Posts by Keith T

also available for just kissing.

I'm also available for just intelligent chat and kissing Paris. Have your people call my people, and we can get together.

COBOL ain't dead

COBOL isn't' dead and IBM should be updating its COBOL with new features for usability and problem determination.

It is still a marvelously efficient tool for creating new online and batch applications that must process massive amounts of data or massive numbers of transactions.

And it is required to maintain existing system which were written in COBOL and for which re-development or porting can't be economically justified.

I think the root cause of the problem is that what useful innovators IBM has don't want to work on COBOL. So regardless of customer wants and desires, COBOL is left to stagnate.

Just one tiny bothersome example of what is still missing from COBOL and z/OS, clearly show us the compile and the link dates when we look at lists of modules and dumps.

You'd think IBM would realize that a switch from COBOL generally means a switch from IBM products.

Young people

Young people should only enter the IT field if they are prepared to move to India or China.

Not that all of them will have to, but they all should either be prepared to move at some point in their career, or choose another career.

The big money is in sales, marketing, law, and medicine.

The steady careers are in the major trades: carpentry, plumbing, electrician.

The paths to an executive positions are (in descending order) sales, marketing, law and accounting.

In Canada, prostitution is legal

Here in Canada, prostitution is legal. It is being a client that is illegal.

And whereas Canada doesn't care if you get away with mass murder in a foreign country, commit a "sex crime" in a foreign country and you can face special prosecution here.

When you live in a democracy that is 53% female, even male politicians are going to sacrifice their sense of moral equity to get elected.

For mainstream crimes, like killing and stealing, sentences handed down to men are about 10 times the sentences handed to women, if the women are ever prosecuted.

Once in prison, are women's prisons have much nicer living conditions than men's prisons.

And this is to say nothing of the "affirmative action" / "reverse discrimination" that goes on in hiring, training and promotion in Canada's employment markets.

Our political and legal systems are full of bias and bigotry, of self-serving injustices -- being stuck with growing injustices decade after decade, it is a wonder citizens become apathetic.

Participate in the political system and you are participating in the persecution of your own sex.

Put them to work as backing for currency

A £20 note should be redeemable for £20 of merchant bank executive.

IT Industry Should Donate an Executive to run CastleCops

This is very sad. This isn't because of the economy failing. This is because CastleCops doesn't have the means to find an chief organizer.

Could not some large computer or software company / consortium donate an executive to organize and administer CastleCops?

This would reduce costs to all IT industries by helping combat the malware that drives up development, maintenance and support costs of software makers.

(@AC: ISC is run by SANS.)

Lots of cheap electricty and cold air up north

There is a lot of cheap hydro-electric power available in Northern Manitoba, Canada.

The ambient air and ground temperatures make cooling cheap and easy.

A portion of the data center waste heat could captured in hot water be sold to the local community for heating.

A primary job of national governments is national defense

Regarding privacy, there is no guarantee privacy on the internet.

National governments worldwide already eavesdrop on international traffic. And foreign governments eavesdrop on the national traffic of other countries. Some countries already eavesdrop on their own citizens (UK and USA).

Privacy is also threatened by the many trojans and viruses that, even if your computer isn't compromised, there is a good likelihood on any given day that you will communicate with a compromised computer.

A primary job of national governments is national defense and the protection of its citizens lives and property.

A national firewall that does that protects its citizens against foreign hackers and cyber attacks is a good national firewall. It would be a step on the path to upgrading the internet to a higher technical level so people can start relying on it.

If a national firewall is going to be used for censorship of opinions, and to limit news, then it is a bad firewall.

If the national firewall censors pornographic images and video, well, we can all express our opinions in text form. So it really doesn't limit freedom of speech. (That said, a national firewall should, if it even does any censoring, only censor clearly illegal pornography, like kiddie porn, sex acts with animals, and pictures that courts have ruled on.)

If a national firewall only stops some foreign hackers blackmailing citizens and residents, or if it only stops some foreign based DDoS attacks, it will be worth the price.

This demonstrates why Edexcel should be failed

If Edexcel isn't competent to assign responsibility for the error to the person who made the error, the teacher, not the students, then Edexcel isn't competent to sit in judgment of anyone.

In both the working world and the academic world, while you might question concepts, you still follow instructions from your boss or your teacher on administrative matters.

It would only be fair to hold this against the students at this level if the students were assigned the task of determining what submission format is acceptable.

Mistakes happen, but that Edexcel did not correct its mistake within a week, seems to strongly indicate incompetence at managerial and executive levels in that organization.

We in the west keep Mubarek in power in Egypt

And we in the west keep Mubarek in power in Egypt why? To promote freedom and democracy??

Our governments should cease sabotaging non-violent opposition parties in Egypt.

Wikipedia should use the solution the record labels did

The other solution would be for wikipedia itself to do what the original record labels did: Serve up one image of the album cover in countries that have weaker kiddie porn laws, and another image of the album cover in countries that have stricter kiddie porn laws.

Amateurs and hobbyists buy Apple, pure and simple.

Amateurs and hobbyists buy Apple, pure and simple.

Contracts open to change. Canada not in the EU

And as you say, the ISPs should be more open and transparent about all this.

It is just good customer relations: Keep the public informed of the real issues, and the public will support you. This is, after all, an issue where the ISPs are trying to protect regular customers.

Of course the wholesale P2P freeloaders are going to be upset, they'll no longer be getting an unfair share for free, but that is the price to be paid for being fair to customers.

@AC: noting claiming Bell is changing contracts without the other party's consent. I find, and I think most retail Bell customers will find, they consented to such changes when they agreed to their existing contract.

Wholesale customers will probably all find their contracts are time-limited and subject to renegotiation on expiry.

@I: Canada isn't in the EU, there is no EU court to appeal to on this kind of internal commercial affair. NAFTA is a much more primative free trade agreement that the EU. (Personally I'd like to see NAFTA re-opened and democracy, minimum human rights, commerce, pollution control, and medical care standards added.)

Forced anonymity

We've got anarchy on the internet. It is like the lawless days of the wild west.

Sure it is great to have anonymity in most web browsing, but what about when we want to do business, to be trusted?

How can anyone, or any business, trust us when there is no way for us to be anything but anonymous on the internet?

To make the internet "fit for purpose" requires 2 things:

1. A re-do of the architecture so that people and businesses have the *option* to do transactions in a "non-anonymous mode".

2. Policing. Domain name registrars and ISPs, have to do their part to ensure they are not knowingly allowing crime to occur.

If domain name registrars and ISPs don't do their jobs, they should be prosecuted. If a new law is required, a new law should be written.

If domain name registrars and ISPs can't do their jobs, because of the international nature of the internet or because of privacy concerns, then government should step in and do it for them.

The internet is like privately owned roads, and either domain name registrars and ISPs will police them adequately, or we citizens will get the government in to do it.

You don't expect your corner store to keep you safe on the roads leading to the store. You shouldn't expect an internet merchant to keep you safe, except in their store.

It is a primary essential duty for governments to keep citizens safe.

A good idea in some respects, but cutting the budget would be better

One, if only the US would wake up and realize it could balance its budgets by spending more money on diplomacy and encouraging democracy, and cutting defense spending.

Two, the plane that drops you off doesn't have to be the same type of plane that picks you up. Stealth is going to be more important for the drop-off phase where you are going to be "in country" afterwards. Plan the mission so that stealth is not important on pickup.

Three, how does this solve the problem of piracy?

Four, how does this solve the problem of non-state sponsored terrorism?

Solving the problem of state sponsored terrorism (where a government won't let us in) is irrelevant because our side (the good guys, our heros) do state sponsored terrorism through the CIA and various special forces: So we've given state sponsored terrorism our stamp of moral approval. If we want to reduce state sponsored terrorism, we could end 75% of it world-wide by simply cutting the budget.

Irresponsible architectural choices

This is what happens when you choose an architecture based on what would look good on your resume or what seems to be most popular.

For this sort of essential service, with high volumes of data, they should use mainframe computers running tried and true z/OS.

It is nonsense to try to use the error filled and virus-vulnerable Windows, Unix, Linux oir MacOS systems for such essential services and high volumes of data.

What share of the popular vote did anarchists get in the last election?

"most ordinary people who just use the internet like they use the banking system or the trains think that the government should make sure it all works properly for them and that bad things get stopped from happening."

Exactly true.

What share of the popular vote did anarchists get in the last election? Zero.

Which political party ran on a platform of tolerating white collar crime?

Ordinary citizens expect government to protect them, or to set up protections for them.

Protection of the public is the primary essential role of government.

She got the right result.

She got the right result.

Clearly to copy a disk drive you have to examine it. You have to access the disk, read what is on it, and make a copy.

It is like going through someones wallet or papers.

People are doing jobs in courts that they lack the qualifications for.

Trials are based on orality: "If someone in authority or from the upper classes says it, it must be true."

It is a shame when an ordinary juror has to ask the relevant questions to determine guilt of innocence.

Clearly, with all the unsafe convictions and over-turned verdicts we know about the current assignment of duties is not working.

People are doing jobs in courts that they lack the qualifications for.

1. Judges and lawyers don't have the psychological, scientific and engineering background to understand what questions to ask to determine the circumstances and to check for lying or exaggeration.

2. Judges and lawyers don't have the background to understand what follow-up questions to ask.

3. Judges and lawyers don't have the social backgrounds to be aware of the common knowledge that the public has, that you cannot trust police to tell the truth under oath.

So jurors want to fill the gap.

But the unqualified judges and lawyers get upset.

Instead of being upset, judges and lawyers should expand their educational horizons. Learn what they need to know to do their jobs.

Entering western ports no issue

First, whether western countries want armed parties on merchant vessels coming into port is irrelevant.

The proposals are for the armed parties protecting merchant vessels to be boarded and de-boarded at sea, before the start and after end of the pirate-infested area.

No sense having the men make a 30 day voyage across the Atlantic or Pacific when they are only needed for 2 days of the trip.

On top of that, western countries do allow merchant vessels with men and small arms to come into port regularly, and not just on vessels carrying nuclear fuel. Just we don't allow private armies in.

Second, if the law of the sea needs changing, well that is what governments are for.

Why would we mistakenly change the law to be friendly to pirates, and just leave it that way?

If the law needs changing, that can surely be done for less cost than keeping several international flotillas of large warships permanently stationed at the 2 or more pirate hot-spots around the world.

Third, destroyers did originally had the full name "torpedo boat destroyers" but in the destroyers of that era were smaller than today's frigates and had none of today's missiles or electronics.

These torpedo boat destroyers were made obsolete: first by even smaller ships, and then by aircraft.

Use of the word "kentucky" is illegal here in Keithistan.

Use of the word "kentucky" is illegal here in Keithistan.

Do Kentucky courts feel that Keithistanni courts should be able to order the seizure of any website domain that has a web page with the character string "kentucky"?

This is the same Kentucky that wanted to charge radio stations royalties for the use of their name when radio stations played Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman". The same Kentucky that wanted royalties for use of the word Kentucky in "Kentucky Fried Chicken" (now called KFC).

Paris because I have far more faith in Paris's common sense than our courts.

@Top Law & Greg: Under US law did the Bush whitehouse commit sedition?

I totally agree with Greg's point.

My question to any legal experts: Could Bush's attempts to topple democracy, and create an imperial presidency could probably be considered sedition?

(To my fellow laymen, "sedition" is a rebellion against the authority of the state. Sedition is up there with high treason in seriousness.)

Did not Bush's Whitehouse openly rebel against the judicial and legislative branches, ignoring the legal authority of the other 2 branches of federal government under the constitution?

Did not members of the Republican Party openly rebel against the authority of voters by conspiring to willfully disenfranchise legitimate voters?

I'd like to see an examination of this issue by the guys at "Top Law" who write here.

How to buy the book

In my limited experience I've found publishers are happy to sell single copies directly to the public.

If you want to buy the "The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology", here is the publisher's info:

Merlin Publishing

publishing@merlin.ie

phone: +35314535866

fax: +35314535930

Newmarket Hall, Cork Street, Dublin 8, Dublin, Dublin 8

Item number: 5822

http://publishersmarketplace.com/rights/display.cgi?no=5822

I'm of half a mind to buy a copy of the book too. Just to financially support the author and publisher!

More of this sort of research is needed.

More of this sort of research is needed.

We need to understand the motives and business models of spammers and their clients in order to work to decrease spam at its source.

November 2010

Would any knowledgeable computer professional recommend purchasing a computer with an operating system, for home or general business use, less than 6 months old?

If they release Windows 7 in November 2009, it won't be reliable enough for anything beyond testing and pilot purposes until after June 2010.

why not email us after every credit card transaction?

One password or two, or ten, the responsibility and liability is never on the consumer here in Canada.

I'd like to see one-time passwords, but the inconvenience of tokens seems to be an insurmountable problem.

Maybe cell phones could be used to obtain the one-time passwords.

And why not email us after every credit card transaction?

Senators elevate themselves above Kings?

It is morally wrong for members of governments to ask for exemptions from the law they apply to the rest of us. There is supposed to be one law for all -- common law.

This was something we straightened out with monarchs and their employees even before American independence.

It would be a giant step backward for the US to elevate members of its government to a position higher than the kings the authors of the US constitution wanted to prevent.

If US politicians think the DMCA is too strict, they should adjust it, they should adjust it for everyone.

Herding Cats indeed

In established professions like engineering and accounting, to manage the project you have to be a member of the profession.

In most countries, to be a partner in a professional consulting firm, you have to be a member of the profession.

It is one of the problems facing IT, that our projects are run by professional salespeople, professional lawyers, and professional accountants. These people know a piece of the puzzle, but they should be resources that an IT professional manager consults. They should not be quarterbacking projects and people they don't understand.

Witness EDS's "herding cats" video. To managers who don't know what they are doing, running an IT project seems like herding cats.

Meaningful? Meaningless?

"[Secunia] haven't actually "run" these exploits on the computer"

So they should re-test and actually run the exploits, right?

Let us have meaningful tests reported.

And I agree with Mike Powers 100%.

I truly hope McLeod succeeds

To Palin and her crowd of self-described Palinestas, anyone who disagrees with them is a "hater". She holds rallies where audience members call Obama traitor, terrorist, and call for him to be shot -- and she lets the comments stand.

"McLeod's attorney contends the governor waived the privilege by routinely copying messages to her husband, Todd, who is not a state employee." I love it. I hope McLeod succeeds. Palin and her tactics, many copied from the Bush WH, are a danger to western democracy and the Constitution of the United States.

Drawback of Anonymity

Anonymity in forum posts and comments is one thing -- everyone knows (or should know) they just represent people's opinions.

If a website expects its non-fiction articles to be taken seriously, it should ensure the identity of article contributers is accurately known to the manager of the website (even if the public name on the article is a pseudonym).

Sadly Wikipedia doesn't do that, so its articles must always be cross-checked with other sites to ensure accuracy.

Anonymity equals no reputation at stake, equals less care for truth and accuracy.

on the up side

Remember that this data could be used to prove alibis, i.e. to reduce false convictions.