CaptainMorgan

Oh wow... I can't believe this application is actually five years old! I was crackin up after watching the video on the main page, and then I saw that it says 2004 -- how could I have missed this for five years! This is a great little program.

Cheers

"..greatest computer science alive." lol

Apparently, an unscientific search brings up CSA 464 taken at Miami University (Ohio), course on algorithms of course... but I'm trying to find the professor. I had a professor once that was similar to this one, though not as brash... CS prof that was diligent about spelling and the correctness of English prose and/or phrases. In several homeworks and exams I pointed out fallacies in his questions- but again, nothing comical though like this one.

This is the part I found most inviting about the whole process; the fact that it's covered by life insurance? Wow! And you raise the excellent point of options, what are the better options? Cremated? no thanks... Six feet under? I'd rather not sit to rot. I find that given this preservation is easily accessible by insurance, I would expect more people to sign up for it. I know I'm considering it on the options alone... what do you have to lose? Either way, as the article points out, the decision is based on faith... but maybe it also comes down to taste and a little bit of morality or how you were brought up (there's also logic to consider if one is educated).

Maybe some things to be lost are if one is to be resurrected, pushing the consciousness aside, one would have to be sure one's estate is preserved too- otherwise, one might come back homeless. Also, could you live 100 years from now, without any of your family members (except maybe their offspring) because they didn't feel right about doing it?

Very interesting and thought provoking article.

I think you overlooked several discussions before you. I talked specifically about this.

There are some filesystem/full-disk encryption programs that claim they can get around this. Apparently (I've never used it), if one is required to provide the adversary or authorities with the passphrase, they only get so far - into the virtual disk, which then presents the illusion that there is nothing else on the disk, further claiming their product makes it literally impossible for them to detect the real contents of the partition... I'd name one of the programs here but I'm generally uncomfortable with listing links to products in forums like this- it's almost spammy like (it's a popular utility and came up when searched for hard drive encryption).

Hmm.. maybe this is what greendestiny was getting at and for that I completely agree, on both accounts.

It may be true that they're trying to define themselves, but if so I'd say it's because they're exploiting an opportunity they've found with regard to so many holes in the investigation. But more importantly, I disagree that this is more suited for Reddit discussion (if that was your point). Here at HN as I'm sure you're aware, we have a record of intelligent, coherent and stimulating debate about a wide range of important topics and being that the warrant and the topic are in fact hacker related it was a good choice to post it here.

Indeed.. but if grades were actually changed, I think the IT Director of Security at BC (mentioned in the warrant) would've stated or advised that they were changed. Yet, he only advises and assists the detective with regard to the subject of mass emailing. And even this I question- it appears as if they don't understand the point of a mailing-list... like they don't understand the reasoning behind email propagation to a list- duh, this is how it happens. That's the purpose of a mailing list- so that those that are subscribed receive the content therein (content to be argued about separately) What's shady is that given this is a warrant application, a number is not even approximated at for the amount of emails supposedly sent - they only use the term "mass email" and in some cases they use the singular version, "the email" referring to originate from his machine. All they prove is that they can trace an email- big whoop, nothing a log file can't show them.

LOL - saw your edit; how dare he want to actually own his property! :) I'd argue that the governing body that wishes to achieve the goal of nothing else (where a crime was not committed) but scanning his computer, is conducting an illegal act!

This warrant almost seems like a disguise for something bigger, something to use to make an example of this kid. There's talk about illegally downloaded content; movies, music, etc. But even copyright is still a touchy subject in the eyes of the law... and, the basis of the case is around "Fraud".

We all know the state of affairs with copyright and stealing things like movies and holding a cache of them... But ultimately, peer to peer sharing is not much different than going to your friends house, popping in a DVD you brought(and bought) so that you all could enjoy the entertainment experience. None of this should give the police the right to seize your TV, DVD player, entertainment system, detain you and your parties, couches, and popcorn since you were hacking with your microwave. The significant difference is that you cross the line when you make copies of your content and then try to sell it for a profit.

Later, it states that the suspect was traced back to the origins of the emails sent from the BC server and elaborates further about how uncommon Ubuntu Linux is in Gabelli hall and not to mention, the BC network. In the way it was mentioned, it implies that Linux was used as the foundation for an attack- Since the police have based their case on accusations, maybe those at Ubuntu should sue for defamation of character. I'm sure Mac users are feeling left out right about now.

Yes. Though, allegations are allegations and what weight do they hold, especially in this case? I argue they don't hold much- it looks more like a civil dispute between two former friends. Plus, keep in mind, 10% is more than enough reasonable doubt- especially in a case where the law and the police are still considered noobs to the game.

But this part kills me: "Mr. Calixte has access into ""'s computer as he set it up for him when they were friends and he knows the password. The computer has been looked at by several experts and none of them can resolve the problem."

WOW- maybe Mr. Calixte is the ultimate cryptographer and completely disguised his activity so stealthy that the so-called 'experts' cannot find the problem! NO. The problem is that there is no problem. And what the hell is wrong with the computer owner? Someone needs a lesson in password management 101.

I find this amazing... I've been interested in Stonehenge for as far back as I can remember but I'm no expert on the subject- I'm just in awe of it.

What I find interesting about this video is the claim that he "is not a scientist" - I beg to differ. I do not know his formal education background, but that should not diminish his ability to apply the scientific method which he has clearly shown. After all, he is an expert in the field of moving large objects, if there is such a field.

From wiki: "A scientist, in the broadest sense, refers to any person that engages in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge or an individual that engages in such practices and traditions that are linked to schools of thought or philosophy."

From the video, it's quite apparent that he applies a systematic activity to achieve his goal, that being knowledge in our case, and it's linked to a school of thought - construction, and not to mention mathematics and physics (it's obvious there's math involved here whether he knows it or not) for the application of the scientific method.

Thus, without formal education, I feel his demonstrations clearly prove he a scientist in the broadest sense- I'd welcome opinions for or to the contrary if you're interested.

You could definitely be correct. But the article isn't that old, unless they got bought in the last thirty or so days. Quoting the article this time shows an interesting choice of words:

"But corporate parent eBay, having had to write down $1.4bn already following its $2.6bn purchase of Skype back in the bubble-2.0 days of 2005, might see an opportunity here. A billion or two from the NSA for a backdoor into Skype might make the acquisition seem like a sensible idea."

By "parent", if they get into trouble with an agency like the NSA and Ebay is U.S based (for the sake of argument), even though Skype was acquired, couldn't they 'break free' so-to-speak, and head back to Europe with their main operations? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Europe appears to still be their main base of operations while Ebay is like a corporate funding "parent"... that's how I view it from the article, but I could no doubt be mistaken.

I run Linux and use Skype, it's available for Mac's too... why the assumption that Windows is the main player?

http://www.skype.com/download/skype/linux/choose/?cm_sp=sv|d...

But I like brl's interpretation...

How are you sure? It's not a U.S. based company- it doesn't appear NSA would have any holding over it.

"The company won't disclose details of its encryption, either, and isn't required to as it is Europe based."

Hence, their alleged offering of "billions".

Ironically, while you're probably correct in programming design, I'm a national master in chess(which requires reasoning and logic), and I know about a handful of chess masters(FM/IM/GM's) that actually smoke dope. Allegedly, it helps to mentally slow the game down and reason each move out into their potential move branches. In the time allowed, they're able to visualize moves several iterations on down and concentrate better on mentally traversing them to figure out their best move.

We celebrated last night with a simple dinner out; we figured better to do so a day before, and beat the rush. Otherwise, I share the same sentiment(and so does my SO), that Valentine's Day has no purpose, other than a commercial purpose.

Today's schedule: Woke, coffee- extra bold, studied advanced maths, probabilities and some math light reading(Drunkard's Walk), chilled with the wife and watched some fun stuff, and now for some late night coding.

This is fantastic... one central source for all that Wikipedia has to offer with relation to this subject... I always used to look up algorithms individually, without the knowledge of this central list. Thank you!

Swordfish; if nothing for the totally cool monitor setup he had at Gabriel's place.

Alien; the original- the next couple of movies in the series were okay but the first I think is a classic in form of technology and all that good stuff. If you watch it, it may seem a bit old-school for our time, but for their time that was pretty cool! Finding a solution to space travel at light-year speed? Come-on- that's awesome.

Stargate; another one for space travel, but overall it was kind of corny- I just liked how the Egyptians, or whoever, discovered a way to transport across galaxies.

Enemy of the State; cool NSA tech stuff.

Deja Vu; the ability to go back in time only four days earlier or less... I like their setup and how they explained the plausibility of the technology actually coming to fruition.

I just wanted to mention that I thought you certainly have an unorthodox resume.. not something that visually caught my eye when I first saw it, but as I read it I grew to like it. For this reason, I think you'll get to talk with some folks for some interesting positions..

Best of luck with your summer goals!

The rising cost of education.

I've yet to receive a response from my institution or others that I've considered, of why it is they keep raising their fees, tuitions, etc.., especially in a recessed economy. It seems to me to be counterproductive - folks are losing their jobs, therefore losing their finances, and now possibly finding out that they need more training or they need to enter a new field, thus requiring education. Yet considering these financial difficulties, institutions continue to raise their fees with hopeless abandon.

I asked multiple departments in my university about this and essentially they diverted my call or in-person conversation to some other department, or they said it was a political matter and basically being a lowly student, there's no way I could get a meeting with those that approve these raises, without my belonging to some student body committee protesting these rates... and then we're only supposed to be there for four years anyways as undergrads so it could take more than that to see any preferred and immediate result.

I suppose this is where financial aid comes into play, but even so depending on your application factors, the fees still rise, so that could possibly mean that you'll owe more money when you get out or you need to be approved for more grants that don't need to be paid back which implies more scrutiny in your application.

meh, I'm fed up with this subject.. any thoughts?

I didn't down or upvote simply because I think it's an honest suggestion. But it's impractical because the diversity is too vast to warrant an equal playing field such as you're suggesting. There are those that try really hard and succeed magnificently, while there are those that sit back and are too lazy to get anything done and would rather collect welfare. There are polar opposites too, those that try really hard but fail, and those that are lazy and somehow succeed.... you're telling me that no matter where these groups fall, they should all receive equal wages? Reiterating that I didn't downvote you, I can certainly see why someone would. So the explanation I just noted is simply my view and what I've seen and ultimately your concept is not practical nor fair.

Your belief is incorrect from my point of view. Sure, we want to help in some occasions- and of course there are bad apples in every bunch irrespective of your profession. But we don't do it because we want the "approval" of non-geeks, that's sad in my opinion, unless they have a sound reason for it. Why we do it is evidently not clear to you- which, simply put, is for the pure passion of it. If we sought to be appreciated(at least the geeks I know), or sought approval, we wouldn't be geeks. -Surely, correct me if you think I'm wrong, but unless you have experience in specifically enjoying what you do and you're not in it for the money and "starving in your garage", then don't respond. Of course there are geeks that do seek approval, - but you said "a lot" which can imply "most" and personally I don't empirically witness that. I believe Paul Graham and/or RandsInRepose has an article on this subject of why we do what we do, but the links are escaping me at the moment.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but today's Ubuntu systems do come installed with OO, and even if not, it's not like it's difficult to acquire when the user grasps only the fundamentals of the package system(two or three navigating moves, a search entry, and one or two clicks), which is fully available with more applications than one has time in their lifespan to go through let alone actually use. :) But alas, the problem I think with OO, at least in my experience, is that OO is like a one way function- it accepts .doc formats but it's not /completely/ compatible the other way around- going to a purely Win Office(Word) world. I've noticed simple discrepancies after saving in OO and then opening in Word that I didn't particularly care for. However, the most full-circle solution that I found to that was(possibly an advanced topic for this student), is to open up something like VMWare Player or Workstation and there's your glorified Windows Office.

What urks me about these schools is that they're not as informed as they're supposed to be. Making such stringent requirements such as those are just plain moronic. But as you do, I see the cause- they're trying to make the dough through the licenses by demanding their students adhere to these rules.. when in reality they could just say "Windows compatible" - come on.

This is becoming a common so-called 'attack' on this young girl and I disagree. Girl or no girl; if it was a young boy I'd still think the same thing: that the student in question is not prepared for life learning. This is one of the things that higher-education is supposed to instill in students. And I'm not even for the attackers- let's get the student with this type of problem the help they need, there is no need for attacks... but if the student displays this type of behavior and opts for the easiest route, whatever their sex, and whatever operating system they're using, the unfortunate truth is that they are indeed not ready for the rigors of college and therefore, the role of being independent.

I think, at least what I found from that site as a pointer from this link is, that people confuse the polygraph with being a lie-detector which in truth(again based on the readings), it is not. What it is, is an agent used in an interrogation, simply put. You are being interrogated and judged on how well they think you can actually be trusted with a security clearance(along with other factors in your application). It will have you believe that they are on to you by showing your reactions to certain questions, when in reality, there is really only one person in that room that truly knows if an answer is true or false, and it is proven that it is not the person administering the examination.

Excellent question and I'd like to see an answer - as I was thinking this too when I saw that post.

Cheers

I disagree, while stressful depending on the situations, certainly there a few agencies that do have flexible work schedules... one that I refuse to name, that you can find with a little digging, adheres to the employee's work schedule.. so if you like working at night, they'll provide that schedule for you, granted that you've gone through some reasonable hoops to get there.

Especially things like relaxants, maybe Valium or Vicodin, last about that time frame... and granted, these might as well be prescribed and perfectly legal!

Unison - http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/

Tellico - my favorite book manager

VLC Movie Player

VMWare(take your pick)

XChat

HPLIP Fax Utility

Azureus

IDEs(KDevelop, Netbeans, DrScheme, Quanta, IDLE)

Excellent point. I'd rather work all day for myself... actually, I do that now - and I wouldn't change it(unless I had no choice) for some 9-5'er. :)