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2251

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 13, 2013, 06:57 PM »

And one other point...

Now all of a sudden this (allegedly) non-existent content just magically appears out of thin air.

-Stoic Joker (June 13, 2013, 06:27 PM)

From what I heard in the testimony (I was forced to watch it as it was the only thing on while waiting at the IRS office for a stupidly long time), this data isn't said to not exist, nor to just magically appear.  It's just not in what they can look at without a court order.

-wraith808 (June 13, 2013, 06:45 PM)

Holy crap man ... Now that's a bad day!

But as you mention it was only after suffering through the entire protracted spiel that this little detail was "clarified". None of the official 6 O'clock news (hand feedings...) ever mentioned the existence of anything other than the ~mostly harmless~ metadata.

2252

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 13, 2013, 06:51 PM »

Sorry about chopping this up so much. I just wanted to share what went through my head as I read it.

-Stoic Joker (June 13, 2013, 06:27 PM)

You cut out the most telling line, however...

-wraith808 (June 13, 2013, 06:45 PM)

Sort of ... I was actually agreeing with you on that part by using the 40s phone shenanigans bit. Outlining a history of untrustworthy abuse and all that sort of thing.

2253

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 13, 2013, 06:47 PM »

However if there truly are no supporters of that side (which I highly suspect - But have been wrong before) of the discussion ... Then A. we have in a microcosmic fashion proved my theory, and B. afforded some breathing room for the threads safety here.

-Stoic Joker (June 13, 2013, 06:52 AM)

Unfortunately, I have some evidence refuting your theory. It appears that public opinion overall is much less clear than within this community.

-CWuestefeld (June 13, 2013, 09:12 AM)

Hm... not exactly. My initial assertion was that the statistics were being tampered with to reflect a bleaker view in that they always show either majority support for the governments misbehavior, or very little objection to it. Anything in the vicinity of a 50/50 does not depict a clear hell no response.

2254

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 13, 2013, 06:27 PM »

Sorry about chopping this up so much. I just wanted to share what went through my head as I read it.

You can only get a tap at the time of the court order.

-wraith808 (June 13, 2013, 12:36 PM)

The original intent of this was to keep the law honest

The necessary data might be gone.

-wraith808 (June 13, 2013, 12:36 PM)

Yes, but nobody said the job was easy... Unless you're the lucky LEO that gets FaceBook duty.

What they're doing is aggregating the data.

-wraith808 (June 13, 2013, 12:36 PM)

Honestly I've always been a bit sketchy in the definition of that term...But if by aggregate you mean to play peek-A-boo with then yes I'm with you there.

It is indexed by minimally identifying information- not the content.

-wraith808 (June 13, 2013, 12:36 PM)

Here lies the rub ... They're only admitting to the metadata...but there is no spoon (er...) content.

If later, they find a person of interest, they can get a warrant for the period in time to check the database and see what the content of the intercept was.

-wraith808 (June 13, 2013, 12:36 PM)

...Now all of a sudden this (allegedly) non-existent content just magically appears out of thin air. Which of course they have pinky sworn not to have looked at with out a proper warrant. ROFL

What was it the 40s when you had to be manually connected to the party called by the operator that sat in front of a switchboard of wires and jacks?

Best source of reliable gossip back then came from ... The operator.

...But the cops of the time never ever talked to the operators did they? ...Because that would be (Um...) wrong?


Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

2255

Living Room / Re: My New Philosophy

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 13, 2013, 06:54 AM »

The only part of any plan that you can truly count on is that nothing will go according to plan ... Be flexible.

-Stoic Joker (June 12, 2013, 03:42 PM)

I've always preferred: Adapt or die.

-4wd (June 12, 2013, 09:07 PM)

Me too ... But it tends to make clients uneasy when you say shit like that onsite.

2256

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 13, 2013, 06:52 AM »

I wonder if it's even possible to completely avoid politics and have a "purely technical" discussion about any technology of significance in today's world?

-40hz (June 12, 2013, 08:14 PM)

TBH ...I'll have to go with no...and a qualifier. You see unlike most political (debates?) discussions where there is a chance of galvanizing the participants into sides. Which then results in, the fur starts to fly as the saying goes...and that's best avoided. But, I'm really not seeing any chance of that here as the sides are already clearly defined as us (the people of all lands) against them the quickly becoming meddling oppressors.

This is the badly skewed BS statistics point I was making to wraith earlier. Where are these people that believe PRISM (etc.) is a good and necessary thing?? If anyone reading this (lurker or otherwise) actually believes these programs are good. Then I would ask them to please state so (succinctly is most likely best) here. Should there be any supporters then the thread should be sent to the basement post haste (pun intended).

However if there truly are no supporters of that side (which I highly suspect - But have been wrong before) of the discussion ... Then A. we have in a microcosmic fashion proved my theory, and B. afforded some breathing room for the threads safety here.

Just a thought.


P.S. Should anyone come forward in support of PRISM etc.. Then they should of course be afforded the respect and consideration that DC is known for.

(Pardon the Captain Obvious bit - But I thought it needed said.)

2257

Living Room / Re: My New Philosophy

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 12, 2013, 03:42 PM »

The only part of any plan that you can truly count on is that nothing will go according to plan ... Be flexible.

2258

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 12, 2013, 03:13 PM »

Werkz for me, as thanks to the idiots at the NSA the technology/politics line is now quite blurry. I actually sent zridlings earlier post to the company brass in an email as a heads up on what sort of reaction (pushback) to expect out of me regarding cloud solutions going forward.

Private Cloud solutions on our hardware? You betcha! 

Public Cloud solutions on public servers that are subject to nosey eyeballs? Well todays answer is brought to you by the letters F and O...

2259

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

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

Slippery slope or not it still needs to be discussed while we're still legally allowed to do so. The technology we've come to depend on is being used politically to achieve a shot-less Coup as the US descends rapidly into a police state. And I think we owe it to each other as a community to have/achieve an understanding of how badly it is/has pervaded the lives of everyone on the web.

2260

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 12, 2013, 06:54 AM »

+1^ - Well said barney!

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 11, 2013, 03:52 PM »

Would you stop aiming for the basement...we'll lose 40hz when it goes there.

2262

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 11, 2013, 03:31 PM »

*Sigh*

Bart Simpson: What do you want for your birthday grandpa?

Grandpa: I want to be dead!

2263

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 11, 2013, 03:22 PM »

Like sheep to the slaughter... 18900012-us-majority-backs-nsa-surveillance

-wraith808 (June 11, 2013, 02:38 PM)

(Nice graphic )

Okay, but here's the thing...where are all these people who allegedly think it is just Jim Dandy fine to spy on the public? I've never met one yet. Could this be a classic case of BS statistics where the question is framed in such a way that the outcome is virtually guaranteed? Or does half the country really have single digit IQs?

I mean seriously trusting the media to give us an honest assessment of what people really think? I'm thinking that the reality poles are closer to 98% screw that ... But some of the votes got lost on their way through the propaganda machine. They (of the infamous "Them") are just trying to use peer pressure to make people feel like they (the singular individual - poor bastard) are alone in feeling violated by this insane behavior.

2264

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 11, 2013, 02:36 PM »

Which is why whistleblowers generally get pilloried with impunity despite the so-called "protections" that are on place to prevent it. And in this case, there's very little chance of much public support since this county seems to be doing everything in it's power to not see that a very real coup took place within the government shortly after the WTC attack - and they're now living in a police state.

-40hz (June 11, 2013, 01:59 PM)

Cynical as I am...it really is hard to believe people are that stupid. What it is going to take to galvanize them into action before it's to late? ...Or is it already to late?

2265

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 11, 2013, 11:30 AM »

Well, let's hope we don't hear reports about him being seen attempting to run across the N. Korean border.

-app103 (June 11, 2013, 07:16 AM)

I expect him to disappear, never to be seen again. Later, there will come rumors and "high credibility" reports of him being seen in Beijing or Moscow - which will "only go to show he was working with foreign enemies all along" and that his going public was a desperate attempt to gain sympathy and protection after his original deal with "whoever he was working for" with went sour.

-40hz (June 11, 2013, 08:25 AM)

Hm... No, they need to keep him in view as an example warning to others. It's to easy to write one's own ending (DB Cooper) if he vanishes. Mock trial and a Public apology while looking defeated before being whisked off to prison ... Where he can easily be incidentally killed to keep the official story short and tidy.



CenturyLink Prism TV





Is this accidental truth in advertising?

2266

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 11, 2013, 06:33 AM »

Funny really how the act of a patriot, and the Patriot Act are diametrically apposed.

2267

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 09, 2013, 01:14 PM »

Okay... ^That's^ F'ing horrifying..

2268

Living Room / Re: Life on the farm

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 09, 2013, 07:57 AM »

I have never kept photos, not just for the reasons you suggest but because all the images that I need are in my mind.

-pilgrim (June 09, 2013, 04:48 AM)

+1 - Same here. Some memories are meant to fade...I don't need documentation reminding me of things I already know too well.

2269

General Software Discussion / Re: From the B.F.D. Dept. - Microsoft releases first video preview of Win 8.1

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 08, 2013, 08:37 AM »

Granted the Win8 Start Screen is a side-scrolling pictogram of the [/i]start menu[/i] to which I'm accustomed,  but it takes too long to traverse, and it is not, so far as I am aware, editable.  (Besides, I don't care for side scrolling  .)

-barney (June 07, 2013, 08:38 PM)

Yes the Win8 SS groups are editable if you are in the zoomed out view. Item groups can be created, deleted, modified, and named.

Not the best tutorials...Just the first I could find to get you started.

http://www.thewindow...-app-tiles-windows-8

http://www.howtogeek...-metro-start-screen/


Another thought is if you rename an icon to something meaningful to you it could make it easier to search for (i.e. ProgName - Thing_I_Use_For_X)

2270

Living Room / Re: SSD's - How They Work Plus Tips

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 07, 2013, 02:23 PM »

I liked this one:

Bryan   
 
 4/27/2007 at 8:12 am 
 

I don’t buy the “makes sense in context” business.

I ended up at this page because I came across the following:

“ScrewTurn Wiki is a performant and simple Wiki engine, written in C# and based on the ASP.NET 2.0 platform.”

The “ant” suffix converts a verb to an adjective. Defy -> defiant. Comply -> compliant. I my mind’s context, the sentence “wiki is a performant … engine” translates to “the wiki engine performs”. Then I must assume the author’s intent is “performs well”. I’m still left wondering “performs what well”?

I need a metric. That metric varies depending on the requirements specification. What is the implied metric for a “performant wiki engine”?

While were at it, why not the following?

“This software is the shiznitz with egregious bling. It’s da bomb.”

2271

General Software Discussion / Re: A Windows 7 "WTF?" problem - anybody know what causes this?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 07, 2013, 01:46 PM »

Is user account domain or LM admin?

Are Application Policies being used?

IIRC there is an auto elevate install option in GP but I do not recall where it is. Have you run an RSOP to see if anything (in LM policy) looked hinkey?

I've never used/recommended AVG - actually have a shoot on sight policy - and have never run across this issue (Just an observation).

2272

Living Room / Re: SSD's - How They Work Plus Tips

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 07, 2013, 11:51 AM »

A good blog post on this is here.

-wraith808 (June 07, 2013, 09:19 AM)

Just wanted to mention that it's well worth the time to read the comments at that link. The discussion is intelligent, informative, and at times hilarious.

2273

Living Room / Re: digitising slides

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 07, 2013, 11:27 AM »

My flatbed, (Canon D660U), is capable of slides/negatives, it has a CCFL built into the lid that you uncover when you put it into slide mode and it works reasonably well.

However, 2 points:
1) it's abominably slow, (about 2min per slide at a minimum of 600DPI), and
2) because the slide/neg sits in a holder this results in the actual surface of the slide/neg sitting above the glass bed by about 3mm.  The scanner is naturally focused at things lying flat on the glass, ie. the focus is a bit off.
The results were always a bit "softer" than those taken with the flash scanner, they use a CMOS imaging device that is focused at the surface of the slide/negative.

-4wd (June 05, 2013, 10:22 PM)

  Which makes me wonder how one of those little desktop scanners would work for this.  You know, the type that the doctors offices use to scan your drivers license and insurance cards.  You would think it would be perfect for negatives, but I've never used one, soooooo.....

-Tinman57 (June 06, 2013, 07:21 PM)

...Don't

Assuming you are referring the little upright auto feeding typically fujitsu scanners. they're feed mechanisms are quite energetic and could likely damage the slides as they are whipped through the machine. Not to mention they also run quite hot. I don't believe I've ever seen a slide scanning rig that didn't use the flatbed orientation for I suspect those exact reasons.

2274

Living Room / Re: Very thin hard disks

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 07, 2013, 11:15 AM »

Ah! Okay... Same rules still apply. The thin 3.5" drives are just single (metal) platter ... hence they just don't need the extra ("full" height) room. For the portable USB drives, they are just 2.5" laptop hard drives in a plastic box. The platter is glass ... But as stated before they are surprisingly hard to break...and by that I mean while out of the drive, laying on concrete, and being hit with a claw hammer. 

2275

Living Room / Re: Very thin hard disks

« Last post by Stoic Joker on June 07, 2013, 06:52 AM »

If you mean the 2.5" form factor laptop hard drives, the internals really aren't that much thinner then their 3.5" standard form factor kin. The platters are glass - but surprisingly hard to break.

We just tore down a bunch of drives here (about 50 of all sizes) for data destruction/disposal purposes. A single platter with read heads really isn't that thick (~1/8" - 3/16") so a 1/2" thick case is plenty of room for it.