Recent Posts

5451

Living Room / Re: Am I the only person that has a real big problem with software like this?

« Last post by wraith808 on October 04, 2013, 07:45 AM »

I think we have a serious scale issue going on here, between black and white/all or none assertion. How many people remember the old commercials with the tag line "It's 10 O'clock...do you know where your children are?" Here's a hint for those that don't remember them...they're from the 1970s!

Now, Orwell time - the scale part kicks in. In the 1970s it was simply a matter of asking the kids where they were going, who they were going with...and paying attention to the GD answer. That was called parenting. But our society has devolved to the point where there isn't time to pay proper attention to much of anything so why not offload the whole parenting responsibility crap on technology! YEAH! Let the computer keep track of the little monsters...I don't have time.

Seriously???

Have we really sunk to the point where Orwellian monitoring of our children is considered proper? Instead of taking the time to build a rapport of respect and trust with them??!?

The real key problem here is that if the kid has a GPS target painted on their back, then they're just as easy for anyone to find...and not all anyones have said child's best interests in mind. But yet we have obviously been trained to accept the idea of Big Brother-esq monitoring systems as righteous and good ... Because it's... For. The. Children.

The fact of the matter is that if the kid wants to get lost. They're going to get lost. technology be damned.

-Stoic Joker (October 04, 2013, 06:47 AM)

We take the time to build the rapport.   My children are homeschooled for just that reason.  And yes, for all of the talking, tracking, etc., there are still dangers that we won't be able to protect them from.  But as long as they're under 18, I will give them every chance that I can to get to that age.  And every bit of experience, knowledge, and education that I can in order that once they are there, they can have developed enough minds to be able to weigh the choices before them and make their own decision.  Not my decision, and definitely not someone else's decision.  But their own.

5452

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

« Last post by wraith808 on October 03, 2013, 11:14 PM »

Holy @#$!

I'll just leave this here...

http://cryptome.org/...0/lavabit-orders.pdf

I started to download it in case it 'disappears'.  But... that's hot stuff.

What I really like is the last page... Lavabit tells the federales to suck it by giving them the requested 2048-bit private key in text.

At approximately 1:30 p.m. EDT on August 2, 2013, Mr. Levison gave the FBI a printout of what he represented to be the encryption keys needed to operate the pen register. This printout, in what appears to be 4-point type, consists of 11 pages of largely illegible characters. See Attachment A. (The attachment was created by scanning the document provided by Mr. Levison; the original document was described by the Dallas FBI agents as slightly clearer than the scanned copy but nevertheless illegible .) Moreover, each of the five encryption keys contains 512 individual characters - or a total of 2560 characters. To make use of these keys, the FBI would have to manually input all 2560 characters, and one incorrect keystroke in this laborious process would render the FBI collection system incapable of collecting decrypted data.

5453

Living Room / Re: Am I the only person that has a real big problem with software like this?

« Last post by wraith808 on October 03, 2013, 10:00 PM »

Do you think that you should not know what your child is doing on the internet/mobile?

5454

Living Room / Re: Am I the only person that has a real big problem with software like this?

« Last post by wraith808 on October 03, 2013, 08:57 PM »

I have no problem with it at all. I do have a problem with parents that don't monitor what their kids are doing.

-edbro (October 03, 2013, 08:39 PM)

This.

It's one thing to have an explicit agreement with your young kids that you are going to be monitoring their online/mobile activity in exchange for them getting such a device.  But doing it secretly seems like it's teaching them some wrong lessons.

-mouser (October 03, 2013, 08:48 PM)

Not necessarily true.  I see what you're saying.  But there's also the other side of what a child does under the scrutiny of an adult vs. not.  If you tell them you're going to be monitoring them, you've already poisoned the well.  And when you *can't* monitor them, you then don't know what they'll do.

5455

Living Room / Re: Silk Road Seized - Dread Pirate Roberts Arrested

« Last post by wraith808 on October 03, 2013, 04:25 PM »

But how do you think all arrests are made, I mean in other times in history? Take any case from the 20th century or whenever before the current NSA era. Listening to communication to catch bad and evil people has helped and certainly nothing new, not even a 20th century invention.

-rgdot (October 03, 2013, 01:17 PM)

It seems from your statement, I have said something new that you seem to disagree with.  There has never been the blanket level of surveillance that we are seeing.  If you go back to the 20th century, there was even the fall of a president based upon illegal surveillance.

Now?  People would shrug and go about their business, saying it was business as usual.

You might have a wide net as far as suspects, but to get a warrant for wiretapping on each one of these suspects, and put such an operation in place is very much a check and balance on their power.  Why else do you think they want to do away with it?  If it was already par for the course, then this wouldn't be an issue.

5456

Living Room / Re: Silk Road Seized - Dread Pirate Roberts Arrested

« Last post by wraith808 on October 03, 2013, 03:07 PM »

I already said (anything remotely close to) blanket snooping is wrong (see above).
But how do you think all arrests are made, I mean in other times in history? Take any case from the 20th century or whenever before the current NSA era. Listening to communication to catch bad and evil people has helped and certainly nothing new, not even a 20th century invention.

This is exactly what I am talking. In the face of an evil authoritarian and corporate take over of our world we are doing and saying things that will do nothing to improve the world, just play in the hands of those who want this world this way.

-rgdot (October 03, 2013, 01:17 PM)

You catch them with good old fashioned police work.  Do I think that targeted intelligence operations against people that are build upon the systemic gathering of evidence and the layering of work upon work are wrong?  No.

But do I think that spying against everyone on the chance that you will gather information from the few is wrong?  Emphatically yes.

And if people are caught using this manner, does the fact that you caught a bad person absolve you of the responsibility for using the wrong methods.  Emphatically no.

In fact, if this evidentiary trail was submitted in any reputable court of law under the rule of law, then the whole case should, by the same rule of law that you're trying them under, be thrown out.

5457

Screenshot Captor / Re: SSC Automatically Opens Folder with screenshot

« Last post by wraith808 on October 03, 2013, 01:09 PM »

I spoke too soon.  That didn't stop the behavior.  I also tried restarting, but that didn't help either.

5458

Living Room / Re: Silk Road Seized - Dread Pirate Roberts Arrested

« Last post by wraith808 on October 03, 2013, 12:48 PM »

Example:
If I sell drugs on a site vs if I have a site that people sell drugs is the same to you guys now? there is a slippery slope if doing the former leads to an arrest?

(It has nothing to do with legalization by the way, I am not against that  but have yet to hear how legalization is going to be applied. Every corner store or limited sellers and where exactly those seller are bringing their supply from...)

-rgdot (October 03, 2013, 12:45 PM)

Example: Someone is using telecommunications to monitor all activity.  They arrest someone based on that activity.  Does that arrest justify the fact that they spied on my innocent communications?

The ends NEVER justify the means.

5459

Living Room / Re: Silk Road Seized - Dread Pirate Roberts Arrested

« Last post by wraith808 on October 03, 2013, 12:36 PM »

Action and participation are  clearly different and distinguishable from any other involvement (passive, 'providing means', etc), both in law and in practical terms.
Legal vs illegal is only a slippery slope when those applying the rules are allowed to apply it the way they choose.

-rgdot (October 03, 2013, 12:13 PM)

   Really?  Who are we talking about again?  We aren't talking theory, we're talking the reality.

5460

Screenshot Captor / Re: SSC Automatically Opens Folder with screenshot

« Last post by wraith808 on October 03, 2013, 12:34 PM »

Thanks!

5461

Living Room / Re: Silk Road Seized - Dread Pirate Roberts Arrested

« Last post by wraith808 on October 03, 2013, 11:45 AM »

If the part of the indictment that he was actually involved in it and not just a 'platform provider' is true then of course it has be shut down. The whole issue of NSA snooping being bad is because normal, legal and fair things are being infringed upon, if we are going to get mad that a site used for various long illegal activities is shut down we are going way too far.

(Before accusing me of things remember I am using IF here)

-rgdot (October 03, 2013, 11:26 AM)

Legal vs. Illegal is actually a much more slippery slope than it is purported to be when they want to get you.  A phone can be used for illegal purposes.  In addition the phone company is making a profit on the arrangement of the illegal services.

5462

Screenshot Captor / Re: SSC Automatically Opens Folder with screenshot

« Last post by wraith808 on October 03, 2013, 11:44 AM »

Yes, exactly.

5463

Screenshot Captor / SSC Automatically Opens Folder with screenshot

« Last post by wraith808 on October 03, 2013, 11:01 AM »

The behavior in SSC is that if you save the image to disk, it opens the location where you save it.  This is useful... sometimes.  But other times, it's a great annoyance (like when you're capturing several shots in a row).  Is there a way to turn this off?

5464

Living Room / Re: When will the trademark madness cease

« Last post by wraith808 on October 02, 2013, 12:22 PM »

That's hilarious!  And there are new questions and answers every time you click the arrow...

5465

Living Room / Re: When will the trademark madness ceace

« Last post by wraith808 on October 02, 2013, 08:10 AM »

Interesting response in the comments:

I think this may just be worthy of a crowd-sourced attempt to invalidate that Trademark with the USPTO. Are there any goodwill lawyers among us who'd be willing to organize the charge?
It's an insanely broad trademark that apparently covers "parlor games and card games" (the "board games" target was deleted), so it shouldn't be too difficult to find prior art. I'd think it could be argued that any game which uses cards as one of the primary methods of gameplay is a card game.
A quick search of BoardGameGeek provides a multitude of games with "Things" in the title which came before that 2002 filing with the USPTO, could be somewhere to start.
>Funny Things Happen (1930)
>http://boardgamegeek.../funny-things-happen
>Dinosaurs and Things (1986)
>http://boardgamegeek...dinosaurs-and-things
>Kings & Things (1986)
>http://boardgamegeek...game/58/kings-things
>Shape Of Things (1989)
>http://boardgamegeek...5867/shape-of-things
>Hordes Of The Things (1991)
>http://boardgamegeek...hordes-of-the-things
>Things In My House (1993)
>http://boardgamegeek...9/things-in-my-house
USPTO Record: http://tsdr.uspto.go...rchType=statusSearch

5466

Living Room / When will the trademark madness cease

« Last post by wraith808 on October 02, 2013, 08:08 AM »

A game called TERRIBLE THINGS was issued a C&D by a company with a name of ... The Game of THINGS.  Umm... really?

http://www.kickstart...ne-lose/posts/615622

From the post:

Trick question! It's bad news. Last week, just prior to the close of our Kickstarter campaign, we received a cease and desist letter from Perkins Coie, a big fancy law firm employed by Quinn & Sherry, the publishers of "The Game of THINGS…" They claim that "TERRIBLE THINGS: The Party Game Where Everyone Loses" infringes on their trademark.

We could spend a lot of time picking apart the absurdities in their argument, but in the interest of efficiency, we thought we'd just re-post their letter here. We think the insanity speaks for itself:





Just to make sure we weren't making a mountain out of a molehill, we asked them to clarify their position:


"Jack and I are confused about what the actual infringement consists of, and would greatly appreciate some clarification so that we can best remedy the situation. Is your position that any board game published with "Things" in the title infringes on Quinn & Sherry's trademark?"

Their answer was a simple "Yes.":


"A game with the word THINGS in the title may appear to consumers to be a variation or themed version of the THINGS... game. Thus, a name with THINGS in it is likely to be too close to the THINGS… trademark. Quinn & Sherry has invested significantly in building brand recognition for the THINGS… trademark over the past ten years. We hope we can reach an agreed resolution and avoid formal proceedings. Litigation is costly and time consuming for everyone. However, my client will defend its rights. Having not yet started manufacturing, changing the name of your game at this stage would be the most cost effective. Accordingly, we look forward to your confirmation that you will select a different mark for your game – one that does not include the term THINGS."

And there you have it. Quinn & Sherry is willing to take us to court for DARING to publish a game with the word "things" in the title, because they believe they own that word. The word "things." Seriously.



So here's where we are: this has already pushed back our publishing date, and we don't want a ridiculous legal battle to delay the game any further. So we're changing the name. Starting over is a time and money suck, but this is simply the least bad option available to us. Here was our response:


"In the interest of preventing further delay or cost in publishing our game, we have decided to change the name to a mark that does not include the word "Things." Not because you're right, but because we simply don't have the resources to defend ourselves.

You should be ashamed of yourselves."

We want to be very clear: we think this whole thing is BULLSHIT. We just simply can't afford to deal with it right now. They could bring us to court, try to enjoin Amazon from releasing the campaign funds, or do a million other things that we seriously don't have the time or the money to fight against, and our primary goal is to get this game out there, whatever its name.

Stay classy, everyone.

-Terrible People

5467

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

« Last post by wraith808 on October 01, 2013, 08:02 AM »

And according to his timeline, in February 2001 — some six months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — he was approached by the NSA and asked to spy on customers during a meeting he thought was about a different contract.

-article

  Wait...what? I was always of the impression this nonsense was (9/11) overreactional. But this would make it rather decidedly premeditated.

-Stoic Joker (October 01, 2013, 06:31 AM)

You really didn't think any of this was reactionary and/or coincidental did you?

Premeditated, strategized, and meticulously planned are the words of the day.

5468

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

« Last post by wraith808 on September 30, 2013, 10:10 PM »

A CEO who resisted NSA spying is out of prison. And he feels ‘vindicated’ by Snowden leaks.

5469

Living Room / Re: NASA puts first Curiosity Rover scientific papers behind a paywall?

« Last post by wraith808 on September 30, 2013, 06:21 PM »

D__ch_b_gg_ry. Would you like to buy a vowel?

-Renegade (September 30, 2013, 06:04 PM)

You have a way with words, Ren.

5470

Living Room / Re: Dead Drops - Release your inner P2P spy! :D

« Last post by wraith808 on September 29, 2013, 07:06 PM »

The idea behind it is pretty cool. Kind of like digital geocaching. The problem that I see with it, is there isn't anything but trust and morals to stop someone from putting a virus on one of the dead drops. Yeah, someone who knows a decent amount about tech would know not to open an exe they found on one of the drops, but the average Joe that only knows how to surf the web and check their email, wouldn't know not to open an exe.

-nite_monkey (September 29, 2013, 02:28 PM)

This.  And USB drives can be made to autorun an exe.

5471

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

« Last post by wraith808 on September 26, 2013, 05:12 PM »

... ummm... nothing?

5472

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

« Last post by wraith808 on September 26, 2013, 10:15 AM »

As much as we see bad about police officers- here's a couple of funny jokes.

http://www.dailymail...itten-force-dog.html



At least they had a sense of humor!  That's the prosecutor's fault... not the policeman's!

And for the second joke (also based on real-life testimony)

Defense Attorney: Officer Smith, would you agree that you trust your partners?
Officer Smith: Yes, I do.
Defense Attorney: With your life?
Officer Smith: Everyday.
Defense Attorney: Do you have a locker in the complex?
Officer Smith: (baffled at the question) Yes... I do?
Defense Attorney: And do you have a lock on your locker?
Officer Smith: Yes, of course.
Defense Attorney: Why, if you trust your fellow officers, do you have a lock on your locker.
Officer Smith: (without a beat) Because the lawyers have access to the locker room also.

5473

Living Room / Re: Sci-fi novel now available from DC member kyrathaba!

« Last post by wraith808 on September 25, 2013, 11:55 AM »

That's really cool. You get to see new and upcoming stuff, and get paid for it, and do a good job to boot! 

5474

General Software Discussion / Re: Need a simple chat system for small website prefer to host internally no frills

« Last post by wraith808 on September 25, 2013, 10:12 AM »

That's actually pretty cool... and a pretty cool site, to boot!  Thanks app!

5475

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Review of Zeus Edit

« Last post by wraith808 on September 25, 2013, 07:21 AM »

I understand what you're saying, and your frustration.  But I guess my point is that if you're not willing to work with the developer, either here or by contacting the developer, then posting such comments is only a negative statement and doesn't really *help* the situation, and makes developers less likely to engage with us.  Especially when the developer has been as up front and engaging as they have in this case.  And makes it harder to bring you this type of offer in the future.  Not to soft shoe anything, but just to be aware of the tone of your posts and how they affect the board and the view of the board as a whole.  Just food for thought.