Recent Posts

2226

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 22, 2013, 01:55 PM »

Hong Kong will not want to appear to be dancing to Washington's tune. But there may be some carrots (trade treaties, lifting of certain import restrictions, more liberal labor offshoring or tech import rules, etc.) that could be dangled as an enticement for Hong Kong's courts to find an argument for why Snowden should be returned.

-40hz (June 22, 2013, 10:10 AM)

Oh brilliant...once again the American people get to take it in the ass for "National Security" as more jobs get exported just to crucify one poor bastard that was only trying to help.

Edward Snowden is a true American patriot, and anyone to stupid to understand that should be deported (or shot).

2227

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 22, 2013, 01:43 PM »

If you go after a bear with a .25 ... You deserve to get eaten. 

What is the smallest caliber you trust to protect yourself?

Beretta does make a damn fine .25, but I prefer to carry a .40 because it's good to be sure..

I do however have a 9mm for dress occasions.

2228

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 21, 2013, 12:00 PM »

More worth reading:

http://antiprism.eu/

-CWuestefeld (June 21, 2013, 08:50 AM)

Hay, nothing like peer pressure to buckle ones resolve. If enough countries jump on the USA's ass perhaps they'll have to concede.

2229

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 21, 2013, 11:52 AM »

Remember that whole "Keep the FBI"?

I'm just going to leave these right here...

-wraith808 (June 21, 2013, 09:27 AM)

Oh yes, I'm well aware that none of the alphabet soup crowd has been keeping their hands above the covers these days. But their past indiscretions aren't the point. The point is that we now have such a veritable laundry list of these ultra-spook agencies that it's simply impossible to keep control of them. They have tons of power and time...and nobody to really report to per se, as perilously close to nobody even knows that they exist...let alone WTF they're doing.

So... Idle hands being the devils workshop. The obvious solution is to pair them down to a more manageable size. This greatly enhances communication as there would only be two groups that would need to share with each other. And the best part is that with only the two groups - and such a big scary world out there.. - they would be far too busy doing their actual jobs for a F'ing change to have time to be futzing about in everyone's underwear drawers.

The Feds using drones on the citizenry is an annoying side effect of the Patriot Act...which of course needs to be kicked to the curb immediately. The really scary part is that now local law enforcement agencies are wanting to start using these things to catch J-walkers and shit. The cops already have fully automatic weapons and standing orders to shoot only if it's any time they goddamn feel like it. That's screwed up enough they don't need even more toys to abuse badly. When they can show that they've learned not to shoot people for not "Following their commands fast enough" (quote from a local news report), then "we the people" will discuss their getting more toys.

2230

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 20, 2013, 01:22 PM »

I'm not so sure that the government is entirely to blame at this point. It's their alphabet soup minion that's completely out of hand. Nobody really knows what these overpowered spooks are up to. My take on a solution:

Repeal the Patriot Act immediately - It's a rabid dog level bad idea and needs to be put down accordingly.

Keep the FBI - They get to handle the internal "big stuff".

Keep the CIA - Yes even with their insanely checkered past they get to stay (on a short leash) and handle the outside (the country) stuff.

Coastguard and boarder patrol can stay - They do at least server a function.

The rest of the alphabet spooky soup agencies get disbanded, disassembled, and completely destroyed (e.g. no storing of volatile "records" that could get misused later on..).

Now we only have two agencies that should have no problem cooperation with each other - Oh what a selling point that was for half of this evil crap back in post 01 - and should stay nice and too busy doing their actual jobs to be pissing around in the citizenry's business.


Stop all this idiotic touchy feely squeal to mommy 'if you see something say something' bullshit. If anybody learned anything from flight 93...(which displayed the forethought to choose to disobey the prevailing wisdom of cooperating with hijackers)...the correct answer is if you see something Do Something..!

Take twenty minutes and go say hi to you neighbors now and then and get to know them like a proper community is supposed to. Don't spy on them out a window making blind assumption on whether or not to report their behavior to the authorities. It's impossible to unify a bunch of people that speed all their time peek out the curtains looking for the boogie man. Which is precisely what they want ... Scared people who are afraid to talk and are easy to control/lead (to their demise).

2231

Living Room / Re: XBone (XBox One) and Microsoft's desktop view

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 20, 2013, 06:55 AM »

Bill Gates became the richest man in the world during the pinnacle of the (alleged) casual copy piracy "problem". But strangely ... Now that they've taken steps to solve said "problem"...their profits have tapered off. The harder they squeeze the more they lose...yet they never seem to catch on to the fact that they're choking themselves to death.

2232

T-Clock / Re: T-Clock 2010 (download)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 20, 2013, 06:21 AM »

IIRC GMT, UTC, & Zulu are all different ways to refer to the same thing (been awhile since I looked it up). T-Clock uses the system clock for its time source, so if the system is set to use DST then T-Clock has no choice but to do the same.

2233

Living Room / Re: Bug Bounty From MS

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 19, 2013, 08:00 PM »

Do we send the bugg reports to MS or the NSA?

2234

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 19, 2013, 06:52 PM »

They must have found themselves that Crystal Ball...

2235

General Software Discussion / Nextiva VoIP (Cloud) Phone Systems Question

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 19, 2013, 03:58 PM »

Just wondering if anyone is using a Nextiva VoIP Cloud phone system...or similar VoIP Cloud service?

Reliability, TCO, Support, User Friendly-ness ... Anybody got hands on with this type of service?

I'm just trying to decide if it's worth exploring as an option...or if I should run away like I'm on fire.

2236

Living Room / Re: Microsoft to take over entire BestBuy computer section in 600 stores

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 19, 2013, 03:01 PM »

That has to do with the fact that you were accosted outside of the department more than anything else.

-wraith808 (June 19, 2013, 01:00 PM)

Actually I was in the right department. But typing in haste I left out the part where he went to ask a senior someone else what a Wireless Access Point was... and between them they still couldn't put it together. It did however give me time to peruse the isle unmolested and establish that they had none in stock.

Hay if I was looking for a layer 3 managed switch, I could see why a new guy might lockup a bit...especially if he was from the TVs department. But for something as common as a WAP...in this day and age...(for a guy in his 20s!!!)... Sorry I'll not be giving quarter. 

2237

Living Room / Re: Microsoft to take over entire BestBuy computer section in 600 stores

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 19, 2013, 12:16 PM »

I wonder if MS will at least educate the BB staff for a change. I went into the local BB last week because I needed to pickup a WAP quick for a client. Before I could make it to the network devices isle I was accosted by (a grinning idiot) one of their staff...who wanted to know what he could help me find.

I told him I was looking for a Wireless Access Point. He didn't have a clue what one was...and started heading for the cellphone trinkets department, stopped, panicked, and asked me what it was.

I explained that it was simply a network bridge device that connected wired and wireless media ... He was basically thorn at this point ... I gave up and left.

Fortunately the Staples next door had one.

2238

DC Gamer Club / Re: Incredipede for free! (Linux only)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 18, 2013, 11:39 AM »

Maybe some of the auxiliary parts like making it a tar file, one of the shell installer scripts, etc?

-TaoPhoenix (June 18, 2013, 09:05 AM)

Um... Nope. I really can't expand on that.

2239

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Kingsoft Office 2013 PRO giveaway

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 18, 2013, 11:26 AM »

Q: When is "a giveaway" not a giveaway?

A: When it's a one year loan.

 

Maybe it's time to create a new term for something like this?

   Boomerang-ware?

   Loaner-ware?

   Beware-ware?

   "Free" as in not-ware?

 

-40hz (June 18, 2013, 09:01 AM)

Gotta say I'm a little surprised you went there on this one. Because to me it actually does rather make sense (in its own context). The software is "sold" using a 1 year subscription model ...(yeah SaaS - Wretch)... So you're getting a free 1 year subscription just like a normal (for SaaS) purchase. Hence they're not really tricking anyone with the 1 year freebie. Because that is how it sold.

It's just one of the many downsides to the dark new world we're all getting dragged down into.

2240

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 18, 2013, 11:13 AM »

I'm just thinkin' it's a bummer for the dog that JC wasn't Dutch..

2241

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 18, 2013, 06:38 AM »

what constitutes a "Proper Start"

-Stoic Joker (June 14, 2013, 11:36 AM)

In my state it means: NO rubber/NO squeal.

-40hz (June 14, 2013, 11:43 AM)

No glove, no love?

-Darwin (June 17, 2013, 06:50 PM)

Hay now, if that one starts to smoke you're doing it wrong..

2242

DC Gamer Club / Re: Incredipede for free! (Linux only)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 18, 2013, 06:24 AM »

Not to be dense ... But how does one go about making a browser based game OS specific?

2243

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 17, 2013, 02:20 PM »

You just gotta love this bit from the Snowden interview:

Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it.

2244

Living Room / Re: Bitmessage - a protocol for secure decentralized e-mail

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 17, 2013, 06:54 AM »

Found the following thread at their forums:

  My Security Analysis of Bitmessage

Quite technical.  IIUC there are some references to other similar independent efforts as well.

-ewemoa (June 16, 2013, 11:32 PM)

Ouch, that does not look good. My impression of what the analyst is carefully not saying is not good. Especially if one assumes who is the most likely choice for a local external "attacker", hm...



@ 40hz - What is second choice?

2245

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 14, 2013, 12:43 PM »

Ah! Yes, a 327 would make much more sense in a Chevy. I was trying to post in a hurry and not thinking.

2246

Living Room / Re: Where all those rules against possibly upsetting people will soon lead all of us

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 14, 2013, 12:37 PM »

Where the hell do you find these graphics?

...And yes, I like Cheap Trick. Mommy's alright... 

2247

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 14, 2013, 12:06 PM »

what constitutes a "Proper Start"

-Stoic Joker (June 14, 2013, 11:36 AM)

In my state it means: NO rubber/NO squeal.

-40hz (June 14, 2013, 11:43 AM)

Yeah mine to (Florida - same as crabby), but god...that's just so boring. I like to enjoy driving as an activity.. So any time I can get someone to drop their phone to give me the finger I look at as a win. My antics would not have surprised them had they too been paying attention all along.

@crabby - 360 is a damn fine engine. I've got one in my 02 Dodge Dakota.

In my distant youth I frequently left the cop standing there scratching their head trying to figure out how the hell to describe what I was doing on the ticket. I managed to negotiate that confusion down to careless driving about 35 times.

...But officer how can you say I was doing 95mph on the street...(caught on radar after launching the bike over a set of tracks 6-8 feet in the air)...if I wasn't even touching it??

2248

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 14, 2013, 11:36 AM »

BTW  Fort Lauderdale PD has a ticket called *Improper Start* and they gave me my very own copy a while back.

-crabby3 (June 14, 2013, 09:51 AM)

Having a rather (shall we say) colorful driving history (street racing), I positively must know what constitutes a "Proper Start"? Even now that I'm pushing 50 I seldom get more than half the rated mileage off a set of tires.

2249

Living Room / Re: Where all those rules against possibly upsetting people will soon lead all of us

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 14, 2013, 06:51 AM »

The Dream Police, and I'm not talking about Cheap Trick either.....

-Tinman57 (June 13, 2013, 07:05 PM)

GGaaaaa! ...Does anybody else have that song stuck in their head now?

2250

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 14, 2013, 06:40 AM »

While the statement is true, it is an Aristotlean statement

-barney (June 13, 2013, 10:56 PM)

Wasn't really going into it that deep. I was actually just thinking of a Clint Eastwood movie.

@wraith808 - Yes, that's where I was headed. Unfettered access begs for misuse. Is starts with just an innocent little peek, and then goes completely off the rails as exceptions become easier to concoct.


(as an example of how far things can get pushed) A recent radio news story stated that there was a county that was going to start fining people $250 for smoking (cigarettes - which are "legal") in their own car...if their children were present. Now ones car, being an extension of their home...is supposed to afford some semblance of privacy. But now that smoking has become so incredibly demonized in society - Smokers are the only minority that it is Politically Correct to discriminate against.. - The sanctity of ones own home (by way of its legally defined extension to ones car) is being brought under fire.

I can't help but think that this is a test bed for something much larger and more insidious.