Recent Posts

2626

Living Room / Re: Major ISPs to implement "Six strike" rule

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 10, 2012, 01:10 PM »

getting convinced more and more to move to linux and stuff.

-superboyac (October 10, 2012, 12:44 PM)

Linux?!? ...Not even close to a solution. Christ man at this point we need to change planets!

Remember the "Beam me up Scotty - No intelligent life here" T-shirts from the 80's? Well...

[HHGTTG mode]
...it's time to hit the big green button under the words Don't Panic and get the hell off this crazy assed rock.
[/HHGTTG mode]

2627

Living Room / Re: An Odd DoS Attack

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 10, 2012, 11:52 AM »

It wasn't 4% of network traffic - it was 4% of orders.

-Renegade (October 10, 2012, 09:19 AM)

Ah! (damn it) ...Just told on myself then. I went straight to BW out of habbit, because order counts are accounting's friggin problem.  

2628

Living Room / Re: Why Can't Germans Say 'Squirrel' ?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 10, 2012, 11:46 AM »

As my GF put it, it certainly brightened up her day.

-40hz (October 10, 2012, 08:55 AM)

Hell it just brightened mine and I wasn't even there.

Tehehehe (I'll be laughing for a while I suspect)

2629

Living Room / Re: Major ISPs to implement "Six strike" rule

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 10, 2012, 11:39 AM »

Even if the guy with the cat photo isn't a complete jerk at first, he may not remain so once an enterprising IP attorney starts filling his head with visions of easy millions to be made by becoming one...if you'll just sign here please.

-40hz (October 10, 2012, 11:10 AM)

...And that's why it should be legal to shoot them.

2630

Living Room / Re: An Odd DoS Attack

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 10, 2012, 08:47 AM »

Okay... I'm just having a bit of trouble with the "massive" 4% part. Sure on a tech news site 4% of what size pipe would be reflexively factored ... But this is the financial section of NBC news. 

I think it went on for an entire week more because the regulators were watching it closely to see exactly who/what it was and what it was trying to do before they said anything. The last thing you (usually) want to do when you have a 'bogey' in your network is disconnect them too quickly. And definitely not before you attempt find out who they are and what they're up to.

Kick them off or shut them down too soon and they will always come back.

-40hz (October 10, 2012, 08:36 AM)

(Somebody's done this before... ) Now this makes sense ... But I still find the absence of the customary Head-on-a-Stick a bit troubling.

2631

Living Room / Re: An Odd DoS Attack

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 10, 2012, 06:57 AM »

I'm cynical, and going by what the article linked to said:

“My guess is that the algo was testing the market, as high-frequency frequently does,” says Jon Najarian, co-founder of TradeMonster.com. “As soon as they add bandwidth, the HFT crowd sees how quickly they can top out to create latency.” (Read More: Unclear What Caused Kraft Spike: Nanex Founder.)

-The article

(emphasis mine)

Now that seems to rather clearly imply that this type of behavior is not uncommon ... So why all the hubbub about this particular instance?


It's nice to think that Criminals follow rules... but it doesn't really alter the fact that once one goes past a certain level of power. There really aren't enough folks around to watch/prevent one from stretching the rules out just enough to accommodate whatever little project(s) is/are deemed "necessary". Because fear (as always) does a fine job of keeping the underlings in line.

2632

Living Room / Re: Halloween would be less popular if...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 09, 2012, 03:11 PM »

^ I guess the thread is well whipped at this stage

-tomos (October 09, 2012, 02:54 PM)

So you think it should be laid to rest?

2633

Living Room / Re: An Odd DOS Attack

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 09, 2012, 02:51 PM »

When I saw DOS I was thinking someone had a weird program from 1988 or something.

-TaoPhoenix (October 09, 2012, 02:32 PM)

You mean like this?

C:\DOS> Attack!!


It probably would help if it was written as DoS (Denial of Service), but I'm really not sure if that is the proper form.

2634

Living Room / Re: An Odd DOS Attack

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 09, 2012, 11:55 AM »

As it's on Wall Street, of course no criminal charges were placed. Go figure.

-Renegade (October 09, 2012, 11:30 AM)

...Because it's to much like trying to charge someone with rape at an orgy.

Translation: The ultimate goal of many of these programs is to gum up the system so it slows down the quote feed to others and allows the computer traders (with their co-located servers at the exchanges) to gain a money-making arbitrage opportunity.

-The article

So there are many of these programs floating around - Sounds to me like it's just business as usual - What made this one worth reporting?

2635

Living Room / Re: I want a Sony Xperia SX, but I think it's stupid to buy one.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 09, 2012, 11:37 AM »

Maybe we are more gullible with tech than other countries, and are more impressed with size and shiny pastic vs. things that matter.

-superboyac (October 09, 2012, 10:27 AM)

I fear you correct in that assessment.

We'll see how I feel after I try out the Lumia 920.

-superboyac (October 09, 2012, 10:27 AM)

If Sprint gets their head out of their ass and offers one I'll go that route myself ... Otherwise I may end up switching carriers.

2636

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 08, 2012, 11:26 AM »

Rai stones, any one?

-ewemoa (October 08, 2012, 02:36 AM)

"In one instance, a rai being transported by canoe was accidentally dropped and sank to the sea floor. Although it was never seen again, everyone agreed that the rai must still be there, so it continued to be transacted as genuine currency.[4] What is important is that ownership of the rai is clear to everyone, not that the rai is physically transferred or even physically accessible to either party in the transfer."

-TaoPhoenix (October 08, 2012, 11:08 AM)

So was that the first Rai of Hope?

2637

Living Room / Re: New captcha system uses empathy to block bots (and sociopaths)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 07, 2012, 08:33 AM »

+1 for Fred Nerd

-Renegade (October 07, 2012, 07:20 AM)

Make that +2 - As your spoiler synopsis perfectly summarizes why I have such unbridled contempt for the PC movement ... It simply exacerbates a problem that didn't need to exist in the first place.

2638

Living Room / Re: Project Honeynet's HoneyMap displays cyberattacks in real time

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 06, 2012, 08:54 AM »

Not so sure Xearth is a per se "screen saver".

-Stoic Joker (October 05, 2012, 03:58 PM)

Oh no, it's not a sceensaver. That's right. I had forrgotten that it was just a dynamic wallpaper

-IainB (October 06, 2012, 03:42 AM)

Hay, it's cool man - shIT happens - It actually gave me an idea given that live monitoring while one is away from the computer (e.g. SS mode) is a bit of a contradiction. So I just opened it in a browser on my second monitor and hit F11 (kiosk mode in IE) which works effectively as half a screensaver while letting me function normally on the first monitor. Give it a shot..(assuming you have multiple monitors of course)...I do believe it's exactly the effect we were after.

2639

Living Room / Re: Project Honeynet's HoneyMap displays cyberattacks in real time

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 05, 2012, 03:58 PM »

Maybe you could learn from something like Xearth - a rather pretty and unique "screensaver" that can show realtime/live earthquakes from around the globe.

-IainB (October 05, 2012, 03:40 PM)

Not so sure Xearth is a per se "screen saver". The Windows version I found via your link was last updated in 1999, and changed my desktop wallpaper to the globe scene.

Was kinda nice really ... Just not clear how to shut it off. I used task manager to kill it and had to reset my wallpaper after.

But you're right, I did learn something: Stop clicking on shit before I read the instructions.

 

2640

Living Room / Re: Project Honeynet's HoneyMap displays cyberattacks in real time

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 05, 2012, 02:52 PM »

would make a nice screensaver..

-mouser (October 05, 2012, 12:04 PM)

That is tempting, but I don't think there is enough movement.

-Stoic Joker (October 05, 2012, 12:18 PM)

You'd have to put it in a smaller window and move that around quasi-randomly if you did. (That couldn't be easy.)

-40hz (October 05, 2012, 01:51 PM)

Hm... (actually...) That could work (with an IE control window), as there is already a MoveWindow function in the API. So screen coordinates and a timer feeding MoveWindow during WM_TIMER events with a SS framework and you're there.

Crap the last thing I need right now is another project (damn, damn, damn...).

2641

Living Room / Re: Project Honeynet's HoneyMap displays cyberattacks in real time

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 05, 2012, 12:18 PM »

would make a nice screensaver..

-mouser (October 05, 2012, 12:04 PM)

That is tempting, but I don't think there is enough movement.

2642

General Software Discussion / Re: Even Paul Allen is a little confused by Windows 8, but it gets better

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 05, 2012, 11:52 AM »

It's an operating system...not the newest installment of a video game

-40hz (October 05, 2012, 08:17 AM)

  What you mean OS not a video game?? It best game of all! Users at work love to play it...and when they lose, they come to me to put their data back (because evil Trojan man "stole it"). Then they start new game. 


But seriously, the laptop in question sits by my chair in the living room so it's handy for any quick mentioned on TV lookups (e.g. when I'm most likely to be in brain dead end luser mode). And for the quick in-and-out stuff the new UI works just fine. I actually rather like it.

2643

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 05, 2012, 11:36 AM »

Also... I kinda doubt the daisies have the characteristic smell that hemp plants have. Those guys ought to be really, really ashamed :-)

-f0dder (October 05, 2012, 08:57 AM)

Especially in Canada where 20 years ago 1/3rd of the population admitted to having smoked pot... Don't know what it's like now, but can't imagine it's less. It's not like you can actually get through life and not encounter it at some point. You really have to hide from it.

-Renegade (October 05, 2012, 09:35 AM)

Now see...that's your problem right there. Only 1/3 of the population would cop to it 20 years ago. 20 years ago, in the US OTOH when the same question was asked, over 1/2 of the population simply replied "Shit man...I'm like fucking stoned off my ass now".

2644

Living Room / Re: Project Honeynet's HoneyMap displays cyberattacks in real time

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 05, 2012, 11:27 AM »

That would be a great visual for a client that didn't think hacking was real problem.

2645

General Software Discussion / Re: Even Paul Allen is a little confused by Windows 8, but it gets better

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 05, 2012, 07:10 AM »

I fail to see what the controversy is here. We've seen the same thing with every OS since XP. XP was criticzed for a "fisher price look". Vista was criticized for UAC. 7 was criticized as what "vista should have been". 8 is now criticized with another major UI change similar to XP. It seems par for the course. You are never going to make everyone happy.

-Josh (October 05, 2012, 06:51 AM)

  I haven't switch to it full time on a primary machine yet, but I'm having a blast with it on my laptop.

2646

Living Room / Re: Hunting Badware

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 05, 2012, 07:02 AM »

LOL I like it!

2647

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 05, 2012, 06:50 AM »

^From above article^

Police were certainly convinced they had a huge haul of pot — and this was not the opinion of some lone rookie, frisky at the prospect of a big drug raid.
 
This was the judgment of veteran officers from the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team — supposedly the best drug squad this province has to offer

Holy Crap...Seriously?!? So it was easy to confuse them because why? ...They are both green plants?? Damn...that's just pathetic. The fuzz needs to fix the guy's garden, drop the BS/CYA possession charge, fix his reputation, and then leave him alone.

2648

General Software Discussion / Re: Even Paul Allen is a little confused by Windows 8, but it gets better

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 05, 2012, 06:33 AM »

We should have a contest for some prize here on DC on how long it will take Microsoft to "fix" the UI in Win8 to revert back to [desktop] normal.
I give them one SP and seven months tops.

-zridling (October 05, 2012, 06:19 AM)

Okay, I don't think they ever will. I think people will bitch, scream, rant, rave, whine, cry, and then just figure it out. Yes those of us in the die hard old guard desktop crowd will have the hardest time with it. But (unfortunately...) the masses don't suffer our need for full access to everything. They just want to get/see/check X and go on...and that sort of (at-a-glance) consumption computing is quite easy with the new UI.

2649

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 04, 2012, 03:12 PM »

They look wicked cool - what's the link? I might get one even though I'm skeptic wrt. the whole scheme :-)

-f0dder (October 04, 2012, 11:57 AM)

It's just a gimmick to sell copper at inflated prices. That's all. Copper rounds are insanely overpriced.

-Renegade (October 04, 2012, 12:16 PM)

It looks pretty.

-f0dder (October 04, 2012, 02:33 PM)

I'm with f0dder ...(damn the avoirdupois value)... Where can we go and get screwed out of $2 for one of these cool little trinkets. 

2650

Living Room / Re: For the Trekkies - Star Trek Engines Being Researched

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 04, 2012, 12:09 PM »

Also, impulse power does not use the dilithium. The dilithium was only involved when operating at warp speed, as it was used to focus the energy released by the antimatter reaction in order to effectively form the warp field.

-SeraphimLabs (October 04, 2012, 11:58 AM)

That's what I was thinking (but didn't want to say). But it seems like (IIRC) dilithium was used for powering other things.