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Attached to: Research Suggests Polygamous Men Live Longer
from the division-of-labor dept.
Attached to: James Powderly of Graffiti Research Labs Detained In China
Powderly is not Tibetan, not a resident of China, a foreigner who traveled to China for the express purpose of making this protest, and achieved nothing in this protest. Powderly and his protest is nothing like Park's protest. And I'M BadAnalogyGuy?!
New Poll Idea blueZ3
Why is
1) Abuse of anonymity
2) Loss of good contributors
3) Moderation schmoderation
4) Invasion of non-techy riff-raff
5) CoyboyNeil did it"
Attached to: James Powderly of Graffiti Research Labs Detained In China
Perhaps this speaks more of the level of attention that the world pays to activists (during major events versus otherwise) than it does to the level of commitment of activists to causes.
Seriously, this guy been around a while. Your ignorance is not evidence that he's a mere opportunistic attention-grabber.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19924"
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19924
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2328441,00.asp
Attached to: James Powderly of Graffiti Research Labs Detained In China
Disrespecting the athletes by marring the games with these protests is no better than what happened in Munich in 1972.
His laser wasn't that powerful.
from the probably-not-for-wristwatch-computers dept.
new Bluetooth gadgets from Jabra[->] Mike Rush
http://www.jabra.com/
- Nothing More
Attached to: James Powderly of Graffiti Research Labs Detained In China
From TFA:
The work, "The Green Chinese Lantern," uses a 400 milliwatt handheld green laser with micro-stencils to beam simple messages and images up to three stories high on surfaces such as billboards, buildings, and bridges. The Laser Stencil technology was developed in conjunction with Students for a Free Tibet.
[...] For more information and high-resolution photos of the work, please visit http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?p=161
Patent Troll Global Patent Holdings Delt A Blow alphaFlight
from the first-they-laugh-then-they-create-drivers dept.
I can ftp at the command line, and navigate around a little, I can create symbolic links, and I even know what file permissions are, even though I'd be hard pressed to interpret them or set them up. All the different shells and the different configuration files for shells; are you logged in as sudo or root; ssh wizardry, and vi black magic. I find it all so very confusing.
I picked up a reference book for when I really get stuck, but in the end the UNIX of it all just doesn't sink in an stay with me. So here's my question:
Are there any UNIX how to videos out there? Or some kind of interactive tutorial? Something fun like all that typing tutor or video professor software that's available for Windows and Office applications. How do Slashdotters suggest I pick up the skills so I don't seem like such a moron around the hardcore UNIX guys at work?"
Attached to: Hacker Uncovers Chinese Olympic Fraud
"People in many western countries have an expectation that governments and businesses behave in a mostly honorable manner."
Sorry, I have no such expectation. I expect government will behave in accordance with the will of the corporations who got the politicians elected and who pay them good money. I expect that *every* politician is corrupt until proven innocent
The US for instance is currently ruled by representatives of Big Oil and private military corporations that are sucking trillions out of the hands of the US taxpayers. With that kind of money available its no wonder there is corruption abounding. When the Iraq war winds up, you can expect another one to follow because the companies making all that money at the moment will not be likely to stand for a peace. Its too good a racket
http://copiousdissent.blogspot.com/2008/08/dnc-losing-control-demands.html
Hillcrest Labs: Wii Infringes Our Patents[->] Chris Albrecht
http://gigaom.com/2008/08/20/hillcrest-labs-says-nintendos-wii-infringing-patents/#more-18240
Attached to: Hacker Uncovers Chinese Olympic Fraud
What two wars are we fighting? I don't see any declared hostility with any nation.
Oh please. We never officially declared war against Vietnam. Does that mean we weren't at war?
And whenever a single Judge decides that there is a new "Right", not enumerated in the Constitution, whereby taxes are leveled to provide said right to everyone (I'm talking HEALTHCARE), then you ignore the Constitution.
Oh, because if it's not enumerated in the Constitution, it's not a right? Your thinking is exactly the kind that Alexander Hamilton worried the Bill of Rights might foster.
Book review - Zero Day Threat Ben Rothke
Zero Day Threat: the Shocking Truth of How Banks and Credit Bureaus Help Cyber Crooks Steal Your Money and Identity is an interesting and eye-opening look at how banks and credit card companies make ID theft and fraud rather elementary. But with all that, this book must be read in the larger context of how today's society deals with, and is often oblivious to risk.
When is comes to risk, American society tolerates tens of thousands of drunk-driving deaths, gives millions in federal tobacco subsidies, and is oblivious about near-epidemics such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. With all that, it is doubtful that the myriad horror stories Zero Day Threat details will implore congress and the other players to do anything to curtail the problem with identity theft and internet fraud.
The internet and web has indeed revolutionized society, and there is hardly an industry that has not been positively affected by the net. On the down side, the net is the new conduit for criminals. For example, in the few years before the web became ubiquitous, U.S. and international law enforcement nearly had a noose around the child pornography industry and brought it to a near standstill. After the web, authorities have given up hope that child pornography can ever be contained.
Similarly, white-collar crime and fraud has been exacerbated by the net. Zero Day Threat details the various loopholes that criminals use to carry out their attacks and crimes. Each of the books 18 chapters are divided into 3 section, exploiters - which details how the crime lords and their teams carry out the crimes, enablers — which details the history and current practices of credit card companies, banks, credit bureaus, and data brokers, and expediters — which recounts how technology and technologies enables these crimes. I found that the breaking up of the chapters into such triplets is occasionally confusing, and you are left wondering what story you are in.
The book is based on the premise that the payment industry, namely the credit card companies, banks, credit bureaus and data brokers have created an infrastructure that is pliable, nearly endlessly extendable, but paper-thin when it comes to security. The system is built for ease of access, ease of granting credit, but without a robust security infrastructure or privacy controls.
Consider that the PCI Security Standards Council was not created until late 2004, and that will give you an idea how security is anathema to the industry. The outgrowth of PCI is the PCI Data Security Standard which is the first uniformly created set of comprehensive security requirements for enhancing payment account data security. While the industry debates the efficacy of PCI, attackers are busy at work running innumerable fraudulent schemes.
The authors, paint an honest appraisal of the lack of security in the industry and have their facts in order, although an occasional hyperbole does creep in, namely when the authors repeatedly state that the hackers in question went weeks without sleep. But a huge error is where they state in chapter 11 that PCI is controversial, with some merchants complaining that it is too costly to implement. There is nothing controversial about PCI, and the security controls it requires are sorely needed. While merchants express their discontent about security and its associated costs, attackers steal from underneath them. The quicker the merchants get that they needed security, the quicker the attacks will stop. But as the book shows, that will not happen anytime soon.
Part of the reason why identity theft will not go away anytime soon is similar to the problem in the air traffic control industry, as detailed in Terminal Chaos: Why U.S. Air Travel Is Broken and How to Fix It. There are too many players in the game, all of which focus on their own interests, and no one wants to take responsibility for the problem. The fact that the Social Security number (SSN) is still used as a key personal identifier, combined with the ease at which an individual's SSN can be obtained and misused should be enough to give anyone pause.
The primary purpose of a SSN has been to track individuals for taxation purposes. But in the last decade, the SSN has become a de facto national identification number. When established in the 1930's, the Social Security Administration meant for the SSN to be used as a way to track a person's earnings for Social Security benefits. Despite its narrowly intended purpose, the SSN is now used more for non-Social Security purposes, than for the reason it was created. Today, SSNs are used for identity verification, and are the de facto identifier for the credit and financial services industry. With SSN's being aggregated by the millions, they are the fodder for the stories in the book.
Book such as Silent Spring which, which helped launch the environmental movement, and The Jungle, which exposed was the corruption of the American meatpacking industry were watershed books that changed America. While Zero Day Threat is not in the same category as that the Silent Spring or The Jungle, it is highly unlikely that the level of outrage it will create will be much, nor the indignation significant, because as bad as identity theft is, and as much grief as it causes, there are far too many politicians, powerful companies, lobbyists and more that are in the way of any change.
Nonetheless, Zero Day Threat: The Shocking Truth of How Banks and Credit Bureaus Help Cyber Crooks Steal Your Money and Identity is a most interesting look at the many players that work together to facilitate the countless identity theft rings. The book is an absorbing look at the many international players and their enablers involved. While identity theft is not going away anytime soon, Zero Day Threat details the problem, and shows what you can do to ensure that you are not a victim.
Ben Rothke is the author of Computer Security: 20 Things Every Employee Should Know."
Attached to: Microsoft To Buy $100M More SUSE Support Vouchers
insert car analogy here
Ford giving you a discount on your next Chevy (and service on the thing while you own it, too!)
Dunno what would be more incredulous - selling the scheme with a straight face, or actually buying into it with one.
(hey, you asked...)
http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS4994338568.html
Attached to: Hacker Uncovers Chinese Olympic Fraud
Certainly worth modding up IMHO. She won despite her age, not because she took drugs or anything. I think she deserves her medal. The only scandal here are the documents, not her competing.
I think you're confused.
More like she won because of her age.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/olympics/s_583045.html
Some coaches believe younger gymnasts have an advantage over older ones, because they have greater flexibility and a higher strength-to-weight ratio.
Elaine Jewart, owner of Jewart's Gymnastics in the North Hills, said the bodily changes that come with the onset of puberty affect a gymnast's center of gravity and strength-to-weight ratio, putting strain on the body.
Younger gymnasts' bodies are less susceptible to overuse injuries because they haven't been training as long as older gymnasts, according to Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard.
In addition to the physiological advantages, younger gymnasts have a psychological edge.
"An athlete at that age has not had as many serious injuries as older ones," said Jason Butts, an assistant women's gymnastics coach at West Virginia University. "They're not as subject to fear from injuries or the knowledge of what they're actually doing."
And there's a ton of articles saying the exact same thing.
Attached to: Hacker Uncovers Chinese Olympic Fraud
Let me just say, right out of the box, I appreciate that you started off with an ad hominem attack. It really supports your position, and lends credence to your rationale.
You are, however, absolutely correct; the same could be said about steroids. We absolutely have a choice to support the use of steroids and the lie to cover it up, or frown on the use of steroids but actively work to not cover it up. Bodies are ruined by steroids, as are lives, and we have a choice to partake in it or not. Everyone else has that same choice.
Where you start to put words in my mouth is the part about snapping off baby heads. (A minor aside; contrary to popular opinion, babies do not have milky insides.) We absolutely should strenuously object, and even take action against - perhaps even boycotting such multicultural events as the Olympics - people who are engaged in harmful activities against other people. This includes athletes who like the taste of baby meat for the 1% edge it gives them, and authoritarian regimes that raise athletes from birth for a specific event. What we should not do is ignore those actions, or the frameworks that allow for them, and instead focus on rules violation.
It is simply unacceptable that the anger here is at the fact that "China broke the rules!" and not at "China is ignoring human rights!" It's entirely wrongheaded, and why those underlying issues are never addressed.
Finally, since you seemed to not be able to catch my original meaning; I do not find that lying about rule breaking is right action. To the contrary, it's not acceptable. There is a value system, though, wherein it is, and the point in that value system wherein I diverge from having any further iota of agreement is where the decision to lie about the rulebreaking occurs.
To spell it out; I don't agree with having kids in these events - but other people, parents, children, athletes and cultures are going to disagree with this. It's a whole big issue that I'm not addressing. I do agree with breaking rules you find unjust. I don't agree with lying about it - and at that point, when you lie about it, you lose your right to claim a morally viable underlying framework.
One final point, because I feel that your straw man argument regarding the Russians can be turned to something worthwhile saying; if you are actively sabotaging other people - well, clearly you are capable of doing that, but it doesn't lend legitimacy to the victory. Therein lies the problem with China; because we're arguing about the lie, we're lending legitimacy to the way they go about the important things by putting pressure on the minor point; the rule breaking that is, at best, only debatable. If Russia were to grease a pommel horse, well, it would be clear and no one (ok, realistically, few) would count the victory legitimate. When we fail to act ethically we lend legitimacy to others acting unethically.
