Exactly. When I remember back to high-school, I was an example of this. I went from barely passing the high level math one lazy semester to topping the school the next (no cheating involved, just doing the work). I've also tended to stumble over the easier questions, while having no trouble with the harder (I don't know why this is; fortunately in the real world I just ask one of my work-mates). My teacher at the time was curious as to how I had so improved, and it was all round a very positive life experience (do the work, get the reward). It would have been a very different experience if some heuristic algorithm had said I cheated, and I was then forced to prove my innocence (how? Another test under enormous pressure?). I say if the teacher doesn't know where his/her students are at before the exam, something is wrong with the system.

Except, you haven't really gotten to the root of the issue. Any image or text designed to sexually arouse, will cause people to want to have sex. That's the entire advertising industry, other people, the beach, romance novels, most sci-fi novels etc. In a culture obsessed with sex, it is impossible to hide from attempts to stimulate sexual arousal. So is nudity intrinsically different? I would submit, no. In the right circumstances it can have greater arousal effect, but it is no worse than much of the carefully crafted arousal by advertising that deftly steps around explicit nudity (and yet is very public and accepted). The line there is arbitrary, and the only cultural impact is to now equate nudity with sex, which is hardly rational. As to your other point, I agree that equating the sex/violence angle is a bit of a strawman. They are different issues, but I think the poster is trying to show the hypocrisy in such a stance. This is clearly a console that allows adult only games.

Sneakers was, and continues to be, the most inspirational film in my life. The characters were the ultimate hackers; a collection of experts in several different forms of technology. Life hackers. It was inspirational in my teenage years, and I see the better aspects in good dev teams (and I try to foster that).

Quote from AlternateSyndicate (644818) on Sunday March 16 2003, @03:19PM (#5524737) I'm guessing exactly nothing has changed since then.

Go the free market! The answer to all our problems! Just like extreme programming, if its not working you're just not doing it hard enough! Not enough extreme, that's so often the problem.

But, as I keep saying on this damn site, the air-gap is long gone. You can't wish it back, you can't say "it mustn't be gone! it mustn't!". It's gone. Now attempts at network isolation through various other means are in place, but these can be compromised in a way that the physical air gap cannot. Add to this the fact that SCADA is being seen more and more as an "IT" kind of thing (and thus manageable by IT and not control system guys), the control system engineers are losing the fight for the air-gap. It sucks, but it's too late to cry about it, we need to deal with what is.

And yet it is. Perhaps not directly, but the air-gap is long long gone. Not only that, many such plants are losing control of their networks to the IT side of the fence, and being forced to to provide the (potentially exploitable) bridge due to business constraints. So what are you going to do about it? Hold your hands over your ears and pretend it's not happening?

Let me start by saying, boy I wish we could go with your option 1). The problem with your simple black and white solution is when you get down to the definition of what "putting it on the internet" means. If you mean an "air gap", well sorry; already gone. Most critical infrastructure sites will partition their networks between SCADA and outside (such as the business network), but even these are bridged in various places to get the data out of the system. Secure computers? You do realise that the vast majority of SCADA instillations are running on windows, and there is generally no security at the device level. (Hell if you can speak Modbus, DNP-3, and a couple of IEC standards, you can mess with half the devices on the planet). Add to this that control system engineers are losing the battle for control of their networks to IT departments how have no f-ing idea about the additional security needs of a SCADA system... Well you can see that were already in trouble. Yep, I reckon "switch off the internet" may be the only possible solution at this stage of the game.

I have no problem with anything you have said here. In fact, I am beginning to understand that some of the reason for the dedication to "the right to bear arms", is simply that it is a "right" granted in the US constitution. That same dedication to the constitution appears to have protected the US to some degree from the erosion of individual "public" freedoms (as opposed to "private" freedoms, which are kept in exchange).

My comment was not that the right to bear arms was a "problem" in any sense of the word. I was referring to the large number of violent crimes in the US involving firearms. This, I believe is more of a social/cultural problem; not a problem with gun control (although easy access to guns can obviously exacerbate the problem).

Ultimately, my opinion is that the US fights hard for many of the freedoms that much of the world cheerfully sacrifice for economic security (Including Australia). Having said all that, I am concerned that people of the US tend to be very one eyed in their views. I'd simply encourage you to question some of those things that are cultural norms in the US, and work out whether they are actually good things or just "what we do around here".

I hate to break it to you, but Hayden Christensen is a crap actor. His performance was crap; not because he wasn't likeable, but because his acting was as convincing as a marionette. I'm sorry, but this is one of those "everyone thinks they have great taste" examples. You're not the single "enlightened" one, who somehow managed to see the "true film". The prequels sucked ass, Lucas is long past his prime.

Deal.

I do not think that the parent poster believes that the US is GTA 4, but rather individuals are lead to believe that the risks are far greater than they actually are due to film/tv propaganda. As a result of this, "paranoid, trigger happy" is the resultant state. (That is to say, that an average US citizen may be more likely to feel threatened and the need to use a firearm for self defence. If the risk is not actually proportional to this state of mind, this is paranoia.)

As to the rest of your post, I agree that gun control is neither the problem nor the solution. However, nor is better enforcement. I (as a non US-citizen), think that you have a social problem; a cultural problem. These are never easy to resolve, but I doubt the US murder rate/fire arm offence rate will reduce without recognition of this fact.

It is important to occasionally look at some of the cultural norms that we take for granted. For myself, the US attitude to crime and punishment as well as "guns for self defence", seems very alien. However, I am aware that the Australian assumption that any employee can go up to the CEO of the company and tell him "everything is shit, because your not doing X Y Z", is also very alien outside of Australia. Culture makes us think that "this is the way things are", without questioning, "is this the way things really should be".

Explain again what "voting for a party" means exactly? The labor party is made of several factions that have very different ideas of policies. When we go to the polls, we are voting for a set of these policies and the team that champions them. We also vote with the chief in mind. Look at the difference between the abbott and turnbull factions on the other-side. Would you have wanted to vote for Turnbull only to have it changed to Abbott half way through? Who the prime minister is matters you ignorant arse.

If you read the article, you will see that the intent is to find a non dodgy programmer, not a bare nuckeled cage match, winner take all. The article even suggests not letting either side know that there is another side. RTFA; yeah yeah, I must be new hear.

Well, the article is talking about outsourcing; outsourcing to one. The situation presented is the small business looking for a non-shonky programmer for hire. This is more difficult than it may first appear! The web world particulary it appears. Case study: My father in law required a website/CMS system for his business. He allready had a basic website, but he was looking for a substantial upgrade. He hired a guy. This guy strung him along for several months, promising this and that, everything was 90% complete. Eventually my father in law got fed up, and demanded he just hand over everything in the state it was in. My brother in law, who is a web developer took a look at it. It was a cobbled together mess from various code-project projects. Nothing worked, and there was nothing to salvage. $5000 down the tube. Avoiding this is what hiring multiple guys is about. Give them one small useful increment and find out if their crap. Sounds like sage advice to me.

Harsh