got root?
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Microsoft - Where do you want to go today? | Computer Science Students' Society

I want to go snowboarding, to all points and purposes. But I will be there and see what 'trick' questions I can attack the MS representatives today. I do have a fair question about the state of Singularity, some concerns about the recent MS study discussing how Linux is worse than Windows [yeah, right =)] and something to do with the XBox360 that keeps crashing... day of the release too [I won't even scratch the surface on the idiocy of purposely under-supplying stores with these game units]

I'll let everyone know how this went and if I had a chance to get some clarifications regarding these issues. No, I'm not looking to get hired by them just yet and I don't think I have any reason to suck up to MS people to get a job there... I'll go work for Steve Jobs otherwise ;)

This reminds me there's some baffled employees at a local Future Shop that probably wonder why their sexy display iMac works erratically... something to do with `chmod -R 0000 ~` =) I'm the Bastard Linux Guerilla Warrior... guy.

Cheers all!
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Elliott Back ยป Too Cool For Firefox

You gotta be sh*tting me!

OK, OS wars, distro wars, browser wars... I know each and every one of us thinks "I am the coolest" and the brands we acquire, the ideologies we subscribe to, we hold them in high regard and treasure them plenty.

But, DUDE! MSIE? You need to change crack dealers buddy, cause it's melting your brain. I'll say here what I said there too, the problem with MSIE users is that they make all-too-easy the propagation of malware on the 'Net, and the browser is the starting point in most of these cases. Sure, flaws were found in FF too. How long till they were fixed?

Microsoft has [unfortunately] some of the world's best coders in their ranks. They could make great software if they weren't this greedy.

But it's fine... there's a few MS coders that donate to the FSF... so it's not all lost yet ;)
Monday, November 14, 2005
There was a discussion on slashdot regarding open source software on Windows and why it is looked down upon by members of the Linux/BSD OSS communities. Here is my post and... let me know if you decide to comment to that on slashdot so that I might follow-up. Otherwise, rant here if you will :)

In other news I apparently got owned here? Two rather obnoxious posts made their way into my blog, selling cheap software... I think there's need to change some settings =)
Saturday, November 12, 2005
No, despite what might have crossed people's minds, I did not get arrested or otherwise angered some hacker somewhere that took me out... or whatever theory you might have :)

There's been plenty of technological news but nothing really that would require special attention here, most of it gets up on digg anyway. So echoing out all of that here is rather pointless :)

Until further things... I'll leave you with a classic:

Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers. "Teenager
Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"...
Damn kids. They're all alike.

But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain,
ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what
made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?
I am a hacker, enter my world...
Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of
the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me...
Damn underachiever. They're all alike.

I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers explain
for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. "No, Ms.
Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head..."
Damn kid. Probably copied it. They're all alike.

I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is
cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I
screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me...
Or feels threatened by me...
Or thinks I'm a smart ass...
Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here...
Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike.

And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through
the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is
sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is
found.
"This is it... this is where I belong..."
I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to
them, may never hear from them again... I know you all...
Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They're all alike...

You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been spoon-fed baby food at
school when we hungered for steak... the bits of meat that you did let slip
through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We've been dominated by sadists, or
ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us will-
ing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the
beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying
for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and
you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek
after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color,
without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals.
You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us
and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is
that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.
My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me
for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual,
but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike.

+++The Mentor+++