meh... I can afford a kid. I don't really want one at the moment, I'm kind of old for that. But I can afford one. I'd rather be an optimist and hope that, should that happen, we continue to get along.
A part of my goal, with my wanderlust, was random acts of kindness so who knows? She's only 18 (some 39 years my junior) so I could just pay for her college or something nice and move along. It's not as if we're entirely serious or anything. I may be fond of her but I know how stupid I get around certain women so I'm a bit guarded for a couple of reasons.
I do, really, appreciate the reply. I did get a couple of emails as well. And, yes, yes I will post it right on Slashdot. Believe it or not, I got good advice up to, and including, your belated advice. As for your concern, well, I could probably actually give her half of my assets and not have to change my lifestyle at all. Of course, for the sake of mentioning it, I'd obviously not do so without a compelling reason - which means that (and this is REALLY unlikely) I'd even have a pre-nup. I keep a lawyer on retainer just to fix my mistakes or to help me not make them.
Anyhow, there are a couple of other interesting things and, if you've read this far, I might as well share them. This whole thing started back in the Ask Slashdot question about what someone would do if they suddenly acquired a bunch of wealth. Eight years ago, almost, I sold my business. My business was traffic modeling. I was on the cusp, in the early 1990s, when we did so "on a computer." (Which is actually a big thing.) We were working with TB sized data sets in the late 90s. In the end, I had about 200 people who worked with (not for - I'm anal about that) me.
I sold my company for a goodly sum in cash and an even large amount of shares in the parent company - which I couldn't divest for six months or so afterwards, should you eve
When was capitalism not the norm for humanity - since the advent of evolution to homo-sapien? I'm no expert or anything but I suspect we've engaged in trade and tried to acquire wealth since the dawn of our species. Hell, there are lying, thieving, pebble-collecting penguins who trade and acquire in an attempt to mate. Even some primates engage in some forms of trade. One might even suggest that certain plants trade by giving away their produce in order to spread their seeds.
I'm really only questioning why one would think this has suddenly become normal when, I'm pretty sure, it has been normal all along. From seashells to coins... We've been capitalists for a very long time, it's hardly 'become' normal. It's always been normal (I'm sure there are a few exceptions).
Note: I think greed is a bad thing and I agree that cooperation is a good thing. My only contention is that you think that it has become normal and not been normal all along. What little I know of anthropology seems to indicate this is true - or so likely to be believed to be true that it's not even a subject of debate. As I recall, there's also significant archaeological evidence supporting this.
And I am it!!! Anyhow, that reminds me... I am so glad I hired professionals - an IT staff is a godsend when you're moving your way up from a single proprietorship. It took a few to learn how to shut up, listen, and get out of the way - I'd been doing much of it on my own, after all. Tip of the hat to you guys. You're a billion times faster than I ever was, know more than I ever will on the subject, and were much more effective than I was.
After a while (think about managing a TB of data in the 90s) we had a DB admin who was, frankly, a lunatic - a nice one though. However, he was a wizard. I don't know what he did or how he did it - he was the epitome of the bus problem after a while. His loss would have slowed us down a whole bunch. He could make a database sing. He could make old hardware work like new, well - compared to my efforts, and could keep things rock solid - once he got things setup to work his way.
He was a crazy, older, cross-dressing, gay man who had a shock of red hair and body odor. He came in early and left late - stayed in the server room, and was more a mystery than anything else. I don't actually know what, exactly, he did but he did it well. He communicated almost entirely by email even though I was less than 50' away from the server room door. He still works there - even though there's absolutely no need for him to do so. He was old when I hired him. He has to be in his late 60s now and, I suspect, still has the red hair.
So, this thread got me thinking. Tip o' the hat to you guys. Without you, as a very tech-centered company, I'd not be where I am today. Some of you are absolutely brilliant. Strange but, so am I, mostly harmless. As I've often said, if you shut up, get out of the way, and give them the tools they ask for (not what the vendor suggests) then - amazingly enough, they get shit done. Go figure?
A bit off-topic but, sort of, it does tie in with the question posed. Hire qualified professionals and they might know the ins and outs and be able to get this sort of issue resolved.
Those appear to be probes, not entirely successful. While an interesting number and nice to have, I'm not sure how well it can be extrapolated to mean infection/invasion. Another surprise was how the Unix attacks looked very similar. I'm assuming they're counting Linux in with Unix. I'd have expected the probes to be even sooner than Windows because, honestly, Unix systems are where the good stuff usually is - considering their prevalence in data centers.
If I were evil and wanting to 'hack' a system then I'd sure as hell not waste my time desktops. That's not where the good stuff is. I'd want stuff in data centers and in business servers. Generally, *NIX is king there. Sure, there are plenty of Windows servers but I'd still go after *NIX because those are greater in number in the data centers and server rooms. I suppose I'd take advantage of an available Windows server but that's not where I'd concentrate my efforts or my education.
Then again, I try to not be a criminal so I may be thinking about it wrong. I don't know...
Anyhow, I hate to give Windows any credit but they're much harder to exploit - even unpatched and new installs online, without the user doing something stupid, than they used to be. I'd like to say that Windows users are dumber but, well, I've been hanging out on the AskUbuntu site lately and there are a number of silly users there. I do think that part of that is, however, due to an uptick in numbers as people explore Linux (specifically the more popular distros) because of Windows 10 being out. I guess I'm unsure of how well the numbers equate with effective attacks as those appear to be just probes - I could have read it wrong.
As an aside, having weathered this before, there doesn't actually seem to be an increase in numbers than I've seen in the past. A bunch of people seem to come try Linux every time Windows gets a new version. It's usually about six months before the signal to noise ratio goes down. This Windows roll-out is different than normal (and not so many PCs are being sold today) so I'm thinking it may mean that the noise ratio remains high for a while longer.
As an additional aside, when have I not, I also think that it is a bit sad. Most of those users don't stick around. I'm no zealot nor a Microsoft hater (as I think is relatively clear from my post history) but, frankly, the state of Linux today is that it just works. If you find a distro that doesn't work, try another one. Hell, they've got live USB disks, you don't even have to make a coaster, and you can check and see if everything works - generally. I have some *very* esoteric hardware that spans the ages and, really, with almost all of it - it just works. I don't even bother with proprietary video drivers, for example. (I do tend to go last gen with video as I'm not a gamer.)
About three months ago, I went on a spree of mad deletion. I deleted nearly 15 TB from my NAS. A goodly portion was old installers from shit fifteen years old. Another chunk was movies. I couldn't be happier but, I admit, it was tough to do. The funny thing is, I remember the days of old and it's hard to not save all that stuff - even though you have 57 version of old Firefox installers like a mad collector. It used to suck to download stuff - it took forever.
Now, in just a short time, I have kind of changed my view on things. WTF do I do with all this empty space? These days, I'm just deleting stuff on a regular basis and not even worrying about it. It's the Internet - it's going to be there when I come back. If there's a problem with connectivity then I still have plenty of stuff saved for the apocalypse.
Slashdot Mirror
While true, that's immaterial to the question.
His belief is founded on the principle that you can just plug a speaker into a microphone jack and have it work. I explained that the principle was the same for both and an actual physical thing involving sound wave energy but, while he understood - I think, he refuses to accept that the same isn't true for a television screen.
I'm not sure that I could be so evil as to take his money. I might do it as a practical joke. I can do the whole "mad scientist" thing for a few months and then "produce" his filter and make it particularly gaudy and obviously useless. That has some entertainment value - worth more than money as far as I'm concerned. ;-)
Why is that distinction meaningful? Again - I'm quite clearly not biased. It doesn't matter to me nor do I feel qualified to opine. I simply point out that he makes a good argument. Perhaps you missed that and are thrashing about for imaginary reasons.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I don't necessarily agree, but that's a moot point. I don't need others to think like I do to give me an ego - I may even be wrong.
I don't mind people in pain being given an out. I'd much prefer to minimize their pain on the way out. Yes, that includes even the depressed people. The idea of forcing people to live with pain, even temporary, doesn't sit well with me. It's interesting to hear other people's views even if they seem mostly an appeal to emotion to me. Thanks.
I described in another post how I do it. I'll give money to those who need it and are reasonably close. I do so quietly and try to go for a semblance of anonymity but I'm sure they know better. If it's a loan then it's a contract and those are usually to help them better themselves - such as starting or expanding a business. Hell yeah, I'll risk that. I take partial ownership and a percentage of the profits. If it tanks then there are still assets to divest or keep.
Absolutely. The breadth has scaled, significantly. It's also easier for the storage of data on a wider scale. Add to that the general person wants to be a celebrity and we've a recipe for a loss of privacy. I think the difference is, today, we can opt not to behave in the norm and actually have more privacy (not just on the internet) than ever before. Which is what it appeared you were decrying. Which is why I was kind of confused - you're normally pretty smart and I read your posts. It might have made a fun debate though. I love a good debate but I hate an argument. If that makes any sense.
I did get rid of a bunch of pictures and videos but I was more selective. It was really quite exhilarating. I had stuff that I'd acquired years ago. And yeah, I could probably restore every single bit of it - I've got redundant backups even, off site actually. So, I could... I'm not going to. It's kind of liberating, in a way.
Unless it has arrived in the past month, nothing. Maybe I wasn't included? It was an update that I'd last done - I'd had clearance prior when I was enlisted because I dealt with prisoners and confidential and classified data at times - even just to handle it. I'd kind of like to know something.
10 GOTO 20
15 ? "THIS LINE IS USELESS"
20 RETURN
Yes, yes I did eventually hire professionals. No, no they did not need my help.
Hmm... Brother makes an inexpensive branded coffee pot and, I think, electric kettles. You might be on to something!
There's an app for that?!?
$ apt-cache search shame
'Snot in my repo and I'm too lazy to go find my phone.
Judging by his post, he probably wired (some) of it by himself and now has "faulty breakers." You know, someone else's fault.
I first noticed one when I was in Australia. I've owned one ever since. I used to use a coffee pot and just use it for water. I'd make instant coffee at times but I usually drank tea. I have an 'instant' hot water tap on my coffee maker in the kitchen but it's nice to not leave my upstairs office for a quick cuppa and whatnot.
Then you're not really in the industry. DirecTV had the greatest reverse troll of all time. Basically the card cloners were keeping busy while DTV kept adding more and more security methods. Except they were sneaking in a little extra code at the time so all of their updates eventually built a time-bomb, in effect, and so the cloners were all happy and the war kept going. Finally, on Super Bowl Sunday, the DTV code got a final update which nuked every single one of the cloned cards that was plugged into the system - forever. Someone tried to figure out what went on and, sure enough, in the last code update - when disassembled, said something like, "Ha ha! We win!" It was epic. The greatest hack battle of all time. Even better than playing with live SysOps while you trashed their corporate system.
That's just a brief history but that's the gist of it. If you worked in the industry then you'd know this. It's the stuff of legends. By the way, the DTV code took months and months and months to set up - they included something like an extra four bytes in their updates or something like that. It all went together like a giant puzzle in the background and hidden. It was beautiful - I think they overvolted the chip on them or did something to the memory but I don't recall exactly and am too lazy to look it up. My understanding is that some of the people who'd been stealing the service actually called and tried to get new cards and complained about the loss of equipment. It was, from an outsider, epic. I don't actually watch TV so it doesn't affect me but I still read about it as did everyone else. Which means you're probably not in the business.
Hey now... There's nothing wrong with open source. There's something wrong with stupid people. Those people will remain the same regardless of source. Also, you can't steal what is given away so if they're giving the source away then it wasn't really stolen. ;-)
I didn't know you were from Iceland. I've been their twice and you guys are awesome. Polite, human, and personable. I actually considered retiring there. It's too windy for me. I don't mind the cold but I hate the wind. That's not what stopped me from moving and retiring there but it was a drawback. Does the wind ever stop?
And they fire them at targets - over the horizon (often at land-based targets) while on the water, still with forward momentum, and with the three-dimensional movement from wave action. And they hit their target. Heh... Some of the earliest computers were on navel vessels and used for targeting. And it is awesome. I've been in Norfolk when they were out to sea but close enough to still hear them. Every ounce of me wanted to get closer. I've only seen videos, otherwise.
I confess, I'm an aged three year old. Truly, I just want to push the button.
I did some work for the federal government, specifically a military contract (yes, they use traffic modeling too) and, for some bizarre reason the information was considered classified. I do not really pretend to understand why. I can't tell you what the information was but I can tell you that it probably didn't need to be classified - maybe as FOUO, I guess. But we had to work with the data on their equipment and on site. Anyhow, this was about 12 years ago. I've not heard a thing but I worry that my data was included in the OPM hack.
Not one word. Not even a reply to my email. Nothing... I'm less than impressed with how this has been handled. I guess that's my only point. It's not like I was going to be on topic or anything. Well, tangentially related, that's pretty good - for me.
Laws don't prevent anything. They set a punishment value for those who violate them. That's a silly argument to make, really. People can still murder - might as well not legislate against it. *sighs* You, if you're a hobbyist, are getting draconian laws no matter what. Sorry but the assholes are going to ruin it for you. Your attitude, extrapolated and fairly common among posters here, is one of the reasons why. "You can't stop me!" That's why you're gonna get fucked.
You're aware that the stock market crashed and Germany was fucked and the Jewish people controlled the debt, right? (Note, this is not a statement about Jews being bad or anything, just a statement of reality.) Hitler predicted this in his book, he wrote that after a failed coup attempt. It happened. People listened. They already didn't like the Jewish people but now they were also broke. They elected Hitler, democratically, and he had emphatically stated he'd deal with the Jewish problem.
The Holocaust was, very much, because of scarcity. Specifically, few goods and lots of worthless money.
I'll stop there but you can go through the rest and rethink your statement if you want.
Too late. ;-) And nah, she's pretty normal, it's just her circumstances that have put her where she is. Both her parents are now incarcerated, for example. (Yes, I've permission to disclose such.) It's not like I can't afford to put her in a room. I don't think I'd be financially burdened to do so in perpetuity, to be frank.
What ended up happening is, well, I opened up a few of my credit union and bank accounts as well as a copy of my 'play' portfolio - the one I use to just learn and play with. Those add up to a goodly sum. I told her that I had something to disclose and that I'd declined advances earlier because I'd wanted to make see her intentions. I then showed her. She didn't say anything at first and then she turned and said, "So, are we still going out to dinner?" I said yes. She kinda giggled and said, jokingly, "So you're going to be my sugar daddy, huh?" (And chuckled - it was obviously humor.)
She then had a billion and ten questions. Which I answered. She wanted to know why I'd not disclosed it earlier and I told her how it changes people, how they react, and that it's tough for me to really judge their motives so I felt that it was best to at least spend some time with her first. And we spent a lot of time together first. It was all crammed into a relatively short time-frame but it adds up to a lot of time. She understood my reasoning and I'd never lied to her, I'd just not told her. Prior to this, I'd told her that I was out searching for some meaning to life and that I was curious about what the world had to offer. Both of which are completely true. Being honest was essential for me.
Dunno where it goes from here but it's going somewhere. In fact, she's still sleeping while I am drinking icky hotel coffee. I should probably stop paying for her room now. It's not like she's used it. So, I can continue on my wanderlust and take her with me or I can bring her home or I can continue on my wanderlust without her or I can go home without her. I'm growing fond of her but I'm kind of cautious and this was rather unexpected.
I'm a big fan of protected sex. Pregnancy is still possible but, to be honest, meh... I can afford a kid. I don't really want one at the moment, I'm kind of old for that. But I can afford one. I'd rather be an optimist and hope that, should that happen, we continue to get along.
A part of my goal, with my wanderlust, was random acts of kindness so who knows? She's only 18 (some 39 years my junior) so I could just pay for her college or something nice and move along. It's not as if we're entirely serious or anything. I may be fond of her but I know how stupid I get around certain women so I'm a bit guarded for a couple of reasons.
I do, really, appreciate the reply. I did get a couple of emails as well. And, yes, yes I will post it right on Slashdot. Believe it or not, I got good advice up to, and including, your belated advice. As for your concern, well, I could probably actually give her half of my assets and not have to change my lifestyle at all. Of course, for the sake of mentioning it, I'd obviously not do so without a compelling reason - which means that (and this is REALLY unlikely) I'd even have a pre-nup. I keep a lawyer on retainer just to fix my mistakes or to help me not make them.
Anyhow, there are a couple of other interesting things and, if you've read this far, I might as well share them. This whole thing started back in the Ask Slashdot question about what someone would do if they suddenly acquired a bunch of wealth. Eight years ago, almost, I sold my business. My business was traffic modeling. I was on the cusp, in the early 1990s, when we did so "on a computer." (Which is actually a big thing.) We were working with TB sized data sets in the late 90s. In the end, I had about 200 people who worked with (not for - I'm anal about that) me.
I sold my company for a goodly sum in cash and an even large amount of shares in the parent company - which I couldn't divest for six months or so afterwards, should you eve
When was capitalism not the norm for humanity - since the advent of evolution to homo-sapien? I'm no expert or anything but I suspect we've engaged in trade and tried to acquire wealth since the dawn of our species. Hell, there are lying, thieving, pebble-collecting penguins who trade and acquire in an attempt to mate. Even some primates engage in some forms of trade. One might even suggest that certain plants trade by giving away their produce in order to spread their seeds.
I'm really only questioning why one would think this has suddenly become normal when, I'm pretty sure, it has been normal all along. From seashells to coins... We've been capitalists for a very long time, it's hardly 'become' normal. It's always been normal (I'm sure there are a few exceptions).
Note: I think greed is a bad thing and I agree that cooperation is a good thing. My only contention is that you think that it has become normal and not been normal all along. What little I know of anthropology seems to indicate this is true - or so likely to be believed to be true that it's not even a subject of debate. As I recall, there's also significant archaeological evidence supporting this.
And I am it!!! Anyhow, that reminds me... I am so glad I hired professionals - an IT staff is a godsend when you're moving your way up from a single proprietorship. It took a few to learn how to shut up, listen, and get out of the way - I'd been doing much of it on my own, after all. Tip of the hat to you guys. You're a billion times faster than I ever was, know more than I ever will on the subject, and were much more effective than I was.
After a while (think about managing a TB of data in the 90s) we had a DB admin who was, frankly, a lunatic - a nice one though. However, he was a wizard. I don't know what he did or how he did it - he was the epitome of the bus problem after a while. His loss would have slowed us down a whole bunch. He could make a database sing. He could make old hardware work like new, well - compared to my efforts, and could keep things rock solid - once he got things setup to work his way.
He was a crazy, older, cross-dressing, gay man who had a shock of red hair and body odor. He came in early and left late - stayed in the server room, and was more a mystery than anything else. I don't actually know what, exactly, he did but he did it well. He communicated almost entirely by email even though I was less than 50' away from the server room door. He still works there - even though there's absolutely no need for him to do so. He was old when I hired him. He has to be in his late 60s now and, I suspect, still has the red hair.
So, this thread got me thinking. Tip o' the hat to you guys. Without you, as a very tech-centered company, I'd not be where I am today. Some of you are absolutely brilliant. Strange but, so am I, mostly harmless. As I've often said, if you shut up, get out of the way, and give them the tools they ask for (not what the vendor suggests) then - amazingly enough, they get shit done. Go figure?
A bit off-topic but, sort of, it does tie in with the question posed. Hire qualified professionals and they might know the ins and outs and be able to get this sort of issue resolved.
Those appear to be probes, not entirely successful. While an interesting number and nice to have, I'm not sure how well it can be extrapolated to mean infection/invasion. Another surprise was how the Unix attacks looked very similar. I'm assuming they're counting Linux in with Unix. I'd have expected the probes to be even sooner than Windows because, honestly, Unix systems are where the good stuff usually is - considering their prevalence in data centers.
If I were evil and wanting to 'hack' a system then I'd sure as hell not waste my time desktops. That's not where the good stuff is. I'd want stuff in data centers and in business servers. Generally, *NIX is king there. Sure, there are plenty of Windows servers but I'd still go after *NIX because those are greater in number in the data centers and server rooms. I suppose I'd take advantage of an available Windows server but that's not where I'd concentrate my efforts or my education.
Then again, I try to not be a criminal so I may be thinking about it wrong. I don't know...
Anyhow, I hate to give Windows any credit but they're much harder to exploit - even unpatched and new installs online, without the user doing something stupid, than they used to be. I'd like to say that Windows users are dumber but, well, I've been hanging out on the AskUbuntu site lately and there are a number of silly users there. I do think that part of that is, however, due to an uptick in numbers as people explore Linux (specifically the more popular distros) because of Windows 10 being out. I guess I'm unsure of how well the numbers equate with effective attacks as those appear to be just probes - I could have read it wrong.
As an aside, having weathered this before, there doesn't actually seem to be an increase in numbers than I've seen in the past. A bunch of people seem to come try Linux every time Windows gets a new version. It's usually about six months before the signal to noise ratio goes down. This Windows roll-out is different than normal (and not so many PCs are being sold today) so I'm thinking it may mean that the noise ratio remains high for a while longer.
As an additional aside, when have I not, I also think that it is a bit sad. Most of those users don't stick around. I'm no zealot nor a Microsoft hater (as I think is relatively clear from my post history) but, frankly, the state of Linux today is that it just works. If you find a distro that doesn't work, try another one. Hell, they've got live USB disks, you don't even have to make a coaster, and you can check and see if everything works - generally. I have some *very* esoteric hardware that spans the ages and, really, with almost all of it - it just works. I don't even bother with proprietary video drivers, for example. (I do tend to go last gen with video as I'm not a gamer.)
Ah well, I've digressed enough for one post.
About three months ago, I went on a spree of mad deletion. I deleted nearly 15 TB from my NAS. A goodly portion was old installers from shit fifteen years old. Another chunk was movies. I couldn't be happier but, I admit, it was tough to do. The funny thing is, I remember the days of old and it's hard to not save all that stuff - even though you have 57 version of old Firefox installers like a mad collector. It used to suck to download stuff - it took forever.
Now, in just a short time, I have kind of changed my view on things. WTF do I do with all this empty space? These days, I'm just deleting stuff on a regular basis and not even worrying about it. It's the Internet - it's going to be there when I come back. If there's a problem with connectivity then I still have plenty of stuff saved for the apocalypse.