Why, in the name of fuck, would you want an OS that does *not* allow services to run in the background?
Tell me you're not seriously hoping for a blackbox with less control? You know what? Accept some responsibility for yourselves and learn to use your devices and keep them secure. Don't install stupid shit. It really is, for the most part, that fucking easy.
Read the options menu during install. Read it carefully. If you do not understand it, do not say "fuck it" and install it anyways. Don't install a bunch of pointless apps - most of them are shit. Don't do it. If you use Android, install the damned free and open source store for Android apps - I forget the name... Wait, no... It's F-Droid, I think.
Don't install the latest fashionable app. Wait and see how it blows over. Read the reviews, research, learn what your phone does and how it does it, and do what you can to keep your shit under your control.
But, for the love of FSM, don't advocate being locked down and prevented from having useful features. I *want* background processes - like GPS. I just don't want 'em doing stupid shit so I check, carefully, before I install anything. I know... I know, it's shameful to take a little while to decide and make an informed choice. I get it. I understand that it's bad form to learn something and learn how to use the tools I own. But, I suspect the time saved preventing stuff is less time than I'd have to spend trying to get people to give me back my data that they took without my knowledge.
And yes, yes I have tossed my phone up on wireless with the cellular radio off and sniffed the traffic. I'm kind of curious like that.
It's not even a remotely original comment. You, or someone, posts the same damned list at least a half-dozen times every month. Sadly, some people have short memories so you might just as well as keep reposting it but don't, please, pretend it's original. It's probably not even your original post. I first saw it ages and ages ago.
Dude, that car is your namesake. It's your moniker. You can't just let that go. That's against the rules. It either needs to be kept and treated accordingly, perhaps like a shrine or, alternatively, it needs to go out in spectacular fashion which may, or may not, cause injury, maiming, or death. Seriously, you can't just let that car go. No way... That'd be against some sort of rule. I don't know which rule but it's certainly a rule.
At the very least, it needs to go in spectacular fashion. This can be as simple as a bonfire by "accident" or selling it to a teenage boy for $200. Ideally, it should involve a great story, preferably involving screeching tires, broken glass, crunches, cliffs, and frightened passengers screaming about a deity. (Surviving is good. Try to do that - a good scar is handy, keep that in mind.)
Given the age of your account, the username, the odds of you having two vehicles of same type and year - and I'm guessing that's where your username came from. You, you can't just get rid of it... No!!!! The car gods will not forgive such. At least just get a second car and use that one as a lawn ornament. (Depending on where you live.) Put it in storage and lie to yourself about how you're going to fix it up some day and let some confused young soul find it at your estate sale in 50 years. Get a collection of all your Slashdot posts, to date, and put 'em in the glove compartment to confuse the poor soul even further. Take pictures and use a bunch of gasoline, tannerite, and a.50 cal muzzle loader. Anything... Something... But don't let it go out with a whimper.
They're not bruteforcing the crypto. Not really. They're bruteforcing the PIN. It's not really a semantics argument. At least not in my head. This just just attacking the implementation of the crypto and not the crypto itself. Make sense?
uConnect does have cellular - they're Dodge. You see it in the Ram, Charger, Jeep, etc...
If you want something without it then go for a fleet vehicle. You can order them by going to the dealership, you don't need to buy them in bulk. I've never ordered any online and never noticed a way to order them online. You probably can.
My suggestion is to find a nice, reasonable, older car and get it full restored and then maintain it properly. It's usually much nicer on the environment than the costs that go into making a whole new car or even recycling and old one and then incorporating what can be into a new car - and that's counting the lower mileage one might get with an older car.
Depending on what you purchase, you can find something that's reasonably safe and then add any additional modern features you want. Best of all, you can often find a car you could never afford when you were younger, fix it up to like-new condition, and do so for less than you'd have paid for a new car. Just don't fall in love with it - it's a car and it will break your heart if you fall in love with it.
A mid-1990s BMW 750 can be had and done up for under $20,000 and you'll find them with just 100k on them and be able to pull another 400k out of it pretty easily just with maintaining and driving it reasonably. I sent a 1988 Honda Accord LX back to Japan to be overhauled by a guru and the whole thing, including shipping, was about $20,000 and that includes purchase price. An '82 Volvo 245 can be sent to Oregon and patched up, skid plate added, stiffened, and some minor tweaks - then painted and all the bits and pieces put back properly for about $25,000. A 1973 Jeep Wagoneer can be done for under $10,000 unless you get extravagant.
There are lots of choices and those old cars need some love. They're still fun cars. They've got loads of life in them. Yes, I have a new BMW but that doesn't mean the rest don't get driven. I own 'em all, and more, for a reason. Get a nice 1990s Saab 900S Turbo, get it overhauled, the turbo rebuilt, and you're out $7500. Throw some Pirelli tires under it and it's like a hippie in Berkenstocks. It'll stick to the road until it dies - and it's a boat load of fun.
Hell, if you want to get fancy, you can find a 1978 911 in Targa trim and get a full factory restoration for less than the cost of a new 911. Once you get used to that little ass-wiggle, it's a bunch of fun. You can certainly do that for a lot less or you can get a full restoration done and it's still cheaper than a new one. You can put a Ford Mustang's 5.0 (it fits just fine, a little tight but it fits) into a 1980s Volvo 245 and make the ultimate sleeper - for under $20,000 - easy. That's not even doing the work yourself but it is starting with something that's in good shape - otherwise add 20%.
There are some options - find something you wanted a whole lot when you were a kid. Now, find something more practical than that. Buy that one. Restore it. Maintain it. Enjoy it. It will last the rest of your life. Automobiles, properly treated, can last a very, very long time. They just need to be treated well and maintained well. It's really less expensive to do this with a decent older car. It's also better for the environment (oddly enough) to use an older car (even if it gets horrible mileage) than it is to create a new one. Lots of resources and energy go into making a new car and in recycling an old one. Think of them as cute kittens and in need of a loving home.
I've been thinking about it since I posted it. Another AC responded as well. I'll just reply to one of you and hopefully they'll see it.
With a few things, there's something called an "Affirmative Defense." It's basically, "I did it, and it was just." Assuming the motives where just and the government's behavior sufficiently egregious then is a coup really not the right course of action? Is not advocating and/or acting against tyranny the proper choice?
Then again, perhaps that we're even discussing this means that this study's conclusion is flawed. I don't know? I've never once felt compelled to curb my speech for the purpose of impressing or because of fear of repercussions. I'm unlikely to change that.
The guy who manages my real portfolio, not the one that I was referring to above, actually adds this - I've asked him before if he had any advice that I could give people. I'll try to get it to be close to verbatim.
"Go to the grocery store. Look at the shelves and see which products are running out AND which products are in people's carts. Match the two. People are always going to buy food. Find their parent companies, invest in those." (I've done a little of that, they're slow but steady. Cereal, skin care, pasta, even bread - some of them pay decent dividends too but I turn those back over.)
In the case of VW, that's what you describe - you've described it better than I could myself. I look for short-term (to me) trends. Stock dropping 1/2 its value does not scare me away WHEN I've every reason to believe it will return to its original value. In fact, it tells me to buy more. VW isn't going anywhere. Not in my lifetime. It's already lost half its value. If it loses it again and then returns to where it was (maybe five years from now) then I'll increase my investment by 400%. I've every reason to believe that's true.
I pay attention to the comments section at sites with smart people.;-) No, I'm not even remotely joking about that. I've described it in much longer terms before.
However, the above David, is much more articulate than I.
I shall investigate, thanks. One of the reasons that I favor VNC is that it's cross-platform. I think I've looked at X2go in the past - someone else recommended it (maybe WolfRider?) and downloaded it but never got around to installing it. It looks like I'm not getting approval to go to Cuba this week so I'll poke at it over the weekend.
Most of the Fox people are very much on Apple's side and might actually applaud some engineer who did that. I know, it's odd, isn't it? I've taken to spending a few hours a week listening to Fox New Radio - it's a long story as to why. But, yeah, they came out on Apple's side right at the very start - like on day one. I was kind of surprised.
I cheat and use VNC. There are some things you can't do via terminal/remote/SSH. But, there are lots of things that can be. I've settled on VNC and have been using it for a while. You might have been able to push the GUI out (I forget the name of the process) out through SSH for a torrent client. Basically, it forwards the GUI over SSH - buggered if I can recall the name at the moment but lots of apps support it, or so I'm told. I've not bothered with it in a long, long time - having settled on installing a VNC server and using a client.
It's actually what I'm using to send this. I'm connected to a computer in Maine via VNC and through a VPN. That enables me to use my home network and keep things much the same as they always are. I still keep my data stored back in Maine, it's propagated out to remote locations for storage, and I'm able to access it all while I am out on the road. It took only a little while to set up and secure well enough to trust it. Sometimes, I even use a (convoluted) method where I'm using a VNC that's located on a server that's back in Maine and I'm working in that while I have a Slashdot tab open.
It's surprisingly stable and effective. I can even stream stuff from my house to here. I just use a VNC client (TurboVNC right now) at full-screen and call it good. I don't have to worry about additional archiving and access, I just do it there. I don't store any data locally, not really. Even at home, my data is on the network and not on the device. I've been doing it this way for years now. It's a bit convoluted seeming at first but I'm quite used to it and prefer it this way.
True but I've said them before. I am not outlandish but I am outspoken. I'm also running for a position in my State Senate (it is official now, signatures turned in and everything - I already had more than enough signatures). So, we'll see if I'm a target or not. What's the worst they can do to me? I am not dreadfully concerned - not even really concerned at all.
Hell, I've even met dozens of people from this site alone. So, it's not like the press or the powers that be can't trace me to my online identity. If they ask, I'll just tell 'em. Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke or handle what I have to say. I retired to a pretty cool spot with decent people. They know I smoke weed and swear. They know how I feel about the government. They're the ones that asked me to run. I don't even really want the job - I've retired and I kind of like doing as little as possible sometimes. I don't need the money, don't want the publicity, but I've been asked and am in a position to do so. So, why not?
I'm really not too worried. What's the worst thing, realistically, that's going to happen?
In the real world, the installation or vehicle has infantry assets to protect it from ground attacks. They do not just send out rocket launchers without protection - even if they're behind the lines. Even the artillery of today, even the US' artillery that runs and guns from behind the lines, has protection from local attacks to-hand just to prevent just such a thing. Tanks will even often have an attachment of infantry to keep them protected, though that's marginally less of a problem than it traditionally was in large conflicts.
Lacing hoop-style laced boots is actually really, really fast once you get the hang of it. I do mean super fast. You put your finger between the two laces and, moving upwards, you move back and fourth in a zigzag pattern. It probably takes maybe a second and a half to lace your boots and get them tight to the proper tightness.
One of my favorites is the multiple stories about criminals who have been spotted, tracked, or apprehended because of the lights in their shoes. It's also as good as the many stories about those who are otherwise impeded by their fashion choices, often to dire conclusions. Hats, hair styles, girdles, and footwear have killed people - many people. Pants worn around the knees sometimes have dire consequences, in today's world, that sometimes includes physical harm - including death and imprisonment.
I don't welcome or want these folks to die. I am, however, amused by the circumstances of their demise or otherwise getting comeuppance. Quite a few people have suffered hardship due to fashion choices and this has been done throughout history - it's even the subject of a couple of full-length documentaries. Fate is a fickle beast and the skeins she weaves have knots and twists that appear to only serve as lessons or entertainment. For whose entertainment is, as always, subject to debate.
Watch the video, they've got buttons on the shoes. That and, you know, shoes aren't for everyone - as in, no one pair suits everyone. Don't be silly and say they won't work for disabled people, they're not meant for disabled people.
Which is unfortunate. If you expand the thread, you'll see that I posted elsewhere that these might have therapeutic and other beneficial features and that they should look into that and licensing their patent or allowing access (for free) to the protocol would be good. However, to cite these particular shoes as not being fit for disabled people like the intent was to be fit for disabled people is disingenuous. Of course they're not meant for disabled people. Do you see a handicapped sign on them?
It'd be nice if they were for disabled people and I'd not be surprised if this technology could be used for disabled people - AND to be done so for very low prices. Therapeutic shoes and custom shoes are VERY expensive. Special shoes that qualify as medical devices are extremely expensive if you want anything good and/or fashionable. They're also a boon to those who are disabled. This might, I do not know, have the power to change that. They should look into that and consider carefully what they'll give to the world.
Still, at this point, of course they're not fucking fit for disabled people. Why you'd think that's salient is beyond me. Though, it does make sense that you'd mention hand disabilities with that. Someone, somewhere, might want to consider getting access to this tech and using it for disabled people, it would be great if they did.
That was my first thought. I figured I'd see if anyone mentioned this. Then again, I suspect that the people buying these shoes will take quite a bit of care about how they're treated. As in, cleaning them nightly with a toothbrush and only wearing them on special occasions. Some people are really passionate about their "kicks." Pimping and preening does have a focus on footwear - to the point of obsession and collectibles and underground with black-, gray-, and used-markets. I know a number of people who are quite attentive to their footwear.
I could be said to be that way but at a different level. I do wear "normal" footwear - sort of. However, I have nice shoes and some nice custom footwear. I'm also really big on socks. I do kind of pamper my feet a little, they're important to me. I usually wear footwear from L.L. Bean. Actually, my typical footwear is the moccasins from L.L. Bean - they're really slippers. I have varieties with soles and without. I wear those everywhere - I do mean everywhere, even out in the snow.
But, I've got boots and shoes and custom shoes and custom dress shoes. I've probably got a half dozen types of boots and a dozen pairs of shoes, then a few pairs of slippers/moccasins and sneakers. My preference is not sneakers but I own some though I think two pairs would have to be called hiking sneakers.
The other thing this made me think of - why limit the airbags? Instead of them all just having once sensor, why not have the ability to customize the pressures provided? Then, they might even have some therapeutic value. They might even consider a low-cost version that's not decorated and meant for games and looks. They could be actual functional footwear and they could (I'm betting) also add customized support with the ability to control where the pressure is most applied. They could have separate airbags and they could allow one to adjust those according to their comfort zones.
That, I'd imagine, would be valuable for therapy. With the use of an app, they could (easily) have memory settings. Press the button for hiking, for running, for comfort, for a bunch of support in the ankle, maybe raise and lower the heel. They could even do something that is above ankle with the same sort of features and allow the same sort of setting savings. Being able to tighten up on the way down the mountain is nice. The settings would be stored in the device, that's not hard at all. Hell, they could open up the patent (fat chance) and actually open up the protocol to speak with them.
It might even be useful for diagnostics and testing therapy results. Let's say you broke your ankle and they want to monitor your progress. This can be determined by checking your walking pattern. Those sensors could save data to your phone and keep it encrypted. You could then share that with your therapist or, maybe, the podiatrist. Want to watch a kid's walking pattern and see how they are impacted by their braces? Welcome to the data... They could even license it at low cost, maybe license it to third-world medical professionals for free.
Yeah, I'm probably asking too much at this point. But - once they make it able to withstand the abuses from normal use then it really could have some other interesting benefits that I'd not seen anyone mention yet. I don't see them opening up the platform and patents. That's unfortunate. They have kids making them. They might as well do something good with the products or the money. Maybe someone should write 'em a letter - but probably only after checking with therapists and podiatrists who can give a valuable opinion as to any potential health benefits. They could ask some sports-medicine folks, some of those guys know what they're talking about.
I'm pretty average and have done a lot of work that falls under the IT heading. In fact, I have zero formal computer education. I've never even taken so much as a basics course nor a relevant programming course. In 1970 (or so) I used an HP 9100, I think it was called, and then didn't touch a computer until the 80s. At that point, I kind of hated computers but I owned my first in about 1981.
I say no formal programming because I must be accurate - it's in my nature. Unfortunately, my memory isn't as good as it could be. The HP 9100 was a computer, they called it a calculator I think, that had memory. You could use the cards you color with a pencil on them. You could store an algorithm on a magnetic stripe plastic card, and memory was stored resident until reboot. It had a plottter and you could push it out to a television or use the LED display. I hated them. They were in our Physics class but I want to say that there were a couple in the Chemistry labs and a couple in the astronomy section. (We had a telescope and observatory. We didn't yet have the telescope. We only had the observatory. It had just been built. The telescope was added a couple of years later - I'm pretty sure. That was a long time ago.)
Anyhow, in that class, I had a week of learning how to "program" that computer. That is the entirety of my formal computer programming except for auditing a night course in an Intro to C, which I missed the vast majority of, I've no other education given formal instruction. In other words, I'm actually a fairly period-typical IT person. I'd say that I'm below average with today's IT person, or some of them at least. And, below average in theory - the results of their education may not be as good as the courses describe. I can not honestly speculate but credit is where it is due to say that they've a huge amount of resources available to learn, resources that I've never had access to. Presumably, the average IT person should be much more adept than I.
So, I said all that to paint a picture. The picture is that I'd like to think that, at best, I'm in the average class with IT. I'm comfortable with that designation. After all, I've had no formal training of any type, my academic achievements were in applied mathematics and I really hated computers at the time.
Which gets me to the point of refuting what the OP had claimed... I find Linux eminently usable on the desktop and on the server. I have, and administer, a wide variety of hardware. All of that hardware (sans phone) uses the Linux kernel. Even all of my virtual machines have OSes that are using the Linux kernel. I do not have one single Windows-based operating system and only two devices that are from Apple. On the other hand, I've used Windows many times and, for a period of about a half-dozen years, was given the MVP award by Microsoft for lending aid in their public (and private) newsgroups. I've not really used any Windows OSes beyond 8 and I mostly didn't use anything beyond 7 and actually (I know, I know) preferred Vista over 7 once SP1 came out for Vista. That's a topic for another day as this is already too long.
Now, I think I've given enough evidence to support the claim to "average IT" status. It took a minute and a lot of words but, suffice to say, that should put me at or below that status. I find Linux very usable. I do not have a problem with it. In fact, I started using it to the exclusion of all else a while back and I've a fairly fresh interpretations.
Linux is simple to use. It really is. It may appear hard. Don't approach it like Windows and it's actually simpler than safely maintaining a Windows box/network. The terminal is an overlooked tool but this is true with Windows and the command line. It has great power when used by someone who has learned how. The Linux desktop environment are all pretty good, support modern features, and offer a bunch of choices between them. It's not difficult to get Linux to do things the way you want - and then to replicate that so that you can have a unified experienc
That and, well... You've always been able to do quite a bit with Windows Server editions via the command prompt. They've also generally been able to be configured to push the desktop out over a network without too much trouble for quite a long time. So, people are pretty used to having a GUI. I've played around with Windows as a server and have even used it professionally. More recently, I've had a whole WSUS, Exchange, and AD running at my home. That doesn't exist and was a while back but I had an MSDN subscription and hardware so, why not? I was actually rather content with the setup - I even had roaming profiles configured and was able to push out updates, had my own images, had profile defaults via group policy, and all that stuff - it was heaps of fun.
I'd not recommend it for your typical home user but I enjoyed it. Any computer could be used by guests with limited use accounts. People had actual accounts with saved profiles and could log on from anywhere in the network. They could even use their own computers to log on, if they were properly configured to join a domain. I could use the installer to push software out to all the computers. There were local profiles as well.
For a while, I had thin clients from Wyse and used Citrix. There's still one device (I'm pretty sure it's not actually connected to anything any more - it has been replaced with a rugged laptop with Lubuntu) in the garage and one in the shop. That one doesn't boot, as I recall. I've never fixed it. That too has been replaced but that gets replaced often - computers aren't really fond of sawdust even though there's dust collection. The rest of the thin clients have gone to either friends, family, or maybe I've pawned 'em off on the local school. I forget which.
At any rate, I've often done things with Windows while it was headless. It's certainly doable, it's just really, really awkward and unfamiliar unless your're used to it and have learned the arcana and proper invocations. It's almost logical once you figure out what they're doing. I'd not go so far as to say that it's intuitive, not really. But, the command prompt has always been there and headless access has always been possible. I've not played much with PowerShell but it has actually been around for quite a while now. I don't remember when it first came out but I think it was something like 10 years ago. It, like the regular ol' command line, is often overlooked by people.
Err... I'm not a Luddite. I have a GUI, I'm using one now. I use a GUI much of the time. I use the terminal a lot and always have a terminal open - it opens automatically on boot with most installs. I do have my own saved aliases and my own special bash files (like bashrc and bash_history get saved and pushed out to other profiles as well as dumped in a repository and then cleaned). I do a lot in the terminal but there are other areas where ticking boxes is easier. It's also (often) easier to get help in a GUI. GUI has a time and place and a good GUI is a great benefit.
I figured I'd add that 'cause, well... Some folks are pretty passionate about favoring one or the other to the point of exclusion.
It looks like your response is slightly biased. I'm not entirely sure if it's accurate. From what I'm seeing, the law (can) protect anyone - not specifically just politicians. You wouldn't actually have some sort of citation for that? I'm pretty good at parsing legalese. I've had quite a bit of experience at it.
Of course, that may not be how the law is being used... However, from my reading, it should appear to work for citizens and politicians alike - though politicians are citizens. However, I'm not so sure that the law, itself, is misguided or that the intent, or letter of it, is specifically limiting the protections to politicians. However, I've only read interpretations of it - I've not yet found the actual law. I've only read about a half-dozen other articles now. I have not yet found the text of the law. Do you have a text copy of the bill handy? I can probably find it but it's easier if you've just got a copy.
Disclosure: I am running for State Senate. I am not yet a politician. I have been elected in the past but only for a school board. I do not have political aspirations beyond the Senate and I will accept the office only once. I am almost certainly not going to be your politician. My home is nowhere near that part of the country.
Alright... You're an asshole. I mean that in a good way.
So, I'm in Florida for the winter and my neighbor has some really good weed. I got up at 0300 and I just smoked - it's about 0530.
I then read your post... I'm halfway convinced it's a brilliant post that's insightful and demonstrating the decried problems from the article (which, of course, I didn't read but surmised from the comments).
But then, you could just be a script... Or, alternatively, you're a fucking idiot. The last one is actually unlikely. Deduction says you're not a script and not an idiot. Yet, I don't recollect your name so it's unlikely that you've posted a bunch of stupid things - or I'd have noticed. I'd have likely noticed a bunch of smart things and noted your name - I'm also not going to go dredging through your comment history.
That leaves brilliant, insightful, and spot-on. It leaves articulate, witty, high-brow, and concise.
It's that or you're an idiot...
I'm going to operate under the assumption that you're brilliant and the display of subject matter is top-notch intellect, cutting and to the point, and risk opining my agreement and signaling my appreciation.
Slashdot Mirror
You don't have to pull it out. That's the whole point of a Trojan.
I wonder what McD has to say about this?
The Hamburgler did it!
*fat purple thing runs away*
robble robble robble
Why, in the name of fuck, would you want an OS that does *not* allow services to run in the background?
Tell me you're not seriously hoping for a blackbox with less control? You know what? Accept some responsibility for yourselves and learn to use your devices and keep them secure. Don't install stupid shit. It really is, for the most part, that fucking easy.
Read the options menu during install. Read it carefully. If you do not understand it, do not say "fuck it" and install it anyways. Don't install a bunch of pointless apps - most of them are shit. Don't do it. If you use Android, install the damned free and open source store for Android apps - I forget the name... Wait, no... It's F-Droid, I think.
Don't install the latest fashionable app. Wait and see how it blows over. Read the reviews, research, learn what your phone does and how it does it, and do what you can to keep your shit under your control.
But, for the love of FSM, don't advocate being locked down and prevented from having useful features. I *want* background processes - like GPS. I just don't want 'em doing stupid shit so I check, carefully, before I install anything. I know... I know, it's shameful to take a little while to decide and make an informed choice. I get it. I understand that it's bad form to learn something and learn how to use the tools I own. But, I suspect the time saved preventing stuff is less time than I'd have to spend trying to get people to give me back my data that they took without my knowledge.
And yes, yes I have tossed my phone up on wireless with the cellular radio off and sniffed the traffic. I'm kind of curious like that.
It's not even a remotely original comment. You, or someone, posts the same damned list at least a half-dozen times every month. Sadly, some people have short memories so you might just as well as keep reposting it but don't, please, pretend it's original. It's probably not even your original post. I first saw it ages and ages ago.
Dude, that car is your namesake. It's your moniker. You can't just let that go. That's against the rules. It either needs to be kept and treated accordingly, perhaps like a shrine or, alternatively, it needs to go out in spectacular fashion which may, or may not, cause injury, maiming, or death. Seriously, you can't just let that car go. No way... That'd be against some sort of rule. I don't know which rule but it's certainly a rule.
At the very least, it needs to go in spectacular fashion. This can be as simple as a bonfire by "accident" or selling it to a teenage boy for $200. Ideally, it should involve a great story, preferably involving screeching tires, broken glass, crunches, cliffs, and frightened passengers screaming about a deity. (Surviving is good. Try to do that - a good scar is handy, keep that in mind.)
Given the age of your account, the username, the odds of you having two vehicles of same type and year - and I'm guessing that's where your username came from. You, you can't just get rid of it... No!!!! The car gods will not forgive such. At least just get a second car and use that one as a lawn ornament. (Depending on where you live.) Put it in storage and lie to yourself about how you're going to fix it up some day and let some confused young soul find it at your estate sale in 50 years. Get a collection of all your Slashdot posts, to date, and put 'em in the glove compartment to confuse the poor soul even further. Take pictures and use a bunch of gasoline, tannerite, and a .50 cal muzzle loader. Anything... Something... But don't let it go out with a whimper.
They're not bruteforcing the crypto. Not really. They're bruteforcing the PIN. It's not really a semantics argument. At least not in my head. This just just attacking the implementation of the crypto and not the crypto itself. Make sense?
uConnect does have cellular - they're Dodge. You see it in the Ram, Charger, Jeep, etc...
If you want something without it then go for a fleet vehicle. You can order them by going to the dealership, you don't need to buy them in bulk. I've never ordered any online and never noticed a way to order them online. You probably can.
My suggestion is to find a nice, reasonable, older car and get it full restored and then maintain it properly. It's usually much nicer on the environment than the costs that go into making a whole new car or even recycling and old one and then incorporating what can be into a new car - and that's counting the lower mileage one might get with an older car.
Depending on what you purchase, you can find something that's reasonably safe and then add any additional modern features you want. Best of all, you can often find a car you could never afford when you were younger, fix it up to like-new condition, and do so for less than you'd have paid for a new car. Just don't fall in love with it - it's a car and it will break your heart if you fall in love with it.
A mid-1990s BMW 750 can be had and done up for under $20,000 and you'll find them with just 100k on them and be able to pull another 400k out of it pretty easily just with maintaining and driving it reasonably. I sent a 1988 Honda Accord LX back to Japan to be overhauled by a guru and the whole thing, including shipping, was about $20,000 and that includes purchase price. An '82 Volvo 245 can be sent to Oregon and patched up, skid plate added, stiffened, and some minor tweaks - then painted and all the bits and pieces put back properly for about $25,000. A 1973 Jeep Wagoneer can be done for under $10,000 unless you get extravagant.
There are lots of choices and those old cars need some love. They're still fun cars. They've got loads of life in them. Yes, I have a new BMW but that doesn't mean the rest don't get driven. I own 'em all, and more, for a reason. Get a nice 1990s Saab 900S Turbo, get it overhauled, the turbo rebuilt, and you're out $7500. Throw some Pirelli tires under it and it's like a hippie in Berkenstocks. It'll stick to the road until it dies - and it's a boat load of fun.
Hell, if you want to get fancy, you can find a 1978 911 in Targa trim and get a full factory restoration for less than the cost of a new 911. Once you get used to that little ass-wiggle, it's a bunch of fun. You can certainly do that for a lot less or you can get a full restoration done and it's still cheaper than a new one. You can put a Ford Mustang's 5.0 (it fits just fine, a little tight but it fits) into a 1980s Volvo 245 and make the ultimate sleeper - for under $20,000 - easy. That's not even doing the work yourself but it is starting with something that's in good shape - otherwise add 20%.
There are some options - find something you wanted a whole lot when you were a kid. Now, find something more practical than that. Buy that one. Restore it. Maintain it. Enjoy it. It will last the rest of your life. Automobiles, properly treated, can last a very, very long time. They just need to be treated well and maintained well. It's really less expensive to do this with a decent older car. It's also better for the environment (oddly enough) to use an older car (even if it gets horrible mileage) than it is to create a new one. Lots of resources and energy go into making a new car and in recycling an old one. Think of them as cute kittens and in need of a loving home.
I've been thinking about it since I posted it. Another AC responded as well. I'll just reply to one of you and hopefully they'll see it.
With a few things, there's something called an "Affirmative Defense." It's basically, "I did it, and it was just." Assuming the motives where just and the government's behavior sufficiently egregious then is a coup really not the right course of action? Is not advocating and/or acting against tyranny the proper choice?
Then again, perhaps that we're even discussing this means that this study's conclusion is flawed. I don't know? I've never once felt compelled to curb my speech for the purpose of impressing or because of fear of repercussions. I'm unlikely to change that.
The guy who manages my real portfolio, not the one that I was referring to above, actually adds this - I've asked him before if he had any advice that I could give people. I'll try to get it to be close to verbatim.
"Go to the grocery store. Look at the shelves and see which products are running out AND which products are in people's carts. Match the two. People are always going to buy food. Find their parent companies, invest in those." (I've done a little of that, they're slow but steady. Cereal, skin care, pasta, even bread - some of them pay decent dividends too but I turn those back over.)
In the case of VW, that's what you describe - you've described it better than I could myself. I look for short-term (to me) trends. Stock dropping 1/2 its value does not scare me away WHEN I've every reason to believe it will return to its original value. In fact, it tells me to buy more. VW isn't going anywhere. Not in my lifetime. It's already lost half its value. If it loses it again and then returns to where it was (maybe five years from now) then I'll increase my investment by 400%. I've every reason to believe that's true.
I pay attention to the comments section at sites with smart people. ;-) No, I'm not even remotely joking about that. I've described it in much longer terms before.
However, the above David, is much more articulate than I.
I shall investigate, thanks. One of the reasons that I favor VNC is that it's cross-platform. I think I've looked at X2go in the past - someone else recommended it (maybe WolfRider?) and downloaded it but never got around to installing it. It looks like I'm not getting approval to go to Cuba this week so I'll poke at it over the weekend.
A point. You have one.
Most of the Fox people are very much on Apple's side and might actually applaud some engineer who did that. I know, it's odd, isn't it? I've taken to spending a few hours a week listening to Fox New Radio - it's a long story as to why. But, yeah, they came out on Apple's side right at the very start - like on day one. I was kind of surprised.
I cheat and use VNC. There are some things you can't do via terminal/remote/SSH. But, there are lots of things that can be. I've settled on VNC and have been using it for a while. You might have been able to push the GUI out (I forget the name of the process) out through SSH for a torrent client. Basically, it forwards the GUI over SSH - buggered if I can recall the name at the moment but lots of apps support it, or so I'm told. I've not bothered with it in a long, long time - having settled on installing a VNC server and using a client.
It's actually what I'm using to send this. I'm connected to a computer in Maine via VNC and through a VPN. That enables me to use my home network and keep things much the same as they always are. I still keep my data stored back in Maine, it's propagated out to remote locations for storage, and I'm able to access it all while I am out on the road. It took only a little while to set up and secure well enough to trust it. Sometimes, I even use a (convoluted) method where I'm using a VNC that's located on a server that's back in Maine and I'm working in that while I have a Slashdot tab open.
It's surprisingly stable and effective. I can even stream stuff from my house to here. I just use a VNC client (TurboVNC right now) at full-screen and call it good. I don't have to worry about additional archiving and access, I just do it there. I don't store any data locally, not really. Even at home, my data is on the network and not on the device. I've been doing it this way for years now. It's a bit convoluted seeming at first but I'm quite used to it and prefer it this way.
True but I've said them before. I am not outlandish but I am outspoken. I'm also running for a position in my State Senate (it is official now, signatures turned in and everything - I already had more than enough signatures). So, we'll see if I'm a target or not. What's the worst they can do to me? I am not dreadfully concerned - not even really concerned at all.
Hell, I've even met dozens of people from this site alone. So, it's not like the press or the powers that be can't trace me to my online identity. If they ask, I'll just tell 'em. Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke or handle what I have to say. I retired to a pretty cool spot with decent people. They know I smoke weed and swear. They know how I feel about the government. They're the ones that asked me to run. I don't even really want the job - I've retired and I kind of like doing as little as possible sometimes. I don't need the money, don't want the publicity, but I've been asked and am in a position to do so. So, why not?
I'm really not too worried. What's the worst thing, realistically, that's going to happen?
In the real world, the installation or vehicle has infantry assets to protect it from ground attacks. They do not just send out rocket launchers without protection - even if they're behind the lines. Even the artillery of today, even the US' artillery that runs and guns from behind the lines, has protection from local attacks to-hand just to prevent just such a thing. Tanks will even often have an attachment of infantry to keep them protected, though that's marginally less of a problem than it traditionally was in large conflicts.
Lacing hoop-style laced boots is actually really, really fast once you get the hang of it. I do mean super fast. You put your finger between the two laces and, moving upwards, you move back and fourth in a zigzag pattern. It probably takes maybe a second and a half to lace your boots and get them tight to the proper tightness.
One of my favorites is the multiple stories about criminals who have been spotted, tracked, or apprehended because of the lights in their shoes. It's also as good as the many stories about those who are otherwise impeded by their fashion choices, often to dire conclusions. Hats, hair styles, girdles, and footwear have killed people - many people. Pants worn around the knees sometimes have dire consequences, in today's world, that sometimes includes physical harm - including death and imprisonment.
I don't welcome or want these folks to die. I am, however, amused by the circumstances of their demise or otherwise getting comeuppance. Quite a few people have suffered hardship due to fashion choices and this has been done throughout history - it's even the subject of a couple of full-length documentaries. Fate is a fickle beast and the skeins she weaves have knots and twists that appear to only serve as lessons or entertainment. For whose entertainment is, as always, subject to debate.
Watch the video, they've got buttons on the shoes. That and, you know, shoes aren't for everyone - as in, no one pair suits everyone. Don't be silly and say they won't work for disabled people, they're not meant for disabled people.
Which is unfortunate. If you expand the thread, you'll see that I posted elsewhere that these might have therapeutic and other beneficial features and that they should look into that and licensing their patent or allowing access (for free) to the protocol would be good. However, to cite these particular shoes as not being fit for disabled people like the intent was to be fit for disabled people is disingenuous. Of course they're not meant for disabled people. Do you see a handicapped sign on them?
It'd be nice if they were for disabled people and I'd not be surprised if this technology could be used for disabled people - AND to be done so for very low prices. Therapeutic shoes and custom shoes are VERY expensive. Special shoes that qualify as medical devices are extremely expensive if you want anything good and/or fashionable. They're also a boon to those who are disabled. This might, I do not know, have the power to change that. They should look into that and consider carefully what they'll give to the world.
Still, at this point, of course they're not fucking fit for disabled people. Why you'd think that's salient is beyond me. Though, it does make sense that you'd mention hand disabilities with that. Someone, somewhere, might want to consider getting access to this tech and using it for disabled people, it would be great if they did.
That was my first thought. I figured I'd see if anyone mentioned this. Then again, I suspect that the people buying these shoes will take quite a bit of care about how they're treated. As in, cleaning them nightly with a toothbrush and only wearing them on special occasions. Some people are really passionate about their "kicks." Pimping and preening does have a focus on footwear - to the point of obsession and collectibles and underground with black-, gray-, and used-markets. I know a number of people who are quite attentive to their footwear.
I could be said to be that way but at a different level. I do wear "normal" footwear - sort of. However, I have nice shoes and some nice custom footwear. I'm also really big on socks. I do kind of pamper my feet a little, they're important to me. I usually wear footwear from L.L. Bean. Actually, my typical footwear is the moccasins from L.L. Bean - they're really slippers. I have varieties with soles and without. I wear those everywhere - I do mean everywhere, even out in the snow.
But, I've got boots and shoes and custom shoes and custom dress shoes. I've probably got a half dozen types of boots and a dozen pairs of shoes, then a few pairs of slippers/moccasins and sneakers. My preference is not sneakers but I own some though I think two pairs would have to be called hiking sneakers.
The other thing this made me think of - why limit the airbags? Instead of them all just having once sensor, why not have the ability to customize the pressures provided? Then, they might even have some therapeutic value. They might even consider a low-cost version that's not decorated and meant for games and looks. They could be actual functional footwear and they could (I'm betting) also add customized support with the ability to control where the pressure is most applied. They could have separate airbags and they could allow one to adjust those according to their comfort zones.
That, I'd imagine, would be valuable for therapy. With the use of an app, they could (easily) have memory settings. Press the button for hiking, for running, for comfort, for a bunch of support in the ankle, maybe raise and lower the heel. They could even do something that is above ankle with the same sort of features and allow the same sort of setting savings. Being able to tighten up on the way down the mountain is nice. The settings would be stored in the device, that's not hard at all. Hell, they could open up the patent (fat chance) and actually open up the protocol to speak with them.
It might even be useful for diagnostics and testing therapy results. Let's say you broke your ankle and they want to monitor your progress. This can be determined by checking your walking pattern. Those sensors could save data to your phone and keep it encrypted. You could then share that with your therapist or, maybe, the podiatrist. Want to watch a kid's walking pattern and see how they are impacted by their braces? Welcome to the data... They could even license it at low cost, maybe license it to third-world medical professionals for free.
Yeah, I'm probably asking too much at this point. But - once they make it able to withstand the abuses from normal use then it really could have some other interesting benefits that I'd not seen anyone mention yet. I don't see them opening up the platform and patents. That's unfortunate. They have kids making them. They might as well do something good with the products or the money. Maybe someone should write 'em a letter - but probably only after checking with therapists and podiatrists who can give a valuable opinion as to any potential health benefits. They could ask some sports-medicine folks, some of those guys know what they're talking about.
I'm pretty average and have done a lot of work that falls under the IT heading. In fact, I have zero formal computer education. I've never even taken so much as a basics course nor a relevant programming course. In 1970 (or so) I used an HP 9100, I think it was called, and then didn't touch a computer until the 80s. At that point, I kind of hated computers but I owned my first in about 1981.
I say no formal programming because I must be accurate - it's in my nature. Unfortunately, my memory isn't as good as it could be. The HP 9100 was a computer, they called it a calculator I think, that had memory. You could use the cards you color with a pencil on them. You could store an algorithm on a magnetic stripe plastic card, and memory was stored resident until reboot. It had a plottter and you could push it out to a television or use the LED display. I hated them. They were in our Physics class but I want to say that there were a couple in the Chemistry labs and a couple in the astronomy section. (We had a telescope and observatory. We didn't yet have the telescope. We only had the observatory. It had just been built. The telescope was added a couple of years later - I'm pretty sure. That was a long time ago.)
Anyhow, in that class, I had a week of learning how to "program" that computer. That is the entirety of my formal computer programming except for auditing a night course in an Intro to C, which I missed the vast majority of, I've no other education given formal instruction. In other words, I'm actually a fairly period-typical IT person. I'd say that I'm below average with today's IT person, or some of them at least. And, below average in theory - the results of their education may not be as good as the courses describe. I can not honestly speculate but credit is where it is due to say that they've a huge amount of resources available to learn, resources that I've never had access to. Presumably, the average IT person should be much more adept than I.
So, I said all that to paint a picture. The picture is that I'd like to think that, at best, I'm in the average class with IT. I'm comfortable with that designation. After all, I've had no formal training of any type, my academic achievements were in applied mathematics and I really hated computers at the time.
Which gets me to the point of refuting what the OP had claimed... I find Linux eminently usable on the desktop and on the server. I have, and administer, a wide variety of hardware. All of that hardware (sans phone) uses the Linux kernel. Even all of my virtual machines have OSes that are using the Linux kernel. I do not have one single Windows-based operating system and only two devices that are from Apple. On the other hand, I've used Windows many times and, for a period of about a half-dozen years, was given the MVP award by Microsoft for lending aid in their public (and private) newsgroups. I've not really used any Windows OSes beyond 8 and I mostly didn't use anything beyond 7 and actually (I know, I know) preferred Vista over 7 once SP1 came out for Vista. That's a topic for another day as this is already too long.
Now, I think I've given enough evidence to support the claim to "average IT" status. It took a minute and a lot of words but, suffice to say, that should put me at or below that status. I find Linux very usable. I do not have a problem with it. In fact, I started using it to the exclusion of all else a while back and I've a fairly fresh interpretations.
Linux is simple to use. It really is. It may appear hard. Don't approach it like Windows and it's actually simpler than safely maintaining a Windows box/network.
The terminal is an overlooked tool but this is true with Windows and the command line. It has great power when used by someone who has learned how.
The Linux desktop environment are all pretty good, support modern features, and offer a bunch of choices between them.
It's not difficult to get Linux to do things the way you want - and then to replicate that so that you can have a unified experienc
Get that hook out of your mouth. ;-)
That and, well... You've always been able to do quite a bit with Windows Server editions via the command prompt. They've also generally been able to be configured to push the desktop out over a network without too much trouble for quite a long time. So, people are pretty used to having a GUI. I've played around with Windows as a server and have even used it professionally. More recently, I've had a whole WSUS, Exchange, and AD running at my home. That doesn't exist and was a while back but I had an MSDN subscription and hardware so, why not? I was actually rather content with the setup - I even had roaming profiles configured and was able to push out updates, had my own images, had profile defaults via group policy, and all that stuff - it was heaps of fun.
I'd not recommend it for your typical home user but I enjoyed it. Any computer could be used by guests with limited use accounts. People had actual accounts with saved profiles and could log on from anywhere in the network. They could even use their own computers to log on, if they were properly configured to join a domain. I could use the installer to push software out to all the computers. There were local profiles as well.
For a while, I had thin clients from Wyse and used Citrix. There's still one device (I'm pretty sure it's not actually connected to anything any more - it has been replaced with a rugged laptop with Lubuntu) in the garage and one in the shop. That one doesn't boot, as I recall. I've never fixed it. That too has been replaced but that gets replaced often - computers aren't really fond of sawdust even though there's dust collection. The rest of the thin clients have gone to either friends, family, or maybe I've pawned 'em off on the local school. I forget which.
At any rate, I've often done things with Windows while it was headless. It's certainly doable, it's just really, really awkward and unfamiliar unless your're used to it and have learned the arcana and proper invocations. It's almost logical once you figure out what they're doing. I'd not go so far as to say that it's intuitive, not really. But, the command prompt has always been there and headless access has always been possible. I've not played much with PowerShell but it has actually been around for quite a while now. I don't remember when it first came out but I think it was something like 10 years ago. It, like the regular ol' command line, is often overlooked by people.
Err... I'm not a Luddite. I have a GUI, I'm using one now. I use a GUI much of the time. I use the terminal a lot and always have a terminal open - it opens automatically on boot with most installs. I do have my own saved aliases and my own special bash files (like bashrc and bash_history get saved and pushed out to other profiles as well as dumped in a repository and then cleaned). I do a lot in the terminal but there are other areas where ticking boxes is easier. It's also (often) easier to get help in a GUI. GUI has a time and place and a good GUI is a great benefit.
I figured I'd add that 'cause, well... Some folks are pretty passionate about favoring one or the other to the point of exclusion.
It looks like your response is slightly biased. I'm not entirely sure if it's accurate. From what I'm seeing, the law (can) protect anyone - not specifically just politicians. You wouldn't actually have some sort of citation for that? I'm pretty good at parsing legalese. I've had quite a bit of experience at it.
Of course, that may not be how the law is being used... However, from my reading, it should appear to work for citizens and politicians alike - though politicians are citizens. However, I'm not so sure that the law, itself, is misguided or that the intent, or letter of it, is specifically limiting the protections to politicians. However, I've only read interpretations of it - I've not yet found the actual law. I've only read about a half-dozen other articles now. I have not yet found the text of the law. Do you have a text copy of the bill handy? I can probably find it but it's easier if you've just got a copy.
Disclosure: I am running for State Senate. I am not yet a politician. I have been elected in the past but only for a school board. I do not have political aspirations beyond the Senate and I will accept the office only once. I am almost certainly not going to be your politician. My home is nowhere near that part of the country.
> Sedition really is a crime.
Should it be?
Alright... You're an asshole. I mean that in a good way.
So, I'm in Florida for the winter and my neighbor has some really good weed. I got up at 0300 and I just smoked - it's about 0530.
I then read your post... I'm halfway convinced it's a brilliant post that's insightful and demonstrating the decried problems from the article (which, of course, I didn't read but surmised from the comments).
But then, you could just be a script... Or, alternatively, you're a fucking idiot. The last one is actually unlikely. Deduction says you're not a script and not an idiot. Yet, I don't recollect your name so it's unlikely that you've posted a bunch of stupid things - or I'd have noticed. I'd have likely noticed a bunch of smart things and noted your name - I'm also not going to go dredging through your comment history.
That leaves brilliant, insightful, and spot-on. It leaves articulate, witty, high-brow, and concise.
It's that or you're an idiot...
I'm going to operate under the assumption that you're brilliant and the display of subject matter is top-notch intellect, cutting and to the point, and risk opining my agreement and signaling my appreciation.
Thanks for that. Asshole. ;-)
So what should I do? ... ... I've been voting against people probably longer than you've been alive.
And how's that working out for you?
You're almost there... A few more pushes and I'll have turned you to the dark side! MUAHAHAH!!!