Comment Re:Darn (Score 0) 788
+1 Funny
Comment Re:oooh 1,000 infected computers (Score 1) 214
As much as I don't like it, I have to agree with your logic, it is sabotage. That having been said, politically correct protests and pickets are not exactly possible to do using the tubes. If you chose to picket a brick and mortar store, you would be able to physically interact with people walking in and out, you could be holding signs that they might inadvertently read in passing and maybe change their mind about doing business in the store. You could be chanting some clever slogan about the evilness and corruption that people would be forced to hear, and so on. How would you accomplish this on the internet?
Yes you could start something like www.paypalsucks.com ... That site has been around a few years, and has it made a difference?
If I was said customer, how would you get your message to me about the evil of paypal if I type paypal.com into the URL bar and go directly to their site?
Now, if there was a way to set up a legal virtual picket, I would be all for it. Something like, briefly redirecting users to a page with protest signs or whatnot. But then guess what, every single site would get "picketed" by somone or other.
Yes you could start something like www.paypalsucks.com
If I was said customer, how would you get your message to me about the evil of paypal if I type paypal.com into the URL bar and go directly to their site?
Now, if there was a way to set up a legal virtual picket, I would be all for it. Something like, briefly redirecting users to a page with protest signs or whatnot. But then guess what, every single site would get "picketed" by somone or other.
Submission + - Hackers Could Open Convicts' Cells in Prisons
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Kim Zetter writes that some of the same vulnerabilities that the Stuxnet superworm used to sabotage centrifuges at a nuclear plant in Iran exist in the country’s top high-security prisons where programmable logic controllers (PLCs) control locks on cells and other facility doors and researchers have already written three exploits for PLC vulnerabilities they found. “Most people don’t know how a prison or jail is designed, that’s why no one has ever paid attention to it,” says John Strauchs, who plans to discuss the issue and demonstrate an exploit against the systems at the DefCon hacker conference next week. “How many people know they’re built with the same kind of PLC used in centrifuges?” A hacker would need to get his malware onto the control computer either by getting a corrupt insider to install it via an infected USB stick or send it via a phishing attack aimed at a prison staffer, since some control systems are also connected to the internet, Strauchs claims. “Bear in mind, a prison security electronic system has many parts beyond door control such as intercoms, lighting control, video surveillance, water and shower control, and so forth,” adds Strauchs. "Once we take control of the PLC we can do anything (PDF). Not just open and close doors. We can absolutely destroy the system. We could blow out all the electronics.”"
Submission + - PayPal hands over 1,000 IP Addresses to the FBI (tekgoblin.com) 3
tekgoblin writes: "PayPal was attacked by Anonymous last year when they had blocked the Wikileaks accounts transactions. Now PayPal has finally come up with enough evidence to strike back at Anonymous with the help of the FBI. PayPal has come up with a list of over 1,000 IP Addresses left behind when they were attacked by Anonymous."
Submission + - SFPD Arrests Suspect in Airbnb Rental Trashing
theodp writes: Just days after it was reported that apartment sharing startup Airbnb had raised $112MM at a $1B+ valuation from investors that included Marc Andreessen and Jeff Bezos, Airbnb user EJ's blog entry on the ransacking of her apartment by Airbnb renters went viral, creating a PR nightmare that's turning into a war of words. CNET reports San Francisco police have confirmed that a 19-year-old woman has been arrested in the case, booked on possession of stolen property, methamphetamine, fraud charges, and an outstanding warrant. Since it seems doubtful that this news will convince EJ to endorse the service, perhaps Airbnb investor Bezos could list the spare rooms in his Seattle mansion, LA mansion, NYC penthouse, and Texas ranch houses with the service to show his support. Security pros might want to keep an eye on the Airbnb job site, although even the best of security is no match for a nightmare guest, as the Sofitel New York hotel can attest to.
Submission + - Anonymous Hackers leak 400MB data of ManTech (geektech.in)
GeekTech.in writes: "As a part of Operation AntiSec, hactivist group “Anonymous” release 400MB of internal data from ManTech.Most of the documents in this first batch are related to NATO.According to Anonymous, ManTech documents were release to show how the public tax money were wasted by government.The leaked data can be downloaded .
The message also said the following:
"Dear Government and Law Enforcement, we are repeating this message as we have the suspicion you still do not take us seriously: We are not scared anymore and your threats to arrest us are meaningless. We will continue to demonstrate how
you fail at about every aspect of cybersecurity while burning hundreds of millions of dollars that you do not even have."
Read full release at http://geektech.in/archives/1893"
The message also said the following:
"Dear Government and Law Enforcement, we are repeating this message as we have the suspicion you still do not take us seriously: We are not scared anymore and your threats to arrest us are meaningless. We will continue to demonstrate how
you fail at about every aspect of cybersecurity while burning hundreds of millions of dollars that you do not even have."
Read full release at http://geektech.in/archives/1893"
Comment Re:Dr. Roy Spencer... (Score 1) 954
THIS!
Comment Re:Dr. Roy Spencer... (Score 1) 954
I don't have the scientific background to assess his work on climate change.
But I do have the scientific background to assess his work on choosing a monicker on slashdot, and from that I know he is some combination of a) a really crappy scientist, and/or b) someone willing to pretend to be a superhero.
Either criteria gives me ample reason to doubt any article he's published. If some qualified and credible scientists investigate and vouch for his paper than I may be willing to give it a second thought. But until then I'm not going to take the word of a known superhero pretender just because I'm not trained to disprove his particular brand of quantaman-ackery.
Mods, prove me right!
But I do have the scientific background to assess his work on choosing a monicker on slashdot, and from that I know he is some combination of a) a really crappy scientist, and/or b) someone willing to pretend to be a superhero.
Either criteria gives me ample reason to doubt any article he's published. If some qualified and credible scientists investigate and vouch for his paper than I may be willing to give it a second thought. But until then I'm not going to take the word of a known superhero pretender just because I'm not trained to disprove his particular brand of quantaman-ackery.
Mods, prove me right!
Comment Re:Let's hope that 15%... (Score 4, Insightful) 350
HAHA! omg, thats soooo cute! ....
oh, yea, :)
oh, yea,
Comment Re:SMES (Score 1) 187
You sir, are technically correct, which is the best kind of correct :)
Comment Re:SMES (Score 2) 187
You also didn't take into account that the jet-fuel payload decreases throughout the duration of the flight as it is burned up, typically by the end of the flight most of the fuel is gone and the plane is much lighter, resulting is better fuel efficiency. While batteries can't be dumped out of the plane after they are discharged.
Comment Re:Wave diode applicable to light? (Score 0) 177
I believe that spring-based toy cars are completely dependent on highly disparate levels of energy between the relaxed and tense state of the spring. Toys based on rubber-band tension, or batteries, have a totally different physical mechanism.
Comment Re:Derp (Score 1) 275
But don't you think that stealing all those CC numbers and immediately releasing them into the wild on TPB is much, much, much, much worse than waiting a couple of weeks, let Sony shit their pants, allow time for all the PSN customers to change/chancel their cards and reset their passwords, and THEN after all that data is essentially harmless release everything, you know, for the lulz?
Granted, it still sucks for the guy with a playstation in his living room, unable to play online for a week and then having to go to the trouble of calling Visa(or whatever) to get a new credit card number, while shitting his pants that his identity might get stolen. But then again, maybe it is just a hard-learned lesson that could have been much worse.
Granted, it still sucks for the guy with a playstation in his living room, unable to play online for a week and then having to go to the trouble of calling Visa(or whatever) to get a new credit card number, while shitting his pants that his identity might get stolen. But then again, maybe it is just a hard-learned lesson that could have been much worse.
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Physics of Water 1
bwayne314 writes: We have been having a debate at the lab about mechanics of water and leaky bottles that I am hoping you slashdotters might be able to put to rest.
One group claims that capping a bottle or tube with water residue on the seal will cause some water molecules to remain in the seal and allow liquid from the container to leak out (under certain conditions, like shipping) despite being tightly closed. They call this phenomenon, "creating a river" and opening and drying of the the seal on such a bottle would prevent a leak.
The other faction thinks that any bottle that leaks, simply has a poorly fitting seal and that closing a wet bottle with a proper seal should push any water residue either into or out of the bottle. The distinction here is that there should not be a difference between capping a bottle that is dry vs. capping one that is wet.
So what happens on a molecular level in this situation and who is correct?
One group claims that capping a bottle or tube with water residue on the seal will cause some water molecules to remain in the seal and allow liquid from the container to leak out (under certain conditions, like shipping) despite being tightly closed. They call this phenomenon, "creating a river" and opening and drying of the the seal on such a bottle would prevent a leak.
The other faction thinks that any bottle that leaks, simply has a poorly fitting seal and that closing a wet bottle with a proper seal should push any water residue either into or out of the bottle. The distinction here is that there should not be a difference between capping a bottle that is dry vs. capping one that is wet.
So what happens on a molecular level in this situation and who is correct?
Comment Re:Bought my first Mac (Score 1) 296
I am in the exact same situation as you - I own 3 windows machines: a 1997ish gateway which is lost somewhere in the garage, a 2001(ish... I cant recall the exact year) Dell tower which after one vid card replacement still works because back then Dell shipped quality product and a 2 year old Acer laptop which I bought to replace the Dell tower but don't bring anywhere due to it's 1-hour battery life and hefty 19inch screen.
The status of the acer laptop leaves something to be desired, nothing major but little things here and there that have ceased to function over time: one of the USB ports is glitchy and with the slightest jiggle will lose connection, the light-up media control touchpad (exact one pictured here: http://www.crunchgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/acerblue1.jpg) goes unresponsive every once in a while, there is a way to reset it but requires full powering down and taking out the battery. Because the surface of this touch-pad is literally glued on top of the housing, a corner of it has recently come unglued (this happened long before the freezing) and sometimes can catch onto things because it juts out a little.
So when the sandy bridge processors were released in the new macbook pro iteration (and nowhere else) along with the thunderbolt port (which, yes, at the moment is pure hype) and I realized that the minecraft server I play on is hosted by a ten-year old macbook and that my second-gen ipod touch (my first ever apple product) still works as well as the second day I bought it despite multiple falls and lack of protective case, I decided to take the plunge.
The OS is taking some getting used to, but not as painful as I expected: the thing I miss the most is the 'end' and true 'delete" buttons on the keyboard... not the 'windows' one.
The status of the acer laptop leaves something to be desired, nothing major but little things here and there that have ceased to function over time: one of the USB ports is glitchy and with the slightest jiggle will lose connection, the light-up media control touchpad (exact one pictured here: http://www.crunchgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/acerblue1.jpg) goes unresponsive every once in a while, there is a way to reset it but requires full powering down and taking out the battery. Because the surface of this touch-pad is literally glued on top of the housing, a corner of it has recently come unglued (this happened long before the freezing) and sometimes can catch onto things because it juts out a little.
So when the sandy bridge processors were released in the new macbook pro iteration (and nowhere else) along with the thunderbolt port (which, yes, at the moment is pure hype) and I realized that the minecraft server I play on is hosted by a ten-year old macbook and that my second-gen ipod touch (my first ever apple product) still works as well as the second day I bought it despite multiple falls and lack of protective case, I decided to take the plunge.
The OS is taking some getting used to, but not as painful as I expected: the thing I miss the most is the 'end' and true 'delete" buttons on the keyboard... not the 'windows' one.
