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9051

Living Room / Re: Microsoft lashes out at Googler for making Windows vulnerability public

« Last post by 40hz on June 16, 2010, 09:26 AM »

+1

Again, all he had to do was release his findings to one or two watchdog organizations - or go public with his findings, but without releasing specifics or the code - and wheels would gave been set in motion such that it would have been impossible for Microsoft to ignore the problem.

Unfortunately, his little snit with Microsoft now has the potential to become a problem for millions of Windows users worldwide.

You can slice and dice it from here till next December, split philosophical hairs and argue politics and business until you run out of breath. But at the end of the day, it still remains that it was a very (dare I say criminally?) irresponsible thing to do.

And considering he did so knowing there was no available fix to prevent it, I'm not 100% sure there aren't legal consequences as well.  

9052

Living Room / Re: Death and the net: How to log off gracefully for the very last time

« Last post by 40hz on June 16, 2010, 06:43 AM »

Something funny just occurred to me.

Many people are very concerned with the issue of life after death. So much so that entire belief systems (salvation/reincarnation) and scientific research efforts (human cryogenics) have come into existence with the goal of increasing our chances for having one.

But when it comes to our digital personae, just as many people seem to want to do everything in their power to make sure their digital selves won't survive them.

 Odd...

9053

Living Room / Re: IP address on public network

« Last post by 40hz on June 16, 2010, 06:12 AM »

^Xenonym beat me to it!  

But yes. Congestion issues caused by the use of certain protocols remains a problem for TOR regardless of any future capacity increases on it's network. If you have people using "high demand" apps behind TOR, it will contribute to slowing everybody down. And according to TOR's creators, simply adding more nodes and relays won't solve that problem.

Besides, the folks who brought us TOR have very politely asked us not to use torrents in conjunction with their network. Maybe I'm a little old fashioned, but (to me at least) common courtesy dictates this alone should be reason enough not to.

 

9054

Living Room / Re: IP address on public network

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2010, 11:09 PM »

Also it's generally it's considered very bad netiquette to use TOR for things like file sharing.

-Eóin (June 15, 2010, 07:56 PM)

Thankyouthankyouthankyou! for pointing that out.

The only way TOR is going to remain viable is if people play by the rules and remember they're not all by themselves when they're using it.

 

9055

Living Room / Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2010, 10:25 PM »

It shows that a good story with a good script far outdoes any special effects.

-Renegade (June 15, 2010, 08:35 PM)

Agree 100%. Unfortunately, good sci-fi and speculative fiction stories are getting pretty rare. Some of the best are currently found in Japanese animae films - but that's a topic that rates a whole separate thread.

One very cool film no sci-fi buff should miss is this relatively low-budget picture:

Avalon-  released in 2001 and directed by Mamoru Oshii, who also was responsible for the great animae classic Ghost in the Shell.

Avalon tells the story of Ash, a woman who competes in an illegal VR wargame called Avalon. Because the game links directly into the brain, Avalon players run the risk of becoming one of a growing  number of damaged players who live out their catatonic lives in state mental hospitals. But despite this risk, or maybe because of it, the game remains popular in the bleak industrial world its players live in.



From the Prologue:

The near future. Some young people deal with their disillusionment by seeking out illusions of their own - in an illegal virtual-reality war game. Its simulated thrills and deaths are compulsive and addictive. Some players, working in teams called "parties", even earn their living from the game. The game has its dangers. Sometimes it can leave a player brain-dead, needing constant medical care. Such victims are called "Unreturned". The game is named after the legendary island where the souls of departed heroes come to rest: Avalon.

Click on thumbs for full size:

   


There's also a trailer available. Caution: trailer contains some images that may partially give the ending away. DO NOT watch if you'd rather not risk ruining it for yourself.

Spoiler

Watch trailer here.

Avalon covers most of the concepts found in the three Matrix films. But it does so better than all of them combined. The Polish actress Malgorzata Foremniak, who stars as the character Ash, creates one of the more intriguing female leads since Sigourney Weaver's portrayal of Lt. Ellen Ripley in 1979's Alien.

Not too shabby looking either:



I could easily get lost in those shoulders...too bad they didn't cast her as Aeon Flux!

The film is mostly shot using a weird sepia color palette that really hammers home the dull and colorless lives the characters endure when not inside the game.

Strange visuals, a strong but somewhat 'damaged' heroine, illegal cybergames, virtual reality, the hint of a monumental government conspiracy, and some mysterious allusions to Arthurian legends.

Now that's my kind of picture!

----

Trivia break:

The basset hound you see in Avalon is owned by the director. It's a female and it's named Gabriel. (Go figure.) This dog served as the model for the basset hound in Ghost in the Shell along with several other animae films. The classic scene in Ghost in the Shell where Bato (the dogs owner) fixes the dog a fancy meal and then scoops its long ears out of the dog dish while it's eating is exactly duplicated in Avalon.
+++
In real life (whatever that means) Ms. Foremniak is a natural blond:



 

9056

Living Room / Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2010, 09:35 PM »

Also, <spoiler>

-Deozaan (June 15, 2010, 08:44 PM)

They rarely ever did reflect what the film was about back then.

Sorry it wasn't your cuppa tea BTW.

9057

Living Room / Re: IP address on public network

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2010, 07:47 PM »

Please note that many public access wifi host routers block known torrent and proxy ip addresses and ports for exactly that reason. 

9058

Living Room / Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2010, 03:56 PM »

La Jetee[/u] is creepy.  I first saw it in a Film Appreciation class (in college) in the 1970's
I recall that there is ONE MOMENT in the entire film with live action.  And it is the most spooky part of the whole film.  Because it is unexpected!

-parkint (June 15, 2010, 02:55 PM)

OMG yes! Forgot about that part when...no, let's not spoil it.

If you want to have a little fun at your friends' expense, get Jetee on DVD and watch the reaction of the people seeing it for the first time. The expressions on peoples faces when the director drops that bomb on them is amazing.

I'm half tempted to do a movie made up of nothing but footage of the expressions on peoples faces when they're watching Le jetee. That or sandwich stills of those faces with the original and set it up so it's understood they're faces of people from the 'prisoner pool.'



BTW: Does anybody else here, besides me, find that watching people watching a movie is often as interesting - or sometimes even more interesting - than watching the movie itself?



  

9059

Living Room / Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2010, 02:04 PM »

Let's also not forget Howard Hawks original screen adaptation of by John W. Campbell, Jr.'s 1938 sci-fi novella Who Goes There.

This was the marvelous 1951 film The Thing form Another World which is usually just referred to as The Thing.

 




Great story of an arctic menace with full Cold War overtones. Bits and pieces of the plot, the characters, and the setting have been recycled into numerous films, the most recent example being the frozen alien base in the X-Files movie.

It's a good enough story that his film was remade two additional times. Carpenter's 1981 version (relocated from the North Pole to Antarctica) kept the original vibe and resulted in that rarest of all Hollywood creatures: a remake that compared favorably with an original. The 1998 edition was long on special effects and name actors, but somehow didn't quite capture the eerie feelings of isolation and weirdness that the previous two versions produced. Maybe this is just one of those pictures that benefits from slightly stilted dialog, lesser acting talent, and B&W photography.

I remember the 1951 edition scared the tar out of me the first time I saw it when I was a little kid. I had snuck out of bed to watch it from the staircase into the living room. My sister used to get to stay up and watch Chiller Theater with her friends on Saturday nights.

Chiller Theater was a favorite with the 'big kids' when I was growing up. It used to run all the old cheap sci-fi and horror movies from the 50s. Most likely because it cost the TV station nothing to do so. Being allowed to join in with the crowd that watched Chiller was a major rite of passage for us. It meant you got to go over a friend's house at night. It meant you got to stay up late drinking sodas and eating popcorn with your friends. But most of all, it meant you weren't a scaredy-cat.

It was on a windy autumn night. I remember watching, freezing my butt off on the stairs (which worked well with a story set in the arctic) scared stiff about what I was seeing - and even more by the thought of getting caught by my parents. My older sister spotted her 'little brat of a brother' almost immediately, but she didn't say anything.

When the movie was over, I quickly went back to bed - but not before I turned on every light in my room!

If my father noticed the lights being on (which I have no doubt he did since he was an incorrigible late-night snacker) he at least had the grace not turn them off. Nor was anything ever said to me about it. My father was a firm believer in the notion that a "burned hand teaches best." And to his credit, he seldom felt the need to personally repeat to us a lesson we had learned ourselves through our own suffering.

But the following Saturday (and every Saturday after that) my sister had to watch Chiller Theater over one of her friends' houses if she wanted to see it.

Apparently "The Dad-Thing" had spoken.

9060

Living Room / Re: Apple Attacks Adobe

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2010, 12:32 PM »

Looks like it's official. The FTC will be looking at some of Apple's business practices after all.

http://online.wsj.co...301242754089172.html

-----------------
NOTE: I'd like to quote some of the article. But it's published on Murdoch's Wall Street Journal website and I'd rather not risk exposing DC to a possible DMCA take-down notice from those guys.

Because even though I'm sure it would be well within the limits of "fair use," it doesn't really matter. Even a bogus take-down notice is a hassle nobody needs. And WSJ's legal department is getting more and more aggressive as time goes on.

9061

Living Room / Re: Picks/Shovels/Map/Gold and Marketing

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2010, 10:43 AM »

I admit the more it strays away from viral marketing, the harder it relates but it's like the story of every untalented guy who wants to penetrate through knowledge with just an internet connection and a bag of curiosity.

-Paul Keith (June 14, 2010, 08:38 PM)

One problem is you can never be sure who really knows what they're talking about when it comes to the web. Somebody tries something that seems to work (at least at first) and blogs about it, and the next thing you now they're hanging out their shingle as an expert. An overpriced book or DVD "seminar" (often consisting of little more than some badly edited Q&A sessions) is almost always sure to follow. Especially if the author got mentioned, no matter how briefly, in the NYT or WSJ.

I had a client spend well over a grand apiece to send two employees to a seminar that supposedly would show them how to dramatically improve their "web presence and ranking." I looked through the fancy three-ring binder they brought back. Inside were over 100 pages of PowerPoint slides, a dozen (IMHO) useless checklists, and several pages of ads for additional materials and DVDs you could order from the seminar provider. (This might have begged the question of why you'd need to buy anything 'extra' since the seminar was billed as "complete and comprehensive" - but there you go.)

The slides had such 'secret' gems of wisdom on them as:

• It's possible to FOOL search engines. Most site owners don't know this.
• Businesses can no longer afford to ignore their page rankings on Google
• If you want to have a PRESENCE in social media - it's not what you know - it's WHO you know
• Facebook is now positioned to become the new PUBLIC FACE of businesses everywhere
• NEVER, ever, EVER publicly CRITICIZE your competitors on the web
• Just say YES to Twitter.

And yes, they used ransom-note stylization on almost every slide.

The checklists had such things as:

• Secure unique domain name
• Watch out for registered trademarks. Check all trade names before using.
• Research how using AdWords could benefit your web effort
• Secure buy-in from management on budget
• (Daily) Communicate potential issues to your stakeholders as early as possible
• (Daily) Don't ignore security. Check server logs.

In the end, there was nothing of value anywhere in this seminar that you couldn't get by reading a "for dummies" book.

To my mind, it wasn't so much they took the seminar as it was the other way around. But oddly enough, my client still felt it had been a good investment for them.

Maybe getting out of the office, staying in a fancy hotel, enjoying nice meals, and going out drinking with a bunch of 'cool people' for three days had a little something to do with it?


-------------

@PaulKeith - Great article find! Parts of it had me laughing out loud.  

9062

Living Room / Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2010, 07:22 AM »

At the risk of going back on topic, here's another great clunker sci-fi choice that has still held up over the years.

IT: The Terror from Beyond Space



A rescue ship is sent to to Mars find out what happened to an earlier expedition after all communications abruptly ceased. The rescue team finds only one delirious survivor. But during the voyage back to Earth they soon discover their ship also has one additional "passenger."

Now who will rescue the rescuers?

A remarkably well done picture for it's time. This is the original "unstoppable monster loose in a confined space" movie that spawned a host of imitators. Alien isn't much more than a rework of this little flick. The highly praised decision to wait until the last possible moment to clearly show the creature in Alien owes a lot to this picture.

Does this dining area scene look familiar?



Great bits of Eisenhower-era societal standards are found everywhere. Note how the women are doing 'girl's work' serving food and coffee? Apparently back in the 50s, her being an astronaut with two PhDs still couldn't keep Janey from finding a way make herself useful. And the crew members smoke too! They're in a sealed oxygen-enriched environment and smoking... but no worries about fire or explosions, right? Must be because they're puffing American cigarettes.

(Ward, I don't think the Beaver should be watching this... )

With it's (mostly) intelligent dialog and brooding shadowy set, IT succeeds in creating a remarkably believable atmosphere of escalating tension.

You can watch the full film over at Hulu. IT runs 69 minutes.

http://www.hulu.com/...or-from-beyond-space

 

9063

Living Room / Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt

« Last post by 40hz on June 14, 2010, 11:47 AM »

That's when things are in proportion.

-wraith808 (June 14, 2010, 11:32 AM)

+1. I've sat across the table from some spandex wearers and experienced a mild background anxiety. Not unlike the sensation I imagine an ordinance expert might feel when crouched next to an undetonated IED.

And that goes for the spandex wearing musclebound as well as...umm...their spandex wearing opposites.
 

9064

Living Room / Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt

« Last post by 40hz on June 14, 2010, 02:50 AM »

Cherry 2000[/b] made me think of some others I can't pen down right now. As for cheesy sci-fi/doomsday movies I can't resist, here's a few:

-zridling (June 14, 2010, 01:31 AM)

Hey! You left out:

Logan's Run



(with the exquisite and classy Jenny Agutter as Jessica. Who'd have ever imagined a grubby mini-toga could look that good?)



and

Silent Running

An interesting sc-fi take on the perennially popular Space Ark concept. Natural heritage preservation habitats in earth orbit. A tale of hope, corporate greed, and public indifference. May turn out to be prophetic in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

and

Zardoz!



The post apocalyptic world meets the flower children with a hefty splash of 70s-style misogyny thrown in for good measure. (Hey, this was 1974! Back then, most guys were all for women being 'liberated' - just so long as they didn't get too liberated... )

Such a bad film it's great!

 Sean Connery is still trying to live that role down.

9065

Living Room / Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt

« Last post by 40hz on June 14, 2010, 01:41 AM »

If you're up for some really heavy retro sci-fi, check out a 1962 short 'film' by Chris Marker called La jetée.

I put the word film in quotes because the story is actually told via a series of still photographs with narrative voiceover. Very much like someone is showing a photo album or reading a private diary to you. It's all done in an eerie and somewhat sinister way that almost makes you feel like you're watching the slideshow that goes with the briefing on some secret government investigation - which makes it absolutely perfect for the subject matter of the film.

Black and white and only 28 minutes long. It packs a wallop that many films, with magnitudes higher production budgets (like 12 Monkees) seldom manage.

Director Chris Marker was a determined experimentalist who still sought to entertain, so it's no surprise that his most famous film, La Jetée, is both bizarre and compelling. Shot as a collage of still images, it tells the story of a man sent backward and forward in time in order to save a war-ravaged world. Packing all of the intensity of a full-length feature into 28 minutes, this densely layered narrative stands up to many repeat viewings. Every moment is fraught with anxiety, longing, and suspense as the unnamed protagonist moves through and across time, trying to avoid death at the hands of his contemporaries, the repeated loss of a past love, and the annihilation of his world in the future. Much more a human story than a science fiction film, it is essentially about the power of memory, and its snapshot format captures the feel of a strongly remembered moment. This film is definitely a masterpiece and is not to be missed by the serious cineaste. (The American film 12 Monkeys was adapted from La Jetée, though the original is no doubt the superior piece of cinema.) --James DiGiovanna

It rarely runs on television/sat/cable, so you'll either have to order it from Amazon (as part of an overpriced Criterion Collection bundle which includes Marker's Sans Soleil), or watch it on YouTube.

Be forewarned that the YouTube uploads are pretty badly done and don't do this film justice. This is most likely because the original was shot on 16mm B&W in a film noir-ish style which makes it difficult to get a 'good quality' digital transfer unless you really know what you're doing.

Great cult flick. Check it out!

9066

Living Room / Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt

« Last post by 40hz on June 13, 2010, 02:09 PM »

Cherry 2000! Good grief! The ultimate riff on the old joke about the guy who went out to buy a "patch kit" for his inflatable friend. Such a dumb movie concept that it actually worked.  Bunch of good one-liners in it too, if memory serves.   

9067

Living Room / Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt

« Last post by 40hz on June 13, 2010, 08:29 AM »

I always admired Stone's acting ability. She's one of the few that can portray a female role where her character invariably displays depth, intelligence, and sensuality.

She's also an interesting individual to catch in a real interview. I won't dispute Ms. Stone's physical charms. She is a beautiful woman. Even to my poor eyesight. But what I find even more attractive is the intelligence and sense of humor that sits behind it all. She strikes me as the sort of person I'd really like to get to know. (She's a 'bookworm' too!)

Arni Schwartzenegger is separate trip all by himself. The man with that improbable name, accent, and physique is probably the living embodiment of what used to be called the American Dream and the proof of concept for the notion of the Self-made Man. Horatio Alger would have felt vindicated.

This thread provoked me to haul out the DVD and watch it last night.



+1 with Zaine, Renegade, lanux128 and y0himba. It's a great flick! Raises some thought provoking questions while still remaining fun all the way through. Perfect movie to watch (and discuss) with friends over a pizza on a Saturday night.

--------
P.S. Sharon Stone is a looker. But Rachel Ticotin as Melina wasn't too hard on the eyes either. (Good actress too!)

9068

Living Room / Re: Microsoft lashes out at Googler for making Windows vulnerability public

« Last post by 40hz on June 12, 2010, 06:03 PM »

^Hi Paul!

The reason my remarks seem out of context (along with the cryptic reference to crusaders) is because I inadvertly posted that comment here when it was supposed to be going to a totally different website.

Why I quoted your line is anybody's guess. I think I started to say something but then got distracted by the discussion going on over in another forum and got confused about where I was.

Gotta stop keeping dozens of tabs open. I'm obviously not that good at it. That or confining myself to one discussion at a time. 

I'll leave it here since deleting it would only make your response to it even more confusing to the next reader.

Sorry all.  

9069

Living Room / Re: WebCam Advice Needed

« Last post by 40hz on June 12, 2010, 02:53 PM »

So it'll be here next Thursday.

-Stoic Joker (June 12, 2010, 11:14 AM)

Too cool. Let us know how you make out? I'm finding myself in need (albeit reluctantly) of a webcam too.

 

-------------

BTW: Since it was you who ultimately responded to your own post I guess that makes you DC's new webcam go-to guy huh?
 

9070

Living Room / Re: Microsoft lashes out at Googler for making Windows vulnerability public

« Last post by 40hz on June 12, 2010, 02:33 PM »

Who cares if Google has an excuse for kicking MS' butt?

-Paul Keith (June 12, 2010, 12:36 PM)

I do.

It's counterproductive for everyone including Google.

You can compete without getting unnecessarily rough. And you can be truly passionate and committed without indulging in the pleasures of anger and self-righteousness.

We have more than enough crusaders and dead heroes already. Ever notice how little they accomplish compared to the people who put in consistent and focused commitment and effort?

Just my tuppence.    

9071

Living Room / Re: Microsoft lashes out at Googler for making Windows vulnerability public

« Last post by 40hz on June 12, 2010, 02:25 PM »

All he had to do was share the code for the exploit with any of a dozen well respected security sites like Heise Online or CERN if he wanted to get traction. He did not have to broadband it out on the web. Which leads me to conclude part of his motivation was a distinct desire to create trouble for Microsoft when he did so. That's a move that has more in common with a daily tabloid than a computer professional. You don't deal with security issues by handing out copies of exploit code to anybody who wants it. Even a 14 year old Second Life script-kiddy knows that much.

Maybe I'm less inclined to take a philosophical perspective on the issue because I deal with computer security and malware on a daily basis as part if my job. The really annoying part is that this crap is time consuming and somewhat expensive to deal with whether it's as a preventative measure or as a decontamination issue. And it's a problem nobody needs - including people like me - who at least have the consolation of being able to make money helping get rid of it. I'd be perfectly happy if I never had to deal with cleaning up an infection or exploit for the rest if my life. And my services revenue stream and bottom line be damned! That's how sick I am of this stuff.   

It's also important not to forget that malware and exploits are problems because people are writing and deploying them. And while Microsoft (or Apple, AT&T, et al) have some responsibility to their customers to help deal with this problem - they are not the ones who cause the problem. So let's not be too generous in overlooking the faults of the exploiters. The world needs operating systems. It does not need malware or criminal hackers.

So let's stop blaming the victims of these parasites. And that includes Microsoft. 
     

9072

Living Room / Re: Microsoft lashes out at Googler for making Windows vulnerability public

« Last post by 40hz on June 12, 2010, 10:58 AM »

Regardless of anyone's feelings about Microsoft, it's still extremely irresponsible for someone to do what that Google researcher did. Placing a can of gasoline and a book of matches on someone's front porch to make the case their house is at risk of catching fire is not the best way to warn people about flammability.

I'm sorry, but where does this guy get off increasing the risks to everybody using Windows just because he's annoyed Microsoft hasn't responded to his warning in what he considers an acceptable timeframe?

 

9073

Living Room / Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation

« Last post by 40hz on June 11, 2010, 07:04 PM »

+1 w/lanux128.

I thought I got the story until the POV switched from the old man to the cat at which point I think I think I kinda lost what was being said.

 
 

9074

Living Room / Re: Two computers - one set of secreens etc. Ideas?

« Last post by 40hz on June 11, 2010, 12:33 PM »

Just tried it with an old high-end CRT I own which has dual inputs and an A/B select switch.

Works like a charm on that. Screen goes nuts for a second as it auto-adjusts to the different screen resolutions. You hear the flyback transformer 'sing' a bit, but it locks on a second later and that's that.  Hope it goes as well for you.

Funny how I've had that monitor all this time and never thought to use the A/B feature.  

9075

Living Room / Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation

« Last post by 40hz on June 11, 2010, 12:18 PM »

Especially liked the music.