I get GPTV out of Atlanta - no Code Rush tonight at ten. But, what's this instead? Elvis, the Beginning. Great. Fuck Elvis. The show must have aired earlier 'cause I didn't see any listing for it through April 6. Too bad.
First, after reading the article and then through the posts - gotta love a full-blown flame fest on/. (made MY Friday aft - I was thinking about the international air-traffic control system. IIRC, isn't Enlish the standard for all international flights? So, the 'net seems to be a bit like that. Now, there certainly ain't the safety factor, but there is some similarity.
Also, being a US citizen, I find it quite ironic that the US, being made up of folks from just about every other country in the world, is so isolationist and short-sighted when it comes to dealing with international issues like the 'net and regulation, etc.
Thirdly, for all those flamers and trolls out there spouting ultra-nationalist stuff, I was married to a lovely girl from Venezuela - she is, alas, the current ex-Mrs. Mackga (sniff) - I found it quite refreshing and educational being married to someone who's world-view did not center on the US. It's a big, varied planet out there, and the folks in the US have, for the most part, no clue just how diverse. EOS (end of sermon).
Once again, this thread has put a smile on my face and started my weekend off with a good chuckle or two. Thanks/.!!!!!
I work in a small shop - 35 or so people max here and in the SF office. We just went on a major hiring drive for programmers and q&a people. All the new programmers so far are foreign - to date a total of four with more coming. Since I'm not the hr person, and don't really deal with that side of the biz, I don't know what all the reasons are, but I just thought it was pretty interesting given the article's subject.
Of the nine current programmers, two are Americans - one of whom is the president and founder of the company. Kinda reflective of the current situation, or what?
I for one was excited when the movie came out, and after watching it for a bit nearly gagged on my popcorn! I've read the entire set: Dune - Chapterhouse Dune at least three times over the years, and I still think it's only beaten by LOTR. I sure hope the mini-series gets something of the vastness, the seriousnes, without the fake bs in the movie, of the tale. Things that really pushed me over the edge about the movie:
The utter ridiculousness of the Sadukar! Jesus-H-Christonacrutch! These fellas were THE bad ass elite killer-soldiers of the Emperor of the Known fscking Universe. All the other Houses were scared shitless of them. Anybody gets fancy ideas - just whisper Sadukar. 'Nuff said. And the movie had them dressed up like chemical disposal workers!
The module-thingies. Nope, no way. Fighting had devolved into hand-to-hand + personal shields. That was pretty much glossed and forgotten.
Scenery: the movie gave me a sense of a bunch of folks on a soundstage - not outside, and not on a desert planet.
Anyway, maybe this series will do a better job. I hope so.
Not being a maniframe type, I enjoyed reading about the s390 and the vm stuff - also, it was a pretty cool thing to have, what did the one guy say, 41 thousand Linux images running at once on one of these? Gives an idea of the muscle these babies have, huh?
I'm listening to Talk of the Nation right now on npr. They've opened a forum to talk about the recent DoS's. They have two guys - security fellas - didn't catch the names. They are covering pretty much what's been discussed here, but it's still neat to listen to.
I dunno, but the one it generated for me was pretty on the spot:
My complaint about Linuxone
"Although I have no criticism of Linuxone's memoranda, I have a few observations and comments to share. I want to share this with you because if history follows its course, it should be evident that opposing Linuxone's insecure disruptive publicity stunts actively and earnestly is the moral duty of every good human being. I'm not going to respond to Linuxone's writings beyond saying that flattery will get Linuxone nowhere. Linuxone is not just incorrigible; it's ostentatious, too. With friends like Linuxone, who needs enemies?
Well, let's get our facts straight. Linuxone needs a refill of its medication. If I understand Linuxone's manuscripts correctly, then Linuxone's inclinations stink of cover-ups, stalls, diversionary tactics, legal maneuverings, and other measures that turn peaceful gatherings into embarrassing scandals.
Linuxone's philosophies turn the stomachs of those who know even a little about the real world. "But I'm only one person," you might protest. "What difference can I make?" The answer is: a lot more than you think. You see, those who fight against Linuxone's solecism-oriented money-grubbing theories are inevitably branded as immoral and disreputable by Linuxone's cronies. The foregoing greatly simplifies the real situation, but it does indicate in a rough, general way that I don't need to be particularly delicate here. I leave it to more capable and intrepid folks to explore the full ramifications of Linuxone's effusions. And that's all I have to say."
if this fella offered to show the locked up completed Linux virus to one of the major kernel hackers - maybe Alan or Linus - so we all could get a knowledgeable assessment of the possible current and future dangers. Just a thought
Actually, he's pretty good. I read his massive posting in another/. story, and some of the stuff IS pretty witty. He should team up with some graphic artist geek and crank out a web-strip - sort of a post-techno-cyberpunk-neo-nihilist slightly surreal vision thingy with just a touch of open source/. inside hurmor. Just might go over big:)
Since most of the technical questions have been asked: how has the whole recent experience affected you guys personally? It seems that being acquired by Andover.net was followed, relatively, quickly by the IPO. I'm just wondering if the whole adventure has changed your overall outlook, future plans, drinking habits,...etc. You know, the little stuff that matters.
Nice shopping list, guys. Fortunately, we are sposed to have temps near 70 here in SE GA, so I'm not worried about wood for the fireplace - though I may buy a bunch of those fake logs for cooking in case the power goes out. Beer and plenty of it. Beef jerky and chips round out a nutritious beginning of 2000.
One more server to patch and I'm outta here. Happy New Years everyone on/.!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My ex-wife is from La Giuia (sp) where the airport was, and she has family there. East of the airport is gone - period. Catia La Mar is better (west of the airport), her brother is there and is realtively in one piece but w/o electricity. If your friends are in Caracas and staying anywhere away from the hills, they should be okay. It's a real mess there though. Road from the airport to Caracas is out, all the ranchos that surround the city are just gone. They do have some phone service and some 'net connections, but it's going to be bad for a while. I didn't hear how the airport fared, but my guess is that it's in pretty bad shape.
Figures - CNN came up with the idea of 24hr headline news - perfect for the attention-challenged U.S. teevee watcher. Now something like this. While the stories do relate, it would have been far better to devote the bulk of the column to the background story to explain the lead-in. But, no, it's soooo much hipper to talk about l33t hax0rz because that's much easier to sensationalize. Reporting, yes, but not responsible.
Well, looks like a honkin' good start for VA. I just hope the market holds up for all you guys. RHAT and Andover.net look like they're hitting on all 12 cylinders as well. Good luck guys! Lottsa new Ferraris and shit gonna be showin up real soon now:)I can imagine the talk at the next Linux expo:
I don't condone the flamage directed at the ISP guy, and I'm sure he didn't expect to get it - does he even read/.? But it puts/. in an intersting position in that Wired did think it newsworthy to mention the effect of the story being posted here. At times/. works a lot like usenet groups, but it manifests as different types of groups all at once, depending on the story. Almost all of the YRO sections stories will produce reactions similar to the *.advocacy groups - lots of varied opinions and heated discussion. Thing is, folks that are reporting on the 'net and its more visible phenoms - like/. - prolly don't realize this. In other words on the real net flamage is a fact of life.
What worries me sometimes is when the reactions go beyond the/. world and impact the real world(tm). This kind of interaction is not really understood by all concerned - either by the hard-core flamers or the folks that that are the targets of said email flames, or those who report on it.
I never send out angry email as a result of a story on/. but I would send out email that expressed concern or alarm IF I knew all the facts involved. It's too easy to say something in the heat of battle, but if you do so in an email it's damned hard to take to back.
I'm rambling here, but I realy do think that the impact the/. community can have and has on the real world can be a good thing, and when it is, this forum serves a valuable service to the net community as a whole. But when the reaction is tantamount to a cyber-riot and is mis-directed as this case was, I really worry about the implications. It would have been much better, IMHO, if the huge amounts of email were directed at the FBI and worded in such a way as to ask for clarification of the situation, express concern for the difficult position of the ISP, and concern over the legality of the action in the first place.
I come here for the serious stories and discussions, and I come here for the humor and craziness that the Grits Boy and the petrify-girls guy add to the atmosphere. Even the phursst pohoasters can be funny. But I think it's gotten to the point that/. is no longer a geek/nerd secret club. The high profile can be a double-edged sword. When we interact with the real world as result of something read here, we should be real careful how we react.
M. Crighton book talks about this to some extent. Sort of computerized bio-feedback to alter moods. "puter is imbeded - sort of like a pacemaker - but the general idea is kinda similar. Stuff like this in ten years...just think of the possibilities! I, for one, find this kind of research fascinating. A bit scary, but this kind of tech could be very, very neat. Wireless comms, voice recognition, ultra-small displays.... kinda like that commercial I saw yesterdaay about the guy in Venice, I think. Jumping up and down, doing stocks on a very neat looking display. He then gets a wireless call from his secretary. Wowzah!
But, what about security on the computer networks that are potential targets for the Aussie security guys? I mean, if I have a corporate site, I'm gonna have a firewall, right? I'm gonna filter packets, maybe have an IDS, maybe a DMZ w/ a sniffer/monitor, damn sure I'm gonna have a choke router and NAT. So, what's the implications here? I see somebody seriously tappy-tapping on my fw, they can't get in, I then get a nice call asking me to open a few ports so they can pop in a have a nice looksee?
Or the security guys have stuff that can blast through my stuff w/o leaving a trace, setting off alarms in the NOC? Or they want to have a peek, call me up and ask for access?
What about dialup users? The security guys gonna have the local/national isp's squirting back orifice on every user's 'puter w/o letting them know so the security guys can then putz around next time the user logs on?
This is all sooooo weird. A bit ot, but any Aussies out there want to give an overview of the current Australian political scene/climate? The reference to "Tricky Dick" just gave me the willies.
This sounds like a nice real-world type experiment. Folks who are truely newbies - some winstations, some Linux stations. Might be a good idea to do some sort of exit poll. Something along the lines of, which machine did you use? How did you find the ease of use on this machine? Did you find anything particularly annoying about this machine, were you able to get all your work done easily? etc, etc.
You could label the machines a-z, however many you have. Might be kinda interesting.
I have with the article, to wit: "By today's standards it was not aesthetically pleasing. CSIRAC was bulky, covering 40 square metres, and sported dozens of grey metal cabinets covered with dials, switches and gauges. Colored lights adorned its panels and inside was a mass of wires and more switches."
Well, I think it sounds pretty damned sexy looking. Wouldn't mind having this my my garage!
Good link. I particularly liked the last paragraph:
"His appeal? His good nature. His fame? His intent to share his innovation with everyone. The impression he gave? If you've got to have someone carrying the torch, it's nice to have it be someone who won't set you on fire if you turn your back."
That last sentence had me chuckling for some time.
Slashdot Mirror
I get GPTV out of Atlanta - no Code Rush tonight at ten. But, what's this instead? Elvis, the Beginning. Great. Fuck Elvis. The show must have aired earlier 'cause I didn't see any listing for it through April 6. Too bad.
First, after reading the article and then through the posts - gotta love a full-blown flame fest on /. (made MY Friday aft - I was thinking about the international air-traffic control system. IIRC, isn't Enlish the standard for all international flights? So, the 'net seems to be a bit like that. Now, there certainly ain't the safety factor, but there is some similarity.
/.!!!!!
Also, being a US citizen, I find it quite ironic that the US, being made up of folks from just about every other country in the world, is so isolationist and short-sighted when it comes to dealing with international issues like the 'net and regulation, etc.
Thirdly, for all those flamers and trolls out there spouting ultra-nationalist stuff, I was married to a lovely girl from Venezuela - she is, alas, the current ex-Mrs. Mackga (sniff) - I found it quite refreshing and educational being married to someone who's world-view did not center on the US. It's a big, varied planet out there, and the folks in the US have, for the most part, no clue just how diverse. EOS (end of sermon).
Once again, this thread has put a smile on my face and started my weekend off with a good chuckle or two. Thanks
I work in a small shop - 35 or so people max here and in the SF office. We just went on a major hiring drive for programmers and q&a people. All the new programmers so far are foreign - to date a total of four with more coming. Since I'm not the hr person, and don't really deal with that side of the biz, I don't know what all the reasons are, but I just thought it was pretty interesting given the article's subject.
Of the nine current programmers, two are Americans - one of whom is the president and founder of the company. Kinda reflective of the current situation, or what?
I for one was excited when the movie came out, and after watching it for a bit nearly gagged on my popcorn! I've read the entire set: Dune - Chapterhouse Dune at least three times over the years, and I still think it's only beaten by LOTR. I sure hope the mini-series gets something of the vastness, the seriousnes, without the fake bs in the movie, of the tale. Things that really pushed me over the edge about the movie:
The utter ridiculousness of the Sadukar! Jesus-H-Christonacrutch! These fellas were THE bad ass elite killer-soldiers of the Emperor of the Known fscking Universe. All the other Houses were scared shitless of them. Anybody gets fancy ideas - just whisper Sadukar. 'Nuff said. And the movie had them dressed up like chemical disposal workers!
The module-thingies. Nope, no way. Fighting had devolved into hand-to-hand + personal shields. That was pretty much glossed and forgotten.
Scenery: the movie gave me a sense of a bunch of folks on a soundstage - not outside, and not on a desert planet.
Anyway, maybe this series will do a better job. I hope so.
Not being a maniframe type, I enjoyed reading about the s390 and the vm stuff - also, it was a pretty cool thing to have, what did the one guy say, 41 thousand Linux images running at once on one of these? Gives an idea of the muscle these babies have, huh?
FYI:
I'm listening to Talk of the Nation right now on npr. They've opened a forum to talk about the recent DoS's. They have two guys - security fellas - didn't catch the names. They are covering pretty much what's been discussed here, but it's still neat to listen to.
Kris:
Couple of things of the top of my head:
make sure you're using tcpwrappers to secure any services that are running - ftp especially.
Abacus portsentry: sits on well-know ports and blocks/logs any unauthorized activity - even scans.
Turn off any unneeded services - if you don't use portmapper - turn it off - turn off all rpc services.
If you need to access the box remotely, use ssh.
Make sure you're running the latest apache server.
That's a start.
I dunno, but the one it generated for me was pretty on the spot:
My complaint about Linuxone
"Although I have no criticism of Linuxone's memoranda, I have a few observations and comments to share. I want to share this with you because if history follows its course, it should be evident that opposing Linuxone's insecure disruptive publicity stunts actively and earnestly is the moral duty of every good human being. I'm not going to respond to Linuxone's writings beyond saying that flattery will get Linuxone nowhere. Linuxone is not just incorrigible; it's ostentatious, too. With friends like Linuxone, who needs enemies?
Well, let's get our facts straight. Linuxone needs a refill of its medication. If I understand Linuxone's manuscripts correctly, then Linuxone's inclinations stink of cover-ups, stalls, diversionary tactics, legal maneuverings, and other measures that turn peaceful gatherings into embarrassing scandals.
Linuxone's philosophies turn the stomachs of those who know even a little about the real world. "But I'm only one person," you might protest. "What difference can I make?" The answer is: a lot more than you think. You see, those who fight against Linuxone's solecism-oriented money-grubbing theories are inevitably branded as immoral and disreputable by Linuxone's cronies. The foregoing greatly simplifies the real situation, but it does indicate in a rough, general way that I don't need to be particularly delicate here. I leave it to more capable and intrepid folks to explore the full ramifications of Linuxone's effusions. And that's all I have to say."
if this fella offered to show the locked up completed Linux virus to one of the major kernel hackers - maybe Alan or Linus - so we all could get a knowledgeable assessment of the possible current and future dangers. Just a thought
Actually, he's pretty good. I read his massive posting in another /. story, and some of the stuff IS pretty witty. He should team up with some graphic artist geek and crank out a web-strip - sort of a post-techno-cyberpunk-neo-nihilist slightly surreal vision thingy with just a touch of open source /. inside hurmor. Just might go over big :)
Since most of the technical questions have been asked: how has the whole recent experience affected you guys personally? It seems that being acquired by Andover.net was followed, relatively, quickly by the IPO. I'm just wondering if the whole adventure has changed your overall outlook, future plans, drinking habits,...etc. You know, the little stuff that matters.
Nice shopping list, guys. Fortunately, we are sposed to have temps near 70 here in SE GA, so I'm not worried about wood for the fireplace - though I may buy a bunch of those fake logs for cooking in case the power goes out. Beer and plenty of it. Beef jerky and chips round out a nutritious beginning of 2000.
/.!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One more server to patch and I'm outta here. Happy New Years everyone on
My ex-wife is from La Giuia (sp) where the airport was, and she has family there. East of the airport is gone - period. Catia La Mar is better (west of the airport), her brother is there and is realtively in one piece but w/o electricity. If your friends are in Caracas and staying anywhere away from the hills, they should be okay. It's a real mess there though. Road from the airport to Caracas is out, all the ranchos that surround the city are just gone. They do have some phone service and some 'net connections, but it's going to be bad for a while. I didn't hear how the airport fared, but my guess is that it's in pretty bad shape.
Figures - CNN came up with the idea of 24hr headline news - perfect for the attention-challenged U.S. teevee watcher. Now something like this. While the stories do relate, it would have been far better to devote the bulk of the column to the background story to explain the lead-in. But, no, it's soooo much hipper to talk about l33t hax0rz because that's much easier to sensationalize. Reporting, yes, but not responsible.
Well, looks like a honkin' good start for VA. I just hope the market holds up for all you guys. RHAT and Andover.net look like they're hitting on all 12 cylinders as well. Good luck guys! Lottsa new Ferraris and shit gonna be showin up real soon now :)I can imagine the talk at the next Linux expo:
"Well, MY IPO was bigger'n yours!"
HEEEEEEE
I don't condone the flamage directed at the ISP guy, and I'm sure he didn't expect to get it - does he even read /.? But it puts /. in an intersting position in that Wired did think it newsworthy to mention the effect of the story being posted here. At times /. works a lot like usenet groups, but it manifests as different types of groups all at once, depending on the story. Almost all of the YRO sections stories will produce reactions similar to the *.advocacy groups - lots of varied opinions and heated discussion. Thing is, folks that are reporting on the 'net and its more visible phenoms - like /. - prolly don't realize this. In other words on the real net flamage is a fact of life.
/. world and impact the real world(tm). This kind of interaction is not really understood by all concerned - either by the hard-core flamers or the folks that that are the targets of said email flames, or those who report on it.
/. but I would send out email that expressed concern or alarm IF I knew all the facts involved. It's too easy to say something in the heat of battle, but if you do so in an email it's damned hard to take to back.
/. community can have and has on the real world can be a good thing, and when it is, this forum serves a valuable service to the net community as a whole. But when the reaction is tantamount to a cyber-riot and is mis-directed as this case was, I really worry about the implications. It would have been much better, IMHO, if the huge amounts of email were directed at the FBI and worded in such a way as to ask for clarification of the situation, express concern for the difficult position of the ISP, and concern over the legality of the action in the first place.
/. is no longer a geek/nerd secret club. The high profile can be a double-edged sword. When we interact with the real world as result of something read here, we should be real careful how we react.
What worries me sometimes is when the reactions go beyond the
I never send out angry email as a result of a story on
I'm rambling here, but I realy do think that the impact the
I come here for the serious stories and discussions, and I come here for the humor and craziness that the Grits Boy and the petrify-girls guy add to the atmosphere. Even the phursst pohoasters can be funny. But I think it's gotten to the point that
M. Crighton book talks about this to some extent. Sort of computerized bio-feedback to alter moods. "puter is imbeded - sort of like a pacemaker - but the general idea is kinda similar. Stuff like this in ten years...just think of the possibilities! I, for one, find this kind of research fascinating. A bit scary, but this kind of tech could be very, very neat. Wireless comms, voice recognition, ultra-small displays.... kinda like that commercial I saw yesterdaay about the guy in Venice, I think. Jumping up and down, doing stocks on a very neat looking display. He then gets a wireless call from his secretary. Wowzah!
But, what about security on the computer networks that are potential targets for the Aussie security guys? I mean, if I have a corporate site, I'm gonna have a firewall, right? I'm gonna filter packets, maybe have an IDS, maybe a DMZ w/ a sniffer/monitor, damn sure I'm gonna have a choke router and NAT. So, what's the implications here? I see somebody seriously tappy-tapping on my fw, they can't get in, I then get a nice call asking me to open a few ports so they can pop in a have a nice looksee?
Or the security guys have stuff that can blast through my stuff w/o leaving a trace, setting off alarms in the NOC? Or they want to have a peek, call me up and ask for access?
What about dialup users? The security guys gonna have the local/national isp's squirting back orifice on every user's 'puter w/o letting them know so the security guys can then putz around next time the user logs on?
This is all sooooo weird. A bit ot, but any Aussies out there want to give an overview of the current Australian political scene/climate? The reference to "Tricky Dick" just gave me the willies.
This sounds like a nice real-world type experiment. Folks who are truely newbies - some winstations, some Linux stations. Might be a good idea to do some sort of exit poll. Something along the lines of, which machine did you use? How did you find the ease of use on this machine? Did you find anything particularly annoying about this machine, were you able to get all your work done easily? etc, etc.
You could label the machines a-z, however many you have. Might be kinda interesting.
I have with the article, to wit:
"By today's standards it was not aesthetically pleasing. CSIRAC was bulky, covering 40 square metres, and sported dozens of grey metal cabinets covered with dials, switches and gauges. Colored lights adorned its panels and inside was a mass of wires and more switches."
Well, I think it sounds pretty damned sexy looking. Wouldn't mind having this my my garage!
Good link. I particularly liked the last paragraph:
"His appeal? His good nature. His fame? His intent to share his innovation with everyone. The impression he gave? If you've got to have someone carrying the torch, it's nice to have it be someone who won't set you on fire if you turn your back."
That last sentence had me chuckling for some time.
Wasn't the sprawl the Boston-Atlanta Metro in the US? Or was that in the later books?
Given the pervasiveness of MS software in both consumer and business areas, how realistically damaging can any punishments handed out to MS be?
LOL!
.sig?
"The average computer guy understands probability alot better than he does women."
Can I swipe this for a
Assuming the tech in the little boxen is advanced enough for wireless web hookup from the rice paddies outside of Pyong Yang(sic)
:)
1. Establish your security and encription
2. amass great amounts of digital cash and using the UPI, stash the cash with the escrow agent.
3. Arrange for groceries to be air-dropped from netgrocers.com - payment via the escrow agent.
4. Ditto homedepot.com
5. ditto gunzrus.com - just in case the soldiers come back
6. work with the arbitrage agent to invest your cyber cash
7. Maybe get some drugs and meds from RX.com?