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FBI Computer System So Screwed Up, You Need To Hack It To Get Stuff Done

From: Rupert Neethling
Sent: 20 August 2006 11:52 AM
To: Gavin Dudley; Peter Robson
Subject: FBI Computer System So Screwed Up, You Need To Hack It To Get Stuff
Done

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060706/114254.shtml

FBI Computer System So Screwed Up, You Need To Hack It To Get Stuff Done

from the not-very-comforting dept

The incredible saga of the FBI's overbudget $500 million computer system
<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060315/0232250.shtml> that needed to be
scrapped after it turned out it was useless in fighting terrorism
<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20040512/098203_F.shtml> apparently had
some other problems as well. The news has come out today that a contractor
hired to work on the computer system was so frustrated by the bureaucracy he
needed to go through to do something as simple as adding a printer to the
network, that he used some free internet tools to breach the network
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/05/AR200607050
1489_pf.html> and get access to the usernames and passwords of 38,000 FBI
employees, including director Robert Mueller. The contractor pleaded guilty
to various charges, though even the FBI admits that he only appears to have
done what he did to actually get work done. It's not clear which part is
more disturbing: that the FBI's computer system was so easily hacked, or
that the best way to get work done at the FBI is to breach its computer
security.

Techweb: What's The Greatest Software Ever Written? - Technology News by TechWeb

Witness the definitive, irrefutable, immutable ranking of the most brilliant software programs ever hacked.

By Charles Babcock, InformationWeek
Aug 14, 2006 12:01 AM"

...and he doesn't make it easy to find, but the result is a great, engaging story full of geeky intrigue and pop culture anecdotes. Lovely journalism leading to an impressive list of software. Windows doesn't make the list, but he spends a long time explaining his rationale.

Best of the best downloadable apps

PC Magazine Feature: Incredibly Useful Utilities: "Incredibly Useful Utilities
03.15.06 By Neil J. Rubenking

Sure, we test hundreds of new software programs each year to help you choose the best ones. But when we see ones that will make our lives better, they get permanent homes on our own PCs."

Where I live

Notice that I live exactly between two oceans, the South Atlantic (on the LHS) and the Indian (on the RHS). I also have a friend who believes that a meltdown of the Polar Cap is imminent... if a Tsunami doesn't come first... from either direction. I live in a Valley between the two oceans, and I can see both of them simultaneously as I drive up to my house. I like to think of it as Hippy Living On The Edge.

SMS is a false economy

Will someone please correct my logic here, if required.

SMS is the biggest scam in Africa. They are taking advantage of ill-informed
consumers, especially the poorest of the poor.

Networks are very busy convincing cell pone users to send SMS because:

1. It costs the network less than 5c to carry the message over the network,
but that same SMS cost the consumer between 40c and 75c, so SMS is far more
profitable for the network than carrying voice calls (which requires high
quality data signal traveling constantly in both directions to facilitate a
conversation).

2. Almost every SMS sent elicits a response, which results in a further
hundreds of percent profit for the networks each time.

3. If you need clarity on the cryptic SMS response you received to your
original message, it may cause you send yet another message, earning the
network another several hundred percent profit for your trouble.

4. Whereas if you make a phone call for between R1 and R3, in a minute you
can communicate more information back and forth more effectively and
accurately, in a single time-saving event.

5. If your network offers you free SMSes, don't bother to feel grateful. It
costs them just a few cents, but goes a long way to retaining you as a
customer, which is by far the most important business imperative.

6. As number portability comes ever closer, allowing people to keep their
cell number while switching freely between networks without incurring
significant penalties for doing so, expect to see the networks scrambling to
retain their customers. AND DON'T BE GRATEFUL IF YOUR NETWORK IS OFFERING
YOU SMS AT 23c. After all, they are only ripping you off to the tune of 400%
profit on that.

Well, that's my two cents worth, anyway. This email message cost less than
1c to send. ;->

Gavin

More people citing the idiot iPod

BBC NEWS | Searching for a mobile interface: "
By Spencer Kelly, Friday, 4 August 2006

Nearly a quarter of phones returned for being faulty are working properly, a recent survey suggested. The problem is people just cannot figure out how to use them.

'There's a common idea in psychology that users can only cope with a certain number of choices at once,' explains Geoff Kendall of Next Device, 'And that number is roughly seven, plus or minus two.

'So anything more than between nine or five choices then users will get confused and actually only look at the top few items anyway.'"

* geeks * Why you are poor... well, sort of

Some excellent excerpts from Michael McDonough’s Top Ten Things They Never Taught Me in Design School...

8. The road to hell is paved with good intentions; or, no good deed goes unpunished.
The world is not set up to facilitate the best any more than it is set up to facilitate the worst. It doesn’t depend on brilliance or innovation because if it did, the system would be unpredictable. It requires averages and predictables. So, good deeds and brilliant ideas go against the grain of the social contract almost by definition. They will be challenged and will require enormous effort to succeed. Most fail. Expect to work hard, expect to fail a few times, and expect to be rejected. Our work is like martial arts or military strategy: Never underestimate your opponent. If you believe in excellence, your opponent will pretty much be everything.

10. The rest of the world counts.
If you hope to accomplish anything, you will inevitably need all of the people you hated in high school. I once attended a very prestigious design school where the idea was “If you are here, you are so important, the rest of the world doesn’t count.” Not a single person from that school that I know of has ever been really successful outside of school. In fact, most are the kind of mid-level management drones and hacks they so despised as students. A suit does not make you a genius. No matter how good your design is, somebody has to construct or manufacture it. Somebody has to insure it. Somebody has to buy it. Respect those people. You need them. Big time.

Name calling

The Story Behind These Company Names: Posted by Matt
May 31st, 2006

[EXCERPTS]
Apache - It got its name because its founders got started by applying patches to code written for NCSA’s httpd daemon. The result was ‘A PAtCHy’ server -– thus, the name Apache.
<clip>
Google - The name started as a jokey boast about the amount of information the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named ‘Googol’, a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. After founders – Stanford grad students Sergey Brin and Larry Page resented their project to an angel investor, they received a cheque made out to ‘Google’
<clip>
Lotus (Notes) - Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from ‘The Lotus Position’ or ‘Padmasana’. Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
<clip>
Red Hat - Company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap (with red and white stripes) while at college by his grandfather. He lost it and had to search for it desperately. The manual of the beta version of Red Hat Linux had an appeal to readers to return his Red Hat if found by anyone!

* geeks * Yet another woman with balls

Woman forces US record industry to drop file-sharing case
Dangerous precedent set
By OUT-LAW.COM  Thursday 3rd August 2006

 [HEAVILY PARAPHRASED BY ME]

Tammie Marson of Palm Desert, California refused to pay the initial $3,500 demanded by a group of record labels and opted to fight the case in court. The record companies – Virgin, Sony BMG, Arista, Universal and Warner Brothers – agreed to dismiss the case and pay their own legal costs.

"The best they could ever prove was somebody had used Tammie Marson's internet account to download the music or make it available. That's the best they could ever do."

Marson argued that as a cheerleader teacher she had had hundreds of girls through her house, any one of whom could have used her computer. She also used a wireless internet network, meaning that people outside of her house could have used her internet connection. "She doesn't even know what a shared folder is," said Kouretchian.

If this becomes a popular defence it could seriously hamper a huge number of file-sharing lawsuits taken in the US against individuals.

Space is not a vacuum or zero gravity, duh

LiveScience.com: Reader Favorites

Apart from a slightly crowded feel this is a great example of a web site that delivers. Be sure to check out the Science Top Tens and Ten Species Success Stories and The Biggest Popular Myths.

I think great sites deliver of a combination light, qick wins upfront and simple ways to get into a few categories of information, pulling up quality content in 2 clicks.

WikiWeird

Wikipedia Showdown!-- A Grupthink Topic: This is an invitation for people to submit and vote for the weirdest Wikipedia entries out there. Existing entries look fascinating, but leae one feeling underwhelmed...

Me Transformer! Hah!

I4U News - A 10 Foot Tall Wearable Robot Suit: "A 10 Foot Tall Wearable Robot Suit

A 10 Foot Tall Wearable Robot Suit. This is literally something right out of the pages of a video game (like Xenosaga). It's a robotic suit that stands over 10 feet tall, with a cockpit for a human to sit inside and control. We reported about the Land Walker about one year ago the first time. Now it is actually on sale and there is a video of the huge robot in action.

Called The Land Walker, it weighs close to 1 ton (2,000 pounds!) and is controlled by four pedals from inside the cockpit. Additionally, it has built-in air guns that can shoot bullets (not real bullets, though...'sponge bullets'). Talk about a totally pimped out Halloween costume!

And yes, the robot is actually available for sale, though right now only in Japan, for about $315,000."

Optimus Prime is for real

Optimus Prime (person)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Optimus Prime (born 1971) is a U.S. Army Ohio National Guard firefighter who
had his name legally changed to Optimus Prime in May of 2001, on his 30th
birthday. He claims to have done this because the fictional character of the
same name, from the Transformers, was like a father figure when he was
growing up. The name appears on his driver's license, military ID, and
uniform. Mr. Prime's military unit, the 5694th Tactical Crash Rescue Unit,
is currently deployed on Operation Enduring Freedom. Prime was recalled from
Baghdad in Iraq in June 2003 following a pair of family emergencies. His
former name has not been publicly disclosed.

Prime has a girlfriend, Vanessa, and four children: Nick, Jessie, Mike, and
Shyann.

* geeks * No wait.. here's an even better one - Headline of the week

* geeks * No wait.. here's an even better one - Headline of the week,
originally uploaded by bl0d0t.

* geeks * Headline of the week

This from the Onion was much funnier with the accompanying pic:

Scientific ranking of harmful drugs

The Guardian: Check alchohol and tobacco vs more interesting alternatives...

Source: Probson